Saturday, June 8, 2013

A Message To American "Law Enforcement" -- "Losing the Mandate of Heaven." Transcript of my speech at Temple TX, 1 June 2013.

Losing the Mandate of Heaven: The incident at Temple, Texas, and the delegitimization of law enforcement.
Video here. (Please circulate as far and wide as you can.)
I'm proud to be here in the state of Texas but I'm going to talk on a serious subject and many of you are not going to like it. What I want to talk about is a consideration of why Temple, Texas, is important and why right now, right here, is the focus of a struggle on a much larger stage.
If you go to the dictionary and you look up delegitimize, you'll see the definition is to "diminish or destroy the legitimacy, prestige, or authority of a system, as in 'delegitimize a government.'"
The Chinese have a traditional philosphical concept called "the Mandate of Heaven," which deals with the legitimacy of rulers. It is similar to the European concept of the divine right of kings, in that both seek to legitimize rule from divine approval; however, unlike the divine right of kings, the Mandate of Heaven is predicated on the conduct of the ruler in question. The Mandate of Heaven postulates that heaven will bless the authority of a just ruler and will be displeased by a despotic ruler and will withdraw its mandate, leading to the overthrow of that ruler. So believe the Chinese, even in the 21st Century.
In Western civilization, we tend to be a bit more scientific about what makes up political legitimacy. In political science, legitimacy is the popular acceptance of a governing law or regime as an authority. Political legitimacy is considered a basic condition for governing, without which a government will suffer deadlock and collapse.
John Locke said that political legitimacy derives from popular explicit and implicit consent: "The government is not legitimate unless it is carried on with the consent of the governed." The is the basis of our Founders' Republic. It is the essence of the Declaration of Independence.
If political legitimacy is a reservoir, the past twenty years of chronic two-party corrupt misgovernance and federally-assisted cront capitalism, interspersed with periodic bloody fits like Ruby Ridge and Waco; the sacking of the public treasury in the bailouts; the debasement of the currency and culminating with the ripping off of the smiling mask of lies in Fast and Furious, the IRS "enemies lists," the Benghazi debacle and the attacks on the press presently under way, combine catastrophic drought with dam failure.
Governments at all levels in this country are now morally, ethically, economically and spiritually bankrupt. The once mighty reservoir is now a timy, tiny rivulet of wishful thinking.
What does all of this have to do with Temple, Texas?
Everything.
I came all the way out here from Alabama because what happened here is merely the latest example of the delegitimization of government, and especially law enforcement, in a long line of such sorry episodes. I came here to deliver a warning to all law enforcement officers that they are unthinkingly delegitimizing themselves by identifying themselves as apart from the people and the Constitution that they swore to protect.
For twenty years and more now we watched "peace officers" turned into paramilitary gangs of armed thugs, responsive only to the politicians who sign their paychecks.
For twenty years and more we have watched the federalization of our local police and sheriffs departments. This process was accelerated under George Bush's so-called "war on terror," with the universal fielding of Joint Task Forces and "fusion centers." Yet today we see this unconstitutional vertical integration of law enforcement considers you -- the armed citizenry -- as greater enemies to themselves and the rotten system they seek to protect than the jihadis sent by the late and unlamented Usama bin Laden.
This country faces many threats and challenges and the police like to tell us that they are the "thin blue line" protecting us from the evil bad guys. But if you read police magazines these days, you will find much about police tactical teams adopting a "warrior ethos." Well, that begs the question -- with whom are they at war? Law-abiding citizens exercising their natural, God-given and inalienable rights, no matter how "rudely"?
Now let me show you who some members of law enforcement think is the enemy -- who they train daily to engage until, like all training, it becomes unthinking and automatic.
Here he is:
This is a target used by the New Mexico Department of Public Safety. Look familiar? It ought to. This fellow looks like all of you out there. And the New Mexico people are not the only ones who use targets like this.
This is who so-called "law enforcement" now considers to be the enemy.
Not muggers.
Not rapists.
Not even Usama Bin Laden, for that would be politically incorrect.
Their enemy, my friends, is YOU. It is US. It is the armed citizenry of the United States.
So I say to these members of law enforcement, all of whom took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States --
What makes you think that the orders of corrupt politicians trump that oath?
What makes you think that our rights are hostage to the anti-firearm neuroses of our neighbors?
What part of "Shall Not Be Infringed" don't you understand?
And given that, given that you now seem to regard US as the enemy of all police, why then should we not regard YOU as illegitimate?
You've delegitimized yourselves.
Why then should we regard you -- if we are your enemy -- why should we not consider you OUR enemy?
How, then, will you react, Mr. Policeman, when you begin to see targets like this with uniformed police officers on them? Can you give us a good reason why we shouldn't return the favor?
This is unpleasant stuff. This is dangerous stuff. BUT THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A REGIME DELEGITIMIZES ITSELF!
This is what happens when a regime throws away the Mandate of Heaven.
Anarchy.
Murder.
Tyranny.
And if the law enforcement officers who have forgotten their oaths think that all they have to do is obey their unconstitutional bosses' orders in order to draw their pensions, future history will dictate otherwise.
THAT is why Temple is so important.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where do we get the cop targets?

