No Common Sense Pamphlet 1
“I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.”
–Patrick Henry (1774)
What the hell was Patrick thinking? He thought that liberty was more important than living under British tyranny. Patrick also thought that if we (American colonists) failed to hang together, we would surely be hanged separately. That was his thinking at the time. Today, of course, no one dare speak of revolting against our elected royalty. Most Americans have willingly (or mindlessly) resigned their collective fate to a benevolent government and a cadre of unelected regulators who have been appointed to oversee their daily lives.
But what is liberty? Is it an individual’s free will? The right to be left alone? Freedom of choice, or the right to choose, perhaps? Yes indeed, it is all these things, but let us also agree that liberty in its rawest form is the freedom from arbitrary or despotic government. Surely that is what Patrick Henry and his fellow rebels had in mind.
No one at the time honestly believed this handful of idealistic rebels would defeat the British Empire, but by 1781, Cornwallis surrendered, and the struggle ended. It will never happen again, of course. Any notion of overthrowing a democratic government would be instantly labeled an act of terrorism.
Today, every modern monarchy has evolved. The United States of America has evolved from individual sovereign states with constitutional freedoms to a controlled society, unrestrained by traditional values.
Illustration:
Is Ohio still a state? Is a governor still a governor without a militia? If he has no militia, he is merely an administrator in the chain of command waiting for the next plan from Washington DC.
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In the case of the Ohio Revised Code* [Schneider’s Ohio Criminal Code, Police Edition, circa 1963], ORC Chapter 2921, defines Crimes against the State in 27 subsections. When viewing a later addition [Baldwin’s, 1996], the Ohio Revised Code changes the Chapter 2921 omitting the title Crimes against the State and replaced it with Offenses against Justice and Public Administration. Rather than showing any repeals of it, the chapter has been removed and replaced with no mention of where it went.
Normally, a section of law shows the history of the section or the date of repeal whenever the state legislature amends or removes the law. In this case, it was deleted and the section refers the reader to the federal law. Treason, for example is gone, but a footnote in this version refers to Article 2 of the United States Constitution and fails to make reference to the State of Ohio Constitution.
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The victorious rebels guaranteed American citizens through the first ten articles of the constitution as was known then as the Bill of Rights, liberties. Today they have been neutralized administratively and judicially, leaving the American people powerless and subject to the whim of government regulators. Let us review them one by one.
The first amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Federal Courts have routinely denied the free exercise of religion in our educational institutions, in public places, and generally denied any religious practice outside private venues. The federal courts have gone so far as to reject the Christian influence on our form of democratic government. Religion today is subject to strict regulation by the IRS, which makes any religious group a non-profit in lieu of an organized religion. Acting under government supervision, religion has been subjugated to a status of approved government charities.
Freedom of speech or the press or the right to assemble and petition the government is routinely suspended and suppressed. The central government uses grants to empower citizens’ committees to monitor the average American and denounce anyone who says anything contrary to government regulations toward any empowered special interest group of citizens or illegal aliens. An army of lawyers has been turned loose on the United States, dragging them into court, where democratically elected forms of government are declared unconstitutional and local institutions have been placed under federal rule by court order made by non-elected officials. A double standard exists for rights of expression and all rights in the arena of the federal court and the world that lives according to arbitrary edicts of the courts’ rulings.
The media as well is controlled by licensure. Those not following the dictates or mandates of the federal government can be denied renewal of their license. Those in print media who offend our royals are denied press passes to important national events. In other words, if the president is going to have an important conference, the applicant will be denied access. The government influence in the media through paid commercials instead of public announcements is evident from advertisements such as drug and alcohol abuse commercials during prime television spots are not cheap. Is the right to protest subservient to the right to traffic? For Sheehan, whose son was killed serving his country, her constitutional right to protest was ceded by local traffic regulations. Hence: no common sense.
Petitioning the government for redress of grievances has been denied through all court decisions once a federal decision has been handed down. The right to petition no longer exists. A classic example is that Americans arrested under terrorism charges and held in a secret prison, the writ of habeas corpus, guilt or innocence notwithstanding is denied. Forced busing is another example of denial of redress or the right to petition once a court order has been issued.
There exists a right to assemble as long as you comply from behind a chain link fenced-off area or held back by a praetorian guard: the more important the person who is being protested against, the more security to keep the protestors distant from being heard or seen.
