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Category — Liberty 101

A Warning to the Patriot Movement

A Warning to the Patriot Movement—Seven Guidelines
1. We must not be married to any political party.
2. We must not advocate violence.
3. We must not dismiss the possibility of violent defense of liberty.
4. We must befriend all who will listen, and form coalitions around the Constitution.
5. We must befriend the military and law enforcement.
6. We must embark on a 20 year mission to educate the young.
7. We must gain the imagination of 15-25 year olds.

March 3, 2010   3 Comments

Cap and Trade–Not just Tax, but Liberty Issues

I saw the article below this week. Your house is going to be inspected by agents of the federal government under “Cap and Trade.” It does not appear the Congress is listening to any Constitutional ideas. The Bailout, the Stimulus, Hate Crimes, Cap and Trade and the up coming Copenhagen Treaty are all violating our compact. Take note of those Reps and Senators who vote against liberty and throw them out. j.beller

(Go to http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-2454 and look at sections 204 and 304)
the article
Cap and Trade: A License Required for your Home
Frank M. Carrio, CMI
ESOP Committee Member

Thursday, Nov 19th, 2009
We encourage you to read the provisions of the Cap and Trade Bill that has passed the House of Representatives and being considered by the Senate. We are ready to join the next march on Washington!
This Congress and whoever on their staffs that write this junk are truly out to destroy the middle class of the USA….
A License Required for your house
Thinking about selling your house – A look at H.R. 2454 (Cap and trade bill) This is unbelievable!

Only the beginning from this administration! Home owners take note & tell your friends and relatives who are home owners!
Beginning 1 year after enactment of the Cap and Trade Act, you won’t be able to sell your home unless you retrofit it to comply with the energy and water efficiency standards of this Act. H.R. 2454, the “Cap & Trade” bill passed by the House of Representatives, if also passed by the Senate, will be the largest tax increase any of us has ever experienced.
The Congressional Budget Office (supposedly non-partisan) estimates that in just a few years the average cost to every family of four will be $6,800 per year.
No one is excluded.
However, once the lower classes feel the pinch in their wallets, you can be sure these voters get a tax refund (even if they pay no taxes at all) to offset this new cost. Thus, you Mr. and Mrs. Middle Class America will have to pay even more since additional tax dollars will be needed to bail out everyone else.
But wait. This awful bill (that no one in Congress has actually read) has many more surprises in it. Probably the worst one is this:
A year from now you won’t be able to sell your house. Yes, you read that right.
The caveat is (there always is a caveat) that if you have enough money to make required major upgrades to your home, then you can sell it. But, if not, then forget it. Even pre-fabricated homes (”mobile homes”) are included.
In effect, this bill prevents you from selling your home without the permission of the EPA administrator.
To get this permission, you will have to have the energy efficiency of your home measured.
Then the government will tell you what your new energy efficiency requirement is and you will be forced to make modifications to your home under the retrofit provisions of this Act to comply with the new energy and water efficiency requirements.
Then you will have to get your home measured again and get a license (called a “label” in the Act) that must be posted on your property to show what your efficiency rating is; sort of like the Energy Star efficiency rating label on your refrigerator or air conditioner.
If you don’t get a high enough rating, you can’t sell. And, the EPA administrator is authorized to raise the standards every year, even above the automatic energy efficiency increases built into the Act.
The EPA administrator, appointed by the President, will run the Cap & Trade program (AKA the “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009″) and is authorized to make any future changes to the regulations and standards he alone determines to be in the government’s best interest. Requirements are set low initial y so the bill will pass Congress; then the Administrator can set much tougher new standards every year.
The Act itself contains annual required increases in energy efficiency for private and commercial residences and buildings.
However, the EPA administrator can set higher standards at any time.
Sect. 202:
Building Retrofit Program mandates a national retrofit program to increase the energy efficiency of all existing homes across America .
Beginning 1 year after enactment of the Act, you won’t be able to sell your home unless you retrofit it to comply with the energy and water efficiency standards of this Act.
You had better sell soon, because the standards will be raised each year and will be really hard (i.e., ex$pen$ive) to meet in a few years. Oh, goody! The Act allows the government to give you a grant of several thousand dollars to comply with the retrofit program requirements if you meet certain energy efficiency levels. But, wait, the State can set additional requirements on who qualifies to receive the grants.
You should expect requirements such as “can’t have an income of more than $50K per year”, “home selling price can’t be more than $125K”, or anything else to target the upper middle class (and that’s YOU) and prevent them from qualifying for the grants.
Most of us won’t get a dime and will have to pay the entire cost of the retrofit out of our own pockets. More transfer of wealth, more “change you can believe in.”
Sect. 204:
Building Energy Performance Labeling Program establishes a labeling program that for each individual residence will identify the achieved energy efficiency performance for “at least 90 percent of the residential market within 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.”
This means that within 5 years 90% of all residential homes in the U.S. must be measured and labeled. The EPA administrator will get $50M each year to enforce the labeling program. The Secretary of the Department of Energy will get an additional $20M each year to help enforce the labeling program. Some of this money will, of course, be spent on coming up with tougher standards each year.
Oh, the label will be like a license for your car. You will be required to post the label in a conspicuous location in your home and will not be allowed to sell your home without having this label.
And, just like your car license, you will probably be required to get a new label every so often – maybe every year.
But, the government estimates the cost of measuring the energy efficiency of your home should only cost about $200 each time.
Remember what they said about the auto smog inspections when they first started: that in California it would only cost $15. That was when the program started. Now the cost is about $50 for the inspection and certificate; a 333% increase. Expect the same from the home labeling program.
Sect. 304:
Greater Energy Efficiency in Building Codes establishes new energy efficiency guidelines for the National Building Code and mandates at 304(d), Application of National Code to State and Local Jurisdictions, that 1 year after enactment of this Act, all state and local jurisdictions must adopt the National Building Code energy efficiency provisions or must obtain a certification from the federal government that their state and/or local codes have been brought into full compliance with the National Building Code energy efficiency standards.

