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Therefore, making revitalization of the Militia a
major issue can be key to uniting people now; forming a grand political
coalition by amalgamating voters on the “right,”
“left,” and “center”; and thereby winning both a
nomination and the Presidential election.
For
practical examples, revitalization of the Militia will appeal to those on the
“left” who are concerned—and rightfully so—with the
elaboration of a National police state in this country under color of waging
“the war on terrorism.” By taking over many important functions
of “homeland security,” revitalization of the Militia will
prevent any police state from being set up. Revitalization of the Militia
will appeal to those on the “right” who are concerned—also
rightfully so—with the loss of their right “to keep and bear
Arms” through expansion of “gun control.” Revitalization of
the Militia will end “gun control,” once and for all,
because every member of the Militia (other than conscientious objectors) will
be required to possess and become proficient with his own firearm, which he
will maintain at all times in his own home. The only candidate who can
plausibly make these arguments—because he has always opposed all the
police-state schemes and tactics of the present Administration as well as all
manner of modern “gun control”—is Representative Paul.
6.
Revitalizing “the Militia of the several States” may provide the
most direct and efficacious means for President Ron Paul to accomplish
anything of significance in at least his first two years in office.
For
Representative Paul to win election to the Presidency is one thing; making
effective use of the office is another. Initially, Congress, the Judiciary,
and the General Government’s huge bureaucracy will be against him. So,
too, the major political parties; aspirant politicians of an Establishment
stripe; influential special-interest groups, domestic and foreign; the big
media; and the intelligentsiia. For that reason, President Paul must
be prepared to sidestep the Establishment and go directly to the
people—not simply with words from a “bully pulpit,” but
with actions grounded in his and their legal authority.
The
Constitution provides the roadmap. Article II, Section 3 imposes on the
President the duty to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully
executed.” Plainly, the Constitution itself is foremost among those
“Laws”—for in Article II, Section 1, Clause 7 it requires
of the President an “Oath or Affirmation * * * that [he] * * * will to
the best of [his] Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of
the United States.” Article I, Section 8, Clause 15 imposes upon the
Militia the authority and responsibility “to execute the Laws of the
Union” when “call[ed] forth” for that purpose—the only
explicit delegation of such authority and responsibility anywhere in the
Constitution. And Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 appoints the President as
“Commander in Chief * * * of the Militia of the several States, when
called into the actual Service of the United States.” Thus,
unmistakably, the Constitution foresees, because it provides in so many
words, that the President may employ the Militia to fulfill his oath of
office and to perform his duty to “take Care that the Laws be
faithfully executed.”
Many
critical reforms that a hostile Congress would not entertain could
nonetheless be effected by the President and the Militia as part of a
wide-ranging program of true “homeland security.” Perhaps the
most pressing would be the implementation of a system of silver and gold
currencies, in anticipation of the collapse of the Federal Reserve System
(described above). Many others can be imagined.
Announcing
this strategy would lend immense credibility to Representative Paul’s
campaign, by demonstrating that he has a plan for reform that follows the
Constitution’s prescription and cannot be frustrated by entrenched
special interests—if the American people will take his part in the
election and do theirs afterwards. This would constitute a meaningful
“contract with America,” because it is truly mutual, and
ultimately builds upon self-government, not rule by professional politicians
and special-interest groups.
7.
Revitalizing “the Militia of the several States” will leave an
institutional presence, fortified with constitutional authority, for
common Americans’ political self-defense in both the governments of the
States and the General Government, long after a Paul Administration has
passed from the scene.
Even
if a President Ron Paul could effect major reforms in foreign policy, in
money and banking, in securing individual constitutional liberties, and so
on, he would not be successful unless, at the termination of his
Administration, he left the American people themselves firmly and permanently
in control of their State governments and of the General Government. For
future rogue Presidents and Congressmen might contrive to “roll
back” these reforms, if the people could not deter, and if necessary
oppose, them from positions of unassailable legal authority and power.
Revitalizing the Militia will provide the American people with those
positions. Indeed, only revitalizing the Militia can do so.
So,
here and now candidate Paul should tell the electorate that the most
important part of President Paul’s “legacy” to the country
will be the constitutional means to regain and preserve individual freedom in
the only way it can be regained and preserved in the final analysis: through
the “well regulated Militia” that are “necessary to the
security of a free State.” This would be the most significant political
promise ever made since ratification of the Constitution, because
Representative Paul not only would pledge to return the Constitution to the
people, but also would explain precisely how he, together with the people
themselves, will do it.
8.
No one can plausibly oppose revitalizing “the Militia of the several
States.” Opposition to the Militia is easily exposed as;
anti-constitutional—because
the Constitution requires the Militia to be properly organized, armed,
disciplined, and trained;
against federalism— because the Militia are “the Militia of the
several States”;
against popular self-government— because the Militia are “We the
People”;
against the only kind of “homeland security” that the
Constitution declares to be “necessary” for “a free
State”—and therefore implicitly against “a free
State”—and therefore implicitly in favor of a police state; and
distrustful,
fearful, and even contemptuous of common Americans.
