The Tennessee Nation is not a new concept. We were an independent nation for forty-three days in 1861 – the period between our secession from the United States and our admission into the Confederate States of America.
The abuses and excesses of the current Columbian Empire are cause enough for Tennesseans to exercise their rights as “free and independent people” and cast off the chains of slavery which have so subtly been forged on us. I call it the Columbian Empire because it is most certainly not American. The term American in all its connotations is antithetical to the actions and intentions of the tyrants in the District of Columbia. The district of Columbia is the viper pit from which the Columbian Empire springs.
This blog is to emphasize the legitimate reasons for a free Tennessee Nation.
“First blood” in the American War for Independence was 16 May 1771, on the Alamance, a small stream in North Carolina. The colonists were resisting British tyranny in the form of unjust taxation.
Those involved in the struggle for Independence which we call the American Revolution were by no means perfect men, nor was their cause at all times waged in conformity to principle. But the principles were nonetheless real and on the whole served to determine the course of the conflict.
Principles drove the patriots to fight more than any specific abuse of power by the Crown. Today, we have forgotten what the First Principles were. The patriots were opposed to the deliberate disruption of law and order which later characterized France, and, on the other hand,theywere equally hostile to blind obedience.
Blind obedience is the reaction expected in this age. Public schools are built around the concept of conformity and to the ideal of multiculturalism. Any question of authority or difference of opinion is met with severe repercussions. It has become the same in today’s business and political spheres.
Blind obedience is asserted in such comments as:
The idea of secession was settled in 1861.
Good citizens don’t question police requests/orders.
Go along and you’ll get along.
When the U.S. Supreme Court speaks, it’s the law!
Following World War II, Chief Justice Vinson asserted, “Nothing is more certain in modern society than the principle that there are no absolutes.” His statement was meant as an argument for and a defense ofthe Supreme Court’s assertion of absolutism and a denial of any appeal beyond itself. Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, as well as every President since, agreed.
Eisenhower: "Every step we take toward making the State the caretaker of our lives, by that much we move toward making the State our master.” Reread that last line and ponder just how much we have moved toward making the USA into the Columbian Empire since the 1950's.
Kennedy: “The scarlet thread running thru the thoughts and actions of people all over the world is the delegation of great problems to the all-absorbing leviathan—the state … Every time that we try to lift a problem to the government, to the same extent we are sacrificing the liberties of the people.” The flip side of the same coin is that as we take on a caretaker/master, we become a people without liberty.
Today, I will yield the bulk of comments to a friend from Nashville. His story reveals how the Empire is willing to be so open in its disregard of any Southern tradition or symbol, while still happy to use young Southerners as cannon-fodder for its military adventurism.
I have always been proud of my time spent as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. I served in the Republic of Vietnam in 1969 and, while I was certainly no "John Wayne" type, I tried to do my duty to the best of my ability and I did bring all of my platoon out of Vietnam alive.
This past summer, the son of a frend of mine was very 'gung ho' about joining the Marines and asked my opinion, which I tried to give as honestly as possible, warts and all. I don't know if my discussions had any influence on him, but he enlisted, completed all of the pre-enlistment tests and physical exams and went to all of the pre-enlistment meetings. To say the least, he was very excited about serving his country in the Corps.
Shortly before he left Nashville for boot camp, he was told he could not serve his country because he had a Confederate Battle Flag tattooed on his shoulder in an area that would be completely covered by a t-shirt, and certainly by his uniform.
When informed of this, I went to the local recruiting station that had processed this young man to see if I were getting the entire story. The recruiter, a staff sergeant, told me, "Yes, sir. The Marine Corps considers the Confederate Flag a 'hate symbol,' but if the young man in question had a state or U.S. flag tattoo, that would be acceptable."
I informed the young sergeant that my family had defended the State of Tennessee (also his home state) against a sadistic invasion under that flag and to call our sacred flag of honour a 'hate symbol was an insult to ALL southerners, but especially to those southereners who had risked or even given their lives in service to the Marine Corps. Southerners had served at Belleau Woods, at Taraw and Iwo Jima, at Inchon and the Chosin Reservoir, and at Khe Sahn and Hue City, but now we are no longer wanted in the politically-correct don't-offend-any-minorities military? (This was just prior to the Fort Hood massacre)
He was polite, even sympathetic, but said the flag policy was a Marine Corps policy from Headquarters Marine Corps and not a local decision. After informing the sergeant that it seemed to me that our military was building a mercenary force of illegal aliens while rejecting native-born Americans in order to have a ready force to turn, without question, on American citizens, I asked the sergeant if he had taken out the trash yet.
