Remember the guy in Portland Oregon who went naked at the TSA checkpoint to protest the federal frisking policy?

I see he has been fined $1,000. And get this: the TSA said they fined him for breaking their rules. THEIR rules? Apparently they have a series of rules that We the People must follow: “no person may interfere with, assault, threaten, or intimidate screening personnel in the performance of their screening duties.” (What was a naked man threatening them with, one must wonder. But I digress.)

And now for some humor. The TSA representative said “All of TSA’s policies and procedures comport with the law and the Constitution.”

I have my Constitution out. I don’t see any delegated power indicating the feds may fondle people for simply wanting to travel. Ah, here it is, in the Fourth Amendment. “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, paper, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrant 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.”

Oh, wait! That appears to be exactly the opposite of what the TSA does.

The TSA’s annual budget runs over $5 billion per year. Seems like that might be a place to cut the budget. Defund and dismantle the TSA. It executes its lawlessness on the American people very personally, every day.

As some of you may know, Envision Spokane has been trying to get Agenda 21 into Spokane for some years. The Mayor and City Council, realizing it’s intent, defunded the implementation. Well, the Envision team is at it again.  They recently put forth an initiative to attempt an end run around that decision.

A brief word about this Envision project

Envision Spokane is part of the larger Agenda 21 plan which was created by the United Nations. There has been a continual and quiet attempt to implement the plans in cities across the country and in the cities of other nations as well. The proponents of Agenda 21 dangle large sums of money in front of city councils. In some cases the councils have taken the bait. Citizens, however, have begun to realize what exactly it is and are making a stand, understanding how dangerous it would be to have the United Nations in charge of our lives and country.  The stop Agenda 21 push back is happening all over this and other countries.

Have you been told you can’t put up a rain barrel, because your little rain barrel might affect the watershed?  Agenda21.

Have you been told you may not trim trees on your own property unless you have an approved and licensed person to do it?  Agenda21.

Have you been told that livestock that has been drinking from the stream running across your land for 3 generations, now must be fenced back?  Agenda21.

Air-conditioning = bad.  Agenda21

Your own place in the country, not allowed.  Agenda21

In general, Envision Spokane (aka Sustainable Development/Agenda21/Smartgrowth) is designed to get humans off the land and under control within apartment buildings in cities. Under the guise of being “green”, people will lose many freedoms. Envision Spokane presents a pretty picture of people walking to work and shopping.  They include bike trails and transit buses if you need to go further.  What they don’t tell the citizens is that it is intended that you don’t get to own a car. You don’t get to have private property. Any farming activity will be strictly controlled by government. Water will be rationed. Electricity will be rationed. Free choice will not be allowed.

Envision Spokane under collectivist rule is a much better way to think of it.

The Initiative was put forward under the title of “Community Bill of Rights”. 

Reviewing the 4 main points of the Initiative;

The First – seeks to create a right of neighborhood residents.  It sounds sweet, and since many people only read the first part of an initiative, they start with what sounds okay.  It would require 50% approval by the undefined neighborhood residents of anything over 10,000 sq feet. What it appears to be, is a way of stopping developers from changing the Agenda 21 plans for the neighborhoods.

 The Second – it creates rights for the Spokane River and the Spokane-Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, this is described as “fundamental and inalienable rights to exist and flourish.”  Translation; you may be tossed in jail if you “hurt” the river or use too much water.

The Third – It creates something called “United States and Washington Bill of Rights” for all employees within the City of Spokane.  Specifically it creates collective bargaining rights for non-unionized workplaces.  Translation; it removes the right of freedom of association from the employees.  Also, the right of owners to have any say in the business they have financed and built with their own hands, and which now employs others.

The Fourth – It strips corporations of legal rights within the City of Spokane. It says that these corporations and other businesses which violate the rights secured by this Charter (this initiative) shall not be deemed to be “persons”, nor possess any other legal rights, privileges, powers, or protections which would interfere with the enforcement of right enumerated by this Charter.  Translation; all business will comply with whatever they are told or be taken over by the state.

