from Neal's soapbox
Quote;
"In 1787 John Adams wrote something entitled A Defense of the Constitutions of Government. From it I quote, “The right of a nation to kill a tyrant, in cases of necessity, can no more be doubted, than to hang a robber, or kill a flea. But killing one tyrant only makes way for worse, unless the people have sense, spirit and honesty enough to establish and support a constitution guarded at all points against the tyranny of the one, the few, and the many.”
But the point is that we do not have to kill them, we only need to stand up to them, and stand up in sufficient numbers, and with sufficient force, to cause them to back down. A perfect example is what happened recently in Nevada at the Cliven Bundy ranch, the militia came in and stood beside Mr. Bundy and the government, for the time being, seems to have backed down. It matters not whether, as some believe, Mr. Bundy had no claim to that land. The point is that the militia, stood their ground against what they considered to be a threat to Mr. Bundy’s rights and the government backed down.
Unfortunately, due to media misrepresentation, the militia has gotten a bad name. People hear the word militia and they automatically assume they are a bunch of anti government lunatics who want to start a war. While there may be some fringe elements who are like that, for the most part militia-members are simply those who want the government to stay within its defined limits and have banded together to defend themselves should it not.
According to the dictionary there are 3 definitions for militia. Number 1 is; soldiers who are also civilians; an army of soldiers who are civilians but take military training and can server full-time during emergencies. Number 2 is; reserve military force: a reserve military army that is not part of the regular armed forces but can be called up in an emergency. And number 3 is, (and this is the one most people envision when they hear the word); unauthorized quasi-military group: an unauthorized group of people who arm themselves and conduct quasi-military training.
Now that you know what the dictionary says, let’s see what the LAW says. According to Title 10 of the United States Code, Section 311-Militia composition and classes, the militia is defined as:
(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b) The classes of the militia are—
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.
That’s what the law says. What did our Founding Fathers say? Well, Richard Henry Lee, great uncle to Confederate General Robert E. Lee, said, “A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves…and include all men capable of bearing arms.” (Additional letters from the Federal Farmer, at 169, 1788)
In an article in the Pennsylvania Gazette, February 20, 1788, Tenche Coxe wrote, “Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American… The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people.”
In his Commentaries on the Constitution, Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story writes, “The militia is the natural defense of a free country against sudden foreign invasions, domestic insurrections, and domestic usurpations of power by rulers. It is against sound policy for a free people to keep up large military establishments and standing armies in time of peace, both from the enormous expenses, with which they are attended, and the facile means, which they afford to ambitious and unprincipled rulers, to subvert the government, or trample upon the rights of the people.”
Now do these quotes sound at all like the impression of a bunch of renegade outlaws that the media has portrayed the milita as being? No, the militia is you and I, and every other freeman who is willing to stand up, not only for their country, but for their liberty.
On June 18, 1789, an author writing under the pseudonym of A Pennsylvanian would say, “As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the article in their right to keep and bear their private arms.”
From the Patriot T.L. Davis;
"The patriot has no fear of being labeled a racist by racists, a terrorist by terrorists, a traitor by traitors. It is all name-calling and juvenile. The proof is in acts: those taken against us and those taken against them. They have separated themselves from authority by their actions and deserve nothing less than to be met by citizens who have separated themselves from obedience."
But hey, it sound like so much work. LOOK! a squirrel...
