Plutarch in his Lives of Illustrious Men wrote, “the innate disease of princes, ambition of greater empire.” As it was centuries ago, so it still is. The Empire wants to crush us and the last vestiges of liberty we possess.

In the halls of the Empire, legislation is being pushed at break-neck speed. It would appear that every issue has become so important that there is no time for debate, no time for examination; in fact, there is no time even to read the legislation which must be voted on immediately. From the bank bailouts, to the cash-for-clunkers, to cap and tax, and now health care reform, the current Caesar reigning from 1400 Pennsylvania Avenue wants approval before the ink is dry (sometimes before the ink has actually been put to the paper).

A group of Republicans is now pushing for legislation that will require all major legislation to be posted online at least 72 hours before it is voted on. This is an amazing concept! Allowing people to read the actual wording of the legislation before making it law! But before the Republicans get too self-righteous, remember that in October 2001, a little piece of legislation called the USA Patriot Act was voted into law before anyone in either the US Senate or House of Representatives had read it. The then reigning Caesar G.W. Bush insisted that it was imperative for our homeland’s security!

It reminds me of a line in the film Braveheart in which the English king orders that William Wallace be captured and brought to him. “…dead or alive, it makes no difference.” Today, when it comes to the loss of our constitutional liberties, “…Democrat or Republican, it makes no difference.”

The USA Patriot Act was (and continues to be) the greatest assault on our liberty that has come out of Washington since the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. It should be remembered that both James Madison and Thomas Jefferson respectively wrote the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions in opposition to those acts. Today’s actions out of the seat of Empire would surely drive Madison and Jefferson to apoplexy.

Yes, it is the innate disease of princes to desire greater power and subdue all opposition. What better way to subdue the opposition than to never let them know what it is they oppose.

When government is closer to the people, such activity is not so easily accomplished, nor is it tolerated without a stern opposition. When it is your neighbour who wishes it extend his authority beyond his property line, we easily recognize the problem and put a stop to it. When it is a politician hundreds of miles away, the over-reaching is less obvious and much harder to arrest. That is why we need a Tennessee Nation, free from the over-reaching of the Empire.

From Solitude,
David O Jones

More and more people in the broadcast media are beginning to discover the dangers of their mindless flag-waving. Patriotism is a loyalty to one’s homeland, but what we have experienced for many years (and especially since 9/11) has been nationalism – devotion to a bigger and stronger government hierarchy that exerts ever greater control over the citizenry.

Jack Hunter, columnist with the Charleston City Paper, wrote on last Friday, 25 September,

For eight years, hosts like [Mark] Levin and even Glenn Beck promoted full-blown neoconservatism without ever calling it by that name. For these mainstream pundits, conservatism simply equaled neoconservatism, and during the Bush years there was no talk of limited government, no concern about “socialism” and no real worries about anything else, other than the War on Terror. The Republican Party was a single issue party; Ron Paul was considered crazy, Joe Lieberman was considered cool—and government exploded.

Levin, Beck and most Tennesseans are nationalists, not patriots.

Every weekend, I am amazed at the number of friends and family who cheer a favorite college and pro football team, yet are abysmally unaware that the tentacles of economic and political death are slowly encircling them. The Romans used bread and circuses to distract the population from the collapse of their society; our Columbian (as in District of Columbia) Empire promotes sports, cash-for-clunkers, and hundreds of mind-numbing television channels.

But it appears the Beck be awakening from slumber! Hunter quotes Beck from an earlier September television broadcast,

I guess the scales are falling off of my eyes, as I’m doing more and more research into history and learning real history. Back at the turn of the century in 1900, with Teddy Roosevelt—a Republican—we started this, “we’re going to tell the rest of the world,” “we’re going to spread democracy,” and we really became, down in Latin America, we really became thuggish and brutish. It only got worse with the next progressive that came into office—Teddy Roosevelt, Republican progressive—the next one was a Democratic progressive, Woodrow Wilson, and we did … we empire built.

To paraphrase a well-worn phrase, “Yes, Glenn there is a history.” The problem is that the great majority of political pundits are ignorant of history. And they have become nationalists by default. They can’t recognize patriotism when it hits them in the face. They will criticize those who take stands for self-rule and smaller government, all the while supporting growing Statism and Fascism. Of course, they don't recognize those two "isms" and won’t, until hit in  their wallets when they are removed from the airwaves. Lesser people will realize their liberty is gone when no one can afford to pay the football players and the games stop.

It doesn’t take much study of our current situation to recognize the truth that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (George Santayana) We are being sucked into the abyss of Empire.

We need more patriotism and less nationalism. Our best remedy is to declare our independence and become a Free Tennessee.

From Solitude,
David O Jones
 

There are in these days many different reactions to the idea of Southern States becoming free and independent of the Columbian Empire.

• Some speak condescendingly, expecting to meet someone not in full grasp of their faculties.
• Some speak disparagingly, supposing some vicious ulterior motive in the effort.
• Some speak ruefully, believing that patriotism can only be directed to the United States rather than a locale.

 But some ask questions; some seek answers; some want to know what a taste of real liberty is all about.