February 7, 2010   Comments Off

The Foundations of American Government Part 3–The Source of American Law: The Second Table

You ever wonder why the right wing keeps losing the argument over the Ten Commandments?

The struggle for liberty in America was first a struggle for the rights of conscience, it was a battle over what was known as the “First and Second Table of the Law.”

In the early 1630’s Roger Williams, the minister of the Gospel at the First Congregational Church in Boston, Massachusetts was fired from his position and banished from Massachusetts Bay. His crime? Williams held “various diverse and dangerous OPINIONS.” Williams escaped to Rhode Island where he and the dissenter Baptist physician and pastor, John Clarke, founded the first government in the world that guaranteed the liberty of conscience. No laws were allowed to punish thought, opinion or belief.
Williams, in his dispute with the Puritans argued correctly that civil authority had no right to criminalize the conscience. His argument is made crystal clear by understanding the early colonial view of the Ten Commandments.

In discussing civil law, the early Puritans and Separatists divided the Ten Commandments into two tables. The “First Table,” (the first five commandments) had to do with man’s relationship with God. The “Second Table” (the remaining five commandments) governed man’s relationship with his fellow man. The Puritans and the established denominational church of the day maintained that both First and Second Tables were to govern society and be enforced by civil government.

The dissenters argued correctly that if forced to worship according to the principles of the established church, they would be made to violate their own consciences. The little known facts are that Baptists, Quakers and other dissenters were duty bound to disobey laws that violated their consciences and were made to suffer the consequences. Roger Williams was the first American to tell a tyrannical government (in this case, the Massachusetts church-state government) that to thrust the “First Table” upon all of civil society was fundamentally wrong. The true meaning of “Separation of Church and State” is made clear by understanding the “First and Second Table” controversy.

All of this means that it is incorrect to say that America’s laws are based upon the Ten Commandments. This is only half correct. America’s laws are based upon only the “Second Table of the Law,” the part that deals with man’s relationship with man. The “Second Table” is all about life, liberty and property. The founders and framers were very keen on life, liberty and property. We should be, too.

We all better take a second look at the “Second Table.” We need an understanding of this before “Hate Crimes” take us into tyranny. Our cry should be: “Hands off our Consciences, and Protect our Lives, Liberty and Property.”

September 16, 2009   1 Comment

Government is a Beast

The book of Daniel becomes a point of discussion from time to time in these troubled days of looming world government. Twice in Daniel’s book, human government is discussed. On both of these occasions the human governments mentioned are the future powers that will dominate the world.
In Daniel 7 a vision of four beasts, rising up from the sea is described. It is obvious that these four beasts are symbolic of humanly created civil governments. With this ancient depiction of human government in our grasp we can easily see the opinion of the ancients: Human government is a beast. Can there be any doubt of this description? In fact, the coming world government depicted in the Bible is “The Beast.” The coming world dictator is “The Beast.”