In Closing

 We must assume the legality of such a sweeping initiative has been sought.  Certainly, no initiative anywhere may remove the natural rights of people to own property, or of free association, or restrict the right of free enterprise, which is the basis of this country’s economic engine.  Yet, this is exactly what would happen under Initiatives 2013-03/04.

There are two resolutions now before the Spokane City Council to stop this initiative from going forward, and we  assume that any proper legal council would conclude, as noted above, that this initiative is completely outside the scope of the initiative process.

Support your city council and Mayor on May 20^th.  Stop the attempt to create a collectivist environment, where everything is the same, gray and empty and controlled.

The details of Agenda 21 are vast and sweeping.  Here are some websites you might visit, if you would like to know more

http://www.democratsagainstunagenda21.com/

http://www.freedomadvocates.org/

http://www.naturalnews.com/039243_Monsanto_Agenda_21_sustainability.html

And from South Australia an excellent review, reading from Agenda21′s own documents

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sES6_OXPwOU&feature=player_embedded#

Take Action

Contact your Spokane City Council member and ask them to vote against Agenda 21. Members and their info can be found HERE.

This topic isn’t a new one here at the Tenth Amendment Center. We often discuss the left/right paradigm, and the sentiment of John Adams that; “There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.” 

Who could have known those words would ring so true today.

I had the opportunity to spend some time with our friends at the Bill of Rights Defense Committee this weekend, along with a few coalition partners. I arrived at our Friday night reception to meet a bunch of really open, and friendly activists. As we headed into our weekend, several of those in attendance identified themselves to me as progressives. Early on, someone labeled me as the capitalist, libertarian contingent in the room. It turned out that for a few, capitalism and libertarians weren’t necessarily the most popular things going around. Fortunately, we were all there to learn and those things didn’t detract. I was able to share a little bit about coalition building, and the need for us to work together, regardless of where we have politically identified up until now.

Within personal bubble, I tend to be in contact with a lot more people who consider themselves to be politically on the right. I am very used to the bad arguments and misconceptions coming from that side. It was incredibly interesting for me to be with a group who almost wholly identifying with the political left. Turns out, they have some of the same misconceptions about the other side, as the other side has about them! Of course I already knew that to be true, but somehow, within the group, it seemed more profound.

As the realization of this sank in, I just felt sad. Because here was a room full of really fantastic people, doing good work. People with amazing perspective, great ideas, and intelligent things to say… and a whole group of people across the aisle were missing out on them. I personally benefited incredibly from the wealth of experience and thoughtfulness that was in that room. I considered a couple of people at home who could have used the experience even more than I. It was challenging for me, at times, because I had one or two preconceived notions of my own that I wasn’t completely aware of. More than challenging though, it was just really inspiring. I was impressed by the level of respectfulness that everyone showed to one another.

Greedy corporations and the overbearing, overreaching federal government are happy to keep us disagreeing over anything and everything. Gay marriage? Abortion? Race issues? Let’s stir some up!  The truth is, they know that as long as we are fighting each other, we cannot be effectively fighting them. We MUST realize this, and work to find our common ground.

You know, it isn’t that hard.

No one wants to be subject to indefinite detention. Neither do rational people want their family members, friends, or neighbors to be unfairly profiled and arrested without just cause. Nobody wants to be the victim of police abuse. Everyone wants to be free to worship in their own way. We want to be treated equally. We want safe communities where we are not bullied, or coerced to spy on our neighbors, where we can grow healthy food, where our sheriff is a good guy. These are basic and important things, and we all agree on them. I bet if we started collaborating more, we would discover that we actually have a lot MORE to agree on than we have to disagree on. I bet that as peers we could even find ways to work out our differences and help our communities much better than the huge bureaucracies are doing.

I’m sure most of you reading this have heard someone quote Neimoller from WWII…

“They came for the Communists, and I didn’t object – For I wasn’t a Communist; They came for the Socialists and I didn’t object – For I wasn’t a Socialist; They came for the labor leaders, and I didn’t object – For I wasn’t a labor leader; They came for the Jews, and I didn’t object – For I wasn’t a Jew; Then they came for me – And there was no one left to object.”

