The Result of the Events of January 26th, 2016 is a Call to Action For All Americans

It has been a few days since the catastrophe in Burns, Oregon. After the horrific events of that fateful day, many of us had to take a step back and collect our thoughts. Quite soon afterwards, the FBI released video of the incident. Many people have studied it, and the results are shocking. The police force murdered LaVoy Finicum in cold blood. The ambush site was prepared well in advance, with snipers hiding among the trees.

It has taken me quite a while to digest all of this. At first, outrage was all that I could comprehend. Eventually it cooled down into a simmering rage. During my time of contemplation, questions began to arise. By what legal right did those forces have to execute Finicum? Does the government now consider itself above the law? What can we as citizens do in response to this outrage?

As you you may recall, President Obama penned an executive order authorizing the killing of the Islamic terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki who happened to be an American citizen via birth. Not many of us voiced our concerns in light of how evil and murderous this Muslim cleric was. However, those of us who did speak out pointed to a dangerous president. Glenn Greenwald, of the admittedly leftist website “WorldCantWait,” penned an excellent article addressing this concern. In his piece he wrote

Obama had continued Bush's policy (which Bush never actually implemented) of having the Joint Chiefs of Staff compile "hit lists" of Americans

Further on he adds

Instead, in Barack Obama's America, the way guilt is determined for American citizens -- and a death penalty imposed -- is that the President, like the King he thinks he is, secretly decrees someone's guilt as a Terrorist. He then dispatches his aides to run to America's newspapers -- cowardly hiding behind the shield of anonymity which they're granted -- to proclaim that the Guilty One shall be killed on sight because the Leader has decreed him to be a Terrorist.

Does this sound familiar at all?

Article II of the United States Constitution chronicles the powers of the office of the President. The first line states that “The executive Power shall be vested”. Executive power to do what? Thankfully, the Constitution goes on to enumerate exactly what the President shall have control over. No where does it list the creation of new agencies, new laws, the set up of hit lists, or any of the abuses that many Presidents of modern America have committed. Unfortunately, those on the left use the excuse of “he did it first” to rationalize continued injustice. This is a flawed argument, as anyone who has taken a philosophy course well knows. Even those who have not studied the subject are aware that such line of thinking resides upon shaky ground. Are you familiar with the “if he jumps off a bridge” question? I thought so.

Directly put, no President has any authority to create an executive order outside of the framework of the Constitution. President Obama is breaking the law.

This begs the question, does the government (both state and local) consider itself above the law? While the government itself is simply an entity made of up individuals, it is obvious that they do consider themselves as such. Federal agencies outside the scope of the Constitution such as the Environmental Protection Agency have been created and are used to control the daily activities of American citizens. More recent examples would be the crack down on gun ownership, the pushing through of treaties without consulting the Senate, as well as the creation of the department of Homeland Security. Indeed, one could write an entire encyclopedia on government abuses.

So what are we to do? Although it may not seem like it, the American citizen has incredible power. One must simply acknowledge it.

The first course of action is to use our power of the vote. Remove from office any official who will not follow the rule of law. This applies to all elected officials from local, through to state and federal levels.

The second course of action is a Constitutional Convention of States. It empowers the American citizen to modify our rules of law, and we can use it to specifically instruct our government leaders what their boundaries are.

The third course of action is civil disobedience. If the government attempts to enforce a law that is not sustained by the United States Constitution, ignore it.

Finally, there is one last option, and one that I am not advocating. This choice will wreak havoc upon our nation in every horrific way imaginable. It is civil war. For as our founding Fathers wrote in the Declaration of Independence to Great Britain,

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. - emphasis mine

The abominable events which transpired in Burns, Oregon on January 26^th, 2016 underscores the reality of an out of control government. We as American citizens must not allow it to continue. It is imperative to our very freedoms and way of life that we take back control. We hold within our hands the fate of this nation. Now is the time for action. Now is the time to bring to heel a rampant beast devoted to its own glorification.

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” - Ronald Reagan