If
this list of deficiencies would not suffice to win any debate, and any
election in which this were a major issue, what would?
9.
If revitalizing “the Militia of the several States” becomes part
of Ron Paul’s campaign (and even if it does not), it should be made an
issue in every other Presidential and Congressional candidate’s
campaign. The following questions would probably suffice to smoke out a
candidate’s position on (or, more likely, total ignorance of) the
matter:
QUESTIONS
FOR CANDIDATES
People
throughout the United States, all across the political spectrum, are
concerned that a police-state apparatus is being set up in the Executive
Branch of the Federal Government, centered around the Department of Homeland
Security.
- What do you intend to do, at the Federal level,
to prevent such an apparatus from being constructed?
- Do you support a revitalization of “the
Militia of the several States” along strict constitutional lines,
so that, in the event of a regional or national crisis, the control and
direction of “homeland- security” operations at the State
and Local levels will remain in the hands of the States’ Militia
and other public officials, with Federal assistance to be brought in
only when and to the degree necessary, and in any case fully
subordinated to State authority? If you support such a policy, what do
you intend to do to bring it to fruition?
10.
Patriots must also consider the possibility that Ron Paul may not obtain the
nomination of any political party for President, or may not win the election.
Although that would amount to a tactical set-back, his candidacy will
nevertheless remain the harbinger of ultimate victory. [See Ron Paul and
Edwin Vieira in the new DVD "Fiat Empire"]
Even
in defeat, Ron Paul’s campaign for President would not be the end of
the line, but the beginning. His success will lie in proving that the
“two”-party system can be effectively challenged, that the big
media can be circumvented, that common Americans in the millions and tens of
millions can be aroused, mobilized, and organized to work for a restoration
of limited, constitutional self-government in this country—in short,
that patriotism is still alive, angry, and able.
At
the seaside, the surfer waits for just the right big wave, then rides it in
to shore. In American politics, the big wave of self-government has been
waiting for just the right surfer—and when Ron Paul appeared, the wave
began to swell. Even if the wave does not crest in this election, Ron
Paul’s candidacy will provide the irrefutable evidence that the
elemental political forces capable of generating an overwhelmingly powerful
wave do exist below the surface, and that these forces can be harnessed and
directed against the Establishment in a manner the Establishment cannot
thwart. So, even if Ron Paul does not succeed in 2008, patriots can, and
must, use the ground swell of enthusiasm he has unleashed to prepare for
victory in 2012.
America
can survive four years of Giuliani or Clinton—or whichever of its other
Pinocchios the Establishment succeeds in foisting off on the country. After
all, America already has survived twenty years of the Bush and Clinton
families. Oh, it will be arduous, costly, sordid work. But it will not be
Hell, only a spell in political Purgatory, because America can work her way
out of it. Certainly she will have every incentive to do so. Samuel Johnson
once quipped that nothing focuses a man’s attention more than his
impending hanging. The same is true for a nation. Whoever is elected
President from the present gaggle of candidates, other than Ron Paul, will
threaten this country with destruction. Every thinking American instinctively
knows that. So, the motto of New Hampshire applies to America now more than
ever: “Live free or die!”
But
the potential for and urgency of victory is not enough. It is not enough for
patriotic Americans to know that they can and must win. They must also take
the necessary and sufficient steps to insure that they do win. Here again,
revitalizing “the Militia of the several States” can play a key
part. Many of the same people who can be instrumental in forming the
“Citizens’ Homeland Security Associations” that I advocate
in Constitutional “Homeland Security” can serve as the
focal-points for organizing the next “Ron Paul” candidacy (even
if Representative Paul himself, for some reason, cannot run). And imagine if,
not only does a second “Ron Paul” candidacy succeed in 2012, but
also the new President enters office in 2013 with “the Militia of the
several States” actually revitalized in a few States, and with the
revitalization process well on its way elsewhere in the country.
History
lays out an encouraging parallel here. Just as were the Japanese at Midway in
1942, America’s enemies in the Establishment today are suffering from
“victory disease”—they have won, and won, and won political
battle after political battle over the last several decades; and their
ascendancy appears so secure, to them at least, that they are wallowing in
arrogant self-confidence. Yet, just as the Japanese at Midway knew that they
had to finish off the American Navy’s carrier force in one engagement,
the Establishment also knows that it must impose a final, crushing defeat on
the beleaguered forces of patriotism, before aroused Americans can mobilize
vastly superior numbers and resources against it. For, like the Doolittle
raid on Japan, Ron Paul’s candidacy has proven what the Establishment
surely already knew, that its base is still dangerously insecure. So the
Establishment is going out on a limb—or, really, several limbs, from
imperialistic aggression in the Middle East, through establishment of a
police state here at home, to the creation of the North American Union—to
destroy this country and replace it with some new, grotesque creation. And,
just as the Japanese at Midway were defeated because they underestimated
their opponents, overestimated their own power, and divided their forces, so
too will the Establishment be defeated—if patriots can concentrate
their efforts along the decisive line of attack.
Edwin
Vieira
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