Constitution? What constitution?

If you are a member of the Lions Club, there is a constitution that empowers the leaders to act for and in the name of the members. The members, by joining, empower the elected leadership to act in that manner. The members agree to the constitution. No one is forced to join such a club, and indeed, one must be selected by a current member to join, I believe. It is a privileged status. The same goes for many other clubs. One is invited to join such clubs as the Knights of Columbus, Rotary International, etc. They are exclusive clubs. Members of those clubs promise to conduct themselves outside the club in a manner that is acceptable to most of Society. I say most of Society, because the Society of murderers, rapists, muggers, thugs, and many members of Congress are a small percentage of the general Society, and their actions are not acceptable to the rest of us.
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“Know your rights!” That is an order.

I am a very selfish man. The reason that I would like for everyone to know his or her rights and know how to assume the powers to exercise those rights, is because that is the only way my rights can be protected.

We must be able to exercise our rights. If a thug with a gun enters your home, and you are unarmed, you do not have the power to exercise your right to protect your property and to defend yourself and loved ones, if you have any. It makes no difference if the thug is wearing a uniform of some kind and is committing the atrocity at the behest of, and under the auspices of, a government – your absolute right to self defense cannot be exercised. You have that right, but it cannot be exercised.

The One, the Is, the All, the Power, the Author of the Universe, the Creator, by whatever name your Creator is known to you, makes little difference unless you, through the use of force, intimidation, or coercion insist that I call my Creator by the same name you have given your Creator. If you insist on that, you are interfering with my power to exercise my natural and inherent right.

You have the natural right to call your God by whatever name you choose. You may call your Creator Vishnu or Krishna, Jehovah or Allah, Henry or Georgie-Boy, it makes absolutely no difference to me as long as you do not attempt to kill me or do some other damage, because I want to name my Creator something different than the name you have given yours.

We have the right to breathe. We have the responsibility to keep on breathing.

We have the right to food. We have the responsibility to earn that food.

We have the right to shelter and clothing. We have the responsibility to provide that shelter and clothing for ourselves.

Do we have the obligation to provide for those who refuse to provide for themselves? I think not.

We have the right to decide how to dispose of our property. If we choose to help a neighbor or loved one, that is our right. We should choose. The choice should not be made by some faceless bureaucrat in Liechtenstein who thinks that he or she knows what is best for every human being on this ball of mud.

That bureaucrat has quite possibly never calloused his hands by using a shovel, or an axe. He has quite likely never been a sanitation engineer on a dairy farm, though he has learned how to sling the brown stuff. He has no concept of how the food that is served to him got to his table. He does not stand in line at the grocery store, nor wait at an airport. Boiling water would surpass his ability. Yet, he deems himself so all-knowing that he will dictate to all and sundry how to live.

If we assume the powers given to each of us to exercise our natural and inherent rights, we will be better off.

If we assume the power to exercise our natural right to travel without any licensure by any government, to our house of worship, by whatever means available, we will be better off. If we purchase a car and choose to use it, providing we harmed no one in the purchase and the use, to travel to the grocery store, and buy the week’s victuals, who rightly has the power to interfere? I say, “No one”.

By what right does a government, instituted by men, take money from one’s income to distribute to those who will not earn any income? There is no such right as that. There is power, though, Power from the threat of fines and imprisonment, and such threats are carried out daily in this nation of free men and women. The power of sending a missile from the end of a tube of steel through the air to knock one’s life out of one’s body, is an awesome power. The threat of using that power is intimidating. It could be called a terror.

However awesome that power might be, though, it cannot be compared to the awesome power of the Creator, by whatever name you might address him.

Assume the power. Exercise your rights.

