"C4L" OPEN UP NOW! Directive to Governors

28 April 2020 

I’m overwhelmed by the number of you who signed (or tried to sign) the OPEN UP NOW! Directive I emailed you about Sunday night. 

I say “tried to” because C4L was the target of a Distributed Denial of Service Attack (DDOS) early yesterday morning.

I don’t believe this is any accident. . .

Your personal information was not jeopardized.   But I’m concerned the army of bot visitors to our site succeeded by gumming up the works -- locking out a number of patriots like you with an error message when you tried to take action.

I’ve included the email below in case you missed it.  If you did please read it at once.

If you read it but were unable to sign your OPEN UP NOW! Directive, or chip in a financial contribution as a result, I hope you’ll do so at once.

It’s not surprising enemies of liberty would try to silence your voice and choke off as much of Campaign for Liberty’s financial support as possible.

After all, our grassroots movement is virtually all that stands in the way of them getting away with their corrupt coronavirus power grabs permanently.

I’ll never be cowed into silence by their attacks.

And I hope I can count on you not to either. In fact, I hope you’ll double down.

For Liberty,

Ron Paul 

Ron Paul M.D. 

Chairman Campaign for Liberty

Previous Update

“American billionaires have gotten $280 billion richer

since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Patriot,

That’s a recent headline from FAST COMPANY, highlighting one of the uglier truths about this whole coronavirus mess -- a handful of “elites” have gotten a lot richer while much of the nation is under virtual house arrest.

America has quickly become a place where individual citizens are denied the ability to make their own choices -- and where ruling overlords decide who prospers and who suffers.

The scariest part is, this new reality could define our country for the next generation -- if liberty-loving Americans like you and me stand down.

I won’t stand down.

And I’m counting on you not to either.

So won’t you please sign your OPEN UP NOW! Directive I’ve prepared for you IMMEDIATELY?

The fact is, the so-called “experts” have been wrong about the coronavirus from the start.  Maybe it’s corruption, maybe it’s incompetence. . . or both.

But I know the statists and authoritarian bureaucrats aren’t going to give up on their new found powers readily.

Liberty-loving Americans must take back power and it starts with unshackling state economies.

That’s why I hope you’ll sign your OPEN UP NOW! Directive at once.

The more states we can convince to open up, the quicker we put this nightmare behind us.

So if you can pitch in with a financial contribution of $50, $25, or even $10 to help this critical effort as well, please do so.

Your action TODAY will add rocket fuel to C4L grassroots activists' efforts in our next wave of targeted states, including Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Virginia, and Wisconsin. . .

The good news is, Campaign for Liberty’s efforts to FIGHT BACK against the statists’ coronavirus power grabs are making an impact -- fostering the growing backlash with protests at state capitals nationwide.

As a result, several states started to reopen last week, including Alaska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Georgia.  Others are close behind.

But we’ve got to do more.

So please, sign your OPEN UP NOW! Directive I’ve prepared for you at once.

Then, please consider pitching in with a financial contribution if you can to help Campaign for Liberty launch an all-out mobilization program, including:

1) Contacting up to eight million Americans using mail and email to generate more “OPEN UP NOW!” directives and mobilize the grassroots muscle to turn out for protests to force politicians to act!;

2) Using social media and highly-trafficked blogs to turn up the heat;

3) Working talk radio and cable TV news shows to explain why these coronavirus shut downs must end -- and why American freedom will soon die out completely if they’re allowed to continue;

4) Running hard-hitting Internet ads (if I can raise the resources), calling on governors in our targeted states by name to immediately rescind their shutdown executive orders and unshackle businesses and citizens.

We must send the political class NATIONWIDE a message LOUD and CLEAR -- they DO NOT have the consent of the governed to continue destroying livelihoods and trample on our liberties!

So please, sign your OPEN UP NOW! Directive at once.

For Liberty,

Ron Paul 

Dr. Ron Paul M.D. 

Chairman Campaign for Liberty

COVID-19 Rebellion

3 April 2020 | News Surpreme

News Supreme Quote "How is that every time MSM camera crews show up at Elmhurst hospital,(Queens New York) which we are told is the epicenter of the epicenter, there are long lines and hoards of people. However when citizen journalists and independent camera crews show up to the same hospital and shoot hours of footage, we get crickets." End quote

LIBERTY-PAC: Synopsis, I am an equal opportunity critic. I am no fan of Infowars or their brand of journalistic Hyper Partisanship News.  

