"For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well organized and armed militia is their best security." - Thomas Jefferson: Message to Congress - 1808
A current development in America is the quiet formation of hundreds of local "militias," which seem to scare the bejesus out of most. These militias consist of citizens who are outraged over the horrendous proliferation of the federal government, and political attempts to confiscate our guns. These people often don camaflouge uniforms, and practice war games on weekends. They are well armed, know how to shoot expertly, and are prepared for any eventuality. They believe government is so large and all encompassing, that we are virtual slaves to it...and they happen to be correct. The militias are the consequence of bureaucracy, blessed and enabled by politicians, growing like a dandelion on your front lawn; strong, unwanted, and virtually impossible to eradicate. A dandelion will send a deep root straight down into the ground. If you pick it off your lawn, you haven’t killed that dandelion. Oh no! It just becomes more determined to remain...just like a bureaucracy. The militias know this is true of government, and are prepared to fight to their last breath to cease the enslavement. Before we continue, answer to yourself the following questions:
"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue" - Barry Goldwater, 1964. Repeated, because it is probably one of the greatest statements ever made by a candidate for President or any other office.
"We were meant to be masters of destiny, not victims of fate." - Ronald Reagan at the Republican National Convention in Houston, 1992.
The current militias really got going after the Waco Texas and Ruby Ridge Idaho outrages, when government agencies, out of control, showed their true colors. The all too common habit the government and IRS have of seizing property, bank accounts, and even human dignity hasn't helped, and it is logical for militia members to act and think as they do. I am not a militia member, am too old to be running around in camaflouge gear, and haven't been asked to join anyway, but I'll guarantee you that the estimated 200 million plus hand guns in America, both registered and unregistered, would come into action if it gets much worse. The militias are the consequence of government being out of control, confiscating guns, failing to create order, and taxing us to death.
Think about a government running out of control a couple of hundred years ago, and you will see that the militias were then, as now, a logical development in American history. As the British standing armies became more oppressive and larger, Americans began to arm themselves and form independent militias, just as they are doing now. It isn't a new idea, only a repetition of government unchecked, out of control, and the citizenry becoming aware of it. George Washington and George Mason organized the Fairfax County (Virginia) Militia Association in 1774. The various states, including South Carolina, Georgia, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, all urged the formation of citizen militias.
John Adams wrote that, "...arms in the hands of citizens (may) be used at individual discretion...in private self defense."
North Carolina’s Declaration of Rights, drafted in 1776, said that, "The people have a right to bear arms, for the defense of the State."
The Massachusetts Declaration of Rights said in 1780 that, "The people have a right to keep and bear arms for the common defense."
In Pennsylvania, in 1776, their Declaration said, "The people have a right to bear arms for the defense of themselves and the state."
Thomas Jefferson proposed that the Virginia Constitution contains the words, "No freeman shall be debarred from the use of arms," and that State's Declaration did eventually contain similar wording.
Think about what was going on at the time of our revolution. The British were actually disarming us. Patrick Henry's "Liberty or Death" speech included the words, "...shall we be stronger...when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house?" It was the British effort to seize and destroy the arms and ammunition at Lexington that triggered "The Shot Heard 'Round the World."
In 1775, Thomas Paine said that if the citizenry were deprived of the use of arms, "the weak will become prey to the strong."
In June, 1997 the State of Massachusetts made rules about guns that makes their legal ownership, manufacture, sale, and use, practically impossible in that state, fulfilling the above almost to the letter. If a citizen is caught with a gun in Massachusetts, even one legally bought and registered, if it wasn't registered in that state, it is a mandatory year in jail!
It was armed Americans, composed of independent militias, outraged and trammeled citizens, as well as the Continental Army with aid from France, that won our independence, not just the army alone. In New England, before Paul Revere’s ride, Samuel Adams urged "...our friends to provide themselves without Delay with Arms & Ammunition, get well instructed in the military Art, embody themselves & prepare a complete Set of Rules that they may be ready in Case they are called to defend themselves against the violent Attacks of Despotism." This happened to refer to an out of control government...the British version.
An honest historian would have to agree that the first version of the Ku Klux Klan was a de facto militia. The Klan was created to save the South from the northern Carpetbaggers and their compatriot Scalawags who had invaded, and literally taken over the South after the War Between the States and Lincoln's assassination. General Nathan Bedford Forest founded the Klan at Pulaski Tennessee, and their stated objectives were:
The original Ku Klux Klan was a far different group than the current one. It was a militia, formed when one was needed, and it served its purpose handily.