He replied that he hadn't.
I then said, "Please add these to the day's garbage," and returned my lieutenant's bars, my gold and silver Marine Corps emblem from my dress blues, my shooting badges and my Vietnam ribbons.
I, like many of you, have always been told, "Once a Marine, always a Marine," and "There are no ex-Marines, only former Marines," but for me that is no longer true.
I was born in the South. I was raised here. I raised my family in the South and some day, God-willing, I hope to be buried in the native soil of our Southern homeland. I have always considered myself a Southerner first, and will remain so, despite any other organization that I may temporarily join.
I will never make a critical remark about a veteran, from any branch of the service, but from now on, I will do everything in my power to discourage any Southern young man, or lady, from becoming a future veteran. I am now an ex-Marine.
Thank you, Gene, for being a legitimate patriot...one who will stand up and defend his family, his home, and his community. Thank you for having the priority of being Southern!
May God grant us more such men. We will then proudly have a free Tennessee Nation.
Illegal immigration into these united States has become pandemic. The recent administrations (both Republican and Democratic) in Washington have chosen to turn a blind eye toward the situation, so localities are beginning to take their own action.
This past week, Arizona’s governor Jan Brewer signed into law a bill that supporters said would take handcuffs off police in dealing with illegal immigration in Arizona. Arizona, by the way, has become a virtual boulevard for human and drug smuggling from Mexico. There are an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants in Arizona alone.
In reaction, Arizona congressman Raul Grijalva called on businesses and convention groups to boycott Arizona as a meeting spot. Raul is running for re-election in Arizona and called for a boycott of his own State?
The Associated Press reported that the American Immigration Lawyers Association announced that it would move its September conference for Scottsdale to another state. How about moving it to Mexico, boys? But then again, some of them might not be able to get back across the border legally.
The significant word in dealing with the situation is … illegal. That means NOT LEGAL. The Arizona law is directed at people who are BREAKING THE LAW!! How in the world can that fact not be a factor in people’s thinking.
Kuddos to the Arizona legislature and to their governor Jan Brewer. May the people of Arizona rise up and call her blessed! May the illegals quit their whining, rise up, and go home.
When the Empire refuses to act, the sovereign States need to. The Empire is corrupt, it is bankrupt, it is over-extended militarily, and it is slowly grinding to a halt. Our elected officials at the state and local levels must begin to exercise their responsibility of interposition.
Interposition is simply the concept of—that “magistrate” which is closer to the people “positions” himself between the people and the unruly magistrate which is further away from the people. The doctrine of interposition was advocated by Thomas Jefferson and other patriots as a necessary aspect of federalism, whereby a state could prevent the invasion of the reserved powers of state and people by some department of the federal government. It also applies in the case of a local official preventing a state official from abusing a citizen’s personal or property rights.
When State and local officials actually begin to exercise their legitimate authority, then we will truly have a Free Tennessee.
I once knew a man who had a pet Chihuahua. He would always melt in laughter when telling how that little dog would charge the neighbor’s Doberman. The huge Doberman would charge right back, but as it got to within four or five feet of the Chihuahua would roll over on its back and piss on itself. The Chihuahua would leave the "field of battle" as the victor, never having had to even nip his antagonist.
Yesterday, the Associated Press reported just such an incident with the Virginia-based Kappa Alpha Order. It seems that the national executive director of the fraternity has issued a directive to local chapters that they are banned from wearing Confederate uniforms to "Old South" parties and parades. Revealing a total lack of leadership and integrity, KA’s national executive director, Larry Wiese, rolled over and pissed on himself.
It appears that some seventy alumnae of a racially segregated (black only) sorority were offended by gray uniforms and hooped skirts. The Chihuahua charged!
Kappa Alpha was founded in 1865 at Washington & Lee University. The "Lee" part of the university’s name is in honour of Robert E. Lee who revitalized the school after the War for Southern Independence. And the fraternity refers to General Lee as its "spiritual founder." Robert E. Lee is the ultimate example of leadership, of integrity, and of Christian faith and virtue!