However with that being established, I want to commend Infowars and their affiliates for publishing these most important videos of our time, it's a true Public Service.
9 June 2020 | Journeyman Pictures 

Erin Marie Olszewski is a Nurse-turned-investigative journalist, who has spent the last few months on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic, on the inside in two radically different settings. Two hospitals. One private, the other public. One in Florida, the other in New York.

And not just any New York public hospital, but the "epicenter of the epicenter" itself, the infamous Elmhurst in Donald Trump's Queens. As a result of these diametrically opposed experiences, she has the ultimate "perspective on the pandemic". She has been where there have been the most deaths attributed to Covid-19 and where there have been the least. 

Erin enlisted in the Army when she was 17. She deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Part of her duties involved overseeing aid disbursement and improvements to hospital facilities. While in country she received the Army Commendation Medal for meritorious service, and was wounded in combat. Erin eventually retired as a sergeant, and became a civilian nurse in 2012. 

Erin is a medical freedom and informed consent advocate. She co-founded the Florida Freedom Alliance but no longer has any connection with the organization.

Government "experts" overtly cooking the books COVID-19 statistics. 
CDC reporting system, guidance for certifying COVID-19 deaths. Read (Scenerio III) : Quote " Comment: Although no testing was done, the coroner determined that the likely UCOD was COVID-19 given the patient's symptoms and exposure to an infected individual. Therefore, COVID-19 was reported on the lowest line used in Part I. Her ischemic stroke was considered a factor that contributed to her death but was not part of the direct casual sequence in Part I, so it was reported in Part II." End quote Source: CDC Reporting System

Source: CDC / NVSS Reporting System


7 April 2020 | Chris Berg @chrisbergPOVNOW

How Honest is the COVID Fatality Count ?
Minnesota (POVnow) MN Sen. and Dr. Jensen said that he received a 7 page document from the MN Department of Health advising him to fill out death certificates with a diagnosis of #COVID-19 whether the person actually died from COVID-19 or not. Can we trust the death numbers we've been seeing?


6 April 2020 | Chuck Baldwin LibertyFellowshipMT

Montana physician Dr. Annie Bukacek discusses how COVID 19 death certificates are being manipulated
A physician blows the whistle on the CDC. Dr. Bukacek is a longtime Montana physician with over 30 years' experience practicing medicine. Signing death certificates is a routine part of her job. In this brief video, Dr. Bukacek blows the whistle on the way the CDC is instructing physicians to exaggerate COVID 19 deaths on death certificates. 
69 April 2020 | Valley News Live & Jaafeen

MN. State Senator & Doctor Jensen says reported corona-virus deaths may be off

Minnesota Senator and Doctor Scott Jensen say he received a seven-page document from the Minnesota Department of Health on how doctors should go about filling out a cause of death certificate.

The letter from the Minnesota department of health gives advice to physicians, physician assistants and others who certify deaths.
The doctor says the letter takes you to a CDC website that has recommendations on how to include COVID-19 as a diagnosis for someone who was never tested for COVID-19.

"Say I have a nursing home patient that's frail and 88-years-old and comes down with a cough and a fever, and after three days, ends up passing away from pneumonia, I'm not going to put influenza on that death certificate," Dr. Jensen. So I doubt that I would be inclined to put COVID-19."

Dr. Jensen says each state's reported death numbers are making a lot of people fearful, adding that getting the number right is critical, especially during a pandemic.

"I worry about that sometimes we're so darn interested in jazzing up the fear factor that sometimes people's ability to think for themselves is paralyzed if they're frightened enough," said Dr. Jensen.

One of the scenarios listed under the CDC "Guidance for Certifying Deaths Due to Coronavirus" says although no testing was done, the coroner determined that the likely underlying cause of death was COVID-19 given the patient's symptoms and exposure to an infected individual.

So is the Minnesota state data reliable?

"I don't have any position to question that," said Dr. Jensen. "I know that I've talked with nursing staff who have been involved with people who have passed away that either had living wills or were on hospice care and in some of those situations, I've been led to believe that there may have been a COVID-19 diagnosis included on the death certificate document without having had a COVID-19 confirmed laboratory test."

He says the public isn't stupid, and if you start messing with the numbers, you're going to wish you didn't.

