Minuteman Statue on Lexington Green.On Sunday, 19 April 2009, “Oath Keepers” rallied on Massachusetts’ historic Lexington Green to renew their oaths to support and defend the U.S. Constitution. Held on the 234th anniversary of the revolutionary war battles of Lexington and Concord.
I have not yet sorted out my own reactions to this amazing event. Here's how Pete summed it up:
- Success.
- Hundreds of current and former military and police personnel publicly renewing their Constitutional oaths, along with hundreds of other freedom fighters who took the oath for the first time.
- The beginnings of a groundswell which, even in its early stages, is introducing strategic uncertainty into the plans of tyrants and thugs at the Federal, state, and local levels.
- Plans for another oath renewal ceremony, this time on the Mall in Washington on June 13, 2009 as part of the Gathering of Eagles Victory in Iraq ceremony.
Plan to be there.
The most vivid speaker was 29 Palms Survey author Lt. Commander Guy Cunningham, who set the crowd ON FIRE with his explanation of how and why the 1990s survey of Marines' attitudes to UN jurisdication and gun raids came about.
Stewart also had the crowd roaring. As reported in the New American:
“The only way a tyrannical government from the left or right can succeed is for active duty personnel to obey unlawful orders,” former Army paratrooper and Oath Keepers’ founder Rhodes told the crowd. “If you took an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution, you have a duty to disobey unlawful orders. When you took the oath, you lost the option to duck out.” Rhodes is also an attorney, Yale University graduate, SWAT magazine columnist, and former staffer for Congressman Ron Paul.
Rhodes stressed that although Oath Keepers’ supporters were about to renew their oaths to the Constitution, the American people did not get their rights from the Constitution. “Where do our rights come from? There was no Second Amendment in 1775,” he told the crowd. “The Bill of Rights protects our rights, it doesn’t grant them." -- http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/election/1021.”
The only press account so far is, as I said, found here in the New American. Why the blackout? I don't know. Perhaps the media find this story too dangerous. I know the administration does. Here's one reason:
Stewart Rhodes, founder of Oath Keepers and Peter of Western Rifle Shooters Association were talking at the reception after the event when a twenty-something young man dressed in tee shirt, jeans and a windbreaker walked up to them. He wanted to shake Stewart's hand and thank him. The conversation went something like this:
Stewart: "Are you ex-military?"
Young man: "No, sir."
Stewart: "Did you take the oath?"
Young man: "Yes, sir."
Stewart: "Do you know what it means?"
The young man paused a moment and then said: "It means that I have to die if necessary to protect the Constitution."
Stewart: "That's right."
Pete later told me, "They were the eyes of someone who has made the first serious decision of his life and intends to stick by it no matter what."
Here's what I concluded.
This Oath Keepers' movement is the greatest threat to tyranny in this country -- whether it comes from left or right. It is a dagger pointed right at the heart of those who would violate the Constitution in order to achieve their own ends by using the blunt instrument of the military. The military and the law enforcement officers of Oath Keepers will not be pawns in anybody's scheme. The best thing we who have sworn to frustrate the tyrannical appetites already evident can do is to get behind this Oath Keeper movement and push. Donate money, organize veterans and current serving military men and women and law enforcement officers. If the means of oppression are denied them, the tyrant-wannabes will have to admit defeat, at least in the short term.
So build Oath Keepers. Come with us in June to Washington DC to the Gathering of Eagles. Can you imagine the press ignoring one hundred thousand, two hundred thousand or even a quarter million soldiers, cops and veterans taking the oath on the National Mall? This isn't a dream. It is possible. IT IS DOABLE. If we but make it so. So, make it so.
Mike
III
PS More later. I'm off to the doctor now to get my pneumonia and bloody feet treated. I should have stayed home. I couldn't. And next time, neither should you. I know I won't. WE MUST NOT FAIL AND WE NEED EVERY MAN AND WOMAN TO SUCCEED.
14 comments:
My eyes are full of tears . . . .
B Woodman
SSG (Ret) U S Army
F**k Statemedia. Blogs like yours, Codrea's, mine and others will have full coverage of the event. I have gotten far more accurate news and latest developments from the Web than from the BOOBtube.
I wasn't able to attend, but I was able to wake up two antis from my college class to the realities of tyranny and the importance of gun ownership. Basically a nice, in-the-middle-of-professor's-lecture speech. We were talking about how the Soviet Union diagnosed political dissidents with "sluggish schizophrenia", and I took the opportunity to tell the class that an armed citizenry is the best deterrance to tyranny. I also quoted the Gulag Archipelago. By the end of the class, two of them came up to me and told me they had been foolish for trusting anti-gun driveln for too long.
Mike, take care of your health, and may you have a speedy recovery.
PS: Start eating spinach too. Stir fry or steamed is good. Eat cucumber and carrots raw too. At least one serving, every day. Please.
With enough training (darn little training, actually) and a little bit of experienced leadership (E-5's and O-3's), the young man won't have to die for the Constitution. He will have to fight, shoot straight, endure a little deprivation, a lot of tedious repetitive high-alertness drills, and trust his small team. There will be some enemy who might have to meet their makers.