“What, then, is legislation? It is an assumption by one man, or body of men, of absolute, irresponsible dominion over all other men whom they can subject to their power.  It is an assumption by one man, or body of men, of a right to subject all other men to their will and their service.  It is an assumption by one man, or body of men, of a right to abolish outright all the natural rights, all the natural liberty of all other men; to make all other men their slaves to arbitrarily dictate to all other men what they may, and may not do; what they may, and may not, have; what they may, and may not, be.  It is, in short, the assumption of a right to banish the principle of human rights, the principle of justice itself, from off the earth, and set up their own personal will, pleasure, and interest in its place.  All this, and nothing less, is involved in the very idea that there can be any such thing as legislation that is obligatory upon those upon whom it is imposed.”  – Lysander Spooner

What, then, is freedom? It is an assumption by some members of the human race of absolute responsible dominion over themselves and their property.  It is an assumption by some members of the human race, that each individual is responsible for his own condition; his/her own prosperity, or lack thereof; his/her own education; his/her own health and care of health.  It is an assumption by some members of the human race to take care of oneself; what he/she may and may not do; what he/she may, or may not, be.  It is, in short, the assumption by some members of the human race to protect, cherish, and preserve the freedoms and rights granted by the Creator as granted at conception.  It is the assumption by some members of the human race to protect the principle of human rights, the principle of justice, so that it never perishes from the face of the earth.  All this, and nothing less, is involved in the very idea of freedom.

An old Japanese adage advises us that the other side of a coin has another side.  Lysander Spooner was an anarchist that started his own Post Office in New York around 1850, but the Federal Government put him out of business.

Let us not always look at the negative side of the government’s intervention in our lives; let us look at what we can do to prevent such intervention.  We do have natural and inherent rights.  They are ours and they are absolutely perfect.  The power to exercise those rights is, however, imperfect.  That imperfection gives the government and other criminals the opportunity to interfere in our daily lives to the extent that we cannot spend the money we earn in the manner in which we see fit.

Do you know, then, what your rights are?  They are many and valuable.  The only way to protect those rights is to use the power to exercise those rights.  Use that power in the face of all that is evil.  My life is not worth preserving at any cost.  My power to exercise my rights is worth protecting at any and all costs.  What say you?

Was it the “free market” that exploited Japanese Americans in World War II? Was it “capitalism” that drafted thousands of young men to be sent off to Vietnam, with many to return in body bags? Is it the free market that implements mandatory wage and price controls, takes a third of each American’s income, and leeches money to politically connected corporations? Who is the true exploiter, free markets or government? All things involuntary and compulsory are not compatible with freedom, yet it is constantly government using its monopolized force to accomplish its various goals, not the market. In a free society and market your greed, anger, and any other such negative qualities are purely limited to free and voluntary exchange. You cannot work like government using coercion to sell your products, force to maintain your position, and threats of imprisonment as your insurance.

There are many social injustices, uneven economic scenarios, and plenty of misery in the world today. Saying these miseries come from the free market is a gross misunderstanding of where the free market itself is born: freedom. Freedom has its root in the individual, not in an all-powerful group of people such as government. If some people choose to live in a socialist system with limited property, redistributed wealth, and controlled production, there is nothing standing in their way. But the line is drawn when they feel they have the right to force others into the system. Freedom does not mandate how you live, it simply prevents you from coercing others (either an individual or a group) into a certain lifestyle. No one can force you to buy their product, live the way they think is best for you, and no sensible person can use force with bogus reasoning such as “protecting you from yourself.”
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No past, present, or future document can grant rights to humanity, nor can any government or collective. The rights and freedoms of an individual person are a priori, have been, are, and will be so long as a single person draws breath. Whenever in the course of history a governing body infringes upon the rights, life and property of the individual, that individual may bring it upon himself/herself to rise up against his/her oppressor in order to take back what was rightfully his/hers from the beginning of time. While in the past the will of the majority has served to oppress those in the minority, no greater example of this can be found than in the formation of nation-state governments. Government should have one purpose and one purpose only: to protect the people and their property from plunder. Instead, our government like so many that went before has passed laws allowing for legal plunder, and has systematically stolen our lives by taking the fruits of our labor, which no government can ever earn or deserve.

The crimes of our government are indeed too numerous to list them all, but some of the more egregious offenses include restriction of liberty through excessive taxation for the purpose of redistributing wealth, maintaining a monopolistic control over the means of money and credit, propagating inflation and the subsequent devaluation of the only legal tender allowed by law, subsidization of the immoral behavior of banks and bankers, the jailing of criminals who have committed victimless crimes, the sending of our men and women to fight unnecessary wars as well as unlawfully occupying other countries for the benefit of those in power while simultaneously spying on its own citizens without first obtaining the proper warrants.