9 April 2020 MN. State Senator Jim Abeler Twitter Comment on Covid-19 Confirmed Cases. 

No conspiracy theories from me. Simply that a death certificate should reflect the actual cause of death. Not what somebody maybe had or didn't die from. Inaccurate death data leads to poor policy decisions. We need real data, as @GovTimWalz has said over and over. I agree. https://t.co/w3NMRrkuFg

— Jim Abeler (@jimabeler) April 9, 2020

9 April 2020 | NBC4 OHIO State House

9 APRIL 2020 OHIO STATE HOUSE COVID-19 LOCK-DOWN PROTEST
Ohio citizens rally at the OHIO Statehouse, calls for opening the state could be heard inside the capitol building. Open Ohio Now!!

12 April 2020 New York Covenor Andrew Cuomo - Above Tweet Federal Stimulus (Per) Confirmed COVID-19 Case
Below VIDEO -  Governor Cuomo references quote in the above Tweet, quote paragraph begins @ 10:30

Holding a briefing with updates on #Coronavirus. WATCH LIVE: https://t.co/dl4jsgL7or

— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) April 12, 2020

17 April 2020 NVSS Provisional Death Counts COVID-19 

Look at total death counts in America, America's hospitals and morgues are reportedly overwhelmed. These numbers just don't add up! NVSS Provisional Death Counts for COVID-19


13 April 2020 | OHIO Statehouse 

OHIO STATEHOUSE COVID-19 LOCK DOWN PROTEST 
Citizens of the Great State rally again at the OHIO Statehouse. Protesters calling Governor Mike DeWine out on his Tyrannical lock-down of the State. 


FOLLOW THE MONEY

By: Chuck Baldwin | 16 April 2020

By now, most thinking people realize that the numbers being circulated by the Medical/Pharmaceutical/Industrial Complex and their Big Government hacks in the media of people being infected and killed by the coronavirus are grossly exaggerated.

Watch this medical doctor’s report.

And also watch this medical doctor’s report.

Now we learn that medical professionals, most of whom are employed by hospital monopolies, have a personally vested reason to participate in the dishonest practice of fudging corona numbers upward. States are being given government (read: taxpayer) stimulus dollars for each corona case reported.

In Florida, the State receives $132,000 for each reported case of corona. In Nebraska, Minnesota and Montana, the State receives over $300,000 for each reported case of corona. The difference in the amounts received is based on some weird government bureaucrat-created voodoo Medicare formula. The point is, hospitals are being financially rewarded for identifying people as contracting or dying from corona—whether they actually contracted the virus or not.

In the meantime, however, most hospitals are literally sitting empty. There is no mad rush of corona patients lining up for treatment. For example, in one of the so-called COVID-19 hot spots, Seattle, Washington, an army field hospital on loan to the city was returned after only nine days, because it never saw a patient:

Gov. Jay Inslee's office on Wednesday announced that the state will be returning a field hospital deployed to CenturyLink Field Event Center to the U.S. Department of Defense.

The 250-bed facility, for which setup began on March 30, was intended to help Washington state's health care system tend to non Covid-19 patients in the event of a hospital surge.

But just three days after announcing the facility was ready to receive patients, officials say they're returning the hospital to the federal government.

The action is aimed at helping another state with a more significant need for hospital capacity at this time, according to the Governor's Office. The facility did not see any patients during the time it was slated to operate in Seattle.

A local hometown newspaper where I live published this story a few days ago:

Kalispell Regional Healthcare announced today that it will furlough roughly 600 employees beginning April 15 due to steep revenue declines resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hospital executives, physicians and executive directors will also take reductions in their salaries, effective immediately.

KRH officials say the actions are necessary because revenue losses are projected to exceed $16 million per month, “which could jeopardize the organization’s ability to serve the long-term health needs of our community.”

The hospital didn’t immediately specify what types of employees or departments will be impacted by the furloughs.

An April 13 press release noted that KRH, like other health-care organizations across the country, has strengthened COVID-19 clinical teams, support staff and resources “needed to deliver life-saving care and ensure patient and staff safety as a result of the pandemic.” But the pandemic response has also led to the halting of many services “for the health and safety of our community,” the hospital stated.

In other words, people who need all sorts of medical care unrelated to corona are deliberately being denied treatment, as hospitals gear their entire operations to treat a mad rush of nonexistent corona cases. This is called medical rationing, by the way. But instead of admitting this pandemic was a complete and total exercise in government-created manipulation and hysteria—and allowing hospitals to reopen to the REAL medical needs of their communities—they continue to parrot the Fauci/CDC-authorized fear and paranoia over corona, while hospitals sit empty and must layoff untold numbers of employees in order to stay solvent. 

