Conservatives…Aren’t, Are They?

by Russell D. Longcore

In America in early 2016, much is being made about Conservatism. The dozen-or-so Republican Presidential candidates have fought between themselves about which of them are the most conservative, and particularly how the front-runner Donald Trump is not conservative at all.

The old adage, “Actions speak louder than words,” has never been truer as it relates to the idea and ideal of conservatism.

Scores of books have been written about conservatism and liberalism, and more will be written. In my view, they mostly cloud the issues and make the definitions fuzzy at best.

Here is my definition of true Conservatism. Conservatism is a political philosophy that stands for a Federal government that functions within the strictures and boundaries of the US Constitution.

That’s it. Anything less than this definition is not true Conservatism.

Now, in light of that definition, look at what the people who call themselves Conservatives today believe and do. Remember, forget what they say…only watch what they do.

The Constitution does not allow for a standing army. Conservatives support unlimited amounts of tax money and debt for standing armies, air forces, military bases in over 130 foreign countries and never-ending WAR.

The Constitution does not allow for war to be declared by anyone other than Congress, nor military invasions of sovereign nations. Conservatives have supported undeclared wars and invasions abroad since Lincoln invaded the Confederate States of America.

The Constitution does not provide for all of the various Cabinet departments, like Labor, Energy, Education, Commerce, Health and Human Services, etc. The only Cabinet departments I can see authorized in the Constitution are Treasury, War, and State. Conservatives not only like all of the various departments…they willingly fund them and fight over their control.

The Constitution does not provide for the Federal Reserve or a national bank. Conservatives work hard to place their own favorite guy as the Chairman, and manipulate the currency as they choose.

The Constitution does not promote nor restrict any faith or the practice of any religion, leaving any religious concerns to the states. Conservatives promote nearly exclusively the religions of Western Civilization, which are Judaism and Christianity. Conservatives have always been in favor of the tax-exempt status of the Church.

The Constitution of 1789 does not allow for a personal income tax or the Internal Revenue Service. (I know about the Amendment.) Conservatives rely on tax revenues and DEBT to fund the unconstitutional things they love.

The Constitution does not allow for the vast array of regulations of every facet of human existence. Conservatives in Congress have helped pass all of the regulatory legislation and regulations. They have kept most regulation in place, and only in rare exceptions have repealed regulations and law.

The Constitution does not say much about immigration law, leaving immigration policy to the states. Conservatives have made a monstrous mess of immigration law in America.

The Constitution promotes small Federal government, tightly controlled by the States. Conservatives promote a HUGE federal government.

So, we can see that those who call themselves Conservatives today…aren’t. They are big-government state worshippers. Those who embrace true conservatism today are usually labeled anarchists or libertarians…or just simply ignored.

A true Conservative could not get elected in the USA under any circumstances.

Bread And Circuses: America’s Growing Desire For Socialism

by Russell D. Longcore

(Author’s Note: This was written back in July 2009 and updated for the 2016 election season.)

The term “Bread and Circuses” is credited to Juvenal, a Roman writer and satirist* (AD 55-127). He was describing the Roman citizens’ enthusiasm for free food handouts and gladiatorial games at the Circus Maximus and later at the Colosseum. He felt that Romans had lost the capacity to govern themselves through their mindless self-gratification.

“Bread and Circuses” is a phrase that can accurately be used to describe the desires of the American population. Americans are so addicted to entertainment and personal pleasure that they ignore civic responsibility and gladly accept government authority with unflinching obedience.

Well, maybe some of us flinch a little. Reminds me of a bawdy story.

Three friends dared each other to go skydiving. They found a skydiving club and paid their money. After a short lesson, the instructor took them up to 8,000 feet and opened the door of the plane. The first two friends jumped, but the third friend was too scared.

The instructor yelled, “If you don’t jump right now, I’m going to rip off your pants, bend you over and have sex with you.”

“Did you jump?” his friends asked him later.

“Well yes…a little at first,” was his reply.

Americans jumped “a little at first” after the Revolutionary War and up into the mid-1800s. Shays’ Rebellion happened in 1787, The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions were written in 1798 an ’99 by Jefferson in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts, and the Nullification Crisis happened in 1832. But by 1860, they were willing to allow Lincoln to make war upon the Confederate States of America and completely ignore the Constitution. It was all downhill from then until now.

Thankfully, there are still some American patriots that jump when someone tries to attack them from behind, so to speak.

Just as Juvenal observed in his day, so I believe that Americans have lost the capacity to govern themselves.

Actions speak louder than words. Stated another way, if you want to learn what people truly value, don’t listen to what they say, only watch what they do.

The majority of American citizens want socialism. They may say that they are against socialism but they continue to elect and re-elect politicians that enact socialistic laws and regulations. They do not storm Washington when those politicians violate the Constitution and commit treasonous, criminal acts. They do not impeach and prosecute the criminals in Washington.

The two remaining candidates for president for the Democrat Party are socialists. Bernie Sanders is not even a Democrat. He describes himself as a Socialist. And Mrs. Clinton supports most of the beliefs and proposals that Sanders is making. And in the Iowa Caucuses, the outcome was a statistical tie. Both candidates got HALF the votes.

But wait!! “How To Get Away With Murder” is on TV. “Star Wars” is in the theaters. The Super Bowl is Sunday, and baseball season is just around the corner.

America is on the auction block, and the Executive and Legislative branches of the Federal Government are the auctioneers. The American citizens expect their elected officials to “bring home the bacon,” which means get more Federal dollars coming back home than they are sending to Washington. American citizens want more than their share.

America wants socialism.

Over the past 100 years, American citizens have become addicted to the money that comes to them from Washington. It comes as fat defense contracts to little machine shops, farm subsidies, student loans, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, The GI Bill, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security…and the list goes on. Because most Americans have their taxes automatically withheld from their paychecks, they don’t feel the weight of their tax burden. So, it FEELS like benefits are flowing from Washington back to home.

America wants socialism.

In 2008 and 2009, the Federal Government nationalized the banking industry, the investment industry, a giant insurance company and part of the automobile industry. America barely made a peep.

America wants socialism.

The afore-mentioned Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the biggest entitlement programs in the history of the planet, have become as familiar as the air we breathe. Conservatives in Washington accepted the big social welfare programs long ago, and don’t lift a finger any more to fight against them…or even try to control their budgets. In fact, some of the biggest spending legislation ever enacted came from Washington while Conservatives controlled the House and Senate, and Republicans lived in the White House.

