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Commentary
GRIFFIN TO SPEAK IN TEMPE, ARIZONA
I will be speaking at the 10th Annual Wealth Protection Conference to be
held in Tempe, Arizona on March 16 and 17, 2007. The conference will be
held at the Embassy Suites Resort and Conference Center. My topic will
be announced in future editions of this report. Other speakers will focus
on wealth-enhancement strategies with special emphasis on investments in
commodities and other tangible assets. For additional information or to
make reservations, contact Patrick or Linda Gorman at
reikilindag@aol.com
or call 1-800-494-4149 or locally at 480-820-5877.
ALL THERE IS TO KNOW ABOUT GUN
CONTROL IN 96 WORDS!
There have been millions
of pages and billions of words written on gun control, and thousands more
are added almost every day. How preposterous to claim that all there is
to know about this topic can be said in just ninety-nine words. Yet, after
reading a substantial sampling of the books and essays (pro and con) that
comprise the body of this literature, I have concluded that it all boils
down to just two concepts. One has to do with protection against crime;
the other with protection against tyranny. All the rest is historical and
emotional support for these two main theses. Here, then, reduced to its
essence, is my ninety-nine-word summary:
Gun-control laws do not control crime because crimes are not committed
by guns; they are committed by criminals. Criminals will always have guns
because they do not obey laws, including anti-gun laws. Those without guns
are easy prey for criminals with guns. Gun control encourages crime.
The right to bear arms was included in the Bill of Rights, not to deter
crime, but to deter oppressive government. Just governments honor and protect
the right to bear arms. Oppressive governments fear and prohibit the right
to bear arms.
Guns are dangerous. The only thing more dangerous is not having them.
IS THE UNITED STATES A CORPORATION? IF TRUE, SO WHAT?
A common assertion
made by those who are unhappy with the declining state of freedom in America
is that this can be traced to an 1871 act of Congress that established
Washington DC and, at the same time, converted the United States from a
constitutional republic to a corporation. Secondary claims attached to
this hypothesis are that this is the reason the official wording was changed
from Constitution for The United States of America to Constitution of The
United States of America and also why all capital letters are used in the
name instead of upper and lower case letters. They claim that this Act
of 1871 abolished the original constitutional government and created a
legal fiction that became financially indebted to and controlled by international
bankers. A forceful example of this view can be found on the Internet at
http://www.serendipity.li/jsmill/us_corporation.htm.
My own analysis is different. While it is true that Washington DC was created
by the Act of 1871, its territory was limited to the District of Columbia
and it was defined as a municipal corporation, which means it was limited
to the affairs of city government. Three years later, on June 20, 1874,
a new Act was passed by Congress that abolished the original city government
and replaced it with a three-man commission, appointed by the President
with the consent of the Senate. Its scope as a municipality did not change.
A third Act of Congress, dated June 11, 1878, clarified the powers of the
Commission but retained all the essential features of the previous Act,
especially those that defined the nature of the District of Columbia as
a municipal administrative unit. The following overview, taken from a Supreme
Court decision (District of Columbia v. Camden Iron Works, 181 U.S. 453
(1901) 181 U.S. 453) describes this evolution:
The 1st section of the act 'to provide a government for the District of
Columbia,' approved February 21, 1871 (16 Stat. at L. [181 U.S. 453, 458]
419, chap. 62), provided: 'That all that part of the territory of the
United States included within the limits of the District of Columbia be,
and the same is hereby, created into a government by the name of the District
of Columbia by which name it is hereby constituted a body corporate for
municipal purposes, and may contract and be contracted with, sue and be
sued, plead and be impleaded, have a seal, and exercise all other powers
of a municipal corporation not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws
of the United States and the provisions of this act.'
A governor and legislature were created; also a board of public works,
to which was given the control and repair of the streets, avenues, alleys,
and sewers of the city of Washington, and all other works which might be intrusted to their charge by either the legislative assembly or Congress.
They were empowered to disburse the moneys received for the improvement
of streets, avenues, alleys, sewers, roads, and bridges, and to assess
upon adjoining property specially benefited thereby a reasonable proportion
of the cost, not exceeding one third.
June 20, 1874, an act was passed entitled 'An Act for the Government of
the District of Columbia, and for Other Purposes.' 18 Stat. at L. 116,
chap. 337. By this act the government established by the act of 1871 was
abolished and the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate
was authorized to appoint a commission, consisting of three persons, to
exercise the power and authority vested in the governor and the board of
public works, except as afterwards limited by the act.
By a subsequent act approved June 11, 1878 (20 Stat. at L. 102, chap. 180),
it was enacted that the District of Columbia should 'remain and continue
a municipal corporation,' as provided in 2 of the Revised Statutes relating
to said District (brought forward from the act of 1871), and the appointment
of commissioners was provided for, to have and to exercise similar powers
given to the commissioners appointed under the act of 1874.