Say it yet another way: The only thing keeping hospitals financially afloat right now is government corona money—and it’s not enough, as the numbers of corona cases just aren’t there. So, doctors and hospitals are diagnosing everyone they can as being infected or killed by COVID-19 just to keep government dollars flowing into their coffers. And still, untold numbers of medical workers are losing their jobs.

Besides the obvious usurpation of our Natural liberties enshrined in the Bill of Rights, we can expect an all-out push from the mad scientist Anthony Fauci and his billionaire Frankenstein Bill Gates to coerce the federal and State governments to mandate forced vaccinations. Go ahead: Take a quick guess who will profit from this little act of government tyranny.

From the very beginning, this has never been about OUR health and safety; it has been all about THEIR money and power. That’s what manufactured crises like this are always about.

Speaking of money: You and I both know that our economy cannot withstand this massive explosion of national debt without dire consequences. It seems almost certain that this corona scam is the perfect storm for recession and hyperinflation.

After talking with my friend Ron Paul several years ago, I converted my personal IRA into a precious metals-backed IRA as a hedge against hyperinflation. And the company I am able to recommend is one of the finest precious metals companies in the country. They have been in business since 1976 with a solid reputation and track record, offering the option of easy online ordering as well as the safe, secure storage of metals if needed. 

I am, therefore, proud to partner with this fine company and recommend them to my readers. I know these fellows personally. They are genuine Christian patriots who truly understand what’s going on and have a heart to help their fellow Americans affordably obtain precious metals.

Whether you are looking to convert your traditional IRA to a precious metals-backed IRA (as I did) or are simply wanting to purchase gold and silver coins, I urge you to contact my friend of many years, David Hart. He is the National Sales Director. Dave is extremely friendly, helpful and trustworthy.

I promise you that Dave will not try and pressure you into doing anything you don't want to do. He will simply answer your questions, help you determine whether adding precious metals to your financial portfolio is something you want to do and guide you through the process—if you decide to proceed. Believe me, Dave will take the anxiety out of transferring your IRA or even purchasing a few gold and silver coins. I urge you to contact Dave and see whether investing in precious metals is right for you.

Contact Dave here.

As with almost every government “emergency,” follow the money—and keep an eye on yours, because those miscreants in Washington, D.C., will take every penny they can, by hook or by crook.  

© Chuck Baldwin
17 April 2020 | Breitbart

BREAKING!!! MINNESOTA Workers Protest Outside Governors Mansion 

16 April 2020 | Ohio State Senator Steve Huffman

Ohio State Senator Steve Huffman Letter Ohio Dept. Health Amy Acton

Last week, I sent a letter to the Ohio Department of Health expressing my concerns about the recommending reporting of suspected COVID-19 cases in addition to the cases confirmed positive through testing. As a medical doctor, I feared reporting these additional numbers could lead to widespread confusion across our state. I received a response from Dr. Acton clarifying the reporting measures the Department of Health is taking and explaining in detail what is being done in terms of case reporting. I wanted to share both my letter and Dr. Acton’s response with you all.

18 April 2020 | Columbus Dispatch 

18 April 2020 OHIO VOICES OF THE ANTI-COVID-19 LOCKDOWN 
18 April 2020 | WISH TV

18 APRIL 2020 DOZENS PROTEST INDIANA ‘STAY AT HOME’ ORDER OUTSIDE GOVERNOR'S MANSION 
18 April 2020 | WSN 12 NEWS 20 

WISCONSIN DEMONSTRATORS PROTEST 'SAFER AT HOME' ORDER
15 April 2020 | GTN 

MICHIGAN PROTESTERS CALL FOR END OF STAY -AT- HOME ORDER AMID COVID-19

20 April 2020 - MN. State Senator Scott Jensen

NOTHING BUT THE FACTS! 
Facts and logic can lead the way to transparency and trust.

20 April 2020 |  Michael Axelsson

ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH DIRECTOR DR. Ngozi Ezike explains Case Definition people dying with COVID-19. Excerpt quote "If you were in hospice and had already been given a few weeks to live, and then you also were found to have COVID, that would be counted as a COVID death. It means technically even IF YOU DIED OF A CLEAR ALTERNATE CAUSE, but you had COVID at the same time, it's still listed as a COVID death." End quote.