America wants socialism.

America totally forgave George Bush for lying the USA into a Middle East war. American has completely accepted an ever-expanding worldwide military, and embraced the wars in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. They festoon everything with yellow ribbons, and “support the troops”…even when the troops are murdering foreign civilians and violating the Constitution with their actions abroad. (By the way, a tenet of communism was to spread communism by military action. Americans think we’re trying to spread democracy.)

America wants socialism.

Washington politicians have gutted what was left of the Constitution since 2001. Individual liberties have been destroyed. The Patriot Act was enacted, the Transportation Safety Administration made airports into “no-rights zones,” and the Department of Homeland Security has vastly expanded its power over American citizens. All done with only a few whimpers and few objections.

America wants socialism.

The Obama Administration took over health care and health insurance in the USA. American citizens have watched the nation’s insurance companies destroy the health insurance industry. There are over 45 million Americans today without any health insurance at all. So, Obama and Congress had the political cover to do a government takeover. American citizens are exhausted from fighting to get health insurance. They want health insurance at any cost, and are willing to trust Uncle Sam to run the healthcare and health insurance system.

And the Republicans in the US House of Representatives and Senate vowed to repeal Obamacare. Now that they are the majority party in both houses, some Americans expected them to make good on their vow. But in the budget that was signed into law at the end of 2015, the Republicans made not a peep about it, and passed the largest budget in the history of mankind.

Americans want socialism. And Americans are getting socialism as quickly as Washington can deliver it.

I always used to think that America was being misused and abused by Washington. I have changed my thinking about that. I believe that Washington is simply giving America what it wants.

An America that still believed it was the master of DC, and not its slave, would rise up and end the socialism coming from Washington. Some might even entertain the idea of secession, and end the bread and circuses once and for all.

Perhaps the Washington politicos are the most astute observers of human behavior. They are certainly the best at survival.

Curious, though…that last sentence also aptly describes the relationship between a leech and its host. And a leech will feed on its host until the host dies.

America…you have the government that you desire…and the government you deserve.

*“It is hard NOT to write satire.” ~Juvenal, Roman satirist, writing about the Rome of his day.

Secession, Immigration and Multiculturalism

Secession, Immigration and Multiculturalism

by Russell D. Longcore

Secession, Immigration and Multiculturalism will give rise to societal problems as states secede from the Union. Better to start discussing this now rather than wait until the days after secession.

We who live in the USA…and in all the West…have had multiculturalism forced upon us since the 1960s. And while it sounds nice and friendly toward people that are different than us, there is a problem with it.

The problem is that some people who come to the USA have no intention of assimilating into the American culture. Some never learn the English language. And government eases the way for this behavior.

Most recently, America is faced with the immigration of so-called “refugees” from North Africa and the Middle Eastern nations. In many instances, these people are Muslims FIRST, and as Muslims, they are taught in the mosques that Western culture must be eliminated because all non-Muslims are infidels.

So, now what?

In my writings about The Free Republic of North America (aka FRONA), I have taken positions that promote maximum personal liberty and property rights for individuals. But I will admit openly that this issue of multiculturalism continues to cause me philosophical nightmares.

My first default position is to welcome any human being above the age of 18 years old who can pay the fee of one ounce of .999 silver to purchase one share of FRONA common stock and sign the Charter.

I struggle with any other restrictions on citizenship. For example, should FRONA prohibit Muslims from citizenship or residency? We know up front that Muslims believe that all people that are non-Muslims are infidels, and that Islam should erase all other cultures from the earth. So every Muslim allowed to come to FRONA has either overtly or tacitly agreed with their religion’s teachings…else why be a Muslim? Therefore, knowing up front that every Muslim has the potential to take action against the FRONA government, the FRONA culture and the FRONA citzenry, should FRONA allow them to settle in our new nation?

One argument for unlimited immigration and citizenship could be that a person who has committed no offense against the People or the government is innocent, and should be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Another argument for unlimited immigration and citizenship could be handled within the Charter. The Charter could be written with a clause with restrictions built in.

On the other side…would it be acceptable to simply prohibit ALL Muslims…Sunni, Shia or whatever…from residing in FRONA or becoming citizens? Doing so makes sure that people who are avowed to your destruction are not allowed to legally reside in FRONA. If FRONA prohibits Muslims, then a mechanism of a background check would have to be created to check out applicants prior to acceptance for citizenship.

If FRONA decides to ban Muslims from residency and citizenship, it would be necessary to remove all people of the Muslim religion from within FRONA’s territorial borders. Now we begin talking about deporting people who own property and/or businesses already existing in that state that becomes FRONA. This opens up another can of worms that is antithetical to individual liberty and property rights.

I do not see where FRONA can be pro-liberty and anti-liberty at the same time.

Therefore, at this time, I am re-stating my earlier position for FRONA, in which any person above the age of 18 years old who can pay the fee of one ounce of .999 silver to purchase one share of FRONA common stock and sign the Charter is eligible to become a FRONA citizen.

I am far more concerned with protecting individual liberty and property rights than any other single thing. I believe that if FRONA can be formed as the freest place on the planet, with sound money and a roaring economy…we will be so attractive to the rest of the world that many of the societal problems plaguing the rest of the world will be avoided and unknown in FRONA. And that includes the issue with Islam.

But if problems with Islam did arise, FRONA as a nation could handle it. Remember that there are plenty of nations around the world where roving men don’t rape women, blow themselves up in marketplaces, or set IEDs off that kill innocents. America has been so far immune to the sectarian war between Sunni and Shia Islam. Muslims seem to blow each other up in their own nations, not here.

Whenever there is a societal issue that demands attention, ALWAYS DEFAULT TO LIBERTY. Remember that NO ONE has ever lived in a place like The Free Republic of North America. Let’s try LIBERTY first.

Cowards And Criminals In State Government

Cowards and Criminals in State Government

by Russell Longcore

(Editor’s note: This article first ran in 2009.)

The United States was organized with a Federal structure. Under that structure the national government was supposed to have two overriding dicta: to safeguard the States from foreign invasion and domestic violence, and provide a Republican form of government to the States. (Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution)

It should have been pretty easy to protect the States. A wide ocean on the east and west, and peaceable borders on the north and south do the government’s job for them without spending a penny. So, they should have been focusing all their attention on providing the states with a Republican form of government. Instead, what we have now is a fascist police state.

I don’t think that qualifies as a Republic.