Southern school…the most respected and revered southern General…seems appropriate to occasionally dress in antebellum attire!
National executive director Weise wrote in his memo:
In today's climate, the Order can ill afford to offend our host institutions and fend off significant negative national press and remain effective at our core mission, which is to aid young men in becoming better community leaders and citizens...
Yes, a most important lesson for future community leaders and citizens to learn is how to be stricken with terror when complaints are made. Yes, a most important lesson of leadership is knowing how to sacrifice principle on the altar of political-correctnesss. Yes, a most important lesson for future community leaders and citizens to learn is how to roll over and piss on yourself when confronted with an attack by mental midgets. The Chihuahua is victorious!
May God save the South from people like Larry Weise.
At a Town Hall meeting last evening for the Southern National Congress, one gentleman bemoaned the absence of some people he had invited. He could not understand their lack of motivation to change the political climate under which they suffer.
His is a good question. What is our motivation for activity in various areas of life? I have worked in various political campaigns and have attended various political workshops. The list of issues about which people will get upset continues to grow: abortion, prayer in school, crime, immigration, taxes, war, regulations, etc., etc., and etc. But all politicians know that the one issue which moves people is their own financial well-being.
The “pocket-book” issues are what elect or defeat any candidate. People generally relate most every issue back to their own personal financial well-being. The bailout of the Big Bankers has been an issue only when it relates to our personal pocket-book. Bernie Madoff may have bilked a bunch of people of millions and millions, but he didn’t reach me, so he’s not all that bad a guy.
But there are a few who reach deeper in their psyche for motivation. I was just looking at some Easter pictures of my granddaughters who live in another State. It occurred to me that my Blog, my work with home education, my work with the local Chamber of Commerce, and my various political endeavours are about them.
We no longer live in the free society in which I grew up. There were no sobriety check-points, no metal detectors at the airport, and no antagonistic reactions to speaking out for Christ when I was young. The Gideons came into the classroom to hand out little New Testaments. Air travel did not require multiple forms of photo identification, nor removal of shoes, nail clippers, and hair spray. We were helped by “peace” officers, not harassed by “law enforcement.”
As a Christian, I will always first and foremost serve Christ, but those four little girls deserve to live in a world that has passed away. I will devote all my life, my talent, and my resources so that they might be able to raise their children in a Free Tennessee.
What is your motivation? Is it your pocket-book? Or are you motivated by something deeper?
On Thursday, 15 April, a Wisconsin U.S. District Judge Barbara B. Crabb, issued an opinion that the law which requires the President to declare a National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional.
Judge Babs wrote that the National Day of Prayer "goes beyond mere 'acknowledgment' of religion because its sole purpose is to encourage all citizens to engage in prayer, an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function…In this instance, the government has taken sides on a matter that must be left to individual conscience. . .”
I find it interesting (almost humorous) that this opinion was issued on the same day that all within the Empire are expected to bow and “render unto Caesar” the firstfruits of their labour.
The Scripture asks, “Why do the heathen rage?” Standing and shouting into the face of God that He is irrelevant in any “secular function” is an extreme exercise in futility. When the leadership of a nation denies the Creator, why should we expect His blessing on any of our enterprise?
In yesterday’s worship, the congregation of which I am a member sang the three hundred year old hymn, “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty.” The second verse reads:
Praise to the Lord, who over all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how thy desires ever have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?
It amazes me that so many cannot see the hand of God in the blessings bestowed upon these united States over the years. But the general blessing has ceased, there only remains specific blessing for His people. Of the seven verses of the hymn, our hymnal prints only five, omitting the fifth and sixth. I would enjoy singing the sixth verse.
Praise to the Lord, who, when darkness of sin is abounding,
Who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
Sheddeth His light, chaseth the horrors of night,
Saints with His mercy surrounding.
We find ourselves with a President who will recognize Moslem holidays, but refuse to issue a call to prayer to the Creator. And Judges back him up. And legislators regularly ignor wisdom and Biblical Law. The Empire is dead.
May Tennesseans affirm their faith in the words of the fourth verse.
Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
If with His love He befriend thee.
May God save Tennessee and grant us a free Tennessee Nation.
There arises an occasional challenge as to my “extreme” language of referring to the United States as the Columbian Empire. A reasoned explanation is here provided.
