The Double Edged Sword
by Tim Case
twcase@earthlink.net
“In any struggle, it is essential to know two things: what you are fighting for and what you are fighting against. If knowledge of the former is absent, the will to win will be lacking. If knowledge of the latter is absent, confusion and uncertainty will result.”
-- Author Unknown
KeepAndBearArms.com
-- By all accounts July 4, 1776 was a cool, clear, bright day. A loose confederacy of men having been delegated by each of the 13 colonies, assembled in Philadelphia for the drafting and signing of a document that was to be called the
“Declaration of Independence.” It was obvious to every man there, that the colonies must have their independence from the cruelty, oppression, and taxation of King George and his lap dogs in the English Parliament. Every man assembled in Philadelphia knew that the discontent within the colonies was growing. Each also was aware that separation from English tyranny was supported by less than one third of the citizens in their respective colonies. Each understood that they did not represent a government with any international standing and could not count on help from the international community. Even their neighbor to the north was likely to become a dangerous enemy since they were loyal to the English King. They had no standing army to call upon, nor could they be sure the colonies would support their declarations in the event of war. They did not have the industrial means of arming or supporting an army even if they could raise one. There was not even the money needed to pay the wages of a fighting force. They were faced with defying a government that was feared from the continent of Europe to Asia. The English navy had destroyed the navies of every foe they had faced in the last hundred years and could support the established English army already in the colonies.
The delegates to the Continental Congress were not in total agreement with each
other; their divisions and disagreements laid along cultural, religious and traditional lines, as did the disagreements among their respective colonies. Each representative’s signature on the Declaration of Independence did not bind a colony to support it; rather the signatures proved only the Declaration of Independence’s authenticity. Yet, in the end
fifty-four men (two delegates signed at a later date) moved forward and in turn, signed their name to a document, which declared their independence from and contained a litany of grievances against their government and king. This simple act of signing their names labeled each in turn as “terrorist,” “traitor,” “subversive,” “rabble-rouser,” “criminal,” and “malefactor.” The consequences of this act would include hanging, the deaths of many of their wives and children, imprisonment, and loss of personal wealth and properties. Few, of the original signers of this “Declaration of Independence” would ever reap the rewards of freedom.
What would cause men to sign a document of such magnitude as the Declaration of Independence without trepidation? Especially when they were faced with such overwhelming force, the probability of death, and if they should live, the probable loss of everything they had worked for. What would elicit such bravery on the part of these few men and their supporters? I have read the works of many scholars and learned authors on these 56 men and their desire to be free from the chains of England. Although each taught me something new I was always left unsatisfied concerning the basic question. As diverse as each of the colonies and their inhabitants were from each other culturally, religiously, and
traditionally, what was it that bound them to each other for better or worse in their struggle to be free? For years I had thought these questions would elude me until another reading of the Declaration of Independence suddenly showed the simple binding force that drew these, as with other men and women throughout history, to risk everything to free themselves from tyranny. Obscured by the eloquence of the Declaration of Independence’s text, the first sentence contains a word that most learned in grade school. That word is “NECESSARY”!! A simple word that conveys that it cannot be otherwise, it MUST BE THIS WAY, it is
INDISPENSABLE!!! As air is absolutely essential to continued life, freedom is just as essential to
mankind; it was designed this way and it MUST be this way. As food is indispensable to health and nourishment of the body, freedom is just as indispensable to the health of
mankind; it was designed this way and it MUST be this way. So important was the need for these men to be free from the chains that were slowly drawing them into slavery, that they set aside their differences and bound themselves to each other for the sole and singular purpose of being free; IT WAS DESIGNED THAT WAY AND IT MUST BE THAT WAY!! Every idiosyncrasy that might cause conflict between these men paled in comparison to the indispensable, essential, and required FREEDOM. It was, to those who sought it in 1776, as water is to one dying of thirst, absolutely, without question, NECESSARY and the ONLY alternative was death!
It is perhaps ironic that there is another side to the word “necessary,” and it strikes fear in the hearts of the tyrants and despotic socialists such as we face today. This form of “necessary” has its foundation in common law that predates the
Magna Carta and is known in legal circles as the rule of “necessity”. “Necessity” is legally defined as:
a. The presence or pressure of circumstances that justify or compel a certain course of action; esp. A need to respond or react to a dangerous situation by committing a criminal act.
b. An affirmative defense originating in common law that the defendant had to commit a criminal act because of the pressure of a situation that threatened a harm greater than that resulting from the act.
This rule of “necessity” in certain circumstances, in fact, allows one to do that which would normally be against the law. The law says, “you shall not take the life of another human being” but if you are being attacked and are in danger of losing your life
you can under this rule “kill
another human being.” You have the absolute right of self-defense, and if your
safety "necessitates" the use of lethal force that results in the
killing of your attacker, common law and the Constitution provide for such
killing. This rule has its foundation in what a reasonable person would do. Would it be reasonable for you to take a life to protect yourself, your family, etc…?
This rule of “necessity” is the “Sword Of Damocles” that hangs over the head of all would-be tyrants.