A republic is a representative democracy, as opposed to a direct democracy. The key word is “representative.” The states were supposed to be the pre-eminent players. In the beginning, the Senate chose who would be President of the USA, and the Senators were there in Washington to represent the interests of their states.

Over the past 200 years, Washington has turned the government we were promised into the government we were trying to prevent. Could any absolute monarchy or dictatorship be any worse than what we have now? King George didn’t lay on a combined tax burden nearing 50% and trillions in debt.

The states of the Union have become little more than big duchies, with a reigning Duke called a Governor, subservient geographic entities owned by Washington. For reasons too numerous to list here, the states allowed Washington to usurp nearly all of their power. The fecklessness of every state’s political leaders mocks the Constitiution’s Federal system, and has destroyed the most important checks and balances against Federal tyranny.

Make no mistake. No one truly expects the Federal Government to check and balance itself…where would be its motivation to do that? No, the final arbiters are supposed to be the states. The principals always direct the acts of an agent, and that is the proper role. States are principals and DC is the agent. But it has been turned upside down.

The states had many arrows in their quivers to control the Federal Government. One of the most effective should have been nullification. Simply put, if Washington enacts laws that the states interpret as unlawful, the states could ignore the new laws like they never happened. Today’s states are unwilling and afraid to use nullification against Washington.

Another strong arrow used to be withholding funds from Washington. But with the enactment of the income tax, that arrow was broken, and Washington takes much of the tax money directly from the people.

I say all of that about the states of the United States in general, but specifically as it relates to monetary policy in America. The US states have allowed…even empowered…Washington to destroy the monetary system of the USA through the Federal Reserve and fractional reserve banking.

The Federal Reserve, a consortium of PRIVATE banks, prints counterfeit currency for the Federal Government. Fractional reserve banking laws allow all the rest of the other banks to counterfeit by creating credit (money) out of thin air.

State political leaders are so clueless and visionless that they have laid down and allowed Washington to endanger the very economic security of each American state through the institutional counterfeiting of the Federal Reserve and all other American banks.

These are some of the reasons that I am not encouraged and excited to know that 39 states have passed some type of 10th Amendment resolution, thereby taking a position that they might just do something in the future, by God. The steely resolve is inspiring, isn’t it?

But where is the state legislature and Governor that will notify Washington that there is a new “nullification sheriff” in town? When will some state begin nullifying the laws coming out of Washington, and refusing to allow them to be obeyed in that state? When will a state refuse to enforce Federal legislation? When will a state slap the cuffs on a Federal law enforcement officer who is trying to enforce Federal law in a state that has nullified Federal law?

Where is that state that will be true to its origins, and allow nothing but gold and silver coin (specie) as tender in payment of debts (Article I, Section 10)?

As a beginning step, how about if a state stops tax withholding and makes the payment of state income and property taxes mandatory in gold or silver coin or electronic gold? That would begin inculcating the citizens in a small way to once again consider gold and silver coin as money. I realize this idea doesn’t work in Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming, since none of them have a state income tax. But it would work for their property taxes, and both will work everywhere else in America.

Any state could facilitate the exchange of Federal Reserve Notes for specie by making such transactions exempt from sales tax. The exchange of FRN currency for specie, which are both legal money, are in essence a “currency exchange,” no difference substantively from changing dollars to Euros, Yen or Pesos.

One of the reasons that a gold/silver monetary standard would work so well for Texas is its petroleum exports. A New Texas with a gold standard would demand gold or silver specie as the only settlement of petro and natural gas transactions from any other country.

But you see, taking a position like that would directly challenge the power of Washington and the Federal Reserve. The paper money they issue says “this note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.” If a state refused to accept Federal Reserve Notes for payment of state income or property taxes, they might have a fight on their hands.

A principled stand like this over money might also help repudiate the scurrilous IRS case of Robert Kahre in Nevada. Mr. Kahre is now serving a Federal prison term for paying his employees’ wages by using legal tender gold coins. Kahre was acquitted on all 161 counts of tax law violations back in 2007. But the IRS tried him again (double jeopardy, anyone?) and a jury convicted him in 2009. Keep in mind that gold and silver coins are legal tender in the United States, just like Federal Reserve notes. But no one embarrasses the IRS, and Kahre has now paid the price. His life as a free man is over.

State political leaders have no stomach and no backbone for a fight with Washington. Those American citizens in favor of state secession might look to these issues as a barometer of how their state political leaders would react to a political or economic meltdown. If a state won’t protect itself now, why should anyone believe that it will take principled stands later?

And of late, many are beating the drum for a so-called “Article Five” Constitutional Convention, wherein the US Constitution could be amended. I am diametrically opposed to a Constitutional Convention. I trust no one at either the State or Federal level to amend the Constitution.

There is craven cowardice in the halls of state government in every state in the United States of America. Legislators and state executives go along to get along. Many look at state office as a springboard to Federal office. Few serve their constituents…most serve Washington, the Federal Reserve and banking interests.

State secession would end the tyranny of DC and return the states to the status of sovereign nations.

“So that’s how liberty dies…to thunderous applause.” Princess Padme, watching the Senate in Revenge of the Sith

Copyright © 2016, Russell D. Longcore. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.

Secession: It’s All About Timing

by Russell Longcore

Not so long ago, secession was a taboo subject for discussion in polite society. It was almost un-American to thoughtfully consider a state leaving the Union for any reason. Everyone thought that Lincoln’s War settled that issue. But today’s America is a seething cauldron of race, resentment toward Washington and the “Mobocracy Looter Minions” that populate the District of Columbia and its suburbs.

If you watch any news service for seven days, you’ll learn that the dollar is in trouble around the world. You’ll learn that other nations are disconnecting from the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. And you’ll learn that America is in big trouble, at home and around the world. The DC government is the king of chaos, fomenting revolution, government overthrows and war.

Over half of the American states have passed legislative resolutions exerting their rights under the Tenth Amendment. That’s nice, and symbolic…and somewhat unusual for slaves to stand up to the plantation owner. But it’s not really necessary, unless you only perceive yourself as only a slave.

So when is the best time to actually pull the trigger and secede from the United States?

I believe that states should be making concrete plans right now for secession. States already have intricate plans in place in case of natural disasters and such. Should not a state have a plan in place in case of political disaster?

The United States Federal Government is a dying monster. But is still possesses political might, military might and potency. Dying monsters quite often thrash about and injure those that are too nearby. So at this point in time, while Washington still APPEARS viable, state secession would be a foolish move.