It is because of the above mentioned policies that if any man, woman, or child should choose to fight back peacefully either by not paying taxes or impeaching the whole of the government he/she would be entirely justified in their actions.

The Constitution of Freedom

An individual owns his/her life, labor, and the product of his/her labor. People are free and no government, law or collective action of any kind shall infringe upon their freedoms, namely those of life, choice, belief, action, and property. A person’s freedom is infinite so long as it does not infringe upon the freedoms of another, cause bodily harm to another, or damage another’s property.

No person can be the property of another person, government or collective.

No ruling body is necessary for a functioning society. No government can make law restricting rights or freedoms.

People have the right to individual defense of their own life, liberty, and property. No army is permitted during times of peace; this does not include security forces for the purposes of personal protection of life, liberty, and property. No military war shall be waged for the purpose of conquest. If an army is formed it shall be for defense only. No army nor the government or collective it represents has a right to the land or property of any other individual or collective.

The will of the people can never take precedent over the rights and freedoms of the individual.

Law is justice. A law shall be invalid if it stands in violation of the rights or freedoms of an individual except in cases of reparations for payment of damages to another person or their property. Any law that promotes injustice in any form is invalid. Any law which would plunder a person’s life or property for the benefit of another person or group is invalid.

No tax shall be levied upon any individual or group of individuals. No tariffs shall be levied upon foreigners as this is a hidden tax upon the people. No inflation of any money supply is allowed without the consent of all the holders of that money.

No government can determine what is or is not money. No person must accept any form of payment that he/she determines to be unfit as proper payment for his/her goods or services.

Morality can not be imposed upon a person. No law shall be made in an attempt to impose morality on anyone. No crime can occur without a victim. If the rights or property of a person are infringed upon he/she make seek just compensation by bringing a complaint against the offender to be tried before a jury of peers presided over by an arbitror agreed upon by both parties.

The only public property is of that necessary to travel; this is to protect the freedom of movement. No one may prevent someone from traversing his/her land if their means are peaceful and nondestructive; this does not apply to a person’s or people’s private residence, only to pathways essential to commerce. If destruction does occur from such travel, just compensation for damages may be sought.

No restrictions of any kind shall be placed upon what may be owned by an individual. No restrictions or regulations may be put upon any business as no person may be forced to purchase the goods or services of another against his/her will.

No person shall commit fraud or in any way deceive another person in a voluntary exchange of goods or services. All contracts whether verbal or written are binding. In cases of fraud a person may seek just compensation by bringing a complaint against the offender to be tried before a jury of peers presided over by an arbitrator agreed upon by both parties.

The signer(s) of this document believe(s) that the government which governs least governs best, and that people should not be accountable to the government but the government accountable to the people. I ask nothing which I can not rightfully earn of my own accord, and demand only to be allowed to keep that which I earn. I ask no assistance from any government as anything the government has is not theirs to give. I hold all governments to the same standards expected of all people, namely not to plunder one person or group to profit another, to respect life, liberty, choice and property and deem any government which does not act in accordance with these laws as unlawful, unjust, invalid, and an atrocity in the history free acting people.

The swine flu, or H1N1 virus, has been declared a “pandemic” by the World Health Organization. In response to fears of the flu spreading, many government health agencies have stepped up to the plate and are now rushing vaccines into the marketplace. European health officials have declared that lives potentially lost through largely untested vaccines are worth the gamble in order to save lives. The Greek government recently announced its intentions to vaccinate all 12 million of its citizens, “without any exception.”

The swine flu outbreak of 1976 is not often brought up in the current H1N1 discussion. In February 1976 one soldier, Private David Lewis, died from and several of his peers fell ill to the swine flu in Fort Nix, New Jersey. Due to the strength and the quickness with which the flu could potentially spread, President Gerald Ford ordered nationwide vaccinations, which started up in October 1976. However, soon after receiving the vaccinations, roughly 500 people were developing a disease paralyzing the nerves, Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). Private Lewis ended up being the only individual to die directly from the swine flu itself, while more than 25 people died because of the vaccinations. After more than 40 million people received vaccinations, the $137 million program was canceled on December 16.

