str8shuter
Member
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2005
- Messages
- 7
Lets all work together folks.
The Constitution, The Liberty Tree, and Wood Chips.
First off, for the record, I want to state that I am not a writer, I just happen to be an observer of the incredibly obvious. The following are my observations concerning some disturbing trends I have observed.
I was out in the yard the other day, splitting wood, as is my practice when I want to think and relax. I know it does not sound relaxing to some, but in focusing on the task at hand I tend to relax and organize my thoughts. It was a warm but terribly windy day for February, with wind gusts to 60 MPH. When I was about half way through the pile that needed splitting, I made an observation that I thought rather comical at the time, there were no wood chips anywhere around my work area, normally there are plenty, ranging in size from small slivers to some as large as a paint brush. I thought that it was rather odd, since usually I use these wood chips as kindling to start my fires. After making this observation, I paid more attention as I split the rest of the pile. Where were my wood chips going? While splitting the rest of the pile, I observed the wind was catching my wood chips and whisking them off, some a few feet from me, others many yards from me, but all were scattered, and impractical to retrieve with the time I had available and the wind that was still blowing. So I left them lay, and observed many being whisked off even farther from my work area.
It occurs to me that people in this country are the same as the forests, trees, and logs that I was splitting. Many of us used to live in a forest, surrounded by many different types of trees, but all together and all of us growing and prospering in the shelter and comfort of our forest, regardless of weather or disease, we all stuck together, and did well. Now this is a great thing and not to be taken lightly, it takes about 200 years to grow a good strong tree, and we had many good strong trees in our forest, and our strong trees sheltered, protected and guided the younger trees toward the light so that they could prosper and grow strong and tall, so that one day, the younger trees could replace the older trees. Now as the younger trees grew, many of them were caught up in the worries of the day to day struggle to fight famine and disease and drought, and they had less and less time to shelter and protect the smaller trees and help them the way they had been helped by the giant old trees, and by this time, most if not all of the giant old trees were gone, so there was no one left to help the young trees, so the young trees grew, but they grew without a lot of guidance, or protection. As the trees grew and multiplied, the forest grew, and as the forest grew, it began to be noticed by many people, and there were many that worked tirelessly to exploit the forest. Now as the forest was exploited, many of the trees on the outer edges of the forest were cut down, the older ones because of their value, and the younger ones because they were in the way. But the trees in the middle of the forest did not feel threatened because it was just a few trees and they were way out on the edge of the forest, not near to the center of the forest, so what if a few trees were cut down, as long as the trees in the center were safe the forest would still survive. Now as time passed, the trees at the edges continued to be cut down, and soon the trees in the center of the forest were cut down as well. This left only the trees that had remembered the teachings of the giant old trees and had sunk their roots deep and in places difficult for the people to get to, but in the end, even these trees were cut down or were infested with disease, or famine, or drought or died of old age and thus the forest died forever.
Now you ask, what does the have to do with the title??? Well I am glad you asked.
Back when this country was founded, we were a few small trees, but the founding trees of this forest we call the UNITED States, had seen the perils of the weak forest, having been transplanted from other forests and provided direction for the younger trees that would follow in the form of The Bill Of Right, The Declaration Of Independence, The Constitution, etc.
I have seen a trend for many years, and I am sure that my father saw it as well, since he was the one to guide me and help me be the tree I am today. We have forgotten that we as supporters of the Constitution are a forest, we are many trees, and yet, among our own forest we let the young trees grow where and how they will. We disassociate ourselves from other trees in the forest because we do not agree with the kind of tree they are. A prime example is the varying divisions among supporters of the second amendment to the Constitution. If you ask a big game hunter if he supports the 2nd amendment he will tell you absolutely, and if you ask a target shooter, if he does, he will say the same, and if you ask a varmint hunter, or a shooting competitor, the response will all be to the affirmative, and yet if you peruse the litany of websites concerning hunting, shooting or the second amendment you will find folks openly and heatedly disagreeing with each other, over how to go about this or that, or the differences between them, or how much better one group is than the other. These debates and insults are carried on in the open for all to see, both friend and foe alike. These open arguments and name calling only serve to cause division in the forest, causing trees at the edges of the forest to be lost and cut up and blown away as wood chips or used to start fires to consume more trees. I submit this is the best way to loose the forest quickly. I submit that any form of violation to the Constitution(Our guidance from the founding trees) , any part of it, from the beginning to the end, be met with UNITED resistance, as in UNITED States, Notice I capitalized the word UNITED, that is on purpose, that is the focus we need to remember. While we may not agree with someone on a personal level about their particular cause, if they are defending the Constitution, they should be our ally.
