On this beautiful Mother's Day an email from the HispanicLibertarians Yahoo Group
landed in my inbox. It was a post titled "Troops and Law enforcement
officers say not on my watch!". The entire post was this link, http://www.oath-keepers.blogspot.com, the Oath Keepers website. At first glance I thought good for them; this is a step in the right direction.
Unfortunately,
further examination quickly revealed another side of this organization.
While they advocate liberty and respect for the Constitution they also
support the US government's imperial wars. It is not possible to be pro
war and empire, on the one hand, and pro liberty at the same time. One
must choose one or the other.
The pro war and pro empire side is revealed when one clicks on the links in the blog post, "Shout Our Oaths In The Tyrant's Face- Washington D.C., June 13, 2009", a call to celebrate an alleged victory in Iraq. The first link is to Gathering of Eagles.
On their page titled Our Mission point number 9 states, "We will accept
nothing less than total, unqualified victory in the current conflict.
Surrender is not an option, nor is defeat." The freedom hating
Neoconservatives couldn't have said it better. The truth is that ending
an aggressive war overseas isn't surrender or defeat, it is good sense.
It is the only way to live in peace with the world.
(I will give
them credit for one thing, point number 7 which reads, "We vehemently
oppose the notion that it is possible to 'support the troops but not
the war.' We are opposed to those groups who would claim support for
the troops yet engage in behavior that is demeaning and abusive to the
men and women who wear our nation's uniform." This is quite true. It is
the height of moral cowardice to proclaim support for the troops but
oppose their mission. Those who oppose the war should do so completely
and openly.)
Oath Keepers is missing a key point. The problem
isn't that the military and police are being given the wrong orders,
that's merely the symptom. The real problem is the fact that these
organizations exist allows such orders to be issued in the first place.
I make this point about police powers in, "Drug Prohibition: Law Enforcement Is The Problem".
The
answer is not to take this oath, the answer is to resign from
government service. I would remind readers that this would be emulating
George Washington's resignation from and disbanding of the Army after the fighting in the Revolutionary War ended. He knew better than to have a standing army.
Let me conclude with some words of wisdom on the subject from the Founders:
It
is certain, that all parts of Europe which are enslaved, have been
enslaved by armies; and it is absolutely impossible, that any nation
which keeps them amongst themselves can long preserve their liberties;
nor can any nation perfectly lose their liberties who are without such
guests: And yet, though all men see this, and at times confess it, yet
all have joined in their turns, to bring this heavy evil upon
themselves and their country.
Cato's Letters, No. 95: Further Reasonings against Standing Armies [September 22, 1722] **************************
A
standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be
safe companions to liberty. The means of defense against foreign
danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the
Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was
apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the
pretext of defending, have enslaved the people.
--James Madison *************************
"What,
Sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a
standing army, the bane of liberty .... Whenever Governments mean to
invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to
destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins."
-- Rep. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, Floor debate over the Second Amendment [1789] *************************
"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies."
Thomas Jefferson *****************************
If
we admit this consolidated government, it will be because we like a
great splendid one. Some way or other we must be a great and mighty
empire; we must have an army, a navy, and a number of things: When the
American spirit was in its youth, the language of America was
different: Liberty, Sir, was then the primary objectBut now, Sir, the
American spirit, assisted by the ropes and chains of consolidation, is
about to convert this country to a powerful and mighty empire.
Patrick Henry *******************************
"Avoid
the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which, under
any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to
be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty".
Commentary 
