Authoritarians around the world and throughout history have, despite their power, often been restrained to some degree by the established laws in their countries in regards to ending the lives of their subjects. Based on his Chicago-flavored approach to politics, Barack Obama is the very definition of an authoritarian—one who disregards public sentiment, constitutional restraint, and campaign promises that conflict with his policy goals, and trudges onward to implement an aggressive stack of mandates, regulations, and executive orders.
Obama, like many tyrants before him, has taken it upon himself to disregard the clear laws of the land in order to be able to kill citizens of his own country. In doing so, he has modeled himself as supreme dictator—the man who, on his command alone, can end the life of a fellow countryman. This is a power not even King George could boast.
The event in question is the authorization by Mr. Obama to kill one Anwar al-Awlaki on the spot, whenever and wherever found, no matter how far away from any battlefield. This man was born in New Mexico, has now “radicalized” (whatever that means), and is accused of, and believed to be participating in, attacks on the United States.
The reader should pay special attention to the italicized words above, for this individual—an American citizen—has been summarily denied any due process by a simple dictatorial decree. No court, no jury of peers, no display of evidence by a government making its case against one of its own. Instead, on conjecture and supposition alone, or even with good intelligence, one man has assumed the authority to deny another man his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This is not life under a Republic—it’s existence under the good graces and at the mercy of his majesty, the supreme ruler of our nation.
To get around the quandary of such a denial of God-given rights, Obama’s team of cronies are exploring ways to strip Americans of their citizenship. If successful in this unprecedented and tyrannical action, we will be living under a form of government where justice is a farce and freedom is an illusion. For, if one man has the unchecked authority to strip another man of his rights, and then snuff out his life, every line of our founding documents becomes completely irrelevant and worthy only of display in the Smithsonian as an antiquated historical document relevant only to a bygone era.
Note that Obama’s predecessor was the first to implement this authority, when he (Bush) gave the CIA permission to kill U.S. citizens in foreign lands if “strong evidence” existed that they were in any way involved in organizing or carrying out “terrorist” actions against the country or “U.S. interests”. 9/11 changed everything, we’re told, and so we have collectively and willingly surrendered our liberty for a semblance of security.
So strongly (and hypocritically) did presidential candidate Barack Obama object to President Bush’s denial of due process for detainees, that he penned an article in Foreign Affairs in the summer of 2007 where he wrote:
To build a better, freer world, we must first behave in ways that reflect the decency and aspirations of the American people. This means ending the practices of shipping away prisoners in the dead of night to be tortured in far-off countries, of detaining thousands without charge or trial, of maintaining a network of secret prisons to jail people beyond the reach of the law.
Two years ago, Obama objected to detaining an American citizen without being formally charged or allowed to face his accusers in a trial. Now, as president, Obama has ordered the CIA to kill an American citizen without either of these deferences to his alleged rights.
The magnitude of this political development cannot be understated; it should be shouted from every rooftop around this nation. Yet while Americans carry on with their entertainment-soaked lives, a dictatorship has been quietly established with precedent and power being put in place by George Bush, and execution being implemented by Barack Obama.
Words written long ago by J. Reuben Clark find a pitiful relevance to our own day:
So one constitutional right after another yielded without any real contest, our backs getting nearer to the wall with each retreat. It is now proposed we retreat still further. Is not this suicide? Is there anyone so naive as to think that things will right themselves without a fight? There has been no more fight in us than there is in a bunch of sheep, and we have been much like sheep. Freedom was never brought to a people on a silver platter, nor maintained with whisk brooms and lavender sprays…. The whole course is deliberately planned and carried out, its purpose is to destroy the Constitution and our constitutional government; then to bring chaos out of which the new Statism, with its Slavery, is to arise, with a cruel, relentless, selfish, ambitious crew in the saddle, riding hard with whip and spur, a red-shrouded band of night riders for despotism.
The man occupying the White House has declared himself a dictator, and decreed the death of an American citizen. He has asserted for himself executive, legislative, and judicial powers in making such an order, adding his name to the short list of rulers throughout history who have claimed the power to summarily execute another individual.