Any violation of the Constitution, is a chipping away at the forest, a small violation only affects a few trees at the edge of the forest, but it is an attack on the forest as a whole folks. There is an old saying folks that you should know, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer” and more importantly, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
I am going to settle this debate for all of you here and now. How is that possible you ask?
I want to clarify something for all of you, You are ALL, each and everyone, by act of congress, responsible to defend the Constitution. You are all, each and everyone of you, by act of Congress, in a militia.
Debate settled!!!! Ohhh, you want proof, ok here you go.
Per the Militia Act of 1792 all male citizens between the ages of 18 and 44 are members of the militia and must provide at their own cost, arms, ammo, and gear.
The Militia Act of 1792, Passed May 8, 1792, providing federal standards for the organization of the Militia.
An ACT more effectually to provide for the National Defence, by establishing an Uniform Militia throughout the United States.
I. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That each and every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective States, resident therein, who is or shall be of age of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years (except as is herein after excepted) shall severally and respectively be enrolled in the militia, by the Captain or Commanding Officer of the company, within whose bounds such citizen shall reside, and that within twelve months after the passing of this Act. And it shall at all time hereafter be the duty of every such Captain or Commanding Officer of a company, to enroll every such citizen as aforesaid, and also those who shall, from time to time, arrive at the age of 18 years, or being at the age of 18 years, and under the age of 45 years (except as before excepted) shall come to reside within his bounds; and shall without delay notify such citizen of the said enrollment, by the proper non-commissioned Officer of the company, by whom such notice may be proved. That every citizen, so enrolled and notified, shall, within six months thereafter, provide himself with a good musket or firelock, a sufficient bayonet and belt, two spare flints, and a knapsack, a pouch, with a box therein, to contain not less than twenty four cartridges, suited to the bore of his musket or firelock, each cartridge to contain a proper quantity of powder and ball; or with a good rifle, knapsack, shot-pouch, and powder-horn, twenty balls suited to the bore of his rifle, and a quarter of a pound of powder; and shall appear so armed, accoutred and provided, when called out to exercise or into service, except, that when called out on company days to exercise only, he may appear without a knapsack. That the commissioned Officers shall severally be armed with a sword or hanger, and espontoon; and that from and after five years from the passing of this Act, all muskets from arming the militia as is herein required, shall be of bores sufficient for balls of the eighteenth part of a pound; and every citizen so enrolled, and providing himself with the arms, ammunition and accoutrements, required as aforesaid, shall hold the same exempted from all suits, distresses, executions or sales, for debt or for the payment of taxes.
http://www.constitution.org/mil/mil_act_1792.htm
This clearly states, by act of Congress what is expected of all citizens(I know it says male citizens, but since then, the ladies have gotten the vote and thus are included) from 18 to 44 years old. Please note that it says you will provide your own arms, ammo, and gear, and that you must protect it from suit, taxes, and it cannot be sold. That should settle any lingering questions about the primary mission of your firearms. Ok, but how does that make me responsible to defend the constitution you ask, well here is your answer.
All citizens in the militia must swear an Oath of Enlistment, it is as follows:
“I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_enlistment
Please note that the oath swears allegiance to the Constitution before all other allegiances, that means if any of the others violate the Constitution, it is your duty to defend it, regardless of orders to do otherwise from the sources that follow your first allegiance.
Now, with that settled, in black and white for all to see, lets get back to the forest. Our forest was once filled with Liberty Trees, trees dedicated to the freedom of the Republic, yes, republic, not democracy, but I will get into that at a later point in time. These trees have been cut down, one by one, until there are very few left in the forest. Oh there are trees that say they are for liberty and justice, but most have been diseased or compromised by infestation. My point to you all is that we must preserve our forest from any and all attacks made against it, or we will be as my wood chips at the beginning of this letter, the trees will fall, the wood cut up and scattered, and the forest will disappear.