Pointy End Out said...

FANTASTIC speech !
truly !

Anonymous said...

Mike,

I think the point you made at the end of that video with Stewart Rhodes about Alex Jones actually distracted from the substance of your message. It made it about a personal feud between you two rather than about the overall point you were making about all forms of collectivism ending in the same place -- either they lose, or their victims die en masse. God bless Stewart Rhodes for holding his peace and trying to keep herding all the Patriot cats as best he can! God only knows how many fed plants and provocateurs have tried to discredit Oath Keepers in his time there while the keyboard warriors at Western Rifle Shooters spout off about Oathkeepers not being good enough or wasting money on a NASCAR ad. Excuse me, how much longer can we afford to preach to the choir and not to the 'low information voter' who don't even know that members of the military swear an Oath to the Constitution and not to the President or the nation?

I am glad that you managed to restrain yourself and not work Jones into this Temple speech even if no doubt some in the audience were listeners. The truth is as with the much diminished post-Fox Glenn Beck, if Brother Jones' program offers little value or becomes too much about Brother Jones, people will move on, especially with the meandering twists and turns of 'patriot movement' politics. I'll give you an example.

Many people that I listen to such as TruNews Rick Wiles have already denounced Jones for allegedly endorsing Adam Kokesh's stupid idea for an armed march on D.C., when I know for a fact he did no such thing. So there is a bit of exaggeration if not dishonesty on both sides, both from Jones part in perhaps falsely accusing you of promoting broken windows, AND from Jones critics who claim to uphold the highest ethical standards.

Rick Wiles for example, the host of the Christian alt media show TruNews, which I only listen to for the quality of guests not so much for Mr. Wiles (same with Brother Jones, for the most part), falsely said Alex endorsed Adam Kokesh's dumb idea for an armed march on D.C. He did no such thing and repeated that he had warned Adam that he would be preemptively arrested if he went through with it, and lo and behold the feds bagged him at a pot rally. Now am I defending Kokesh? Hell no, he's an idiot and I've heard this not from you but from people I trust personally who talked to Sheriff Mack's people out in New Mexico/Arizona. But saying you're a bad Christian if you listen to Alex Jones now and then? I don't think that's right Brother Wiles. Especially since my concept of Orthodox Christianity probably differs slightly from your Protestant concepts.

I know it is hard to show courtesy to a guy who's clearly in the Patriot movement to make a very nice living for himself and who may have lied about you and feuded with your friends. But so what? People can't figure out that Alex does pretty well considering the size of his operation and his Hollywood friends?

At the end of the day, stick with your main speech, and leave Alex Jones out of it. The truth about him -- if he really is a provocateur or has simply been threatened, as Beck clearly was, to pull in his horns -- will come out.

Anonymous said...

As for the 'trutherism' charge -- first of all, I don't like it. Not because I am myself a truther but because I saw how the neocon military industrial complex whores in the GOP used it to smear Ron Paul, when the Congressman never endorsed 'trutherism' but simply refused out of politeness to denounce people who supported him. Think of it as Ronald Reagan getting endorsed by the John Birch Society and telling reporters that reflected on him but not on his agreeing with their message. Furthermore just because I don't believe George W. Bush or Dick Cheney carried out 9/11 doesn't mean I think everyone in the government who could've prevented it from happening did so, or that the full truth has been told about high level Saudi/Pakistani involvement.

These games are rather pointless and useless. As is attacking Alex Jones for covering Bildeberg when you'd have to be an idiot considering the amount of security and money and who attends to think nothing of importance is determined or decided there. Don't be like that butthole Jamie Weinstein of the Daily Caller who went down to Bildeberg in Virginia and just proceeded to troll all the protesters on camera and practically defend Bill Gates, Henry Kissinger and all the other
collectivist robber barons and their minions inside. If you don't think Commies like Bill Ayers haven't received corporate and large foundation largesse for decades (Annenberg Challenge, anyone?) then you must think Van Jones and all the other lower level people really are running the show.