I see this sort of thing already happening. By pointing fingers and blaming the guy on the other side, we become those who turn our face away when those same people are “taken.” I mean, after all, it’s their fault, right? But who’s next? The fact is, we are either all in this together, or we are fragments that can be picked off one by one. We need to find a way to look and see people, not democrats or republicans, or libertarians, or whatever label you use.

People who want to be free.

As free as possible, not living in fear of one another.

Indefinite detention. Loss of due process. Unwarranted surveillance by unmanned aerial vehicles. Regulation of fire arms. Registration of fire arms. Full out banning of certain kinds of fire arms. State sanctioned molestation/unwarranted search and seizure by the TSA. Forced participation in a government run health care scheme. Federal regulation of raw milk and plants produced and sold in state.

The above are just a few of the issues making headlines across the country. Those with even an inkling of what the Bill of Rights is actually meant to protect, have to be shaking their heads every time they turn on the t.v. or browse the Internet. It does indeed seem that more than ever before, our constitutionally protected rights are under attack. Is this a conspiracy by the federal government? Or perhaps they have fallen victim to the same old story; motivation by greed. And, for some of them, doing things they naively think will keep people safe, though history has proven otherwise. Whichever way you look at it, our government has some serious problems, and all of those problems lead to the inevitable destruction of our rule of law.

I’ve found that there are always people who rejoice in telling me that the Constitution is just “a piece of paper.” Well, as with any contract, the Constitution only ever had as much power as was put into enforcing it. Unfortunately, we stopped enforcing the Constitution long ago. The people grew prosperous, satisfied, gluttonous, apathetic. We started seeking gratification in entertainment, rather than in hard work, and we neglected the things we saw as such – including our own governance. More and more, the people who pursued office were those who did so, not out of a sense of obligation or duty, but out of a desire for power, and to feed the ego; a need to be recognized. Worse, we rewarded these people by voting for them, regardless of what skeletons popped out of closets. We did this at the local level and beyond. Consequently, the states stopped holding up their end of the constitutional agreement.

With few citizens to keep state government on track, who was going to check the feds? The Supreme Court? Right. Another branch of the same malfunctioning government which had been bred. Too long ago to think about, judges stopped interpreting law from the language of the constitution, and started relying instead on case law. That means that if one judge made a made a bad call, chances were relatively good that the next similar case was going to be built on the shaky foundation of a judicial mistake. This hasn’t been true across the board, but much too often for comfort. In fact, most law students are now taught more case law than anything else. The consequence of this is that judgments have moved increasingly further away from the original intent of the constitution. Some will poo-poo this, as if it doesn’t really matter. My question is; how far away can you get from the rule of law, and still have any at all?

Now, with the seeming war on the Bill of Rights, we ask ourselves why we can’t win in court. We ask ourselves why our federal government spends, spends, taxes, and creates ridiculous amounts of red tape and bureaucracy in nearly every area of government imaginable.

I submit that the answer to all of this, is that we have abdicated our right of being a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Those sentiments now are just words on “a piece of paper.”

The only way to get back to any sense of balance, is going to be by reasserting those original constitutional principles in the local sphere, and moving from there into our state legislatures. With the eyes of most Americans still firmly fixed on a team of oligarchs and a pseudo monarch in D.C., we are going to have to fight much harder for this ground than some imagine. If anyone thinks that it will be an easy job that we can occasionally work on in our spare time, they are sadly mistaken. Just ask those few representatives who are already trying to do it. It is going to take all those principles of integrity that have been given up by we and our countrymen, starting years ago. Blood, sweat, and tears. There will be hard choices. We will work long, hard hours for little pay – if any. We will have to educate those who don’t wish to be educated. We are going to be ridiculed. Friends we think we know are going to turn their backs on us, probably family members as well. Some of us will be asked to leave our places of worship. We are going to have to embrace that feeling of swimming against the current, because we will be labeled, targeted, and criticized by our own government and the deceived masses who are still blinded by it.

Will it be worth it? I would like to say yes. Perhaps that is because I believe in the principles of the Constitution. In itself it isn’t perfect. However, it’s purpose was to grant us the most possible amount of freedom, with the least weight pressed upon us by a central government. We aren’t even close to that kind of freedom anymore, and it is a wonderful thing to aspire to.

