I am indebted to the John Birch Society for this Overview of America that is absolutely perfect for the first lesson.

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, … it expects what never was and never will be.” — Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Colonel Charles Yancey (January 6, 1816)

“When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.” — Thomas Paine

We are losing our freedom, because we are ignorant. I include myself, here. We have forgotten how to be Americans, how to be Patriots. If you think that’s ridiculous, see if you can answer a few questions:

1. The first ten amendments to the Constitution are collectively known as what?
2. The right to privacy is in the Constitution, true or false.
3. “Separation of church and state” is in the Constitution, true or false.
4. We should support the President, even if we disagree with him, true or false.
5. The Founders thought that it was essential to create a central bank, true or false.
6. When the United States goes to war, whose job is it to declare war?
7. The United States is a democracy, true or false.

Now, let’s see how you did.

1. The first ten amendments to the Constitution are collectively known as … “The Bill of Rights.” That was a gimme, but here’s something you might not have known, which I only just learned tonight, thanks to a great organization called, “We the People.” The Founders were hesitant to include a bill of rights! They resisted including it because they were afraid that over time, we would think that our rights were granted by the government and limited to only those rights that were specifically protected by the Bill of Rights, and then all of our other rights would vanish, since they were not specifically spelled out. Their fears have become our reality, but thank God they put the Bill of Rights in there, or we’d have no freedoms left at all. Most people do not know that the Declaration of Independence acknowledges that our rights come from God, not from the state, and that is why they are unalienable.  Most people also do not know that the Bill of Rights did not give us anything that we didn’t already have.

2. FALSE. “The Constitution does not specifically mention a right to privacy. However, Supreme Court decisions over the years have established that the right to privacy is a basic human right, and as such is protected by virtue of the 9th Amendment. The right to privacy has come to the public’s attention via several controversial Supreme Court rulings, including several dealing with contraception (the Griswold and Eisenstadt cases), interracial marriage (the Loving case), and abortion (the well-known Roe v Wade case). In addition, it is said that a right to privacy is inherent in many of the amendments in the Bill of Rights, such as the 3rd, the 4th’s search and seizure limits, and the 5th’s self-incrimination limit.” (Taken from http://www.usconstitution.net/constnot.html#privacy)

3. FALSE. “The phrase ’separation of church and state’ does not appear anywhere in the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson wrote that the 1st Amendment erected a “wall of separation” between the church and the state (James Madison said it “drew a line,” but it is Jefferson’s term that sticks with us today). The phrase is commonly thought to mean that the government should not establish, support, or otherwise involve itself in any religion. The Religion Topic Page addresses this issue in much greater detail.” (Taken from http://www.usconstitution.net/constnot.html#church)

4. FALSE. If you disagree with the president on anything — actions, philosophy, religion, whatever — you should voice your dissent. This is your civic responsibility. For some reason, it seems to be a popular belief among some of the Baby Boom Generation that one should not criticize the president. When I find out where this erroneous, unamerican notion comes from, I will be sure share the knowledge. For defense of this, nothing I can say compares to the Founders:

• “All men having power ought to be mistrusted.” — James Madison
• “In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief with the chains of the Constitution.” — Thomas Jefferson
• “The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive.” — Thomas Jefferson

There are many more warnings that are equally, if not more, severe. The Founders understood human nature all too well.

5. FALSE!! The Founders were vehemently opposed to the central bank! Many future posts will be devoted to this subject, but I’ll give a brief overview here. The (our) central bank is a private corporation (incorporated in Delaware) that has been given the power to create money. Yes, that’s create, as in “out of thin air.” Already you should be seeing why our Founders believed that the central bank was a greater threat to freedom than a standing army. Money is power. Unlimited money is unlimited power. If you think that a private bank with the power to create legal money out of thin air won’t use that power inappropriately, you’re terribly naive. Since 1913, the year that Congress shamefully gave up its power to coin and regulate the value of money by passing the Federal Reserve act, unlimited power rests in the hands of a select few: those who own and control the Federal Reserve. They hold the strings of the puppets in office, the news, the media, … the entire country and economy. Much more will be said about this in the future.

6. The US Constitution specifically states, in Article 1, Section 8, that it is the duty of Congress to declare war. The Founders abhorred war. Like so many other rules of law, this law is now ignored. The last time Congress declared war was World War II. Every war that we have made ourselves involved in, since then, has been unconstitutional, and therefore illegal. I’ll state the importance of this in the answer to the next question.

7. FALSE. We are not a democracy, which our Founders looked upon with contempt. A Democracy is a majority rule. Yes, we vote, and the majority of votes determines elections and therefore our office holders and laws, but our foundation is the rule of law, specifically, the Constitution, the highest law of the land. This makes us a Republic. No one and nothing is higher than the Constitution. Every branch of government is ruled by it. In fact, the Constitution is not a government law to control the people, but rather, it is exactly the opposite: it is a law by the people to control the government! Our Founders knew that the natural tendency of government is to expand its power, usually with good intentions, and that the expanded power is eventually abused, and then further expanded. If left unchecked, the result is a loss of freedoms at an exponential rate, and in the end, a total collapse. So the Founders did everything they could think of to reign in government. This is why we have a separation of powers and a system of checks and balances. The Founders were protecting us from our own government.

If you missed any of the questions, or worse, if you fail to see the importance of this knowledge, then you are exactly why I work! The inhabitants of the United States have forgotten how to be Americans. If we don’t learn, and I mean fast, then we’re done.

Sincerely,

Nathan