22 April 2020 - Tre Vietnam

24 April 2020 - Madison Wisconsin Critical-Mass 

PLANDEMIC | SUMMER 2020

Humanity is imprisoned by a killer pandemic. People are being arrested for surfing in the ocean and meditating in nature. Nations are collapsing. Hungry citizens are rioting for food. The media has generated so much confusion and fear that people are begging for salvation in a syringe. Billionaire patent owners are pushing for globally mandated vaccines. Anyone who refuses to be injected with experimental poisons will be prohibited from travel, education and work. No, this is not a synopsis for a new horror movie. This is our current reality.

Let’s back up to address how we got here...

In the early 1900s, America’s first Billionaire, John D. Rockefeller bought a German pharmaceutical company that would later assist Hitler to implement his eugenics-based vision by manufacturing chemicals and poisons for war. Rockefeller wanted to eliminate the competitors of Western medicine, so he submitted a report to Congress declaring that there were too many doctors and medical schools in America, and that all natural healing modalities were unscientific quackery. Rockefeller called for the standardization of medical education, whereby only his organization be allowed to grant medical school licenses in the US. And so began the practice of immune suppressive, synthetic and toxic drugs. Once people had become dependent on this new system and the addictive drugs it provided, the system switched to a paid program, creating lifelong customers for the Rockefellers. Currently, medical error is the third leading cause of death in the US. Rockefeller’s secret weapon to success was the strategy known as, “problem-reaction-solution.” Create a problem, escalate fear, then offer a pre-planned solution. Sound familiar?

Flash forward to 2020...

They named it COVID19. Our leaders of world health predicted millions would die. The National Guard was deployed. Makeshift hospitals were erected to care for a massive overflow of patients. Mass graves were dug. Terrifying news reports had people everywhere seeking shelter to avoid contact. The plan was unfolding with diabolical precision, but the masters of the Pandemic underestimated one thing... the people. Medical professionals and every-day citizens are sharing critical information online. The overlords of big tech have ordered all dissenting voices to be silenced and banned, but they are too late. The slumbering masses are awake and aware that something is not right. Quarantine has provided the missing element: time. Suddenly, our overworked citizenry has ample time to research and investigate for themselves. Once you see, you can’t unsee.

The window of opportunity is open like never before. For the first time in human history, we have the world’s attention. Plandemic will expose the scientific and political elite who run the scam that is our global health system, while laying out a new plan; a plan that allows all of humanity to reconnect with healing forces of nature. 2020 is the code for perfect vision. It is also the year that will go down in history as the moment we finally opened our eyes.

AMERICA 2020

Stansberry Research | 11 Feb 2016

Ron Paul's Survival Warning For The Coming Crisis in America 2020 

America could see a financial crisis worse than 2008, according to 12-term U.S. Congressman Dr. Ron Paul.  It could wipe out U.S. retirees. He explains how citizens of all political parties should prepare now to protect yourself, your family, and your money. By Stansberry Research & Porter Stansberry. Read here: America 2020 The Survival Blueprint 

"C4L" END THE POWER GRABS!

25 March 2020 

“This is a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.”

— James Clyburn (D-SC),

     House Majority Whip

Dear Patriot,

My concern is growing by the day over the toll the reaction to the coronavirus is taking on our country, our prosperity, and our liberties.

Just look at a few of the recent headlines:

“If government can curb our rights to fight a virus, then why not to fight gun violence?”

“DOJ seeks new emergency powers amid coronavirus pandemic!”

“Google, Facebook, and other tech companies are reportedly in talks with the US government to use your location data to stop the coronavirus”

These are HUGE infringements on our liberties.

But the statists and their pals in the national media elite, brush those concerns aside and scream MORE . . . MORE . . . MORE!

Well, I’m screaming "ENOUGH!"

But there’s only one thing that will make the politicians in power listen. . .

A surge of liberty-loving Americans standing alongside me to DEMAND they stop.

That’s why I’m counting each of you to sign your emergency END THE POWERGRABS petition right away.

I know a lot of folks are really worried about the coronavirus right now.

And that’s understandable. My son, Senator Rand Paul, has it and is currently quarantined.

But America will not last long if we don’t stand up to those who would attack our freedoms.

You and I simply cannot let the statists’ demands for massive expansions of power go unchallenged.

They may tell us it’s all about “keeping us safe” and that everything will return to normal once the coronavirus outbreak is under control.

But you and I know better.