It’s three hours into November 6th on the East Coast, and the first votes are already being counted. Here on the West Coast some people are still awake, sharing their political thoughts on Facebook, while others have gone to bed completely stressed out. They will toss and turn all night in terror that “that other guy” will be elected by tomorrow.

No matter who you voted (or will vote) for, chances are good that there are going to be some discrepancies in the vote count. Lots of people, on both sides of the main political aisle, are going to be certain that somehow, the other side cheated. In reality, both sides probably cheated somewhere. The pre-election finger point freak out will carry on in a post-election rant and ridicule. The divide which only grows with every passing election, will seem ever more frightening to the objective few, and untold thousands of people will be completely distracted by it.

Regardless of the outcome though, whether your guy wins or that awful other fellow, there are many things that aren’t really going to change. No matter how much more in touch you think your letter is, these are issues that we should all be very concerned about. Consider a few…

The TSA. It’s not going anywhere soon, friends. Romney supports the Patriot Act which allowed it’s creation, and Obama could have – but didn’t – let it expire. Both of them think this is necessary for our “protection,” despite the fact that they have been completely unsuccessful at actually catching a terrorist, or finding a bomb in anyone’s hip transplant. No matter which one becomes President, the TSA is still going to be groping grandma six days, six weeks, six months from now. The 4th amendment barely exists anymore.

Obamacare. Sure, the Republicans are telling you they think it’s bad, but let’s get real. Mitt Romney was the first governor to institute a version of this in his own state. If we stopped being naive we would realize, that the most likely scenario under Romney is that we’ll end up with a similar healthcare mandate – only this one will have an “R” in front of it. Some people still think this is a good idea, but I’m putting my money down that that is going to change once they start seeing the repercussions, and forking out the money. What difference is it going to make that one plan calls for “free” contraception, and the other doesn’t, when businesses are still closing because they can’t afford it, and you are still forced to pay a “tax” if you want to opt out. Being forced to purchase something (anything) from the government? Unconstitutional.

The NDAA. It’s still astounding that some people have managed to have no idea what this is. Section 1021 of the 2012 NDAA allows for the indefinite detention of American citizens and legal resident aliens. Obama signed it, Romney supports it. No right to Habeas Corpus for you. No jury of your peers. The fact that this section and whatever it considers “belligerent acts” are not clearly defined, makes it that much more nefarious. If you’ve been living under a rock, you can read a bit more here;  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Authorization_Act_for_Fiscal_Year_2012#Indefinite_detention_without_trial:_Section_1021

There are many other issues we could talk about, including the war on drugs, and out of control military spending being perpetuated by both camps. The point is, today’s election is not going to change much at all about any of these issues. Most people have not realized it yet, but if we want anything to change we are going to have to embrace the fact that we need to fight these issues at a state and local level. Most of the time, this is going to mean defying the Feds through nullification. In other words, it’s time for us to say NO. No, we will not pay an unconstitutional tax penalty. No we will not throw our citizens in jail for the non-violent crime of smoking a weed they could have gotten from their back yard. No, we will not continue to pay an obscene amount of tax dollars to support the largest incarceration rate in the world. No, we will not turn our backs on our 4th amendment rights, and cast down our eyes as we are intimidated and molested in the airport! No, No, No!

Around the country, as the dust settles, and the election fervor fades away, a lot of great legislation is going to be coming up for the next session. And if there isn’t anything you feel you can get behind in your state, you can find some at www.tenthamendmentcenter.com. Bring it to your state and local representatives. Here in Washington we are going to be pushing for Sound Money, and the Liberty Preservation Act, among other things. These actions that we take at the state level are going to decide the trajectory of our future. Will there be more liberty, or will we continue to let the feds tread all over us? The answer is still up in the air.

It’s not rare for me to find myself at odds with my Christian brothers and sisters over politics. When Bush was in office I was just as asleep as many of the people I now know. Luckily, I snapped out of it (Someone who didn’t know is reading this in horror right now). Of course, by then we were already living under the Patriot Act, which helped usher in one of my all time favorite things – the TSA. Too bad I can’t sleep through that.

