I would like to introduce Taegan, our newest Liberty First intern. She describes herself as:

Signing Up For the Liberty First Brigade:

By Taegan James, Liberty First Intern

A few months ago I received a text from my beloved grandfather that he had emailed KrisAnne Hall – Constitutional attorney, author, speaker, and talk show host – about a few issues floating around today’s political realm, and had mentioned me and a possible internship in the process. I was instructed to email her a bit about myself, explain why I want to intern for her, and what I hope to accomplish. In the hundreds or thousands of messages I have typed up, I do not think it has ever taken me so long to compose an email. I wanted to portray myself as a learned, professional individual, but seem likable and easygoing at the same time. Eventually, I hit the ‘send’ button, and anxiously waited for a reply. 24 hours felt like an eternity, but finally I saw the message in my inbox I had been waiting for. “Wonderful. Let me contact my assistant and  see the best fit for your traveling with us.” I couldn’t believe the words I had just read. This was it: I was going to intern for KrisAnne Hall and had officially signed up to be part of the Liberty-First Brigade. Now, as I prepare to leave for Idaho in two days, I am experiencing a wide range of emotions. I am both excited and nervous; confident, yet timid as I acknowledge that I know far less than my mentor. Above all, I am eager to learn and soak up all of the information and experience that I possibly can. More to come in the following days; stay tuned for all the adventures (and foreseeable blunders). Pursuing truth and defending liberty, always.

-A Devoted Patriot

Patrick Henry was a real thorn in the side of the tyrants occupying the British Government. Where would we be without men and women who were willing to put it all on the line and speak openly and freely about the government’s abuse of power and violation of our Rights? They weren’t worried about their jobs, their reputations, their finances, or their lives. They knew that Liberty was eternal and worth more than the temporary comforts of life.

It wasn’t just Henry’s “give me Liberty, or give me death speech” that the loyalist hated. Henry’s oratory skills and confidence made him a formidable foe and a real motivator to the colonists in the fight to restore the Liberties of the British Colonists.

We must not forget Henry’s impromptu defense of Lewis Craig, Joseph Craig, and Aaron Bledsoe for the crime of “preaching the Gospel of the Son of God” contrary to Virginia Law. Although often abused and ignored, Separation of Church and State had been a part of British Liberty since 1100.

Upon hearing of the charges against these men, Henry rode 60 miles to volunteer as their defense attorney.

“May it please your worships: I think I heard read by the prosecutor as I entered this house the paper I now hold in my hand. If I have rightly understood, the king’s attorney of this colony has framed an indictment for the purpose of arraigning, and punishing by imprisonment, three inoffensive persons before the bar of this Court, for a crime of great magnitude-as disturbers of the peace. May it please the Court, what did I hear read? Did I hear it distinctly, or was it a mistake of my own? Did I hear an expression as if a crime, that these men, whom your worships are about to try for a misdemeanor, are charged with—

what?”—

and continuing in a low, solemn, heavy tone, “For preaching the Gospel of the Son of God!”

Henry was also and vocal supporter of the Right of the People to keep and bear arms. It was on this day in 1775 that Henry led an armed regiment of men to Williamsburg, demanding that the powder taken by Lord Dunmore be restored or replaced by the government to the people.

Henry and his regiment of men forced the the King’s Receiver to restore the People of Williamsburg with 330 pounds of powder. Lord Dunmore believed that he had full right and duty to take that powder under the circumstances of national security and that the People were being “outrageous” and “rebellious” for questioning his power and demanding the restoration of their property. Lord Dunmore did not take kindly to this “show of force” and issued a statement against Patrick Henry and anyone who would support him:

PROCLAMATION BY LORD DUNMORE .
By His Excellency the Right Honourable JOHN Earl of DUNMORE, His Majesty’ s Lieutenant and Governour General of the Colony and Dominion of VIRGINIA, and Vice-Admiral of the same.