A nation refers to a group of people who have covenanted together for social order and the protection of their homes, their families, and their society. The term nation is derived from the same root as nationality or race. All ancient nations were ethnically oriented.
“State” or “nation-state” is the term which came to be used in Christendom. Again, states are covenantal units established for common defense. Militias compose every able-bodied (and armed) man in the state, while armies are trained as professionals in the art of war. The primary nature of a defensive military is to secure the borders, the shores, the coasts, and the skies from hostile threat or invasion.
Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution of these united States refers to militias as well as Armies and a Navy. The Congress shall have Power…
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions…
The Constitution refers to the use of armed forces to “suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.” These are defensive actions, not offensive. When a nation/state ceases to have a defensive posture and adopts an offensive military agenda, it is empire-building.
In 2009, the Department of Defense admitted to 716 U.S. military bases on foreign soil. Independent experts place the figure closer to 1000. The DOD’s latest report sites troops stationed in 148 countries and 11 territories around the world. This is not a defensive posture! It is an Empire!
The DOD reports assets of more than 539,000 facilities on more than 5570 sites on approximately 29 million acres. Its military spending almost equals the rest of the 200 plus countries of the world combined. This is an Empire!
We are way beyond the “repelling invasions” criteria of our Founding Fathers. We are Medeo-Persia; we are Alexander’s Greece; we are Rome; we are the Columbian Empire! As all the former empires fell from their own weight, so will ours.
Tennesseans must begin to prepare to rule themselves without the persistent presence of the federal bureaucracy. Sooner or later we will have the responsibility of establishing the Tennessee Nation.
A most disturbing indication of where we are as a people is the inclination for most everyone to ask government to fix every problem. We are all victims who need help.
Those who value individual responsibility and personal accountability are no longer the ones who hold the microphones. Whether it be the “talking heads” of news programs or the advisors, annalists, experts, and politicos which they interview, everyone presents the same question, “What’s the government going to do about it?”
Just watched a video of a “conservative” FOX News commentator challenging a Congressman who wants to repeal ObamaCare. The question was asked, “How are you going to help the millions of uninsured Americans?”
Where in the Constitution does the Empire have the responsibility to take care of us? The only cradle-to-grave security which has ever existed on this continent was chattel slavery. I’m not asking for a comeback of that institution, but it seems that Emperor Obama and his minions do want us all to be slaves to the Empire.
John F. Kennedy’s famous line was, “Ask not what your country can do for you; Ask what you can do for your country!” Most everyone seems to have it backwards now. Even “conservative” Legislators, Congressmen, and Senators are crawling over one another attempting to come up with a better version of what government can supply.
We need to be praying for men and women who will stand up and say, “I won’t vote to give you anything….But I will vote to make it easier for you to earn it yourself!”
Give me a Free Tennessee where free men in a free society “paddle their own canoe” and do not demand government or society in general to “take care of me.”
The term interposition has been out of use in everyday language for over a hundred years, but it is making a resurgence. The use of interposition during the 18th and 19th centuries has been studied in history classes, but most students quickly forget the term after their exams. Interposition was a quaint term associated with another time, but wholly neglected and useless in modern politics. Until now.
Interposition is the concept of—that “magistrate” which is closer to the people “positions” himself between the people and the unruly magistrate which is further away from the people.
The doctrine of interposition has long legal and religious roots in American history. The actions of the colonial assemblies in passing resolutions in defiance of the King and Parliament of Great Britain were simply acts of interposition.
Interposition was advocated by Thomas Jefferson and others as a necessary aspect of federalism, whereby a state could prevent the invasion of the reserved powers of state and people by some department of the federal government. The Kentucky and Virginia Resolves in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts were statements of interposition by those respective State legislatures.
John C. Calhoun of South Carolina on the eve of the War for Southern Independence reasserted interposition in the doctrine of nullification.
The States of Tennessee and Montana have begun a series of legislative interpositions in the form of Tenth Amendment resolutions which are being approved by other state legislatures as well. Tennessee and Montana have also approved laws which limit the BATFE’s authority on intrastate manufacture and commerce.
Early in the history of these united States, interposition worked. Even South Carolina’s nullification of the Tariff caused the Congress to back up and reevaluate its position. But when a few States expressed interposition with articles of secession, Abraham Lincoln (the first President elected by a minority) responded with a massive invasion of those sovereign States and a death toll of hundreds of thousands.