What is the meaning of this? Put simply, government is a beast that eats whatever and whomever is in its path. Government is meant to be a beast. It needs to be a beast to do its job. And what is the job of government?

The founders and framers had a definite assignment for the government. The function of government is to protect the life, liberty and property of its citizens. That is the sum of it. Since this is the only function of government, the force of a beast is needed.

This self-evident truth calls for proper principles immediately. As Thomas Jefferson said that government should be “chained down with the chains of the Constitution.” My fellow citizens, the beast is necessary, but it must not be allowed to run loose, it must only be permitted fulfill its only function.
In thinking this through we find our present situation strange. Instead of making us submit to endless permits from the beast, the beast should be issued permits from us. We are not to arbitrarily submit to it, it must submit to us. The beast must be chained. Any loosing of the chain will allow the beast to grow, multiply and eat the very citizens it was designed to protect.

So let us chain the beast, let us not over feed it, let us not trust it, let us not turn our backs on it. We dare not give the beast anymore responsibility that its original purpose, for if we let it loose of its chain, it will eat every last one of us. If the beast begins to eat the very people it was designed to protect, it is to be destroyed. Period. No hesitation. It is just too dangerous to do otherwise.
James Beller

August 25, 2009   1 Comment

The Foundations of American Government Part 2 Compact Government

Part 2 Compact Government: Rejecting Kingcraft and Priestcraft
We should re-declare our allegiance to a compact form of government. This is not difficult to understand and is best explained by demonstrating the difference between covenant and compact.

Generally, a covenant is an agreement between man and God. God makes His promises, challenges men to live certain standards, and then promises His blessings on that man that keeps the covenant. It is an agreement between men and their God. [Read more →]

August 6, 2009   2 Comments

The Foundations of American Government Part 1 Romans 13 revisited

The Foundations of American Government
Part 1: Human Government a Responsibility of Man

The first mention of human government in the history of the world is found in Genesis 9:5-6. God instructs the survivors of the flood to take responsibility and protect the lives of their fellow citizens. God gives the responsibility of punishment of evil-doers to men. This first mention carries with it two principles: 1. The law is not made for the righteous but for the disobedient and 2. Human government is the responsibility of men. That is to say, men create their own government. They are required by their creator to create such government. [Read more →]

July 31, 2009   2 Comments

Another Sneek Preview from History of American Liberty: Mary Dyer

Mary Dyer: Martyr for religous liberty.
Mary Dyer sacrificed her life for individual soul liberty, the right to worship God according to the dictates of her conscience.

July 28, 2009   1 Comment

John Leland’s 8 Principles of Republican Government

John Leland was a Baptist pastor in Massachusetts and Virginia in the 1700’s. He was a personal friend of James Madison and influential in the founders from Virgina, such as Thomas Jefferson. He was an important figure in the struggle for religious liberty in the United States. Leland vigorously fought for individual Soul Liberty, which is the freedom to worship God according to the dictates of one’s conscience. Regarding this topic he said,

“Every man must give account of himself to God, and therefore every man ought to be at liberty to serve God in a way that he can best reconcile to his conscience. If government can answer for individuals at the day of judgment, let men be controlled by it in religious matters; otherwise, let men be free.”

Leland’s eight principles of republican government are starting to show up here and there on the web. How great is this?! These principles are very relevant today, and are essential for understanding our form of government:

1. That the law was not made for a righteous man, but for the disobedient.
2. That Righteous men have to part with a little of their liberty and property to preserve the rest.
3. That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from the people.
4. That the law should rule over rulers, and not rulers over the law.
5. That government is founded on compact.
6. That every law made by legislators, inconsistent with the compact, modernly called a constitution, is usurping in the legislators, and not binding on the people.
7. That whenever government is found inadequate to preserve the liberty and property of the people, they have an indubitable right to alter it so as to answer those purposes.
8. That legislators, in their legislative capacity, cannot alter the constitution, for they are the hired servants of the people to act within the limits of the constitution. –James Beller

July 25, 2009   1 Comment

Chain the Beast Webcast and the Penny Patriot Circular

For a revival of American liberty to take place, a massive education campaign must be launched. This web site, the coming webcasts, and the Penny Patriot Circular is our way of getting information out quickly and cheaply. Click on the links in this introductory post to see how you can help turn hearts and minds in our distracted political climate.

You can stream the Chain the Beast webcast every Sunday evening beginning in September, and download the Penny Patriot for distribution.

July 16, 2009   Comments Off