After all, why would a state willingly take the chance of incurring the wrath of Washington? It would be like in the Tolkien movie “Return of the King,” when the good guys presented themselves at the Black Gate to divert the gaze of Sauron’s all-seeing eye. Washington might turn its fury on a seceding state to make an example of it, in order to discourage any other state from trying secession.

Washington’s politicos are working 24/7 to produce radical, unconstitutional changes in American governance and culture. And here is early 2016, the Republican majorities in the House and Senate are such cowards that they allow the president and the Democrat minority to set policy and run the government unchallenged. At some point, some state might decide that enough is enough. But I believe that it will take an event that happens outside of Washington to bring about Washington’s collapse.

The most likely event is the worldwide rejection of the US Dollar as reserve currency, and the worldwide adoption of any other currency as reserve. Even the change of the dollar as the currency of choice of any major petroleum bourse¹ will spell disaster for the dollar.

Iran has already formed an oil bourse, which uses the Euro, the Iranian Rial and a basket of other currencies as the settlement currency for petro transactions. Its first day of trading was Monday, October 26, 2009, on the Free Trade Zone Iranian island of Kish. Iran, having the world’s second largest gas reserves and third largest oil reserves, is trying to play a more active role in oil and petrochemical transactions in international markets. And since that day in 2009, there has been an amazing story unfolding of gold smuggling into Iran through Dubai and UAE to facilitate Iran’s skirting of the DC embargo.

Between the rejection of the dollar worldwide, and the selloff of US Government securities by nations like China, combined with runaway money printing by Washington and the hyperinflation that MUST follow, the dollar has nowhere to go but down…and precipitously.

The value of the dollar will tumble against other currencies….very soon. It will happen as other nations scramble to get rid of American currency and securities holdings and protect the very survival of their own nations. Washington has been passing bad checks for too long, and the nations are stepping to the pay window.

However, there is another…and I think more likely…scenario to cause the collapse of the Dollar. I can easily see the situation in which a nation like China sells off a large amount of US bonds with the direct intention of collapsing the bond market, thereby causing the collapse of the Dollar.

We won’t run the story of the days after the collapse. That could take a book.

It is at this moment in time, when the dollar freefalls, that the states will have a golden opportunity to secede. States must do what it takes to assure their own survival, and not as a slave state to Washington. But a secession alone won’t solve anything. The heavy lifting just begins when a state secedes.

First there would have to be a Provisional Government installed until the formal government could be designed and brought into being as a legal entity.

The very next thing that MUST be settled is the issue of money. If a new nation adopts the very same banking environment that America has right now, the new nation will be doomed to fail. The new nation MUST have a 100% gold/silver standard. It must also prohibit by law fractional reserve banking. Both government monopoly on monetary policy and fractional reserve banking are counterfeiting by another name. It must be prevented before it starts.

How will states with no gold and silver create a money system? Again, that is another article altogether.

Monetary policy and banking worldwide is failing. A new nation needs to go another way, and that way is to return to sound money. Most of the other challenges that a new nation would face will be easier if the new nation has money backed with precious metals at 100% reserve. But you cannot counterfeit your way to liberty and prosperity.

Timing is everything. If states secede at the time that Washington is drowning in worldwide debt and the financial markets worldwide cause the collapse of the dollar, Washington may be powerless to stop secession. Ask Moscow how well they stopped the secession of the Western Soviet republics in 1989.

I know I’m getting to be “Johnny One-Note” about monetary policy, but that should tell you how crucial it is. Remember that no nation in the history of the world has survived that counterfeited its money. Not one. Ever.

But also remember that the Byzantine empire, on a gold standard, lasted over a thousand years…until it debased its own money.

1. A bourse is a commodities exchange in oil, petroleum and natural gas.

Liberty or Utilitarianism: Which Do You Choose?

By Russell D. Longcore

(Editor’s Note: I wrote this in 2009, and it was the first article I posted at DumpDC.)

I read an essay by the late Murray Rothbard recently, taken from his book “Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature.” In the essay, he focuses on the reasons that people choose to be Libertarians, and the reasons others choose Utilitarianism. (note that he  wrote “Libertarians,” not “liberty.” One can love liberty without becoming a Libertarian.)

I admit that I did not have a clear understanding of the definition of the word “utilitarianism.” So, I looked it up in a few dictionaries. To my utter shock, I discovered the philosophical underpinning of our US Federal Government.

Webster’s Dictionary defines “utilitarianism” thus:

“1. The doctrine that the greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the end and aim of all social and political institutions. –Jeremy Bentham.

2. The doctrine that virtue is founded in utility, or that virtue is defined and enforced by its tendency to promote the highest happiness of the universe. –John Stuart Mill.

3. The doctrine that utility is the sole standard of morality, so that the rectitude of an action is determined by its usefulness.”

A few thoughts have percolated through my gray matter in this regard:

A. Every person has a worldview. It is a compilation of experience and education. It is the filter…the eyeglasses, so to speak…through which we evaluate our world and the cosmos. Many people go through their entire lives unaware of their own worldview, but it’s always there. It may change as life passes, or it can remain calcified for a lifetime.

Your worldview will either draw you to, or repel you from, certain things. But your worldview is the yardstick with which you measure all things. So, in this context, a person that believed strongly in individual rights, natural law and property rights would be repelled by strong government. Conversely, a person who believed in the efficacy of government would be drawn to Utilitarianism.

Capitalism, and the US Constitution, were built on absolutes, an iron stake driven into frozen earth. Utilitarianism is as fluid as water, seeking its own level, and taking the shape of its container. Capitalism has inviolable principles, and the Constitution strictly limited the scope of the Federal Government. Utilitarianism goes along to get along, and forsakes absolutes.

Utilitarianism is an existentialist manifestation of “situational ethics.” If one promotes the greatest good for the greatest number, one must also accept that the “greatest good” will change from issue to issue. One must also accept that the “greatest good” is defined by those with the power and the guns. So Utilitarianism can’t stand absolutes.

B. Utilitarians are kindred spirits with Socialists. Socialism is a kind of political midpoint on the journey from Capitalism to Communism. The USA began with a Capitalist worldview combined with fierce protection of individual property rights. Utilitarian politicians have, over time, eroded those property rights with laws supposedly promoting the greatest good for the greatest number. But Capitalism has now become Mercantilism in America. The government oppresses the masses to create competitive advantages for a select few. Naturally, those laws would require ever-creeping governmental control over property rights. Socialists can tolerate Capitalism so long as the government has primary control over the economy, citizens and their property rights. So, Socialists are all Utilitarians, but not all Utilitarians are necessarily Socialists.