Do our elected representatives at the State and local levels have the resolve to resist acts of force? Are they ready to meet federal “law enforcers” at the State line or the County line? Or will they bow to the whims of some judge, cower in the corner and seek forgiveness from the Emperor?
We shall soon see. Hopefully we have a good number who will stand for a Free Tennessee.
Over the past half century, I have watched the increasing momentum toward the centralization of money and power in Washington, DC. When people think of “the government,” they rarely think of anything other than the central government.
As the influence of the central government has increased, this land has gradually ceased to be the America my patriot forefathers fought and died for in the 1770s. I can’t say when it died, but the corpse has putrefied. The only region which has a chance of hanging onto the virtues of patriotism is the South.
While the other regions embrace the Columbian Empire, the sovereign States of the South will resist.
Bill Cawthon, a friend and League member from Alabama, has provided some statistics and analysis of the US House vote on ObamaCare.
Every Southern State voted against ObamaCare. Not only that, in every Southern State the Congressional House delegation voted against this major Health Care Reform by landslide proportions (a classic landslide is 60%). See the complete report here.
Tennessee’s Congressional delegation has four Republicans and five Democrats, yet they voted 6 to 3 against ObamaCare. Review Mr. Cawthon’s report and you will see that Tennessee has little in common with the Empire.
The Empire claims to own more than 60% of the state of Utah. This is a situation common among the western states.
When former Emperor Clinton ran for reelection in 1996, he paid off curried favour with environmentalists by declaring the Kaiparowits plateau in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument a national monument. The plateau just happens to be the home to large coal reserves which the leaders of the State of Utah would like to see mined (and taxed).
Last year, Emperor Obama’s Interior Secretary Ken Salazar scrapped seventy-seven oil and gas leases around national parks and wild areas. This again cost the citizens of Utah thousands of dollars in tax revenues.
Last Saturday, Utah’s Governor Gay Herbert authorized the use of eminent domain to take some of the energy-rich parcels of land away from the Columbian Empire and restore their value to the citizens of Utah. This is a twist to Kelo v. New London (545 US 469) which those wise Justices of the Supreme Court missed. Their decision allowed the theft of property by a government entity from a private citizen. Now we get to live with the spectre of governments fighting each other for property.
But who really owns the land? It should be the citizens, not some far-off bureaucracy in "the District."
When a massive empirical government spins out of control there is no telling where it will end up. When men forsake the Truth of biblical principles, then in society “all hell will break out." The eighth commandment declares that civil government have the responsibility of protecting property rights...Thou shalt not steal. But stealing has become such a standard of normal activity for the Empire that it no longer even expresses regret for its theft. It is just business as usual to take from the productive in order to give it to the unproductive.
Let’s get out of the Empire. We can return to sanity. We can have our own Tennessee Nation.
Most of us do not grasp the full consequences of the Empire’s passionate desire to provide “comprehensive health care” for every citizen.
All statists envision the civil government as god. There are thus certain attributes of God which the state must exhibit.
The Columbian Empire, in order to be god, must be the arbiter of life and death. It must also be the source of all knowledge and wisdom. It must be all powerful (omnipotent), and all knowing (omniscient), and entwined into every area of our lives (omnipresent).
We are told that in the Garden of Eden, “out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil,” and that “the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
From the very beginning, God established Himself as the only arbiter of life and death.
God emphasized His status as health provider to the Israelites in the wilderness, “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.”
If that wasn’t enough, as they gathered to go into the Promised Land, God speaks, “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.”
The Empire seeks to cloud the issue of health and life and death by showing that it can provide “insurance” against any health catastrophe. Be aware and be warned, the Empire can “insure,” it can guarantee nothing.
While we might hope for an ever-lasting youth and vigour in the here and now, it is just not possible… and no government agency or program can make it happen.
I am reminded of a novella entitled, The Children’s Story. Written by James Clavell (author of Shogun and To Sir With Love, as well as the screenplay forThe Great Escape), it was originally published in the Ladies Home Journal, October 1963. In the early 1980s, a real-time (60 minutes) version was filmed an broadcast on television.
The Children’s Story relates the ease with which ideas and ideologies may be pressed upon young children. In one hour, their allegiances and faith are moved from truth to the allegiances and faith of their manipulators. It may take longer with adults, but the manipulation is no less sure.