A PROCLAMATION.
VIRGINIA, to wit:

Whereas I have been informed, from undoubted authority, that a certain Patrick Henry, of the County of Hanover, and a number of deluded followers, have taken up arms, chosen their Officers, and, styling themselves an Independent Company, have marched out of their County, encamped, and put themselves in a posture of war, and have written and despatched letters to divers parts of the Country, exciting the people to join in these outrageous and rebellious practices, to the great terrour of all His Majesty’ s faithful subjects, and in open defiance of law and Government; and have committed other acts of violence, particularly in extorting from His Majesty’ s Receiver General the sum of Three Hundred and Thirty Pounds, under pretence of replacing the Powder I thought proper to order from the Magazine; whence it undeniably appears that there is no longer the least security for the life or property of any man: Wherefore, I have thought proper, with the advice of His Majesty’ s Council, and in His Majesty’ s name, to issue this my Proclamation, strictly charging all persons, upon their allegiance, not to aid, abet, or give countenance to the said Patrick Henry, or any other persons concerned in such unwarrantable combinations, but on the contrary to oppose them and their designs by every means; which designs must, otherwise, inevitably involve the whole Country in the most direful calamity, as they will call for the vengeance of offended majesty and the insulted laws to be exerted here, to vindicate the constitutional authority of Government.

Given under my hand and the seal of the Colony, at Williamsburgh, this 6th day of May, 1775, and in the fifteenth year of His Majesty’ s reign.

DUNMORE.

GOD save the King.

Those who do not know their history, are doomed to repeat its mistakes.

Don’t forget to visit www.KrisAnneHall.com for more Constitutional Education!

How do we fall into the obvious trap of trading Liberty for Security? Do you remember when Al Sharpton was recently clambering to supplant our local law enforcement with the Department of Justice?

I want to bring something to light that may have eluded us; the federal government has NO AUTHORITY to have ANY armed agents beyond the military. Constitutionally speaking, any authority that is claimed to have armed federal agents must place these agents under the SAME umbrella as the military. That means:
Any use of armed federal agents within the States is a violation of posse comitatus. Can I repeat myself? If Congress has armed agents their only justification can be through their power to “raise and support armies.” That is Article 1 sec 8 clause 12. There is NO authority for an armed DOJ, EPA, DHS, FBI, FDA, or ANY of these unconstitutional federal agencies. Not only that, the power to raise and support an army is limited to TWO YEARS. Read this clause in the Constitution:

“The Congress shall have Power To …raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years….” Article 1 sec 8 clause 12

You may say, “Well that’s Al Sharpton, he’s crazy.” But truth be told that is exactly what we have when our Congress CONTINUES to fund these unconstitutional agencies with their unconstitutional power!

What about the DOJ and AG Loretta Lynch creating the “Strong Cities Network” in an effort to GLOBALIZE our local police forces?
Watch this and see how they are already doing this! https://youtu.be/ZSVAuA-NOzE

“America will never have a standing army, Americans would never support such tyranny” is what we hear. I am here to tell you America ALREADY has one (or two or three or…) and Americans already support this tyranny. Not only that, our local police and Sheriff, yoke up with these standing armies and allow our State and local governments to aid in this usurping of the Liberty of the people through the insidious tool of shared jurisdiction.
Please pay close attention to what founder Noah Webster said,

“Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States. A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and oppressive.”

We might claim that Noah only meant we should prevent the “military” from forming a standing army. But I want to remind that Noah’s words were “military force, at the command of Congress.” We now claim that Congress can command “other forces” than the military, eg DHS, DOJ, FBI etc. So that would clearly make the clause “at the command of Congress” much more important than the word “military.”

Time for us to get EDUCATED to the tyranny that is really in front of us, behind us, and next to us, forcing us to submit to a standing army in the name of security.

Religious Liberty may be the hardest pill to swallow in America, especially in light of “the war on terrorism.” But those who don’t know their history are begging us to repeat some very tragic mistakes.

When the Pilgrims arrived on this continent they were not searching for religious Liberty, they were fleeing religious persecution. The difference in these two ideas is evidenced by what they did when they got here. They didn’t set up new governments based upon Liberty of conscience, they established government mandated religion.

Not many know that within the original colonies men and women were fined, imprisoned, beaten, tortured, and even executed based upon their religious beliefs. Massachusetts had a law that stated if any shipman imported a Quaker in Mass., the shipman would be imprisoned and the Quaker would be hung. Yes, this is Massachusetts, not Iraq or China.

When government can mandate what we can and cannot believe tyranny is always the result. Therefore, learning from our history, we ought to be very careful when demanding that a person’s belief be made illegal.