Many Internet commentators claim that using all upper-case letters when
printing the name United States of America or when printing names of individuals
has a profound legal implication. However, I have not been able to confirm
this. If anyone can show me a law or court case to the contrary, I will
readily acknowledge it; but so far I only have found assertions of this
claim with no authoritative documentation. In the meantime, I am satisfied
with the conclusion of the Dixieland Law Journal at http://home.hiwaay.net/~becraft/NamesInCaps.htm that there is no legal
basis for this theory.
Now, to the bigger issue. Even if it were true that Congress in 1871 converted
the United States into a corporation (a claim that I do not accept), there
would be two questions that must be answered: (1) what would be the practical
significance and (2) what can be done about it?
SO WHAT?
Let’s take the first question: what would be the practical significance
of a corporate government versus a constitutional government? In one case,
the charter is a corporate charter. In the other case it is a constitution.
Both are written documents and both outline the purpose, function, and
limitations of the entity they create. The primary difference is that a
corporation always is the creation of government, which makes government
a higher source with powers assumed to be derived from the people themselves.
In the case of the United States, however, this distinction is blurred,
because the federal constitution was created by representatives of the
colonial governments. That means the United States was created by other
governments just as it would have been if created as a corporation.
The structure of government is important but not as important as the power
of government. That is also true of corporations. Governments and corporations
are neither good nor evil by themselves. They can serve man well or be
a huge disservice depending entirely on the terms of their charters and
the character of those who direct them. Private entrepreneurs, partnerships,
and associations have exactly the same capacity for good or evil. Corporations
become evil when they acquire political favoritism giving them unfair advantages
over competitors and legal immunity from crimes – but exactly the same
thing happens with politically connected individuals, partnerships, and
associations.
A similar contrast between good and evil is found within governments, whether
they are corporations or not. There is little difference between corporations
and governments except ownership of stock. Too much is made over the structure
of government and too little over the principles of government. Which would
we choose: a corporate government with a charter that limits its powers
and with functioning mechanisms to choose our leaders – or a constitutional
government in which the constitution is subverted and the electoral system
is in the hands of a ruling elite?
Guns do not commit crimes but people using guns do. Likewise, organizational
structures are not the problem, it’s the people who control those structures
and the principles they embrace. Evil men can subvert any social structure.
There are no set of rules that can prevent it if the public becomes indifferent,
which is why Wendell Phillips reminded us that “Eternal vigilance is the
price of liberty.”
We should be thankful that America started off as a constitutional republic,
but that was long ago. Today we live under a democratic oligarchy in which
the masses are hypnotized into believing they control their political destiny
because they are allowed to elect their own dictators. This conversion
did not happen because of how government was chartered but because collectivists
took control of political parties, media centers, educational institutions,
and all other power centers of society. As long as collectivists remain
in control, and as long as most people don’t even know what the word collectivism
means, it makes no difference if government has a constitutional or a corporate
charter. Freedom is lost either way.
WHAT CAN BE DONE?
The important question is what can be done? Even if it
were true that the United States was secretly converted to a corporation
in 1871, what can be done about it today? If we don’t have an answer to
that question, we are wasting out time. The enemies of freedom must be
happy to see us chasing phantom issues because, as long as we do, we are
out of the battle. The solution to the loss of our constitutional republic
is, not to endlessly debate the meaning of an obscure event in 1871, but
to take action today to recapture our government from the collectivists
who have subverted it and then set about to restore the republic! That
is the mission of Freedom Force.
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NEWest ARRIVALS
OIL, SMOKE, AND
MIRRORS
Peak Oil Reserves and the War on Terror
 This video documentary connects the
dots between the world’s dwindling oil reserves and the War on Terror.