For generations, the builders of civilization on this continent have relied upon the Lord god Almighty for their strength and for Truth. We have hewn out of the wilderness farms, and factories, and great cities. Our strength has been our confidence in the care and direction of Providence. To depart from such will be our destruction.
What responsibility do you feel concerning your civil and religious freedom? Most people think that such questions are frivolous, because (they think) those questions have already been settled. They were settled in 1776 (or whenever we beat the British).
But the contest for civil and religious freedom continues from generation to generation. Every twenty to thirty years, the battles for liberty are replayed, and every time a new group of people find themselves on the front lines of the continuing quest for civil and religious freedom.
When the Continental Congress published the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms in 1775, they recognized that they were just as responsible for civil and religious freedom as the men who settled Jamestown in 1607, one hundred sixty-eight years earlier. The patriots celebrated their fore-fathers exploits:
Our forefathers, inhabitants of the island of Great-Britain, left their native land, to seek on these shores a residence for civil and religious freedom. At the expense of their blood, at the hazard of their fortunes, without the least charge to the country from which they removed, by unceasing labour, and an unconquerable spirit, they effected settlements in the distant and unhospitable wilds of America, then filled with numerous and warlike barbarians.
I have read extensively about the “unceasing labour” and the “unconquerable spirit” which those men (and later, women) displayed. Even those “gentlemen” in the Virginia colony who thought they were too good for common labour, soon realized that true freedom is never granted, it is earned.
Today, we are surrounded by multitudes who are waiting for someone to hand them freedom, to provide them with the blessings of liberty. They expect “the government” to care for them from cradle to grave.
On this continent, there has only been one time when anyone was cared for from cradle-to-grave. That care included food and shelter, clothing and medical care, but it also included chains. The cradle-to-grave care was given by a group of mostly benevolent men and women, but it also involved the owning of the recipient. We call it what it was called then…slavery.
Those who today wish for cradle-to-grave security must check their freedom at the door. They are entering a house of chains where everyone is a slave.
I would rather struggle for everything I need and be free. I want to live in a land that enjoys freedom.
The Associated Press headlined, “It's the law of the land: Health overhaul signed.” The reporter then begins her pernicious propaganda “news” item with the opening paragraph:
WASHINGTON – Claiming a historic triumph that could define his presidency, a jubilant Barack Obama signed a massive, nearly $1 trillion health care overhaul on Tuesday that will for the first time cement insurance coverage as the right of every U.S. citizen and begin to reshape the way virtually all Americans receive and pay for treatment...(complete article here).
Just who is kidding whom? Going back to my high school Civics class, a bill must pass both houses of Congress before it can be signed into law by the President.
The “Health Care Overhaul” passed the House of Representatives. The same legislation has NOT, let me repeat NOT, been passed by the Senate.Reconciliation must happen first. The "signing ceremony” was a fraud! Nothing has changed! The signing ceremony was nothing more than a HUGE publicity stunt, UNLESS…
The current administration has shown a decided lack of interest in or desire to follow or “uphold the Constitution,” a phrase which is included in any number of oaths taken by office holders. Should the Emperor and his lackeys in Congress decide go the traitorous step of ignoring the legitimate provisions for making law, then they have truly become tyrants. This is true tyranny!!
The fourth sentence of the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms reads:
Yet, however blinded that assembly may be, by their intemperate rage for unlimited domination, so to sight justice and the opinion of mankind, we esteem ourselves bound by obligations of respect to the rest of the world, to make known the justice of our cause.
Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and George Mason would be spinning in their graves if they were witness to the “intemperate rage for unlimited domination” which is being displayed by Congress and Emperor Obama. The members of the 1775 British Parliament were amateurs compared to the despots at the reigns of the Columbian Empire. Justice and the opinion of mankind are of no consequence to this bunch!
Tennesseans must wake up to the reality of the massive dictatorship which looms before us. We must take hold of our God-given, inalienable rights to life, liberty, and property. We must work together to establish a government which divorces itself from the Empire. The Tennessee League of the South as well as sister organizations throughout the South are working to make such a divorce a reality.
If the Southern states were to assert their independence and separate from the Columbian Empire, the Health Care vote would have gone another way.
Counting votes from the Southern states (including Kentucky, Missouri, and Oklahoma) the socialist agenda of Emperor Hussein Obama would have gone down in flames 106 NO votes to only 44 YES votes.