Sincerely,
A small tree in the forest that was guided by a wise giant tree.
The Constitution, The Liberty Tree, and Wood Chips.
First off, for the record, I want to state that I am not a writer, I just happen to be an observer of the incredibly obvious. The following are my observations concerning some disturbing trends I have observed.
I was out in the yard the other day, splitting wood, as is my practice when I want to think and relax. I know it does not sound relaxing to some, but in focusing on the task at hand I tend to relax and organize my thoughts. It was a warm but terribly windy day for February, with wind gusts to 60 MPH. When I was about half way through the pile that needed splitting, I made an observation that I thought rather comical at the time, there were no wood chips anywhere around my work area, normally there are plenty, ranging in size from small slivers to some as large as a paint brush. I thought that it was rather odd, since usually I use these wood chips as kindling to start my fires. After making this observation, I paid more attention as I split the rest of the pile. Where were my wood chips going? While splitting the rest of the pile, I observed the wind was catching my wood chips and whisking them off, some a few feet from me, others many yards from me, but all were scattered, and impractical to retrieve with the time I had available and the wind that was still blowing. So I left them lay, and observed many being whisked off even farther from my work area.
It occurs to me that people in this country are the same as the forests, trees, and logs that I was splitting. Many of us used to live in a forest, surrounded by many different types of trees, but all together and all of us growing and prospering in the shelter and comfort of our forest, regardless of weather or disease, we all stuck together, and did well. Now this is a great thing and not to be taken lightly, it takes about 200 years to grow a good strong tree, and we had many good strong trees in our forest, and our strong trees sheltered, protected and guided the younger trees toward the light so that they could prosper and grow strong and tall, so that one day, the younger trees could replace the older trees. Now as the younger trees grew, many of them were caught up in the worries of the day to day struggle to fight famine and disease and drought, and they had less and less time to shelter and protect the smaller trees and help them the way they had been helped by the giant old trees, and by this time, most if not all of the giant old trees were gone, so there was no one left to help the young trees, so the young trees grew, but they grew without a lot of guidance, or protection. As the trees grew and multiplied, the forest grew, and as the forest grew, it began to be noticed by many people, and there were many that worked tirelessly to exploit the forest. Now as the forest was exploited, many of the trees on the outer edges of the forest were cut down, the older ones because of their value, and the younger ones because they were in the way. But the trees in the middle of the forest did not feel threatened because it was just a few trees and they were way out on the edge of the forest, not near to the center of the forest, so what if a few trees were cut down, as long as the trees in the center were safe the forest would still survive. Now as time passed, the trees at the edges continued to be cut down, and soon the trees in the center of the forest were cut down as well. This left only the trees that had remembered the teachings of the giant old trees and had sunk their roots deep and in places difficult for the people to get to, but in the end, even these trees were cut down or were infested with disease, or famine, or drought or died of old age and thus the forest died forever.
Now you ask, what does the have to do with the title??? Well I am glad you asked.
Back when this country was founded, we were a few small trees, but the founding trees of this forest we call the UNITED States, had seen the perils of the weak forest, having been transplanted from other forests and provided direction for the younger trees that would follow in the form of The Bill Of Right, The Declaration Of Independence, The Constitution, etc.
I have seen a trend for many years, and I am sure that my father saw it as well, since he was the one to guide me and help me be the tree I am today. We have forgotten that we as supporters of the Constitution are a forest, we are many trees, and yet, among our own forest we let the young trees grow where and how they will. We disassociate ourselves from other trees in the forest because we do not agree with the kind of tree they are. A prime example is the varying divisions among supporters of the second amendment to the Constitution. If you ask a big game hunter if he supports the 2nd amendment he will tell you absolutely, and if you ask a target shooter, if he does, he will say the same, and if you ask a varmint hunter, or a shooting competitor, the response will all be to the affirmative, and yet if you peruse the litany of websites concerning hunting, shooting or the second amendment you will find folks openly and heatedly disagreeing with each other, over how to go about this or that, or the differences between them, or how much better one group is than the other. These debates and insults are carried on in the open for all to see, both friend and foe alike. These open arguments and name calling only serve to cause division in the forest, causing trees at the edges of the forest to be lost and cut up and blown away as wood chips or used to start fires to consume more trees. I submit this is the best way to loose the forest quickly. I submit that any form of violation to the Constitution(Our guidance from the founding trees) , any part of it, from the beginning to the end, be met with UNITED resistance, as in UNITED States, Notice I capitalized the word UNITED, that is on purpose, that is the focus we need to remember. While we may not agree with someone on a personal level about their particular cause, if they are defending the Constitution, they should be our ally.