I think there is a good-thing-gone-bad at work. People, on whatever side of the aisle, want to believe that their leaders have their best interests at heart. They want to have faith in people. If, in the beginning of their political leanings, the Republican party seemed to match up with their ideals, than that is where they chose to stick their faith. If they generally continued with the same belief system, they assumed that the Republican party also still shared that belief system. Unfortunately, there ended up being a whole lot of blind faith going on. It’s gone way too far. I have more personal experience on the conservative side, but I think we can all say that this goes either way. I know people who will fight tooth and nail for Obama, no matter what crazy thing he does. The reason would be the same vice versa if Bush were in office – they can’t be wrong. They especially can’t be wrong if that means the other side is right.

Here’s the thing; our leaders don’t have our best interests at heart. In general, today, they mostly have greed at heart. Why not? We have, after all, created a system which rewards them for recklessly spending other people’s money. Some on the left may be more awake to this fact at the moment, because their guy is in office and he isn’t necessarily living up to all they’d hoped for. Maybe they still don’t want to vote for Romney, but at least they are irritated. On the other hand, those on the right can currently blame all of their woes on Obama, which means that all they have to do is get him out and all will be well, right? This is the sentiment. I don’t share it. If we elect Romney in November, then what? How long will the right sleep, assuming that their guy is working on their behalf? The better question for me is; will they ever wake up? I have to confess that I sometimes have my doubts, especially after the RNC antics, including rule changes that will cripple the grassroots in future elections. And still, they cheer. I am reminded of the stubborn Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years.

Romney and Obama have precious few differences, and even some of the supposed differences – abortion being one – we can’t really be sure about. Romney has openly stated that he also supports the NDAA , which includes indefinite detention of American citizens, AND the unconstitutional practice of presidents declaring war without congressional approval. Republicans supposedly care about these kinds of issues, along with small government in general. Despite this, they let a terrible candidate be foisted upon them, and the cycle of craptastic-ness at the federal level continues.

It occurs to me that our biggest problem is our absolute inability to accept fault. To admit we were wrong. To take responsibility. If we were to do such a thing, then surely we would be giving all of the power into the hands of those other people that we don’t agree with. We can’t do that! So instead, we blame every problem on them. Things work out much better this way with both sides using the other as a scapegoat. Meanwhile, the economy continues to spiral downward, more civil rights disappear every day, and our soldiers (along with countless civilians abroad) continue to die in endless wars.

Whoever is really running this show – if, in fact, someone out there is – they must be wild with glee over the effective way they have gotten us to fight with each other like some stubborn, five year old children. “He did it!” “Nooo! She did it!” Of course, it’s never our fault that we’re in this mess.

The Republican party is supposed to contain a large number of Christians. Christianity is founded on a guy who came as nothing. Born in a smelly, dirty place, his followers wanted to make him a king but instead he let himself be led to a horrible death. I wonder what would happen if Christians actually identified more with that guy they are supposed to be followers of, and less with their government?  Christianity also preaches repentance. Repentance isn’t just a nice word for “I’m sorry.” It also means to turn around. That means that we don’t have to keep going in the same stupid way we are going. That means that we don’t have to keep murdering citizens of other nations because we are afraid. We can go in a different direction. Is it irony that right now the Republicans seem the least likely to find the humility to do so? You can’t even be allowed to vote your conscience for someone other than Goldman-Sachs backed Romney without someone crying; “You’ll split the party!”

That’s right, it’s all on you.

If we were wise enough to realize it, our Founders actually foresaw the possibility for all of the troubles we now face, and gave us principles for fighting back. We could learn from them, and try to go a different way, recognizing the corruption of centralized power and this sick focus on king-like presidents who know the people with the money. We could focus on principled government at a local level. Unfortunately we haven’t done this, because we continue to try to justify everyone and everything that we agreed with before. If we stop doing the same things it’s like admitting defeat. We have to keep setting up puppets so that we don’t have to face reality – we allowed ourselves to be mislead. This is our fault.