Perhaps the Southern states should force the secession of places like Atlanta, Memphis, and St. Louis, then the vote would be even more pro private property rights and pro liberty.
It does not take much intelligence to read about the conflict which the thirteen colonies had with Great Britain and relate their situation to ours. It does take a desire to govern and lead with dignity and within the limits of a respect for unalienable, God-given rights of the individual. To relate our situation with that of our colonial ancestors takes only a moment to open your eyes and ears.
The third sentence from the Declaration of the causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms adopted by the Second Continental Congress:
The legislature of Great-Britain, however, stimulated by an inordinate passion for a power not only unjustifiable, but which they know to be peculiarly reprobated by the very constitution of that kingdom, and desparate of success in any mode of contest, where regard should be had to truth, law, or right, have at length, deserting those, attempted to effect their cruel and impolitic purpose of enslaving these colonies by violence, and have thereby rendered it necessary for us to close with their last appeal from reason to arms.
Men are sinful by nature and will revert to a sinful manipulations to obtain their desires. In the body politic there are two driving forces: power and money. The obtaining of one usually helps provide the other. The manipulations to gain power (or maintain it) will happen in city and local governments as quickly as it will in state and international settings. Churches, clubs and volunteer organizations are all susceptible as well.
The sinful yearnings of men are restrained individually by the Holy Spirit. In the body politic, men must be restrained first by their oath of loyalty to their governing constitution and secondly, by a regard for “truth, law or right.” Our founding fathers understood that.
One of the great failings of today's politicians is that they neither know nor understand our constitutions. Many have never even read them.
Our founding fathers saw that the King and Parliament had decided to do what they wished regardless of constitution or truth. Emperor Obama and the Congress of the Columbian Empire are repeating the desperate actions of Great Britain in the 1770s. The Emperor and his minions have the “cruel and impolitic purpose of enslaving” us all.
They are moving toward a last appeal to reason. The cry for secession is now audible. It will soon grow to a chorus of such multitude that it will sound as the thundering roar of a tumbling rapids.
Some would prefer to do away with not just some, but all government. Our patriot fathers in the 1770s had a deeper knowledge of the purposes of civil government than 99% of our politicians today. In the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms, John Dickenson’s second sentence was,
But a reverence for our Creator, principles of humanity, and the dictates of common sense, must convince all those who reflect upon the subject, that government was instituted to promote the welfare of mankind, and ought to be administered for the attainment of that end.
Although not all of the delegates to the Continental Congresses were orthodox Christians, they all were profoundly influenced by a biblical worldview. They recognized that the affairs of men are governed by a Creator who so rules over His creation that they also utilized the term Providence in speaking of Him.
Civil government was in their minds a divine provision for the safety of men. When they spoke of promoting the “welfare of mankind,” they gave no hint of interpreting that phrase as an opportunity for government to finance the livelihood and medical care of the population.
When our patriot fathers spoke of the “welfare of mankind,” they were speaking of safety from evil-doers, and protection from unruly magistrates, and the security of private property.
When our patriot fathers spoke of such safety, protection, and security they were calling to mind the effective punishment for violations of the Ten Commandments – such as, Thou shalt not steal; Thou shalt not do murder; Thou shalt not covet.
Our patriot fathers were able to conceive of a limited civil government, because they focused on negative law – the “nots.” Today civil government continues to encroach on our lives because it focuses on positive law – the “shalls.” There are never enough rules to how we should do things, but it’s easy to say how not to.
The Columbian Empire continues to pump out massive amounts of regulations and rules. The Empire is not just hungry to rule other countries, it is thirsty to rule every facet of our daily lives.
The only way to be free of that oppression is to gain a Free Tennessee.
Perhaps we should begin to discuss some of the issues which demand a separation from the Columbian Empire.
Most people start their argument with the Declaration of Independence, but I wish to start with a document penned a year earlier on 6 July 1775. Called the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms, it went through three drafts, first by John Rutledge, then Thomas Jefferson, and finally by John Dickenson.
If it was possible for men, who exercise their reason to believe, that the divine Author of our existence intended a part of the human race to hold an absolute property in, and an unbounded power over others, marked out by his infinite goodness and wisdom, as the objects of a legal domination never rightfully resistible, however severe and oppressive, the inhabitants of these colonies might at least require from the parliament of Great-Britain some evidence, that this dreadful authority over them, has been granted to that body.
