Consider his is an Open Letter to all members of the Military and Federal Law Enforcement at every level.
What we are seeing is blatant tyranny by the Federal Government over The People. One National Park Service Officer said that he found the orders to be “Disgusting”. I agree. But I also found it to be even more disgusting that while this man knew what he was doing was wrong, that his orders were wrong, that he carried them out regardless. That is disgusting. Shameful.
You are serving as the tools of Tyranny. Never before has our nations very symbols of freedom been closed to the public. Never before has the government sought to hurt the American People so directly. The Lincoln Memorial is but a symbol. So is our Nation’s Flag. The Flag sewn to the shoulders of your uniforms, the flag that you salute, and the flat that you pledged your allegiance to… What does it mean to you? Anything at all anymore? Or is it just a source of your Pay Check while you say to yourself, “better them than I”?
Throw down the Barricades at the National Monuments. Refuse to follow these outrageous orders. Let The People enter the Capitol and let their grievances be heard.
Remember your Oaths.
Open the Barricades.
When you say “Remember your oaths” every member of the military swears to an oath that contains the lines of “I will obey the orders of officers appointed over me & the President of the United States” which means that an individual will be in violation of the UCMJ *unless* there are circumstances where a level of safety or unneeded loss of life could result. Orders can be carried out in protest, but to ignore orders out of idealism doesn’t follow good order & military discipline.
It’s not just about a paycheck, it’s about honoring the oaths that were taken by every member of the military.
You can refuse illegal or immoral Orders. Orders counter to the Constitution are illegal.
As the Ogre notes, any order that is unconstitional is an illegal order, and no one is obligated to follow it.
There’s no “level of safety” or “loss of life” test for that. If it violates the Constitution in any way whatsoever, from serious to trivial, then it is an illegal order. The individual giving it should be promptly arrested.
Should be arrested immediately.
To be clear, that oath is only for enlisted persons. Officers take a different oath:
http://www.army.mil/values/officers.html
“I, _____, having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ 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; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God.” (DA Form 71, 1 August 1959, for officers.)”
What was that bit about “preserve, protect, and defend the constitution…”?
If the orders coming from on high are not constitutional, then they are not legal; illegal orders can be disregarded.
Wait… I thought you said that the shutdown was a good thing.
This is what a closed government looks like. Get used to it, you got what you wanted.
I said everything closed should be examined to see if they should be privatized or given back to the States.
Actually, no – in a real shut-down, the parks and monuments would still be open, because no one would have closed them. It took time and money to erect barricades.
… and the Feds have told private companies that run parks without fed funding to close. In fact they have to buy the barricades from the Fed. Arizona offered to pay to keep Grand Canyon open and Feds said no. So someone wants this to occur.
So, when some freedom-loving patriot crawls up into Lincoln’s lap (Don’t say it won’t happen. I’d do it), falls and cracks his skull on that highly-polished, publicly-owned, marble floor – and sues because it wasn’t properly supervised – what freedom-loving entity will step up to make restitution?
Don’t say it. You know that would happen.
I “know” that would happen? How do I know that, precisely?
It didn’t happen the last time there was a shutdown. Even Clinton was not this petty and spiteful. Somehow, America survived the parks being open without supervision…
Even though the most common offense at the Lincoln Memorial, according to the Park Service, is “… young, usually male, people trying to climb into Mr. Lincoln’s lap”. And that’s when it’s supervised.
I reiterate my original point: Fund the damned government and quit playing games.
Again, who cracked their skull? You’re making claims which are directly refuted by the actual evidence. At the last shutdown, the memorials were open, and no one cracked their skull.
If they want to fund those parts of the government that are explicitly listed in the Constitution, so be it. But that would mean cutting it back further than it currently is. Toss the fascists out of the White House, the Senate, and the House, and then we might be able to make progress. As long as the country is being run by fascists, there will be nothing /but/ games, because fascism is bereft of rational thought.
Congress just voted to pay back pay to all non-essential federal workers for not working. So in essence, it’s a paid vacation on an interest free credit card. Nothing changes in this town and never will.
Don’t cry to me about these are real families we are talking about… if you can’t go 3 weeks without a paycheck, you need to take a serious look at your priorities or sell some stuff.
And if you’re a furloughed federal worker, let this be a lesson to you. You don’t have a real job or any security. Get out now and find a different line of work. Because this is just a glimpse. The real day of reckoning is still coming.
Over 80% of the “furloughed” workers are and have been still working and the Pentagon has ordered ALL its folks back to work furlough or no. There never was a shutdown, just Commie Theater by the head terrorist. Remind me again how many non-tried, non arrested American citizens he has ordered killed? Do you REALLY think it will hesitate when it comes time to leave office with 4 billion rounds of ammo in his hands and the private Homeland security army he has built who owes its allegiance only to him?
Oh, it’s intended to be kabuki theater, but the plan seems to have gone awry. It’s all cover for Obama to do his ‘Grand Bargain’ where he guts social security and medicare like he’s wanted to do for years. The problem for him now is that the other half of the plot, Boehner, seems to have lost control of the uber crazies in his party and they’re proceeding to smear shit over everything and appear willing to risk the global economy to get their way.
Wall Street is now stepping in to get everyone back in line by remining them who signs the big paychecks. As much as they’d like to see the last of the New Deal programs shredded they aren’t willing to risk stock prices and the economy for it.
Wallstreet stepping in?
Wallstreet is not an Entity. Private business need to be able to run their own businesses. Government is a millstone around everyone’s neck, and you are saying it’s comfortable. You are reading the wrong blog.
Cliff, so you want us to grow up, put the car back in gear, and drive over the cliff, so to speak?
Pulling the emergency brake when we saw the edge was playing games, was it?
Let me ask you Friend: how did your last two Great Society programs work out for America?
He did choose a good name, did he not?
This is actually one of the best things to happen to America in a while. Don’t discourage it, don’t try to stop it.
Every moment of the idiocy by the leftists in this is a nail in the coffin against them in the next elections for Congress and the Presidency.
Every moment of idiocy makes Americans mad as hell against the Obama administration.
Every day of the shutdown gets people pissed off…and not at the Republicans like the leftists hoped it would
This has well and truly backfired on them. The shutdown and it coinciding with the implementation of Obamacare is doing some serious damage to the commies.
So let them continue to play their idiot games. It’s hurting them the most. Thank the NPS for doubling down on the stupid, it’s doing wonders.