* Forwarded (from: INETMAIL) by Terry Liberty-Parker using timEd 1.10+.
* Originally from LMisko@aol.com (1:382/87) to terry liberty-parker 
(1:382/804).
* Original dated: Sun Jul 06, 00:37
From: LMisko@aol.com
Dan, Dick, et al,
I don't know the originator of this e-mail "Tomato JAM @ aol.com" but when I
checked his AOL profile is was very confusing to say the least but he did
mention that his Political Party was Libertarian.
Anyway, this editorial by Vin is pretty good and worth passing on.  I have
seen some of this Vin's Las Vegas editorials before and he is usually right
on the mark.
Enjoy.
Louis
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Forwarded message:
Subj:    Happy July 5th
Date:    97-07-05 12:33:39 EDT
From:    Tomato JAM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED JULY 3, 1997
    THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz
    Most Americans should be ashamed to celebrate the Fourth
    What an inconvenient holiday the Fourth of July has become.
  Oh, so long as we stick to grilling hot dogs and hamburgs, hauling the
kids to the lake or the mountains, and winding up the day watching the
fireworks as the Boston Pops plays the 1812 -- written by a subject of the
czar to celebrate the defeat of our vital ally the French -- we can usually
manage to convince ourselves we still honor the same values that made July
4, 1776, a date which rings in history.
  Great Britain taxed the colonists at far lower rates than Americans
tolerate today -- and never dreamed of granting government agents the power
to search our private bank records to locate "unreported income." Nor did
the king's ministers ever attempt to stack our juries by disqualifying any
juror who refused to swear in advance to "leave your conscience outside and
enforce the law as the judge explains it to you."
  The king's ministers insisted the colonists were represented by Members
of Parliament who had never set foot on these shores. Today, of course, our
interests are "represented" by one of two millionaire lawyers -- both
members of the incumbent Republicrat Party -- among whom we were privileged
to "choose" last election day, men who for the most part have lived in
mansions and sent their kids to private schools in the wealthy suburbs of
the imperial capital, for decades.
  Yet the colonists did rebel. It's hard to imagine, today, the faith and
courage of a few hundred frozen musketmen, setting off across the darkened
Delaware, gambling their lives and farms on the chance they could engage
and defeat the greatest land army in the history of the known world, armed
with only two palpable assets: one irreplaceable man to lead them, and some
flimsy newspaper reprints of a parchment declaring: "We hold these Truths
to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed
by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness -- That to secure these Rights,
Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just Powers from the
Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes
destructive to these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or
abolish it. ..."
  Do we believe that, still?
  Recently, President Clinton's then-Drug Czar, Lee Brown, told me the role
of government is to protect the people from dangers, such as drugs. I
corrected him, saying, "No, the role of government is to protect our
liberties."
  "We'll just have to disagree on that," the president's appointee said.
  The War for American Independence began over unregistered, untaxed guns,
when British forces attempted to seize arsenals of rifles, powder and ball
from the hands of ill-organized Patriot militias in Lexington and Concord.
American civilians shot and killed scores of these government agents as
they marched back to Boston. Are those Minutemen still our heroes? Or do we
now consider them "dangerous terrorists" and "depraved government-haters"?
  In "The Federalist" No. 46, James Madison told us we need have no fear of
any federal tyranny ever taking away our rights, arguing that under his
proposed Constitution "the ultimate authority ... resides in the people
alone," and predicting that any usurpation of powers not specifically
delegated would lead to "plans of resistance" and "appeal to a trial of
force."
  Another prominent federalist, Noah Webster, wrote in 1787: "Before a
standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost
every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust
laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and
constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on
any pretence, raised in the United States."
  Is this still true today? Or are those who arm themselves and make
contingency "plans of resistance" against government usurpations instead
branded "conspirators" and "terrorists," and ridiculously associated with
Timothy McVeigh (who was kicked out of the only militia meeting he is ever
known to have attended -- in Michigan -- and whose actions surely reflect
more directly on the screening process of the outfit that gave him his
training in munitions -- the United States Army.)
  In Phoenix last week, an air conditioner repairman and former Military
Policeman named Chuck Knight was convicted by jurors -- some tearful -- who
said they "had no choice" under the judge's instructions, on a single
federal "conspiracy" count of associating with others who owned automatic
rifles on which they had failed to pay a $200 "transfer tax" -- after a
trial in which defense attorney Ivan Abrams says he was forbidden to bring
up the Second Amendment as a defense.
  Were the Viper Militia readying "plans of resistance," as recommended by
Mr. Madison? Would the Constitution ever have been ratified, had Mr.
Madison and his fellow federalists warned the citizens that such
non-violent preparations would get their weapons seized, and land them in
jail for decades?
  Happy Fourth of July.
Vin Suprynowicz is the assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas
Review-Journal. Readers may contact him via e-mail at vin@lvrj.com. The web
site for the Suprynowicz column is at http://www.nguworld.com/vindex/.
***
Vin Suprynowicz,   vin@lvrj.com
Voir Dire: A French term which means "jury stacking."
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