To whom is the application of this power restricted? If today it is reserved only for alleged terrorists, under what circumstances will it find broader application? Should supporters of certain political candidates, participants in militias, advocates of limiting the federal government’s power, and other similar opponents of federal tyranny now be in fear of being placed on a hit list to be targeted by a CIA strike force? These questions are not only fodder for fiction novels and screenplays, but legitimate possibilities that arise from the concentration of unchecked power in a single individual.
Those who do not rise up in opposition to this unchecked and self-granted power to murder American citizens will one day be held accountable for their complicity in watching the foundations of America give way before their eyes. Silence gives consent.
.I don’t think Obama is exercising many, if any, self-granted powers. Rather, I believe he is perhaps the lead puppet of those puppet masters to groomed him and placed him where he is today for the express purpose of doing the bidding of Satan ahd his latteer-day gadiantons. He is a talented puppet, a good actor, but I don’t think for a minute he is in control.
Rising up in opposition to any or all of things the we are getting bombarded with seems limited to awakening others to our “awful situation”, and rallying support for a return to constitutional principles, and for candidates for elected offices who espouse the US Constitution. I haven’t been able to accomplish anything beyond that. A genuine insurrection I believe we have been advised against by LDS Church leadership. And I doubt it would accomplish much anyway.
Ralph,
I don’t think it matter’s who the puppet or puppet master is. Whomever it is, Satan is the Ultimate Puppet master of them all. And we know that he is reigning with blood and horror on this earth with governments as his tool.
Here is a quote from Ezra Taft Benson, “Today you cannot effectively fight for freedom and not be attacked. While we don’t need to go out of our path of duty to find a cross to pick up, a man is a coward who refuses to pick up a cross that clearly lies within his path. A man must not only stand for right principles, he must also fight for them. Those who do can be proud of the friends they’ve gained and the enemies they’ve earned. Those who hesitate to get into this fight because it is controversial fail to realize that life’s decisions should be based on principles, not public opinion polls. There were men at Valley Forge who weren’t sure how the revolution would end, but they were in a much better position to save their own souls and their country than those timid men whose major concern was deciding which side was going to win, or how to avoid controversy.”
“Rising up in opposition” is going to create friction, it is going to create enemies. If one is on the side of Freedom, then those enemies are led by Satan. Satan loves war, loves death and bloodshed. It is his M.O. Moroni would have preferred no blood were spilled in the defense of Liberty. But he was forced to engage in war because that was the method used against him. Modern Day prophets have prophesied that War in the United States is coming. Most instances in the Book of Mormon, which is our guide, were defensive. A few instances, Nephi to Laban, and Moroni to his own government, the kingmen, are examples of offensives. Moroni actually threatened that he would cleanse the inner vessel, specifically the head of the government according to the commandments of God, and he would stir up insurrections throughout the land.
Last I checked this was put in specifically for us as a guide in the last days. President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “it (The Book of Mormon) is as current as the daily newspaper and much more definitive, inspired and inspiring concerning the solutions of those problems.” I strongly feel armed conflict coming our way will be defensive in nature, but we are to use the Holy Ghost and the Book of Mormon and the Modern Prophets as our guide. 2 Nephi 32 says to feast upon the words of Christ (B of M) because they will TELL us all things what we should do. Then it commands us to receive the Holy Ghost as it will SHOW you all things what ye should do. If the Book of Mormon tells us to stir up insurrections throughout the land, and the Holy Ghost shows us the way, then we should obey. To be clear, the Holy Ghost has not TOLD me to do this, not suggesting it has, but it could, and we better be in tune.
Where are the Freemen? Connor is pointing out in his article that there are problems, serious infringing on our liberties by our Government. And that we will be held accountable for NOT rising up in opposition to the Anti-freedom movement afoot in the U.S. directed by the father of lies. Where are the Moroni’s?
“And Moroni was a strong and a mighty man; he was a man of perfect understanding, yea, a man that did not delight in bloodshed; a man whose soul did joy in the liberty and the freedom of his country, and his brethren from bondage and slavery; . . .
“Yea, and he was a man who was firm in the faith of Christ, and he had sworn with an oath to defend his people his rights, and his country, and his religion, even to the loss of his blood.” (Alma. 48:11,13.)
And then Moroni is paid this high tribute:
“Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men.” (Alma. 48:17.)
Can we really picture Moroni saying, “I’ve tried to awaken my neighbors, and I am going to vote and do my civic duty, but that’s about all I think is appropriate.” Yea, that really shakes the power of hell. Not.