C. Nature abhors a vacuum. As Capitalist/Constitutional absolutes have been forsaken, Utilitarian doctrine has rushed into the void. We now have a Federal Government filled with people that believe that utility is the sole standard of morality, so that the rectitude of an action is determined by its usefulness. That is the very reason why Congress could vote in favor a multi-billion dollar bailout of the financial markets when the bailout is clearly unconstitutional.

Finally, in the tragedy and comedy which is the US Federal Government, they prove, once again, that they cannot even make Utilitarianism work correctly. They turn it on its head, and the greatest number become the sheep, sheared to bring the greatest good to a small special interest who are generous with their campaign contributions.

Veteran’s Day 2015: One Man Can Make A Difference

Veteran’s Day 2015: One Man Can Make A Difference

(Editor’s Note: On this Veteran’s Day, I am posting an old favorite. I pose the question to you: What if the Confederacy had won the War Between The States…Lincoln’s War?)

How different would the world be today if the Confederate States of America (CSA) had won? Here is my version of how history might have transpired.

The first seven Southern states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America in February of 1861. The first hostilities at Fort Sumter, SC happened in April 1861.

Battle of Bull Run/First Manassas, July, 1861

(In the actual battle, the South wins. CSA Generals Beauregard and Johnston command barely 29,000 troops against 50,000 Federal troops under the command of Gen Winfield Scott. The Confederacy wins the battle, and the Federal troops make a full panicked retreat back to Washington. But President Jefferson Davis hesitates and loses the opportunity to capture Washington, DC, which would have ended the war in the first major battle. Here is how it could have gone if Davis had made a positive decision to complete the battle, and here is the history that could have flowed from that victory.)

Learning of the Federal defeat and retreat, President Jefferson Davis and General Beauregard order the CSA troops to complete the rout by pursuing the Northern troops back to Washington, only about 30 miles. The pursuit is made far easier for CSA troops as the Federals have abandoned their stores of provisions all along the way back to Washington. A small cavalry force under the command of General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson captures the White House and President Lincoln. The cavalry and CSA troops camp on the White House lawn.

Within a week, President Davis and General Robert E. Lee begin negotiations with Lincoln, Cabinet members and Congress members to cease hostilities permanently. The parties negotiate various treaties regarding commerce between the nations. They determine that subsequent territories desirous of statehood get to choose which nation to join, and other border issues.

Abraham Lincoln is impeached by Congress and removed from office in late 1861. He is tried, found guilty of war crimes and is hanged on a scaffold erected on the White House Lawn. As General Ulysses S. Grant has achieved no notoriety in the war, he is not elected President and retires in obscurity.

The lives of over 620,000 men on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line are spared. The CSA is not pillaged and sacked by the Union forces. The state of West Virginia is not formed by Lincoln. CSA cities and plantations are not burned. There are no draft riots in New York City. Northern newspaper editors are not jailed for disagreeing with Lincoln. Robert E. Lee’s plantation named “Arlington” is not stolen by the US Government and made into a Union cemetery.

The importation of slaves was outlawed in the CSA Constitution of 1861, and slavery slowly collapses under its own weight at about the same time as mechanization comes to agriculture in the 1870s. The freed slaves become sharecroppers, or become a part of the workforce necessary in the manufacturing boom in the CSA.

Jefferson Davis serves his Constitutionally-mandated single six-year term, and then is elected Senator from Texas, where he serves until just before his death. Robert E. Lee is the next President elected in 1866. Dozens of new Southern cities and streets are named after Davis, just like George Washington’s legacy after the Revolutionary War.

Stonewall Jackson does not die in battle in 1863, but goes back to the Virginia Military Institute, where he resumes teaching. He eventually becomes the Chancellor of the School, and remains in this position until his death.

The Citadel, the Charleston military academy, becomes the Naval Academy for the CSA.

Richmond, Virginia, continues to be the capitol of the CSA. Atlanta becomes the business and financial center of the CSA. The Atlanta Stock Exchange becomes one of the largest and wealthiest in the world. Most of the major banks of the South are based in Atlanta.

The territories west of the Mississippi eventually seek statehood, and must decide with which nation they will align themselves. Only North and South Dakota Territories decide to become US states. All other territories become Confederate states, because the Montgomery Constitution of 1861 was a vast improvement over the US Constitution.

The USA becomes a nation bordered on the north by Canada, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south and west by the CSA. California, Maryland and Oregon vote to secede from the Union and join the CSA in 1862.  The USA statehood growth ceases at 19 states. The CSA eventually grows to 27 states, bordered on the north by the USA and Western Canada, on the west by the Pacific Ocean, on the east by the Atlantic, and on the south by Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico. Puerto Rico becomes the last state to join the CSA in 1960.

Hawaii is not stolen by the USA and remains a sovereign nation. Alaska belongs to Canada.

The CSA’s import tariffs are an average of 13%. Consequently, shipping and trade at Southern ports explodes. The ports of Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah, Miami and New Orleans become the busiest ports on the Eastern Seaboard.  Western ports at San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle become CSA ports.

The port of Norfolk/Portsmouth becomes the shipbuilding capital of the Americas. The Navy of the CSA is harbored at Norfolk and Charleston. The CSA controls all commerce in Chesapeake Bay and controls all commerce coming up and down the Mississippi River.

USA’s main ports are New York, Newark, Philadelphia and Boston. The canals and locks are built by the US government to facilitate access to the Great Lakes.

Chicago still becomes a major Midwestern business center, and a center for commodities. Kansas City, Missouri becomes the major Midwestern business center and commodities exchange for the South.

Southern manufacturing expands rapidly as investments pour into the CSA from wealthy Southerners, as well as Northern and European investors. The Bessemer steel mill in Alabama becomes the largest steel mill in the world.

CSA makes gold and silver the only money. Southern banks are not regulated by the government and are allowed to coin their own money. Fractional banking is not allowed in the CSA. There is no inflation in the CSA throughout its history.