Surely we wouldn’t do that in America, would we? That is exactly what we are doing when we demand that Islam be outlawed. We do not have to allow Shariah Law to allow Islam. We do not have to allow the violent acts to allow Islam. But we must allow people the Liberty to believe as they choose as long as those beliefs do not deprive anyone of their Liberties.

I have many tell me that we can outlaw Islam because it is not a religion it is an ideology. I say even moreso that is wrong. Liberty does not live in a place where government outlaws ideology or religion. Remember many say Liberty is an ideology and government would love to have the majority opinion to outlaw that.

Funny thing is that Islamic terrorists were not unknown at the time of our founding; look into the Barbary Pirates. Yet our framers established religious Liberty where “all could be equally free, Jews, Turks, Pagans, and Christians.”

Remember this, Islam has been a religion recognized by governments for centuries. Governments cannot distinguish one religion from the other without being tyrannical. The government that can outlaw Islam can outlaw Christianity just as easily. The sword you put in the hands of government to protect will easily become the sword that cuts you down.

We don’t need to outlaw Islam to prosecute murderers and child abusers. Perhaps we have forgotten that Muslims have lived in America for centuries under our laws, why all of the sudden is that perceived to be impossible?

I am not wrong and history proves me right. I will not ever back down on this position. It is the only position that will allow my child to have Liberty of conscience. Unfortunately too many are ignorant of the consequences of the history they are trying to repeat.

I would also remind that Hilter did a very good job of convincing the German people that all of their economic and national security problems were because of the Jews. You cannot argue that that is different just because Jews were not really a threat. The government convinced the people that the Jews were such a threat that they all needed to be eliminated from the country. Most didn’t question or care how. What the people believed to be true drove this genocide.

Do we forget that Americans imprisoned Americans of Japanese decent and Hopi Indians because they were believed to be a national security threat? How many died in those camps?

That is not who America should ever be…again.

So let us remember when we allow government to outlaw something we give government the power to make laws and enforce them. What is the appropriate penalty for deviating from the government’s belief system? Who do you want to decide what is acceptable? Who do you want enforcing those laws? It wasn’t that long ago when Christians were executing Christians for their denominational differences.

We cannot allow government to outlaw any belief. Without freedom of thought there can be no Liberty and there is no limit to a government with that kind of power.

Religious Liberty requires government stay out of our churches, but it is Christians who have the hardest time making that happen. Because Christians have forgotten Matthew 6:24, No man can serve two masters, it is Christians who have invited government to destroy separation of church and state.

Our forefathers at the founding of our Constitutional Republic recognized that there were differing religious beliefs in America. Richard Henry Lee stated:

“It is true, we are not disposed to differ much, at present, about religion; but when we are making a constitution, it is to be hoped, for ages and millions yet unborn, why not establish the free exercise of religion, as a part of the national compact.”

Recognizing that there were differing beliefs they wanted to ensure that all had the Liberty to believe according to their conscience, not according to government mandate. John Leland, leader of The Virginia Baptist General Convention made this proclamation:

“Every man must give an account of himself to God, and therefore every man ought to be at liberty to serve God in that way that he can best reconcile it to his conscience. If government can answer for individuals at the day of judgment, let men be controlled by it in religious matters; otherwise let men be free.”

Simply saying that if God doesn’t strike you dead for not believing what He wants you to believe, government should never exercise a power greater than God chooses to exercise himself.

Yet, knowing all of that, our founders almost committed a major error in religious liberty. In 1784, several legislators put forward a bill “Establishing A Provision for Teachers of the Christian Religion.” James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, to name two, were vehemently opposed to the tax, as were the Baptist coalitions.

Madison was opposed to this bill “Because the Bill implies either that the Civil Magistrate is a competent Judge of Religious Truth; or that he may employ Religion as an engine of Civil policy. The first is an arrogant pretension falsified by the contradictory opinions of Rulers in all ages, and throughout the world: the second an unhallowed perversion of the means of salvation.”

Jefferson was also opposed, “That to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical.”

Our framers believed that Liberty was a gift from God. They also believed that understanding was the only means to preserve Liberty. Thomas Jefferson said, “”God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?”

But they knew that government as a driving force for religion and religious education would bring the end of Liberty itself.