The reasoning behind massive mandatory vaccinations, particularly today (as well as 30 years ago) with the swine flu, is to avoid another disaster such as the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic which killed millions of individuals around the world. This despite recent research suggests that the swine and Spanish flu may not be as connected as previously thought, primarily because the swine flu is spread through pigs, while the Spanish flu is passed from birds to humans.

I am not downplaying the positive effects that some vaccines have had on humanity. I am simply questioning the principle of compulsory vaccinations, coerced medical care, and forceful quarantines supposedly justified by government-declared health emergencies. These have been the topics of increased discussion of the WHO and many government health agencies around the world, and certainly are not to be dismissed as mere crackpot theories.

Mandatory vaccinations limit the soundness and viability of vaccinations. If a certain vaccination is proven to prevent disease, increase strength of health, and protect the body, clearly it would not require force to be implemented in society. The very idea of mandatory vaccinations implies that you must impose on someone’s beliefs, preferences, and reasoning.

If an individual decides to reject a vaccination that the majority of people are receiving, how does his decision impact others? If the vaccinations are effective and voluntarily received by many people, the individual is only placing himself at risk. If people feel they are exposing themselves to too great of a risk by not taking a vaccine, they are free by all means to get a vaccine. Individuals receive or decline vaccinations at their own risk.

As far as the swine flu situation goes, people will not need a government mandate or forceful coercion to take a vaccine if they feel a major potential risk is looming. In the case of 1976 it was government officials who determined that the swine flu might turn into a disastrous situation, and in turn imposed their frights on millions of Americans. The actions the government carried out were primarily based on the information and beliefs of unelected officials who felt it was worth the risk to potentially sacrifice lives in the name of protecting people against a potential disaster.

The idea that if someone doesn’t take a vaccine they are therefore a potential risk to other individuals makes no sense whatsoever. If one group of people chooses to get vaccinated while another group declines the opportunity, the vaccinated group is supposed to be protected against that particular disease. They are not put in danger by those who decided to opt out of the vaccine. They are also taking the chance that they could possibly grow more ill from the injection. In the event of a true pandemic you can bet that if proven vaccines are available, the majority of people will choose to get vaccinated; you do not need government officials determining the weight of different risks. It is the responsibility and free choice of the individual, plain and simple.

The Merriam-Webster definition of freedom is “the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action.” Can anyone seriously defend the potential policies of mandatory vaccinations and still make the argument that we live in a free country? Freedom does not suddenly become a doormat to new and abusive government powers in times of potential health problems as declared by government; last I checked the Constitution, anyway.

It is illogical to expect government to constitutionally take on the job of keeping people healthy. It is the responsibility of the individual, not government, to decide what food to eat, which medications are most helpful, and whether or not to receive vaccines. The federal government has already attempted to regulate and control substances in this way through the Drug War, and it has not lessened drug use or violence. Whenever government has tried to protect individuals from themselves it has always failed and led to far worse consequences.

The reality is that it cannot be up to government officials and politicians to decide when or if a vaccination will truly protect the individual. Who can push away the possibility that politicians aren’t trying to score a victory for the pharmaceutical companies providing the vaccines? The potential for deadly abuse of mandatory vaccinations alone proves the insanity of giving the president, Congress, or a government agency the power to mandate medications and vaccinations.

No person or group, no matter how powerful, has the moral or legal authority to force or deny substances like vaccines and drugs. The 5th Amendment mandates that no one is to “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,” while the 4th Amendment protects the “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” Whether it’s an individual or government holding a gun to your head, mandatory vaccinations are an unequivocal infringement on free will, choice, and individual discretion.

Mandatory vaccinations destroy individual liberty, individual sovereignty, and any concept of freedom. If the vaccinations the government feels must be forced on the entire country are as fantastic as officials claim, force and coercion certainly would not be necessary to convince people of their benefits.

Vaccinations must treated and managed like any other good or service: through individual choice, discretion, responsibility, and freedom. It is the only method that guarantees the absolute control is where it belongs: with the individual.