A rather long and run-on sentence which asks, “Where did you of the Empire get the idea that you have the authority to rule over every area of our lives?”
The various groups which have been forming and speaking out against the totalitarian tendencies of the Columbian Empire are asking the same question. We are not so different from our “1776” ancestors.
Liberty is the ability to govern our own affairs without interference from government, as long as we are not interfering with the affairs of others. Put another way, my liberty ends where yours begins.
I will be exploring more of the Declaration of the Causes… over the next several blogs.
So glad I woke up this morning in my cabin, rather than a Tennessee hotel. After all, I might be looking at the prospect of having my breakfast taxed!
Yes, according to Nashville’s Tennessean, “the state wants to tax the lodging businesses for the food that they offer as free breakfasts as part of their room rate.”
State officials stress that the businesses would be taxed and not the hungry patrons.
Regan Farr, commissioner of the Department of Revenue, doesn’t believe hotels would pass the tax on to consumers.
The proposal is in a much broader tax provisions bill sponsored by state Sen. Jim Kyle (D) of Memphis and State Rep. Mike Turner (D) of Nashville.
Before anyone comments, think for a moment. All food items already have sales tax computed at the point of consumption. A wholesaler doesn’t pay sales tax, a grocery store doesn’t pay sales tax, but the person (or company) that buys the food to eat it does already pay sales tax.
The lodging businesses are already paying sales tax on those breakfast items when they buy them from the grocery. They have already computed that tax (as well as the cost of the food) into their room rates. Noone really believes that all those free breakfasts are really free. They ain’t lunch, but remember…”They ain’t no such thing as a free lunch” either.
Gentlemen, please consider that sales tax cannot be computed on the same item more than once. If you tax the food as part of the room rate, then the hotel immediately becomes a wholesaler and no longer pays the tax at the grocery.
Possible breakfast cost, $5.00. Tax (@9.25%), 46 cents.
New tax on breakfast = + .46
Tax not paid at grocery = - .46
NET INCREASE IN REVENUE = 0.00
Commissioner Farr, Senator Kyle and Representative Turner are brilliant!!! A new tax that cost the taxpayers nothing! But then again raises no revenue either.
Don’t be too hard on these gentlemen, after all, they were probably schooled in the state’s education system.
But if we are to have a Free Tennessee, we need legislators who can add and subtract and reason better than these idiots.
The “Health Care Debate” continues to dominate the press, the politicians, and the public. We are inundated with opinion polls, charts, and commentaries.
To a crowd of white-coated doctors and nurses in the East Room, Emperor Obama said, “At stake right now is not just our ability to solve this problem, but our ability to solve any problem.” If I have a problem getting health care, if I have a problem getting insurance, it is my problem! Who told him that he had to solve my problem? I didn’t!
To the politicians of his party, the Emperor urged, "I do not know how this plays politically, but I know it's right…Let's get it done." OLD JOKE – How do we know when a politician is lying? ANSWER: Their mouth is moving. Obama knows exactly how everything is playing politically. He doesn’t move without knowing what the opinion polls have said. Secondly, how does he know “it’s right?”
I will repeat the quotation from Bastiat in my last post.
You say: “There are persons who have no money,” and you turn to the law. But the law is not a breast that fills itself with milk. Nor are the lacteal veins of the law supplied with milk from a source outside the society. Nothing can enter the public treasury for the benefit of one citizen or one class unless other citizens and other classes have been forced to send it in. If every person draws from the treasury the amount that he has put in it, it is true that the law then plunders nobody. But this procedure does nothing for the persons who have no money. It does not promote equality of income. The law can be an instrument of equalization only as it takes from some persons and gives to other persons. When the law does this, it is an instrument of plunder.
The U.S. Constitution does not give the federal government any authority over health care. The Constitution gives “enumerated powers,” meaning, “if it doesn’t mention it, it doesn’t exist,” PERIOD. While taking care of the feeble and infirm is commendable, it is not the task of the government. Government can only do it if they first steal the money from you!
When the Republicans mention an alternative, pared down, less expensive version of health care reform, they are violating their oath of office just as much as the Democrats. There are NO innocents in the capitol. They are all minions of the Empire!
Tennessee needs to be free of it all. We need a Tennessee Nation.