It is currently an outlandish thought in America to even think about a citizen uprising or resistance, and yet it could happen. It undoubtedly will happen if nothing is done to rein in government. If the expansion of government isn't stopped, and the size and scope of Washington D.C. reduced, a confrontation is almost inevitable. It may be five, ten, or more years away, but if it happens, it will make the War Between The States look like a family picnic. The militias will grow stronger and proliferate, unless the cause for their existence is removed, and that is ever growing, ever more authoritative government. The word "totalitarian," as a description of government, sends shivers down the spines of Americans, with visions of Hitler, Stalin, Tojo, and other dictators, but doesn't that word "totalitarian" adequately describe America? The word is derived from the word "total," and that word does not describe any single person who is a dictator, but a total dictatorial government.
Another word might be interesting to examine, and that is the Spanish word for war, which is guerra. Combining a suffix meaning "little," gives us the Spanish guerrilla, which means "little war," and is a word that frightens the wits out of the D.C. establishment, which thinks it has the job of continuously enlarging its size and reach. The 'inside the beltway' establishment has been running full throttle for over 30 years, and at half speed for the previous 30. In foreign wars, the guerrillas are very similar to what the militias might become, if push ever comes to shove, not a happy thought.
The current militias, like those in 1776, are a sign of dire problems we have here in America. Raids on the various militias will not stop their formation, or the hard feelings they conceal, any more than prohibition stopped drinking, civil rights laws make races love each other, or drug wars stop drug use. Americans feel trapped by government, and the militias are one way of manifesting it. Congress is devoid of wish or plans, to not only stop government growth, but to reverse it. Our taxes and inflation are confiscatory. We are not getting ahead, but falling behind; thanks to government bureaucracy, lack of protection of our manufacturing and sales sectors, and the highest crime rate in history. In 1994, 42.4 million crimes were reported, meaning there were probably multiple times that many, in excess of one per citizen per year. I can't remember a single year in the last 35, that I haven’t been victimized by a criminal, be it white collar crime, small thefts, or vandalism, and have rarely reported it, making the estimate of more than one per citizen per year accurate. The statistics about the decline in "reported crime from the previous year" in some sectors, is an amazing twist of the English language.
The militias are a sign of trouble, "Right here in River City," as the verse goes in the late Meredith Wilson's "Music Man," and making them illegal won't stop them. They are mostly underground now, and will go deeper as America worsens. Over a decade ago, a group of Puerto Ricans in New York, headed by Curtis Slewa, had tolerated the nonsense long enough, and formed what became the "Guardian Angels." The "Angels" are unarmed but tough, and have slowed crime considerably, expanding into many other cities, even Tokyo. Innocent citizens regularly cheer the Guardian Angels with their red uniforms, and if you think about it, the Guardian Angels are in reality, an unarmed militia.
It is unthinkable for the average citizen to contemplate a civilian armed force of modern day Minutemen fighting criminals, not only on the streets, but also in government. Yet, looking at the size, ferocity, power, and pervasiveness of the federal government, such a fight is not beyond the realm of possibility. If an outrageous bureaucracy decides to stomp an innocent citizenry, and a militia defends them, would an American soldier or National Guardsman actually shoot blameless citizens if they were called in, pitting innocents against the strong arm of government? I think not. Such thoughts are hideous, but if our Founders could be brought back to witness the federal government today, they would be horrified, and would certainly join a militia.
Don't badmouth, or be afraid of those who practice shooting, and meet on weekends to do military maneuvers in their camouflage gear. Some day you may be awfully glad they were there, especially if the federal government continues to increase in size and authority at its current break-neck speed. These people are patriotic Americans. Indisputably, there are a few screwballs. Perhaps like those in Jordan Montana, who borrowed big amounts of dollars from the federal government, defaulted on their loans, and then declared themselves a "separate entity," after writing hundreds of bogus checks. A jury of their peers found them guilty. Other legitimate militias didn't get near them. There are nut cases in every trade, organization, effort, and lobby.
No, Timothy McVeigh, the convicted "Oklahoma Bomber," was in no way connected to a militia. There are huge doubts about his blowing up the federal building by himself. Responsible investigators say there were not only accomplices, but also several planted explosions within the building, and even possible governmental involvement. I have read the stories, and they are frightening. They may be difficult to believe, but certainly not impossible. That is another story in which I do not wish to involve myself.