Never mind the unbridled and BLANTANTLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL powers they’re racing to claim, including:

>>>    Bans on firearm and ammunition sales, hindering law-abiding Americans’ ability to protect their loved ones and property, right when they may be needed most.

>>>    Unfettered Federal Reserve power, allowing them to reach into taxpayers’ pockets and hand bailouts to their pals in the global financial elite.

>>>    Price Controls and takeover of industrial production. It’s a testament to American ingenuity and industry . . . businesses that can are shifting their business models to help combat the coronavirus.

But instead of praising that, the central planners ratchet up demands for price controls and more government control over production.

Meanwhile, governors in state after state demand businesses close, shutter schools, restrict travel, even suspend elections, and effectively prohibit religious gatherings.

What freedoms won’t they take from us under so-called “emergency powers?”

What liberties will they not crush?

The truth is, the Big Government statists are going all-out to use this crisis to consolidate more power and more perks for themselves and their well-connected cronies.

Proposals have included everything from goodies for union bosses, to massive Green New Deal-style regulations, to even resurrection of the "Obamaphone" program -- coronavirus legislation looks like the best Christmas ever for the social welfare crowd.

Meanwhile, you and me lose more of our liberties and it gets harder and harder for everyday Americans to provide for ourselves and our families.

That’s why I’m counting on every Campaign for Liberty supporter to sign the emergency END THE POWERGRABS petition I’ve prepared for you right away.

We’ve got to make it 100% clear, coronavirus DOES NOT give them license to trample our liberties with these unvarnished power grabs.

Once, you sign your petition, then please consider going just a small step further.

With everything that’s going on right now, Campaign for Liberty is really stretching our budget to help halt the loss of liberty you and I are facing. 

So if you possibly can, I hope you’ll agree to chip in with a generous contribution of $10 or even $25, which will go a long way to helping Campaign for Liberty halt the statists’ power grabs.

Please act at once.

For Liberty,

Ron Paul
Chairman Campaign for Liberty 

Second Amendment Rights By: Alan Keyes

29 April 1999 | Dr. Alan Keyes

Second Amendment Rights 

"I am a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment. The 2nd Amendment is still in the Constitution of the United States, contrary to what some elites would like us to believe.

And the 2nd Amendment was not put into the Constitution by the Founders merely to allow us to intimidate burglars, or hunt rabbits to our hearts’ content. This is not to say that hunting rabbits and turkeys for the family dinner, or defending against dangers, were not anticipated uses for firearms, particularly on the frontier – this is true.

But above all, the Founders added the 2nd Amendment so that when, after a long train of abuses, a government evinces a methodical design upon our natural rights, we will have the means to protect and recover our rights. That is why the right to keep and bear arms was included in the Bill of Rights.

In fact, if we make the judgment that our rights are being systematically violated, we have not merely the right, but the duty, to resist and overthrow the power responsible. That duty requires that we maintain the material capacity to resist tyranny, if necessary, something that it is very hard to do if the government has all the weapons. A strong case can be made, therefore, that it is a fundamental DUTY of the free citizen to keep and bear arms.

In our time there have been many folks who don’t like to be reminded of all this. And they try, in their painful way, to pretend that the word “people” in the 2nd Amendment means something there that it doesn’t mean in any one of the other nine amendments in the Bill of Rights. They say that, for some odd reason, the Founders had a lapse, and instead of putting in “states” they put in “people.” And so it refers to a right inherent in the state government.

This position is incoherent, and has been disproved by every piece of legitimate historical research. For example, at one point in Jefferson’s letters he is talking about the militia, and he writes “militia, every able-bodied man in the state . . . “ (every man capable of carrying arms). That was the militia. It had nothing to do with the state government. The words “well-regulated” had something to do with organizing that militia and drilling it in the style of the 19th century, but “militia” itself referred to the able-bodied citizens of the state or commonwealth – not to the state government.

It would make no sense whatsoever to restrict the right to keep and bear arms to state governments, since the principle on which our polity is based, as stated in the Declaration, recognizes that any government, at any level, can become oppressive of our rights. And we must be prepared to defend ourselves against its abuses.

But the movement against 2nd Amendment rights is not just a threat to our capacity to defend ourselves physically against tyranny. It is also part of the much more general assault on the very notion that human beings are capable of moral responsibility. Consider, for example, the phony assertion that certain weapons should be banned because “they have no purpose except to kill people.” This debate is not about certain kinds of weapons that kill people; all kinds of weapons can kill. It is people that kill people, and they can use countless kinds of weapons to do so, if killing is in their hearts.