Kneeling in front of a ditch that you have dug in shackles at gunpoint is the scene that we are fighting against.
Let's win.
Cheers.
Boss, you wasn't in great shape the last time I saw you, either. We sorta kinda need you in a bad way, so, damnit, take a little better care of yourself. Me and my eldest boy took the oath at sunset on the 19th, and we made it a blood oath. To the death. Brothers to the bone. III.
And this in a nutshell is what separates us from the enemy. They cannot conceive of any cause worth dying for. Undercutting, backstabbing, obtaining gain through lies and deceit sure, but to stand up and place your life on the line for anything is a foreign concept that they will never fully fathom.
And there is the rub, for they do not believe that we will not cut and run at the first opposition, the first risk of personal loss, the first show of their blue hatted "legitimate" one world bully boys. But they will if we have to hunt them down and rub each and every one of their noses in the simple fact that this is still the United States of America and we still stand for something better than the one world mediocrity they are so enamoured by.
I will stand with that young man and anyone else honoring the oath.
Well put ... whatever it takes, but it is far better to live to fight on rather than die. But be prepared to do so if necessary for your beliefs & our Country. We may not have any other option much longer.
WE all will die someday...
Although I don't relish the thought, I would surely lay down my life for the protection of the Constitution...
If it comes to that...
I would prefer though to let the bastards on the other side lay down their life for their beliefs...
I took the Oath 26 years ago as a young Marine...
I will explore my options of attending the Gathering of Eagles. I would love to "renew my vows"
Never Quit... Never Give In...
G III
I didn't make it because I dislike that side of the mighty Miss and detest D.C.
I did something else patriotic.
I noticed a FEMA table at a gun show that day and tossed 2 bucks in their donation/tip jar. They might need burial expenses some day or extra cattle car funding. Money for Katrina style stadium rentals? One never knows but they seemed in dire straits as they were semi-dressed as soldiers but with no rank or unit bits on their kit.
Guy tried to get me to buy a FEMA book. Was in uniform (sort of, as above), pretended to be military in affected mannerisms that didn't ring true. His clothes showed no rank, didn't even have some sort of FEMA badge.
They sure had a big table of useless books to sell on how to survive disasters and recognize domestic terrorists though and he was very concerned I didn't have a copy at home. I said "Dad's a Colonel, grew up next door to SEALs and a UDT dad of the SEALs, I don't think your books will help me but you might need a couple bucks some day..."
FEMA table at a gun show...what will they think of next? If I wear some of my old woodlands and boots instead of my favored warm weather sandals can I pretend to be a soldier for America and a friend to gun owners while stabbing them in the back too?
FEMA table at a gun show! No BATFE table this time around though...maybe they take turns?
He was safe from us IIIs, though. Everybody's actions were ziptied open as people wandered around buying large allotments of ammo, often for what they had slung over a shoulder. Nobel Peace prize for stupid entrance security people that you have to explain how to lock the bolt open on a Garand to and the manufacturers of Zippy-Ties!
How do you get to be a firearms security officer at a gun show in TEXAS and not KNOW HOW TO LOCK A M1 BOLT OPEN, not even have an inkling of a thought or idea????
In the meantime, encourage all Constitutional Patriots you know to obtain and read, "U n in t e nde d Co nse qu e n c e s" by J o H n Ros S. Explains strategy to effect return to Constitutional Gov't without need for firefights in streets. Every patriot should read and reflect on how they may contribute at their societal or governmental level, to "Operation Consequence" if it becomes unavoidable.
Where's those hog pens?
Damn, Tom, you didn't avail yourself of the opportunity to demonstrate for their edification the pleasures of the M1 thumb?
Thank you Mike. Very well said, as always.
That conversation with the young man at the reception was a great example of the spirit of resolve that is now awakening in so many Americans. I have had multiple similar experiences, both at the Knoxville, Tenn. Tea Party and at Lexington, and it has been very, very encouraging to see both young and old step up and make it clear they are Oath Keepers.
Rock throwing young leftists do not have a monopoly on hard, "steely eyes." I'll match the young men who gathered at Lexington, both active duty, vets, and civies, up against them any day.
I fully expect the June rally to be something amazing, and as you said, it is doable, if we will but do it.
See you all there!
E. Stewart Rhodes III
Oath Keepers
Gah! This is SO FRUSTRATING!
Where the hell were you people when Bush and his team were basically torching the constitution - suspending habeus corpus and tapping U.S. phones?? Hoodwinking our people into a war based on outright lies and sending thousands of our brave men and women to their deaths in that stupid sandpit? Where were you then?
Why is it only NOW that you've decided to stand for something? WE NEEDED YOU EIGHT YEARS AGO.
I was there, April 19th, as a photographer, capturing what I hope will some day be photos which will appear in some history book recalling with pride the events of the day. I brought my 16 year old son along so that he could see how men and women of honor, true patriots, act when it comes to laying all on the line for the country. We arrived in Stow with almost empty pockets and left with full and yet sobered hearts, proud to have had the privilege to be there & to meet & to walk with true Patriots of the Republic !!
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