One of the greatest misunderstandings we have with government today is its true and proper role. We have seen government continually grow through Republican and Democrat administrations and both parties, come election time, spout the same drivel that they think people will gobble right up.

You will notice that at every election the talk is always about how government will improve or stimulate the economy. Government is seen as the answer from both parties to build the economy to their liking. As government has worked itself into the economic affairs of people it is increasingly looked upon as the ideal way to stimulate the economy or “save and create” jobs.

The most crucial thing that we cannot ignore is the Constitution. The document that is supposed to restrain government gives absolutely no mention that its purpose is to create or maintain jobs, “strengthen” the economy, or get involved in any economic planning whatsoever. The Founders originally recognized that the federal government was to have very little control over the economy, in order to secure the freedoms and liberties of the people to make and control their own decisions.

Gradually over the past century, those in government have ignored the essential economic freedoms that were strongly protected in the Constitution. The passage of the 16th Amendment in 1913 and the ability of the government to tax citizens marked a beginning of the government’s economic entrenchment. How does giving the government the power to control how much of your own labor is actually yours even come close to fitting in with economic freedom? The ludicrous idea that we work several months every year for the government tramples the laws of freedom. It is central planning in one of its worst forms.

The expression (included in the Constitution) “regulation of commerce” was suddenly taken as an excuse to regulate the production, manufacturing, distribution, and sale of any product or item that the government felt it needed to. In the Founders time, regulation simply meant “to make regular.” Today government uses the word to influence or control next to anything it likes. This includes absurd regulations such as how much water a toilet bowl can hold and the size of holes in Swiss Cheese. The Constitution does not give the federal government near the authority to get this involved in affairs that would easily be solved by the people, market, and if necessary, the states.

Government has gradually shoved itself into the economy and individual affairs of the people. The Constitution’s protection of these basic rights seems irrelevant to the bureaucrats who can’t find anything that they won’t tax, regulate, or control in some manner. As the government takes more control from the people and adds to its own unconstitutional power, people become more reliant on the services of government. Individual initiative and responsibility slowly go out the door.

I cringe when I hear that the government needs to stimulate the economy or create jobs. Many people are so ignorant to believe that if we give government just a little bit more power, a little more control, that things will improve. It is a dangerous trend when people trust government more than their own judgment and choice.

Economic sustainability cannot come from government. It is impossible for government bureaucrats, regulators, and planners to calculate rewards and corresponding risks than the people who are actually putting their time, money, and labor on the line. As we have seen largely in the past decade, these public officials have absolutely no connection to fiscal sanity and the concepts of living within your means and suffering the consequences of reckless behavior.

Many politicians won’t stop preaching that the free market brought us into this economic mess. They say that capitalism and freedom breed greed and corruption. We can be sure that these statements are full of hot air when you consider that we haven’t had a “free market” for quite some time. Government has gotten itself so entrenched in individual lives, businesses, industries, and the whole economy that it isn’t humanely possible for us to have or have had a “free market” in recent history. The effects we are seeing today are the direct results of central planning, a government with little regard for the rule of law, and the consequential disregard for individual responsibility, personal freedom, and local governance.

I would hope that people can see the failures of central planning just by looking at the events of the past couple years. It is grossly unconstitutional, intrudes on the most basic traits of human nature, and does nothing but transfer the power of the people to the government. It is not sustainable, efficient, or productive. On another level it is not moral, sensible, or legal.

In short, government is not here to create, save, or guarantee jobs. Government is not here to stimulate the economy. Government’s primary purpose, as the Founders and the Constitution recognize, is to protect and defend individual liberty and freedom (including economic liberty). Government in its best role, which the Founders tirelessly pursued and fought for, is one that stays out of the affairs of the people, allows them to make their own decisions and choices, so long as they don’t intrude on the freedom or liberty of another individual.

Liberty is one and the same; it is not meant to be separated by government into groups, economic liberties, or civil liberties. Constitutionally (and I would think morally) the government does not have the authority to decide which liberties we can and cannot manage on our own, whether it be financial liberties, economic liberties, or civil liberties. One natural liberty without another is like a tree without its roots or branches. All-inclusive individual liberty is the only true liberty.