So let’s get down to the real issue: are we grownups, or are we children? If we are grownups, then we have the capacity to control our will even in the face of passion, and to be responsible for the exercise of our natural rights. If we are only children, then all the dangerous toys must be controlled by the government. But this “solution” implies that we can trust government with a monopoly on guns, even though we cannot trust ourselves with them. This is not a “solution” I trust.

Advocates of banning guns substitute things for people, but this approach won’t wash. It is the human moral will that saves us from violence, not the presence or absence of weapons. We should reject utterly the absurd theory that weapons are the cause of violence.

Anyone who is serious about controlling violence must recognize that it can only be done by rooting violence out of the human heart. That’s why I don’t understand those who say “save us from guns,” even while they cling to the coldly violent doctrine that human life has no worth except what they “choose” to assign to it.

If we want to end violence in our land, we must warm the hearts of this people with a renewed dedication to the God-given equality of all human beings. We must recapture the noble view of man as capable of moral responsibility, and self-restraint. Purify the heart and we will not have to worry about the misuse of weapons.

It is the business of the citizen to preserve justice in his heart, and the material capacity, including arms, to resist tyranny. These things constitute our character as a free people, which it is our duty to maintain. If we want to hold on to our heritage of liberty, we must first and foremost strengthen our confidence in our own moral capacity, and encourage such confidence in our fellow citizens. Only a people confident that it can behave like grown-ups will be justified in asserting its right to keep and bear arms, because it will be a people responsible to use them only in defense of ourselves and our liberty.

But if we want that to be true, then we shall have to return, as a people, to that same humble subjection to the authority of true moral principle that characterized our Founders, and that characterized every generation of Americans, until now. We must regain control of ourselves.

Most deeply, then, the assertion of 2nd Amendment rights is the assertion that we intend to control ourselves, and submit to the moral order that God has decreed must govern our lives. And just as we have no right to shirk our duty to submit to that moral order, so we have no right to shirk our duty to preserve unto ourselves the material means to discipline our government, if necessary, so that it remains a fit instrument for the self-government of a free people."

PETITION: NO WAR WITH IRAN

6 January 2020 

Change.org Petition: NO WAR WITH IRAN 

Dennis Kucinich started this petition to Congress

The assassination of General Suilemani was an overtly offensive attack calculated to provoke Iran to an unnecessary war.

WE THE PEOPLE, place our names signed herewith, to this PETITION TO CONGRESS. We urgently demand Congress to intervene to:

• Engage all possible diplomatic channels to heal rifts from the disastrous actions of an out of control administration 
• Direct the President to bring our troops home from the Middle East
• Cut off all funds for war in Iraq, or against Iran, except to defend our troops’ safe return to the US 
• Require production of all “intelligence” which was given to the President to support General Suilemani’s assassination  
• Enact a law forbidding the assassination of foreign officials  
• Invoke the War Powers Act, which can force a congressional vote on Iran within 90 days

The extrajudicial-assassination of a top Iranian state official constitutes an illegal act of war against both Iraq and Iran, and risks a retaliatory response from Iran which imperils US officials and soldiers world-wide.

Americans would never tolerate a foreign government killing one of our leaders, nor should we expect that any other nation would meekly permit such a ghastly deed to go unanswered.

It is clear that the assassination of General Suilemani was an overtly offensive attack calculated to provoke Iran to war, leveraging Israel's geographic vulnerability as an excuse to wage a wider war, blaming Iran for the past and future US casualties in Iraq.

It is a fact that the US has lost over 4,432 troops who were present in Iraq, NOT because of Iran, but because top US officials lied to the American people about Iraq's intent to use weapons of mass destruction against America.

The lies which took us into war in Iraq must never be forgotten because the same mentality continues to run US foreign policy today. We saw through the lies then and we see through them now.

The Congress must step forward to tame the beast of war which is once against demanding to be fed. The consequences of war with Iran are devastating to contemplate.

The US Administration has set the stage is set for a retaliatory response that imperils our soldiers and US officials everywhere.  We could very well be on the verge of another world war, with the lives of millions of people in the balance.

America must not spend more blood and treasure.  US Iraq policy has resulted in the deaths of US soldiers and over one million innocents, making the world less safe and depriving our fellow countrymen of the benefit of trillions of dollars which ought to have been spent rebuilding America.