During the War for Southern Independence (1861-1865), an Englishman toured the South and gave us an interesting “outsiders” perspective of the South and the War. In the Preface to THREE MONTHS IN THE SOUTHERN STATES, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards, wrote,

'I have not attempted to conceal any of the peculiarities or defects
of the Southern people. Many persons will doubtless highly disapprove of
some of their customs and habits in the wilder portion of the country; but
I think no generous man, whatever may be his political opinions, can do
otherwise than admire the courage, energy, and patriotism of the whole
population, and the skill of its leaders, in this struggle against great
odds. And I am also of the opinion that many will agree with me in
thinking that a people in which all ranks and both sexes display a
unanimity and a heroism which can never have been surpassed in the history
of the world, is destined, SOONER OR LATER, to become A GREAT AND
INDEPENDENT NATION.'

Yes, sooner or later, Tennesseans will have their own independent nation. The idea has lain dormant, but the seed is germinating and the idea will become reality.

From Solitude,
David O. Jones

There are three types of slavery – domestic, political, and civil.

Domestic slavery is the most easily recognized and most commonly denounced. It is the condition in which one man is subject to be directed by another in all his actions. On this continent, it was mostly associated with Africans. But world-wide it is not so much racial as tribal – one group simply wants to control another group.

Political slavery can be just as obvious or more subtle. Political slavery exists when a nation has been conquered by another nation. In today’s geo-political climate, the conqueror will generally claim that the conquering was done for the altruistic benefit of “the people” of the conquered nation. The Columbian Empire has spread its tentacles from Washington across the seven seas to enslave millions of people in the name of democracy. And the slaves don’t like it! How else can we explain the massive number of native reprisals against our occupations.

Civil slavery is the most subtle. It can take generations to effect itself upon a citizenry. Civil slavery exists any time a government encroaches upon the liberties of the citizens more than is absolutely necessary for the maintenance of normal society. Civil slavery is a fact that every “American” needs to recognize as a fact.

Just thirty years ago, a person could board an airliner using a ticket under someone else’s name. We didn’t think anything of it. Then came baggage screening because a few planes were “hijacked.” Then along comes an idiot who tries to light a fuse in his shoe and we are all required to practically undress before boarding a flight. The Empire did it all in the name of safety…all just for you.

Recent legislation from Washington extends the Columbian Empire’s control and oversight from “navigable waterways” to any puddle in your back yard. Best your little boy doesn’t pee in a puddle, else you may find the feds arresting the kid for polluting the waterways. We have become slaves!

The list of encroachments upon our liberties is fast becoming endless. The nonsense has to stop! The only sensible government is that closest to the people. We need to be free of the Empire. We need a Free Tennessee!

From Solitude,
David O. Jones
 

It is time to leave the Columbian Empire behind when their only defense for their social, financial and military actions is an ad hominem attack on the criticisers.

Most people have never studied formal logic, so rarely have the ability to recognize fallacies in arguments. A fallacy of relevance is committed when an argument relies on premises that are not relevant to its conclusion, and therefore cannot possibly establish its truth.  An ad hominem attack is one in which the thrust is directed, not at a conclusion, but at the person who asserts or defends an argument.

Since the Obama administration took/seized power in January, all meaningful discourse on social and political topics has ended. The standard line for the defenders of the Empire and its minions is that its criticisers are all racists. On Wednesday, 16 September, Former President Jimmy Carter joined the chorus when he told Brian Williams of NBC that “an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barak Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man.”

Excuse me, but my reason for opposing the actions of the President are simply that they reflect the classical definitions of Marxism and Fascism (national socialism) and are opposed to every founding principle of 1776.

Fascism is private ownership of industry, but with state control of the industry. Marxism is state ownership of industry. The mixture of the two in the Obama administration and in the legislative halls of the Columbian Empire is amazing! In less than a year, the United States has become part owner of the major banks and the major industries on the continent. People have lost jobs and have lost their businesses at the whim of planners and “czars” within the administration.

At the same time we are all facing the possibility of seeing the health care industry completely wrecked. Everyone (but especially the few that can still be classified as middle class) will be taxed to support a whole new huge bureaucracy that will micro-manage our health care.

Liberty means you and I have the right to make mistakes. Making our own mistakes which we can quickly correct just makes more sense than having a faceless bureaucrat miles away making the mistakes for us without anyone having the authority to make corrections.

We could go on with a lengthy list of legitimate reasons for opposition to the various actions of the Columbian Empire, but our arguments are immediately discounted because HE is black so WE are obviously racist!

Give me a free Tennessee Nation!

From Solitude,
David O. Jones

September 17th is the day which the United States Congress has set aside for us to remember the Constitution. It does seems significant that the discussion in the halls of Congress these days is all about actions and programs which have nothing to do with any Constitutional authority. So remembering it is about all that can be done.

The politicians of the Columbian Empire ignore the Constitution. They have seen fit to maintain a continuous and progressive robbery of the productive citizens thru taxes in order to buy the votes of those who do are not productive.

The problem of the United States Constitution lies not in its construction, its words, or its intent. The problem lies in the fact that the authors of the Constitution were primarily men of “The Word.” They understood that just as God has established absolute meanings of words in the Bible, so words are important in every other endeavour of life. Their mistake was to expect succeeding generations to have a similar respect for words. If words do not hold their meaning, they can then be bended to mean just about anything.

So goes the “general welfare” clause. The men in Philadelphia in 1787 understood “general welfare” to be the collective good of the society, not the individual benefits paid to the poor, whether deserving or otherwise.

When the Iraqis were penning their new constitution a few years ago, Jay Leno joked that if they needed a good constitution, why not use ours; we certainly weren’t using it. The men and women in both Parties are consistent in their promotion of the Empire at the expense of the shell of law called the U.S. Constitution. It is just a piece of paper.

From Solitude,
David O. Jones