The second amendment says, “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” Some say this right is obsolete. The reader need only be reminded of the quote, “This year will go down in history. For the first time a civilized nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient and the world will follow our lead into the future.” –Adolph Hitler, 1935. The intent of the amendment was to stop tyranny. Tyranny, however, has returned with the worldwide movement by the United Nations to prevent private gun ownership.
Pinochet was right about the two forms governments of the world, one where the government is afraid of the people and the other where the people are afraid of the government [footnote: Amos R. E. Pinochet, April 16, 1935.]. The only exception is America, where the people still cling to a two hundred year old constitution that guaranteed their liberties, especially the right to bear arms.
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For reference, the Bill of Rights:
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment II
A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment III
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Amendment VII
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Having looked at the Bill of Rights, and the erosion of these guarantees, loosely hinged on the interpretation of the 14th Amendment Due Process Clause, we need to make a comparison the old versus the new.
The new order of judges has ruled that due process is whatever we say it is, and have established rules that govern the land without legislative authority. These rulings give themselves the authority to decide which laws are constitutional, denying the right to petition and redress. All rulings are final and binding. The meaning of due process, contrary to today, meant whatever the people’s elected representatives legislated in their state governments for the people they serve.
But, a law is a law and a ruling is a ruling. The interpretations are based on new rulings, not grounded in the original constitution. Three new amendments to the constitution, 13, 14 and 15, were passed following the civil war denying the rebel states the right to vote for or against them. They were later forced to include these clauses in their state constitutions in order to be readmitted to the Union.
Rulings using the 14th Amendment due process interpretation have twisted the meaning, once a source of freedom against federal government interference; it is now a source of intervention into the very heart of the state governments. The power over what were once local matters is transferred to the centralized bureaucracy [pg 213, The Second American Revolution by John W. Whitehead].
Why ‘No Common Sense’?
Who was ‘Common Sense’ and why did he get involved? Common sense was the pen name of an unknown American rebel/patriot who feared retaliation from the British if his identity was discovered. He secretly wrote a series of pamphlets espousing resistance to, “Britain, with its army to enforce tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but to bind us in all cases whatsoever, and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.” [Crisis 7, page 4] Americans have come 360; we are now in a crisis; what can we do?
Thomas Paine’s solution: A call to arms and a break from our foreign masters is necessary to obtain American independence and freedom.
What was his motivation? “I viewed the [British Ministry vs. American People] dispute as a kind of lawsuit, in which I supposed the parties would find a way either to decide or settle it. I had no thoughts of independence or of arms. The world could not then have persuaded me that I should be either a soldier or an author. If I had any talents for either, they were buried in me, and might have continued so, had not the necessity of the times dragged and driven them into action.
It was time for every man to stir. Those who had been long settled had something to defend; those who had just come had something to pursue; and the call and the concern was equal and universal.” [Crisis No. 1, page 1]
What similar motivations do Americans have today? They are not even aware the same conditions exist. Our present day rulers of the American people have discarded their red coats of the British Ministry for modern business suits, but they bind us in all cases whatsoever, stifling individual freedoms and self-government.
To defend this premise, we must also examine how we have arrived at the present state of affairs. By looking back to the founding fathers, reluctant to give too much power to a centralized government for fear of the same type of domination, one observes what they experienced under British rule. The abuse of arbitrary power was their most serious concern. “The most widespread, and certainly the most significant of the objections, which troubled Thomas Jefferson among others, was the absence of a Bill of Rights [Great Issues in American History by Richard Hofstadter, page 77]. “Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.” [Great Thoughts, George Seldes, page 207] He summarized with, “In questions of power…let no more be heard of confidence in men, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” [Power Quotes, by Daniel B. Baker, page 21] Mischief indeed, by slow operations, has occurred in many ways.
Thomas Paine ridiculed the British system: “The people of England seem to mistake their poverty for their riches; that is, they reckon their national debt as part of their national wealth.” [Crisis No. 7, page 9] Check the national budget if this sounds familiar.
Good decisions are based on good history. “…By comparing what is past with what is present, we frequently hit on the true character of both, and become wise with very little trouble. It is a kind of counter march, by which we get into the rear of time, and mark the movements and meaning of things as we make our return. There are certain circumstances which at the time of their happening, are a kind of riddles, and as every riddle is to be followed by its answer, so those kind of circumstances will be followed by their events and those events are always the true solution.” [Crisis No. 3, page 1]
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While researching No Common Sense, we encountered the life of a 13-year-old son of a French immigrant who learned revolution after his father passed when he was 19, beginning his role as breadwinner and officer of the revolution. "Friends, brethren and countrymen, he announced, tea has now arrived in the harbor of Boston; destruction or manly opposition to tyranny stares you in the face."