Think for moment: Do would-be rapists, thieves and murderers fear the
combination of an armed citizen with the rule of law that provides for use of
lethal force? Isn’t this basic simple law what King George and all of England feared and why they labeled our Founding Fathers traitors, terrorists, etc…? Is it any wonder that our own government labels us as “subversive” or “dangerous” and our desire to be free as the “great right wing conspiracy?” Do you see why we are so hated by members of the United Nations, and why Handgun Control, Inc. and that group of dupes went slithering to the U.N. for more support? As long as we are armed and have this rule of law we are a power to be reckoned with by all criminals regardless of their title and station in life. Tyrants hate this rule, but it was given to us as another way to clearly define our enemies and preserve our freedom.
This is precisely what we are fighting for when we say we have the right to own firearms of any type and variety we deem appropriate! Not so we can slaughter without reason, but for the basic right of protection from criminal predators which the government cannot and will not ever give. Isn’t this precisely why
women have been arming themselves in larger numbers than ever before? Isn’t this exactly what our forefathers did when they rebelled against King George and that dog pound in Parliament? Wasn’t it reasonable for them to break the English law because it was necessary to save their own lives and the lives of their countrymen? Wasn’t the breaking of the law well justified because “the pressure of the situation threatened a harm greater than that resulting from the act” of treason to the English court? The king thought it wasn’t, but then tyrants never do. Nor will they in this day and age, but they still FEAR it. Can you comprehend the fear this sword of “necessity” creates among those who wish us disarmed and impotent? Do you understand what this one law allows when applied properly and why the socialists are so desperate to disarm us? Is this enough to make you join the fight?
We have here before us a single grade school word that also joins the classic struggle between a people who long to be free and those supporting the beast of tyranny which would enslave them. Consider the importance of the word “necessary” to the two-headed beast we face today. Didn’t the socialists tell us it was “necessary” to enact the Endangered Species Act of 1973? Isn’t this the same act that is now being used to justify the theft our land by our own government and the U.N.? Wasn’t it the socialists’ agenda that proclaimed it was “necessary” to have a war on drugs? Haven’t the subsequent laws for fighting the drug war been expanded so much so that they are now stealing our personal property and invading our homes using spurious excuses? Wasn’t “necessary” the excuse used by the socialists in Congress to increase taxes on the working people of this country to an extent greater than that paid by English serfs during the dark ages? They paid 33% of their income in taxes. Do you enjoy paying 27% more in all taxes than those poor uneducated serfs? Who but lying socialists claim it is “necessary” to have a Social Security program and then rob those paying into it, all the while lying because it is “necessary” to cover their thievery? Isn’t the word “necessary,” coupled with “protecting the
children,” the battle cry of those would-be tyrants who enact a myriad of laws limiting which firearms we own, how much ammunition they can carry, where they can be taken, who can own them, how they can be carried, where they can be fired, the size of their bore, how rapidly they can fire and what they can look like? Who will argue that “necessary” is the excuse used to pass thousands of laws, all of which have eroded and in some instances completely destroyed our freedom!? Think, dear reader, of what you have already lost and what you may yet lose if we continue to nod in the affirmative to the tyrant’s cries of this or that, that is “necessary”. Won’t the excuse be that it is “necessary” when the government invokes the 1933 Emergency and War Powers Act declaring martial law and we all lose every freedom guaranteed by the Bill of Rights?!! Will you open your eyes then, and if you do what will you say? It doesn’t make any difference whether this cry of “necessary” comes from the dupes called Republicans, or the sniveling, socialist simpletons called Democrats or even the grand master of liars, the U.N.!! Ask yourself: does this “necessity” increase or decrease my freedoms? At the very worst you will go into slavery with your eyes wide open!!
Yes, the word “necessary” is as much the lifeblood of tyrants as it is to those wanting to be free. It is the life force that supercedes petty differences, loss of family or property and death. “Necessity” is the bonding agent that welcomes all men and women, regardless of race, color, or creed, into the fight for a common cause, FREEDOM. To the tyrant and his ilk “necessary” is nothing more than the lie that hopefully covers the truth until the evil desires of the beast can be perpetrated on the masses, all the while rendering them stupid and impotent.
Whether we wish to attribute the use of the word “necessary” in the opening sentence of the Declaration of Independence to the hand of God or to the genius of Thomas Jefferson and Samuel Adams, its co-authors, we are still faced with this stark reality. No other word in the English language could possibly and so simply embody the entire text of the Declaration of Independence and at the same time bond together so strongly those who wished to be free. We have before us in ONE commonly used word, the excuse of tyrants, the “cause” for the rebellion of our forefathers, and the legal justification for their actions. WHAT GENIUS!!!
“WHEN in the Course of human Events it becomes NECESSARY for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth the separate & equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the
Separation…” [emphasis mine]
So begins the finest document given man since the Magna Carta. The wisdom of the ages has been handed to us in a document of life. Each one of us has inherited the blessing of our forefathers, for they have set in writing the armor of freedom (unity), the sword of freedom (Common law), and the methodology of tyranny (lies).
What are you willing to give up to be free? Are your comforts, your families, your riches, and your life of such importance that freedom becomes secondary? Will you accept the bond that binds free peoples together and set aside issues that could be resolved later to fight for the freedom of all? These are questions each must answer personally. Until then I speak for all of us who are in the
fight: we will continue our fight and we will welcome you with open arms.
All should remember, the Declaration of Independence was a declaration of war against tyranny and as such is the PARENT of the 2nd Amendment. The amount of freedom we have in the future will not be determined by the amount of wisdom given to us from the ages past, but rather by how well we use that wisdom today.
1. American Dictionary of the English Language; Noah Webster 1828
Also from Mr. Case