In 1898, William Randolph Hearst owns a chain of publications and newspapers. However, his publishing empire is in California, which is a state of the CSA. Hearst finds no interest in the CSA for his stories about Spain’s influence in the Western Hemisphere, as Spain is a valued ally and trading nation. The US Congress and President McKinley want to establish an American Empire. However, with only 20 states, they are no so quick to project military might. Their southernmost port is Philadelphia, not Florida. The USS Maine is never dispatched to Havana harbor and does not sink there. Teddy Roosevelt never leads the Rough Riders in a cavalry charge up San Juan Hill in Cuba. He does not win the Congressional Medal of Honor. The United States has no naval presence in the Pacific, and does not attack the Spanish at Manila.

Theodore Roosevelt still becomes Vice President, and eventually becomes President in 1901 when McKinley is assassinated.

Theodore Roosevelt leads the project to build the Panama Canal. Many CSA companies participate, but the CSA government does not spend money unconstitutionally on the project.

Hoover Dam is not built by the US government, but by a consortium of the seven states served by the Colorado River. Its name remains the Boulder Dam.

The CSA continues to gain its revenue from tariffs, and there is never an income tax of any kind.

There is no CSA standing army, but each state has its militia. The CSA does have a Navy, authorized in its Constitution.

Oil is discovered in Texas, Oklahoma and the Gulf of Mexico. Over time, the CSA becomes an exporter of petroleum products to the North, as Northern oil fields do not produce what they need. The CSA is entirely self-sufficient in oil and gas. Because there is no inflation, crude oil prices never exceed $20 per barrel.

Coal is also produced and exported to the North from the vast fields of Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia (remember that West Virginia is not formed by Lincoln).

The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914 starts WWI. As a result of the overlapping treaty obligations between various European nations, the continent is gripped by war. Even though US President Wilson desires entry into the war, the USA does not have either the military might or the political will to enter. The USA gives support of munitions and materiel to the Allies in much smaller quantities but does not commit ground troops to the Continent. Germany wins, and the maps of Europe are redrawn. There is no Treaty of Versailles. Germany projects its military might worldwide with its navy, a superior force to the defeated British navy. However, Germany is very friendly with the CSA, who stayed neutral in the war. It is more hostile toward the US.

After 1918, Germany becomes a major world power. No communism develops in Russia, as a strong Germany would not tolerate it, and was positioned geographically to do something about it. Hitler remains an obscure paper-hanger and non-entity.

The Ottoman Turkish Empire is not defeated in WWI. Consequently, the territories controlled by Turkey are not divided, and the British do not get the opportunity to establish Palestine, Syria and Trans-Jordan in 1918. This also means that the state of Israel was not established in 1948. Prior to World War I, the best major European countries in which to be Jewish were Germany and Austria. The vast Jewish communities of Central and Eastern Europe would have held their traditional places in multi-nation-empires, instead of becoming aliens in new nation-states. The Jewish diaspora from Russia and Europe to North America would not have occurred in such large numbers. Consequently, many of the Jewish movie directors, producers, writers, composers and actors would have stayed in Europe.

Hollywood does not become the world’s entertainment center, but Berlin does. But Hollywood does become an important center of entertainment in Los Angeles, California, CSA.

The Great Depression of 1929 does still occur in the USA because of the formation of the Federal Reserve and fractional banking. However, the CSA is enriched by it, since the CSA’s money is backed by gold and silver, with no inflation. Thousands of businesses and millions of people relocate to the South and West.

Japan becomes one of the leading nations of the Far East. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are not bombed with nuclear weapons in 1945.

Russia remains a monarchy. Communism never gains a toehold.  V.I. Lenin, Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin remain obscure theorists. No Iron Curtain. No Cold War. No use for thousands of ICMBs…they were never built.

No Communist Cuba. The CSA has a very strong relationship with Cuba, and is Cuba’s primary trading partner. Cuba emulates the CSA’s constitution, and becomes a beacon of freedom for Latin and South America. However, the US also trades with Cuba since no embargo was enacted.

Mao Tse Tung and his wife are communists and work to bring Communism to China. They are arrested and executed in 1927. No more Communism in China.

China’s emperor embraces capitalism, and China becomes a leading world power.

Word War II does not occur, since none of the reasons for the war existed.

The Jewish Holocaust does not occur.

The Wright brothers fly their airplane in 1903 at Kitty Hawk, NC. Over the remaining part of the 20^th Century, aeronautic innovation occurs primarily in private aviation, since the USA and CSA were not consumed by and planning wars.

NASA is not created by governments, but private enterprise develops rocket technology.

No United Nations is formed.

No Korean War. The Korean Peninsula is not split by Chinese Communism, and the nation remains whole.

John F. Kennedy is not assassinated in Dallas in 1963. However, his Executive Order 11110 on June 4, 1963 to issue silver-backed money and de-fund the Federal Reserve still gets him assassinated in a Northern city. Someone other than Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas becomes the next president.

The CSA embraces nuclear power, and dozens of nuclear power generating plants spring up all over the nation. The CSA generates 90% of its electrical needs through clean, safe nuclear power using the Thorium Molten Salts reactors, not uranium.

No Vietnam War, and only one Vietnamese nation exists because China is not promoting Communism.

No Gulf Wars.

In the entire 140-plus year history of the Confederate States of America, there is no warfare, save the one day of battle on July 21, 1861 in Virginia.

Over 150 million people are not killed by world governments and wars during the 20^th century. All because Jefferson Davis did not hesitate to act on a day in July of 1861.

One Man Can Make A Difference.

FRONA Protects Human Life

FRONA Protects Human Life

By Russell D. Longcore

(Editor’s Note: FRONA is The Free Republic Of North America, that mythical land of liberty, borne of secession of one of the US States. I always envision FRONA as a seceded Texas. The author is the creator of FRONA. There is a link in this article that will start you on your adventure learning about FRONA and why it is the freest place on Planet Earth.)

If you learned 20th Century history in school, you likely learned that the Nazis did medical experiments on Jews and Gypsies. You likely were taught that the US Federal Government did medical experimentation on black men. Well, here is a story that makes those tales seem in comparison like a trip to a candy store.

The news is full of stories these days about Planned Parenthood (PP), the so-called “family planning” organization. The Center for Medical Progress* has been recording perfectly legal videos of PP staffers…discussing how PP is harvesting body parts from aborted fetuses (real human babies) and selling those parts to research labs. Apparently, it is a profitable revenue source for PP. And Planned Parenthood is largely funded by Congress…and you. PP receives over $500 million in funds each year from Congress.