Any violation of the Constitution, is a chipping away at the forest, a small violation only affects a few trees at the edge of the forest, but it is an attack on the forest as a whole folks. There is an old saying folks that you should know, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer” and more importantly, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
I am going to settle this debate for all of you here and now. How is that possible you ask?
I want to clarify something for all of you, You are ALL, each and everyone, by act of congress, responsible to defend the Constitution. You are all, each and everyone of you, by act of Congress, in a militia.
Debate settled!!!! Ohhh, you want proof, ok here you go.
Per the Militia Act of 1792 all male citizens between the ages of 18 and 44 are members of the militia and must provide at their own cost, arms, ammo, and gear.
The Militia Act of 1792, Passed May 8, 1792, providing federal standards for the organization of the Militia.
An ACT more effectually to provide for the National Defence, by establishing an Uniform Militia throughout the United States.
I. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That each and every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective States, resident therein, who is or shall be of age of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years (except as is herein after excepted) shall severally and respectively be enrolled in the militia, by the Captain or Commanding Officer of the company, within whose bounds such citizen shall reside, and that within twelve months after the passing of this Act. And it shall at all time hereafter be the duty of every such Captain or Commanding Officer of a company, to enroll every such citizen as aforesaid, and also those who shall, from time to time, arrive at the age of 18 years, or being at the age of 18 years, and under the age of 45 years (except as before excepted) shall come to reside within his bounds; and shall without delay notify such citizen of the said enrollment, by the proper non-commissioned Officer of the company, by whom such notice may be proved. That every citizen, so enrolled and notified, shall, within six months thereafter, provide himself with a good musket or firelock, a sufficient bayonet and belt, two spare flints, and a knapsack, a pouch, with a box therein, to contain not less than twenty four cartridges, suited to the bore of his musket or firelock, each cartridge to contain a proper quantity of powder and ball; or with a good rifle, knapsack, shot-pouch, and powder-horn, twenty balls suited to the bore of his rifle, and a quarter of a pound of powder; and shall appear so armed, accoutred and provided, when called out to exercise or into service, except, that when called out on company days to exercise only, he may appear without a knapsack. That the commissioned Officers shall severally be armed with a sword or hanger, and espontoon; and that from and after five years from the passing of this Act, all muskets from arming the militia as is herein required, shall be of bores sufficient for balls of the eighteenth part of a pound; and every citizen so enrolled, and providing himself with the arms, ammunition and accoutrements, required as aforesaid, shall hold the same exempted from all suits, distresses, executions or sales, for debt or for the payment of taxes.
http://www.constitution.org/mil/mil_act_1792.htm
This clearly states, by act of Congress what is expected of all citizens(I know it says male citizens, but since then, the ladies have gotten the vote and thus are included) from 18 to 44 years old. Please note that it says you will provide your own arms, ammo, and gear, and that you must protect it from suit, taxes, and it cannot be sold. That should settle any lingering questions about the primary mission of your firearms. Ok, but how does that make me responsible to defend the constitution you ask, well here is your answer.
All citizens in the militia must swear an Oath of Enlistment, it is as follows:
“I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_enlistment
Please note that the oath swears allegiance to the Constitution before all other allegiances, that means if any of the others violate the Constitution, it is your duty to defend it, regardless of orders to do otherwise from the sources that follow your first allegiance.
Now, with that settled, in black and white for all to see, lets get back to the forest. Our forest was once filled with Liberty Trees, trees dedicated to the freedom of the Republic, yes, republic, not democracy, but I will get into that at a later point in time. These trees have been cut down, one by one, until there are very few left in the forest. Oh there are trees that say they are for liberty and justice, but most have been diseased or compromised by infestation. My point to you all is that we must preserve our forest from any and all attacks made against it, or we will be as my wood chips at the beginning of this letter, the trees will fall, the wood cut up and scattered, and the forest will disappear.
Sincerely,
A small tree in the forest that was guided by a wise giant tree.