Hell, former participants said Bildeberg was KEY to the founding of the European Union back in the 1950s and 60s, that is undisputed historic fact and Alex deserves credit for bringing mainstream media attention -- ok at least the London Guardian and UK Telegraph -- to Bildeberg.

Again, none of these facts defends Alex Jones character, which is rather poor and at times opportunistic. But even you sir understand at times people have to do what they have to do to get their message out and if that means going on Alex's show without necessarily agreeing with all of his baggage and personality defects, then so be it. Don't put Stewart Rhodes in such an awkward position again and drag him into your feud with Brother Jones.

udaman said...

Cop targets will be in there, to donuts, to the arrival at the first crime scene of the day. Hopefully we will have a peaceful resolution to the day and everyone goes home safe and sound.

udaman said...

For the cop targets we could just ask for volunteers and do the whole digital makeover thing.

udaman said...

Problem for the officers being that they are watching the "likely suspects" that they have been ordered to watch. In the meantime it gives the real "terrorists" or "troublemakers" the leeway to do their work mostly un-observed and un-hindered, possibly causing a huge amount of damage.

Dutchman6 said...

As far as "putting Stewart Rhodes in an awkward position," he's a big boy and can take care of himself. Alex Jones declared back in 2010 that I was likely a government provocateur and that if I wasn't immediately arrested it would prove that I was. He has never retracted that statement, nor apologized. The fact of the matter is that he does deal out disinformation uncritically, discrediting himself and his cause in the eyes of serious people. I have had twenty years of dealing with such people since the 90s -- Mark Koernke and "Militia" of Montana spring to mind -- and I swore long ago that I would no longer suffer fools gladly. At best AJ is an opportunistic useful idiot.

As for the talk, I was a, exhausted, and b. didn't know Stewart wanted me to speak until a few minutes before, when I jotted down some notes on a scrap of paper. Frankly, although I've never made a secret of it, I am always embarrassed when I have to speak about my "Benedict Arnold period." I did so as a favor to Stewart, Finally, Alex Jones' name came up because he had numerous worshipful acolytes in the room who had engaged me just before the talk in BS about this alleged "false flag" event and that "false flag" event, including the "fact" that the Boston bombings were perpetrated by Navy SEALS, and why didn't I mirror their fearless leader's every factless fart on my blog("?!?"). I told them that they obviously hadn't been listening to Alex long enough for he could surely tell them I was a government agent.

It was then that I got up to speak, with these poor deluded souls' earnest misconceptions fresh in my mind.

I retract nothing and I have nothing to apologize for.

Anonymous said...

Mike, you are correct. You have nothing to apologize for. If anything, at least for me, you have clarified the whole meaning of what a legitimate government means, AND what it means to be a legitimate patriot.
And I thank you for that. When I discovered your blog at the beginning of the F&F abomination, I didn't really understand the true nature of what was happening around me. I do now, thanks to you, and you alone.
And btw, considering your speech was almost impromptu, I am amazed at the concise, sublime content of your message. I will link to your message every place I can, as you requested. I'm also looking forward to reading your book as soon as it's published.

Anonymous said...

speaking of "De-legitimatizing" themself...here is the living proof..

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/06/justice-department-electronic-frontier-foundation-fisa-court-opinion?google_editors_picks=true

A "secret" FISA court issues a ruling declaring the USG acted ILLEGALLY pursuant to "surveillance tactics". And what does our beloved DOJ do? Why..keep it secret..what else?

geeezusHfuckingchrist.. if THAT isn't the plumb bob of Orwell's MINISTRY OF TRUTH..I don't know what is. He must be rolling in his grave in gut splitting laughter. Redlining the INCREDULOUS METER notwithstanding, that one will go down as numero uno in the annuls of GREAT MOMENTS IN MONUMENTAL USG HUBRIS..forever.

Dutchman6 said...

BTW, I should note that I owe Stewart Rhodes a great deal, including the opportunity to speak in Hartford, West Springfield and in New York, I wouldn't have been there without him, so I don't want anyone thinking that I am not thankful for his help and the opportunity. We don't agree on everything. Who does? But he is doing the Lord's work with Oathkeepers, in my opinion.

William Flatt said...

Anon@June8th3:03pm, If you want a good cop target, use THIS. Just upsize it a bit and print from your computer. You may want to shoot this at 100/200 yards using a scope 'for effect'.

Like commonly used police 'shoot/don't shoot' targets, this one has a civilian you don't want to hit. Good luck and good shooting!