This horrifying story is the blowback…the unintended consequences…of a government gone morally bankrupt. The Supreme Court of the USA decided in 1973 that abortion was a Constitutionally-protected right. Since that date, over 57.5 MILLION babies have been murdered in the womb, according to The Guttmacker Institute. And Congress has essentially done NOTHING in the ensuing 42 YEARS to protect the natural rights of the unborn. But also, the American people have callously turned their backs on their own babies and allowed Congress and the Court to get away with this.

There are 56 world nations with populations of less than 57.5 million. Topping the list is South Korea, with about 50 million. So the number of murdered babies in the USA is larger than the entire population of South Korea in 2015. A sobering thought, isn’t it?

In the Free Republic of North America (FRONA), the Charter, which is FRONA’s Constitution, is written specifically to protect human life…ALL human life. The entire raison d’être of FRONA is to protect individual liberty, property rights, and the unalienable rights of human beings.

When Thomas Jefferson wrote of “certain Unalienable Rights” in the Declaration of Independence, he placed them in the proper order, with Life being the first and most basic of all. This is the right to simply exist as a sentient being…one able to perceive sensations, a consciousness. Unalienable rights come into being at the moment that a human becomes a human. I do not mean when the individual becomes a viable human, capable of life outside the womb. Both sides of the abortion issue agree that a zygote…a human female egg fertilized by a male sperm…is human, and that every day after it becomes an embryo for about 270 days it is human. Our right to life means our right to express our humanness and to simply be alive. The opposite is the death of a human being. The right to life gets very complicated, since none of us were able to leave the womb and live without assistance, sustenance and support. An argument about embryonic and fetal viability here entirely and intentionally misses the point, since even post-birth humans need daily care until at least age 10 or they will likely die. So along with our own innate right to life, we acknowledge our responsibility to assist other human life to exist and express itself.

Abraham Maslow, in his Hierarchy of Needs, pointed to the need of breathing, food, water, sleep, sex, homeostasis and excretion. They are all part of maintaining life, and without any one of those needs, life would eventually stop. Note here that the right of life is seldom exercised individually, but is inextricably tied to the lives of others.

So in FRONA, abortion is expressly prohibited except to save the mother from death. And the act of abortion, except for that one exception, is written into the criminal code of the Charter as first degree murder, punishable by death.

FRONA citizens who desire an abortion must leave the country to get one. But don’t worry. The rest of America is abortion-friendly. Go kill your children there.

DumpDC. Six Letters That Will Change History.

*The Center for Medical Progress, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, is a group of citizen journalists dedicated to monitoring and reporting on medical ethics and advances. They are concerned about contemporary bioethical issues that impact human dignity, and they oppose any interventions, procedures, and experiments that exploit the unequal legal status of any class of human beings. They envision a world in which medical practice and biotechnology ally with and serve the goods of human nature and do not destroy, disfigure, or work against them. (quotation from their website.)

Marriage Equality: Gotcha, Suckers!

by Russell D. Longcore

The recent Marriage Equality headlines entirely miss the point. Several points.

Marriage is a loose contract, mostly unspoken and certainly mostly unwritten. And, like they say…”it’s complicated.” The complications come when those who are married decide to get out of their loose contract. All of a sudden, those two people who wouldn’t think of sign a prenuptial agreement want all kinds of rights and privileges to magically appear.

Any two adults…or multiple adults…can enter into a contract or agreement at any time they choose to create any relationship structure and the responsibilities of the parties to one another. It’s ALWAYS been that way, and will ALWAYS be so. There has NEVER been anything keeping same sex couples from so-called “civil unions.” And there has never been anything preventing those people in civil unions from calling their relationship a “marriage.”

Why, then do people want to be “married?” Is it the romance? Is it the tradition? Is it the cultural pressure? For those outside…they want the social acceptance that traditional marriage has had throughout the millennia.

Marriage is not supposed the purview of “the State,” local or Federal. It is the purview of the Church. Use your skeptical, jaded common sense to noodle this out. Why do you think that states license marriages? Revenue? Nope. Not much money comes from a few million marriage licenses a year. What’s the difference between a marriage license and a dog license? Practically nothing.

It’s about the CONTROL. The “State” controls marriage through its tax code. And for some mystifying reason, the same-sex couples have been fighting for decades to be controlled by the State.

Now Washington controls ALL marriages nationwide. Gotcha, Suckers!

More about Marriage, and the outrage exhibited in many camps. Perhaps we should just call it selective outrage.

To hear many people speak of Same Sex Marriage, it will be the downfall of American Culture. But haven’t we heard this before?

Since the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973, there have been no less than 55,772,015 infant human lives have been ended through abortion. We have heard how God would judge America for allowing this to happen. We have heard how abortion would wreck American culture now for 42 years. And nobody has stopped abortion now for 42 years.

How many die when two people of the same sex marry?

Americans, if you are going to throw your asses up in the air about a particular outrage, how about choosing one in which people are actually killed legally? Get some perspective, folks.

Abortion and same sex marriage will not be the cause of the collapse of the USA. The collapse will come soon as the US Dollar stops being the world’s reserve currency. And that will affect everybody…everybody that doesn’t prepare for the collapse.

Memorial Day 2015: How About A New Meaning?

by Russell Longcore

(Editor’s Note: I wrote this for Memorial Day 2009, and this update is more true today than ever before.)

The Memorial Day 2015 weekend is upon us. Many will use this weekend as the first short vacation of summer. Picnics, boating, traveling, family gatherings, and dedication to enjoyable activities are the rule this weekend.

But Memorial Day is meant to honor the men and women who died in military service to the United States of America. Formerly known as “Decoration Day,” it was first established in 1868 to decorate the graves of the Civil War (War of Northern Aggression) dead.

This weekend, there will be memorial services and parades across America in town squares, churches and at cemeteries. Flowers will be strewn and American flags will be in grand display. Politicians will walk the route, and military veterans will don old uniforms and walk with them. Twenty-one gun salutes and taps will echo among the headstones. Impassioned speeches will be delivered to patriotic crowds on the goodness of America and the honor and bravery of the fallen soldiers and sailors.

And Americans will be remembering all the wrong things.

How about a reality check?

Those who fought and died (over 364,000) in Lincoln’s Army died invading another sovereign nation, the Confederate States of America. The CSA, who lost over 139,000 soldiers, was defending itself from the aggression of a foreign nation. It would have been no different morally if the Northern Army would have invaded Canada. So, Northern mourners should remember the shame of the North, not just that their loved ones died in battle. And Southerners should forever laud their sons who valiantly died in an attempt to thwart a foreign invasion and protect their homeland.