The Baptist Coalition made this statement: “That it is believed to be repugnant to the spirit of the gospel for the legislature thus to proceed in matters of religion and should the legislature assume the right of taxing the people for the support of the gospel it will be destructive to religious liberty.”

The framers knew that Religious Liberty required Christians to operate by faith, trusting God to be their provider and the the leader of the moral conscience. They did not support government supported education of religion because they KNEW that it would make government the ultimate determination of truth.

This is why Christians should not be begging government schools to teach religion and why Christians should not support vouchers to send kids to Christian schools. It is “arrogant pretension” an “unhallowed perversion of the means of salvation,” it is “sinful and tyrannical,” “repulsive to the spirit of the gospel” and “destructive to Liberty.”

Christians don’t need vouchers to send their kids to Christian schools. Christians have God who has promised to provide all their needs and God doesn’t need a government bail out. Vouchers are only a testimony of lack of faith not a provision for education. By the way, most State Constitutions require public school funding. So if you take a voucher then the State can tax you AGAIN to replace the money you took so the public schools have funding. What if Christians actually believed the Bible and God’s promise of provision? Maybe pastors don’t preach Matthew 6:24-30 anymore?

Why Public Schools Can’t Teach God: http://goo.gl/GIcL2o
Why Christians Should Never Accept Vouchers: http://goo.gl/fN8NQF

Today’s #Point2Ponder:

NBC published an article calling Sheriff’s who defend the Constitution as “radical” and equated them with “domestic terrorists” and even implied they were just a bunch of racist white guys.

The headline reads: “Constitutional Sheriffs: The Cops Who Think the Government Is Our ‘Greatest Threat'”

Read the facts about this Sheriff: http://goo.gl/BHZGsA

Now Read the article by NBC: http://goo.gl/NWRV5S

I find that quite ironic. Why would a member of the press be mocking anyone for thinking that the “Government is our ‘greatest threat’?” The press relies on the very principles of Liberty for their industry and livelihood. Is there a greater threat Freedom of Press than government? Is there any OTHER threat to Freedom of Press than government?

Benjamin Franklin, writing as Silence Dogood, believed there was no greater threat to Freedom of Speech than the government.

“Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech; which is the Right of every Man, as far as by it, he does not hurt or controul the Right of another: And this is the only Check it ought to suffer, and the only Bounds it ought to know.

This sacred Privilege is so essential to free Goverments, that the Security of Property, and the Freedom of Speech always go together; and in those wretched Countries where a Man cannot call his Tongue his own, he can scarce call any Thing else his own. Whoever would overthrow the Liberty of a Nation, must begin by subduing the Freeness of Speech; a Thing terrible to Publick Traytors.” Benjamin Franklin, Silence Dogood, No. 8 Jul 9, 1722.

How ironic is it that NBC, or any #MSM, would assert that defending the #Constitution makes you a potential domestic terrorist. Has our media become so ignorant that they do not understand that their industry is dependent upon a limited government that recognizes the superiority of the Rights of the people? Has our media become so fearful of government that they no longer have independent thought? If so, then as Franklin predicted, Freedom of Speech is suppressed, public Liberty is oppressed, and Wisdom is dead.

The very sad thing is that history proves the fact that government is the only enemy to freedom of press. It is how the communist revolution took hold of the people. Look at Joseph Goebbels, and his Ministry of Truth. Even Franklin ties the tyranny of Charles I to the denial of freedom of speech and George III had control of the media when our founders were trying to encourage the American Colonists to stand for Liberty.

Ignorance is not bliss…it is slavery. How can the media be so blind to history and to reality that they would allow this vicious pied piper to lead them right off the cliff into government mandated silence?

Why should we care?  If we do not have freedom of press, can we maintain freedom of speech?  If we do not have freedom of press, can we actually peacefully assemble or petition for a redress of grievances?  If the government takes complete control of the press with the permission of media, will any Liberty be secure?  Remember Franklin warned, “This sacred Privilege is so essential to free Goverments, that the Security of Property, and the Freedom of Speech always go together; and in those wretched Countries where a Man cannot call his Tongue his own, he can scarce call any Thing else his own.”  Liberty Does Really Matter.

“For no People will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when Knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own Weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.” Samuel Adams to James Warren 1775