Joining the Sons of Liberty in 1773, his North Caucus Club met in secret. Disguised as Indians, they destroyed government tea and blocked the harbor. Met with the Intolerance Acts, he turned to writer and courier for the Committee of Safety, as messenger of the revolution, part of an intelligence network, recording British troop movements and passing them on to fellow revolutionaries in Philadelphia and New York.
By 1774, he organized meetings at the Green Dragon Tavern, meetings that began with an oath that swore on the Bible. "We worked all day and patrolled the night for numbers of occupying British soldiers." The courier for the American Revolution on April 18, 1775 led a mission to destroy enemy munitions, setting out at midnight.
He notified dozens of others to alarm every house that "the regulars are coming, the regulars are coming." Two British soldiers captured the courier, and threatened him with a gun to his head. He asked the two if they knew that 500 revolutionaries were afoot in the countryside. The two regulars released him and with others fled from the 70 or so farmer soldiers. Later, he led military efforts at establishing a new nation. Longfellow made him famous in poetry.
In the 1780's he returned to a devastated Boston and his silversmith business, changing it to a hardware store, then a foundry making copper church bells and later copper sheeting. He convinced prominent Bostonians to ratify the American Constitution. By 1811, he became wealthy.
7 years later, Paul Revere, who considered himself an upright, useful citizen, died after living the American Dream.
What can we do?
The government has encroached into every area of our lives. Our civil liberties are regulated by a central government to the point where common people must take action.
1. We must re-assert ourselves to regain the freedoms promised to us in the original constitution (by limiting judicial branch to review of the original constitution);
2. Demand the federal government return militias (federalized National Guard) to individual sovereign states as the constitution guarantees, abolishing federal homeland security agencies. The responsibility for domestic security is the duty of each citizen belongs to individual sovereign states.
3. Eliminate occupation of states by removing federal agencies, courts and paramilitary trained agents (federal militia) acting under color of law, imposing federal regulation on state governments.
4. Return control of United States Senate to the individual state congresses (to conform to the original constitutional selection process, guaranteeing each state equal representation).
5. A tariff on imported goods is needed to equalize the cost of labor on foreign manufacturers to compensate the difference in wages that American industry is forced to pay under minimum wage laws. This money can be placed into social security and Medicare to make for lost revenues as a result of exported jobs.
6. The US Army is to stand down when the country is not at war, according to the Constitution. Large standing armies are a threat to civil liberties for citizens of the US and today, the world. There is no constitutional authority to spread democracy throughout the world. American taxpayers have assumed the financial burden to police the world, while average citizens go without health care, decent jobs. America is becoming a third world culture under the weight of taxes that pay for the Military Industrial Complex profiteering from war.
7. Foreign aid and military assistance increase the deficit while billions are spent on reconstruction of foreign countries as America’s educational systems and infrastructure are crumbling due to lack of funds. The cost of education and fixing the infrastructure are being passed on to the consumer and the national debt is being handed down to future generations.
8. Stop turning America from turning into a debtor nation, dependent on foreign goods. Reawaken our manufacturing base that made us the greatest nation on earth.
9. Follow the founding father’s advice: avoid foreign entanglements (including the global economy) fostering national bickering and war. Trade freely with all countries.
10. War is for national defense rather than an excuse to create more federal programs (war on poverty, war on drugs, war on illiteracy and the list goes on as do the titles: drug czar, war czar for Iraq, grand master of school system forced integration).
11. End privileged status for federalized citizens and non-citizens as well as citizens’ elite aristocracies (royalty) created by political power and/or fame (return equal protection under the law to all US citizens). No more sensitivity and political correctness let alone public character assassinations and humiliating confessions through media intimidation (by electronic lynching without benefit of trial).
12. Re-establish freedom of religion by acknowledging the constitutional guarantee that “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion (creating a godless state religion) or prohibiting the free exercise thereof (US Supreme Court banning practice of and use of religious symbols in public schools and anywhere taxpayer money is spent).”
The federal courts/government was never authorized to interfere in the everyday life of Americans. They were to decide matters between citizens from one state and state government of a different state. In addition, courts were to decide matters between foreign and the US government or between foreign and a state government.
To conclude:
We agree with President Eisenhower’s farewell: We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together…As we peer into society’s future, we–you and I, and our government–must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for their own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. [From The American President, by Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr., Philip B. Kunhardt III, and Peter Kunhardt].
