But I gave my oath.

[darrels joy]

How Soon is Now?

Posted on March 26, 2009

How Soon is Now?

The title of this post has two meanings. In the first place, it has to do with when, exactly, a patriot — one who has perhaps vowed to protect and defend our Constitution either formally or simply in his/her heart — decides that it is time to act on that vow. In the second place, the title of this post, “How Soon is Now?” refers to the same-titled 1984 song by the Smiths, in which we hear the lyric:


“I am the son and the heir of nothing in particular.”


Let me talk about the second meaning first. I am neither particularly young nor am I old. In my early forties, I am the son and heir of a father who pointed me in the direction of service to my nation and gave to me a love of country. My parents passed on to me the notion that having needs met by government is nothing more than swallowing a bowl full of dust, and pales in comparison to those things that a man or woman is able to do for himself and his family. I grew up with a rather nerdy love of American history and felt that, whatever course my own life might take, I was standing on the shoulders of extraordinarily interesting characters, if not giants. Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, Grant, Johnny Reb and the immigrant Irish from the North who opposed him, the suffragettes, doughboys and the G.I.s who stormed the beaches, thirty seconds of fuel left when Eagle touched down on Tranquility Base, a Shining City on a Hill confronts an Evil Empire and The Wall comes down…these are my (our) stories. These are the events and the characters of my (our) story. These are my legacy, and as flawed as it is (each of the names and events I just named embody both good and bad) it is a damn good story.


When I was a child the Protestants would josh with the Catholics on Ash Wednesday and the Christians and the Jewish kids would josh with each other at Christmastime, and we liked each other and we loved America and we had a great national story to share with each other, with all its warts that could both inform and warn. I was the son and the heir of something amazing and wonderful, and I was a member of a nation that didn’t feel any particular need to agree about everything, but was free to choose among those things an individual might want to believe. Now the national landscape is sanitized. Religious symbols are covered up and bold and principled speech of most kinds is discouraged in favor of (and I will only use this term twice) what is politically correct. What is politically correct in the Spring of 2009 is to support the President, to HOPE the President succeeds without regard to what he wishes to do, to not speak of the things that he promised to do all along (”fundamental change” “remake America” “spread the wealth” “outlaw concealed weapons permits”) and to not consider for even a minute whether or not our nation is going in the wrong direction very, very rapidly in favor of a ostrich-worthy insistence that nothing bad could ever happen to us.


Once the American government has taken over roughly half of the incomes of producers (or 90% if the President demonizes you and Congress reacts in pitchfork-wielding/Kristalnacht-inviting fashion), has nationalized entire industries in an unprecedented way, has not only digitized and appropriated your medical records but has taken over your health care, and thus ultimate control over your very life and behavior; once the government has gotten you to trade being the captain of the ship of your own life for what is said to be the greater good, then the legacy and the story and the City on a Hill are gone. And thus our children and grandchildren will have perhaps a comfortable and controlled life, but on moments of introspection will know that whatever that the great, flawed, scary and soaring story of America might have been to their parents, it is to them either unknown, illusive, or negative. But they will, indeed, be well acquainted with the various government agencies that guide them in all things, and will be able to say that they are “son and heir to nothing in particular“.


This brings me to the first meaning of this post’s title. When does a patriot decide that the time has come to put his or her oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign or domestic, into effect? This is a very weighty question. Let me say that again. This is not just blog ranting; it’s a very serious question. For myself, I first took that oath at the age of seventeen on my first day as a plebe at West Point. I next took that oath upon commissioning as an Army officer. I again took that oath when I was later re-commissioned as an Army Reserve officer. I also took a similar oath (no longer to defend, but still to support) when I was accepted as a member of the Florida Bar.

There is a legitimate question as to whether or not I am still bound by the first three oaths, since I am no longer a member of the military. I am informed by the mission statement of the United States Military Academy (for whom I do not speak) that told me when I entered the Academy that I was to be educated for the purpose of a career of service to the Army.

By the time I’d graduated, however, the mission statement had been changed to include a life of service to the Nation. My life has been informed by that ever since; my lifetime is not over, therefore I am still in service to my Nation. Even disregarding that, I have that oath I took when I became an attorney. So what does that all mean? Active duty soldiers are educated about what an unlawful order is, and have some more or less clear guidelines about what to do while in uniform and faced with orders that betray their oaths. So what about the rest of us?


I have come to the conclusion that the answer to the question “how soon is now?” is — now. There are recent moves by the President and the Congress, better suited for blogs like Powerline and the Volokh site to explain, that are pretty clearly unconstitutional (making the seat of federal government a de facto state by giving it representatives, ex post facto laws and bills of attainder, governmental seizure of private corporations, and most important of all, the government’s eagerness and desire to interfere with the right to contract that any civilized society needs intact to survive or else hand over any notion of liberty or ability to ever again benefit by assuming risk). If you agree with me and think the time is now to protect and defend our Constitution, the next question would be “how?”


It starts with being open about no longer obeying power that lacks authority. Even Christians are not (in my non-theologically astute opinion) bound to “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” if our Caesar as Americans is not a man but a Constitution and the Constitution is being trashed and ignored. So, I will not obey. I will not allow my medical records to be federalized even if that means detriment to the length of my life (I happen to believe that “privacy” is a word that ought to mean something more than the right to abort the unborn). I will pay my taxes this year, quite frankly, because I don’t want to go to jail or hurt my family, but I’ll find ways to disobey this government that don’t feature disaster for my family.

I need to make it clear right now that not only am I NOT speaking for the STACLU website, instead only as an independent contributor, but I am also not speaking about breaking laws or behaving in the manner of those who bust in store windows and burn cars at world economic summits or like those who spike trees in order to harm loggers.


Instead, this continues with what we responsible patriots do next. I think it is time to forget about the traditional things that candidates for public office need to consider: how much money one has, how photogenic one is, what sort of support one has from his political party, etc. Forget all that. It is time for patriots to run for office, even in primaries against similarly-motivated patriots, regardless of whatever reasons in normal times you would have to think yourself unqualified to seriously run for office, and regardless of how your tin-eared political party thinks of your efforts. Election year 2010 seems far away, but right now is the time to act. It’s time to flood the zone. The relatively simple act of declaring yourself for public office and getting logged on your State’s Division of Elections websites as a candidate will have meaning, and put the ruling class on notice that we are coming to reclaim not only our Constitution, but the very notion of the citizen-legislator. How soon is now? It is now.


As for me personally, I am ready and willing to declare against my congressman, Al Grayson, and to develop a website (not yet active — FloodGov.org) so that we can support one another. To be honest, I’m likely to fail, and even to be embarrassed. But I gave my oath.

http://www.stoptheaclu.com/archives/...w-soon-is-now/