President Brigham Young: “When the day comes in which the Kingdom of God will bear rule, the flag of the United States will proudly flutter unsullied on the flag staff of liberty and equal rights, without a spot to sully its fair surface; the glorious flag our fathers have bequeathed to us will then be unfurled to the breeze by those who have power to hoist it aloft and defend its sanctity. How long will it be before the words of the prophet Joseph will be fulfilled? He said if the Constitution of the United States were saved at all it must be done by this people. It will not be many years before these words come to pass.”
Members of the church, then, have the special responsibility to defend the Constitution from the constant barrage now levied against it. President Young’s prophecy of the final destiny of the United States will not come about without tremendous effort on our part. Just as God’s hand in a “lunar anomaly” let Paul Revere cross a river undetected to make his historic ride, His hand will be with us in our fight to defend the Constitution if we have enough faith to take on that fight!
“No one has the authority to grant such powers as welfare programs, schemes for redistributing the wealth, and activities that coerce people into acting in accordance with a prescribed code of social planning…….Once government steps over this clear line….into the aggressive role of redistributing the wealth through taxation and providing so-called “benefits” for some of its citizens, it becomes a means for legalized plunder.” President Benson. These words were given to us in 1966 and we have continued to be pushed back and guess what, we have given in every time and accepted the push back by the Government. And Satan laughs.
Where will we draw the line in the sand? When will we be FREEMEN?
President John Taylor: “When the people shall have torn to shreds the Constitution of the United States, the elders of Israel will be found holding it up to the nations of the earth and proclaiming liberty and equal rights to all men, and extending the hand of fellowship to the oppressed of all nations. This is part of the program, and as long as we do what is right and fear God, He will help us and stand by us under all circumstances.”
It is up to each one of us to see to it that we are actively fighting for liberty rather than wasting our time on the sidelines.
President Benson: “This is still God’s world…In due time, when each of us has had a chance to prove himself–including whether or not we are going to stand up for freedom–God will interject himself, and the final and eternal victory shall be for free agency…Time is on the side of truth, and the wave of the future is freedom. There is no question of the eventual, final, and lasting triumph of righteousness. The major question for each of us is what part will we play in helping to bring it to pass…Ours is the task to try to live and perpetuate the principles of Christ and the Constitution in the face of tremendous odds. May we, with God’s help, have strength for the battle.”
Prophet Joseph Smith: “I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves.” Our founding fathers knew correct principles, they chose revolution by the spirit of God, they are all Elders and High Priests endowed in the Temple of our God. God forbid it, let this cup pass from us, but we may have to chose a war of Restoration, back the Constitutional Republic that was given to us and that we are stewards over.
Semper Fidelis
Ralph,
Alma 59:13, “And it came to pass that Moroni was angry with the Government, because of their indifference concerning the freedom of their country.”
Moroni seems to be clear about our options when moved upon by the holy ghost.
Alma 61:13–14. “…whatsoever evil we cannot resist with our words, yea, such as rebellions and dissensions, let us resist them with our swords, that we may retain our freedom…”
I, like many of you, have been fighting this battle for many years. The same great people show up for the battle. There are very few new faces. The war torn and battle fatigued are continuing to stay the course and say it the way it is and the majority are standing on the sidelines; some wishing us well, some opposing, and some just being quiet and waiting to see which side is winning before they commit themselves. For those of us who do not fear, there will be casualties. Isaiah says that at the death of one, thousands will flee. But for those of you who are waiting, the Savior will win this war, no question, and those of us who are waiting, he will ask us, “why did you let your friends do all the work and give their lives while you stood and did nothing?”
Each one of us have a personal and individual responsibility to do all we can. We owe it to our children to do all we can. He that doeth not anything until he is commanded…….. etc. We don’t need to wait to see. Let us all move forward in faith to stand for Liberty and Justice for All.
Read, Write, encourage, educate, and lead. One man or woman who believes can change thousands.
Ralph,
Alma 59:13, “And it came to pass that Moroni was angry with the Government, because of their indifference concerning the freedom of their country.”
Moroni seems to be clear about our options when moved upon by the holy ghost.
Alma 61:13–14. “…whatsoever evil we cannot resist with our words, yea, such as rebellions and dissensions, let us resist them with our swords, that we may retain our freedom…”