It shows that the Bin Laden connection, the Al Qaeda network, and the
attacks on 9/11 all were carefully fabricated for the purpose of
manipulating world opinion into approving military incursions into the
oil-rich regions of the Middle East. It includes a hard look into the
future and what life may be like as the cost of energy goes up while the
degree of freedom goes down. (More)
 BARRY& ‘THE BOYS’
The CIA, the Mob,
and America’s Secret History
This book reveals the merger of
organized crime with the CIA. Did that catch your attention? You finally
will understand the truth about the Bay of Pigs, the JFK assassination,
Watergate, Iran-Contra, and the Mena Drug Scandal. This is the story of
Barry Seal, a participant in all of these events, assassinated in 1968
after he told friends he was going to testify before Congress. This book
uncovers the intimate details of Seal's life story and reveals what he
would have told Congress. (More)
 HIGH ALERT: How to Profit from the
Clash between the Global Elite and the Internet
by Anthony Wile
This
is a personal investment book that probes deeply into the political and
economic issues that are shaping our future. It shows where the economic
break points are going to occur and what you can do to ride out the
financial crisis that will follow. (More)
FORBIDDEN HISTORY, PREHISTORIC
TECHNOLOGIES, ORIGINS OF CIVILIZATIONS
This is an anthology of 42
essays by 16 authors on a broad range of topics relating to ancient
Earth history and the origins of civilization. Very little of this
information is found in orthodox history books because it presents
controversial theories about high-tech ancient knowledge and even the
possibility of that knowledge having been implanted form
extraterrestrial sources. This is a fascinating mixture of fact and
conjecture that will make you think. Very dangerous! (More)
FORBIDDEN RELIGION
Suppressed Heresies of the West
This is an anthology of 40 essays by 18 historians writing about the
ancient origins of present-day religious concepts. Most of this
information has been labeled as heresy at one time or another. Here is
the suppressed history of early Christendom, the Cathars and Templars,
and the Masons. Discover the real identity of the secret organization
portrayed in The Da Vinci Code, and how the American Revolution was
influenced by men who were members of similar groups. (More)
LIBERTATEMS are one-ounce pure-silver
medallions minted by Freedom Force.
Each medallion features eight
symbols illustrating the ideological concepts of individualism as
expressed in The Creed of Freedom. For an explanation of this symbolism,
click here. Libertatems are a storehouse of value,
a hedge against inflation, a work of art, and a teaching aid to
popularize the laws of liberty. (More)
AMERICA from FREEDOM to FASCISM
A documentary by Aaron Russo
An award-winning Hollywood producer
sets out on a journey to find answers to questions about the legality of
the income tax – but soon discovers that there is much more being hidden
from public view than simple tax issues. What he discovers is a quiet
conversion of the American political system from a constitutional
republic to a democratic dictatorship modeled along the lines of fascism
– and it is happening without the public even being aware of it. For
Americans, there is nothing more serious or more important in their
lives than the issue raised in this film. Even outside the US, this will
affect every aspect of your personal existence in the very near future.
When martial law arrives, it will be too late to change anything. We
must act NOW. (More)
THE WHEY PRESCRIPTION:
THE HEALING
MIRACLE IN MILK
An ancient cure finds new acceptance in a scientific
world. The unique properties of whey are shown here to be powerful
treatments for disorders in the heart, liver, kidneys, and intestines.
It is especially effective against hepatitis, infections, edema,
digestive disorders, gallstones, skin disorders, arthritis, rheumatism,
obesity, and high blood pressure. Whey is a true broad-spectrum healer.
(More)
THE HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
SOLUTION; A
Proven Program for
Preventing Strokes and Heart Disease
Hypertension
is completely preventable without drugs. The vast majority of heart
attacks and strokes could be eliminated simply by balancing dietary
potassium and sodium. Most people consume too much sodium and too little
potassium. Based on this principle, the entire country of Finland has
reduced cardiovascular disease by 60%. This book could save your life.
(More)
EMPIRE OF DEBT: THE RISE OF AN EPIC
FINANCIAL CRISIS
Danger! This book will make you think! Avoid it at
all costs – unless you want to see how the United States is following
the same path to extinction that was trod by all previous world empires.
This is not just a warning about national retribution for political and
economic sins, it is an overview of history and popular delusions. You
will be swept away by a refreshing blend of facts, insights, wit, and
humor. The authors’ analysis of the stock market and how to invest to
survive an economic tsunami is, by itself, worth the cost many times
over. (More)
FOUNDING FATHERS, SECRET
SOCIETIES:
Freemasons, Illuminati,
Rosicrucians, & Decoding The Great Seal
This
brings together in one place the historical facts about the deep
involvement of many of America’s Founding Fathers in secret societies.
It is an amazing record with profound insights into their motivation for
the American Revolution and the creation of the unique form of
government that became the United States. The author, who is a member of
International Co-Masonry, has assembled an impressive body of original
sources to document his narrative. This is, without question, the most
complete single reference on this topic. (More)
MINUTEMEN: THE BATTLE TO SECURE
AMERICA'S BORDERS
The author tells why he created the Minuteman
Project and how he and just a few hundred volunteers, armed with only
binoculars and cell phones, proved that America’s borders can be
protected against illegal immigration if only there is a will to do so.
This leads to the second part of his story, which is why the US
government does not have this will and how it has even hindered the work
of the Minutemen. This story will make you angry, but it will also
enlighten you regarding what American leaders really have planned for
the US-Mexican border. They plan to eliminate it. Here are the details.
(More)
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