The 3,500-plus military personnel who fought and died in the Spanish-American War of 1898 died invading Cuba and the Philippines against Spain. Last time I checked, neither country was a state of the Union and did not require defense from a foreign aggressor. The war was perpetrated by the McKinley Administration and an expansionist Congress, assisted by Theodore Roosevelt and fomented by propaganda in the Hearst newspapers.

The American war dead of World War I (1914-1918), numbering over 116,000, died fighting a war between European nations. America had absolutely no business becoming involved, but as George Washington predicted, our treaty obligations dragged us into war.

World War II (1941-1945) devoured over 407,000 American military personnel. President Franklin D. Roosevelt baited the Japanese into attacking us, and after they did, Congress (in its last constitutional act of war) declared war. FDR was itching to get into the war, and got his way. Once again, treaties and war-hungry politicians cost this nation its sons and daughters.

The “police action” in Korea (1950-1953) started by the United Nations cost America over 54,000 military deaths. A cease fire was negotiated in 1953 which continues to this day. No constitutionally-declared war. No defense of American borders.

The Vietnam War (1958-1975) cost over 58,000 American lives. No declared war, no Vietcong in American streets trying to take over our nation. Finally some Americans protest a war! The US military gets its ass whooped and runs for home.

On 24 April, 1980, President Jimmy Carter sent a strike force into Iran to rescue the 52 American hostages held by Iran since 4 November 1979. The mission was a complete cluster fornication, and 8 men died.

In 1983 President Ronald Reagan sent 1,200 troops into Lebanon as “peace-keepers.” 220 Marines and 9 other servicemen are now resting in peace. No constitutionally-declared war. No constitutional justification.

In April 1986, President Ronald Reagan ordered air strikes in Libya against President Mohammar Ghadhafi. Ghadhafi lived…2 American airmen died.

The invasion of Grenada (October to December, 1983) cost 19 American lives. 10,000 American troops joined forces with about 300 terrifying shock troops from Caribbean islands like Antigua, St. Kitts, Dominica and Saint Lucia to liberate Grenada. (Yes, that last sentence was sarcasm.) The struggle led to the deposition and execution of Grenada’s Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. Anyone find a declaration of war or reason for America’s involvement….anyone? Bueller?

On May 12, 1987, the frigate USS Stark was attacked by an Iraqi missile while in the Persian Gulf. Thirty five sailors died in the blast. The Persian Gulf is not the territorial waters of the USA, is it?

Gulf War I (8-90 to 2-91) costs another 378 deaths as the USA protects its oil interests in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. None of the other neighbors of Iraq consider this worth a fight without the arm-twisting of President George H.W. Bush, especially since Kuwait formerly belonged to Iraq. Our Congress passes “resolutions” subordinating their constitutional authority to declare war to Bush, and he took it seriously. Still, no defense of America was involved here.

Panama was invaded by US military forces on December 20, 1989 under the order of President George H.W. Bush. Twenty four American military personnel died in the invasion. Bush said that protecting 35,000 Americans in Panama was cause for the invasion, as well as “defending democracy and human rights” in Panama. General Manuel Noriega was captured and tried on drug charges, ending up in a Miami prison.

The Bosnian War (1992-1995) was prosecuted by President Bill Clinton in conjunction with the United Nations. He sent over 20,000 troops to Bosnia, and there were no official American casualties. Still, where is the declaration of war? Why are our troops deployed outside of the United States? Were the Serbs attacking Cleveland?

In September 1994, President Bill Clinton sent US troops into Haiti to restore the regime of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristede. It cost 4 American lives.

The USS Cole was docked at the port of Aden, Yemen, on 12 October 2000 when it was attacked by suicide bombers. Seventeen sailors died in the incident. The Gulf of Aden is not part of the territorial waters of the USA, is it?

War in Iraq and Afghanistan (2001-2012) was started on a web of lies by President George W. Bush and his minions. It continued bolstered by more lies. Once again, no constitutional declaration of war, no honorable reason for our military to be in either country has ever been found. Over 5,500 military personnel were killed and over 35,000 were wounded. The totals are actually much higher, since the Defense Department does not count combat deaths that occur after a wounded soldier leaves Iraq or Afghanistan, or the hundreds of suicides of both active duty and veteran personnel. And even though Barack Obama SAID he brought home the troops, there are still THOUSANDS of military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. And now we have troops salted all over the African continent. And let’s not forget the little summer military exercise called Jade Helm happening in the American West…for what reasons, we are not sure.

I may have missed some obscure deployment of troops in that history lesson. But I think the message rings loud and clear. In case you may have missed the overwhelming ringing sound, here is what it means.

Except for the Congressional declaration of war in 1941, which started our involvement in WWII, no other military action since the CSA defense of 1865 has been a lawful use of military force. And, when you consider that America had no business fighting in WWII, our involvement should be considered immoral.

So, over 1,147,000 American sons and daughters have fought and died in military actions that can be considered both immoral and unlawful.

Please do not misunderstand me here. I do not suggest that the surviving families of dead military personnel should not mourn the loss of their sons and daughters. Surely the loss of a child, husband, father, mother, friend or loved one should be mourned.

I am not diminishing the dead’s courage, bravery, sacrifice or valor. I do not minimize their love of country, love of liberty and sense of duty.

What I am saying is that the REASONS that they died do not stand scrutiny. The REASONS they were deployed outside our shores were illegitimate and founded in lies. The REASONS for ALL military action, save the defensive actions of the Confederate States of America, were in fact illegal, immoral and unlawful.

They were deceived into military service, where politicians used their feelings of patriotism and trust as weapons against them, and their bodies as cannon fodder.

I do not hold the dead entirely at fault. Did they not come from our own homes, churches and schools, where this false sense of patriotism was taught from the cradle onward? We who are alive and remain are the ones most guilty. We did not teach our children how to discern truth from lies. We failed to teach them to question ALL authority. We neglected to infuse in them a love for individual liberty and love for the rule of law.

Therefore, here in the Memorial Day weekend of 2015, may we at long last accept the tragic truth that more than a million of our children gave their lives as sacrificial lambs on the blood-soaked altar of the God of the State? May we finally accept that additional hundreds of thousands were maimed and disabled on the same altar? Truly, they did not die to protect the American homeland. They did not die to protect our freedoms. They did not die defending “the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic”…words found in their Oath of Service.

They died in vain. They died for nothing.

That is what we should mourn this weekend.

DumpDC. Six Letters That Can Change History.