Muster Drum Vol 1

Volume 1, Issue 1

November 2008

The Muster Drum “IN MEMORY OF OUR GOD, OUR FAMILIES, AND OUR COUNTRY .” T h e A U T H O R S O F L I B E R T Y

“The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves.” — George Washington “Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation for ‘tis better to be alone than in bad company.” — George Washington

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In times of emergency, it was customary among our Patriot forefathers to sound the Muster Drum. It’s beat summoned able-bodied men to the village green, armed and ready to serve Liberty’s cause. Let this be our “Muster Drum”, a call for my brothers to come forth and assemble together in this perilous time for our country!

“A man’s country is not a certain area of land...but it is a principle; and Patriotism is loyalty to that principle.” — George William Curtis

This newsletter represents my answer to the question, “What can I do to return America to the Constitutional Republic envisioned by our Founding Fathers?”. The first step is to awaken the sleeping giants who inhabit this land, to the “awful situation” in which we find ourselves. The battle that raged once in Heaven, continues here on Earth! Will we choose Liberty and eternal life, or fall under the yoke of tyranny and lose our chance at Celestial Glory?

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“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”. You chose once before, and now I ask you to affirm that

The Muster Drum is Sounding!

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Wasting My Vote

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“Give me Liberty or give me Death”

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Words of Wisdom

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Contact Us

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W a s t i n g BY DUSTIN HARRIS “If you vote for a third party candidate, you are wasting your vote.” “Voting for a candidate who is not Republican or Democrat is like throwing your vote to the opposition.” “I feel like I am voting for the lesser of two evils, but what choice do I have? The third party candi-

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choice! It’s time to push back! It’s time to stand up and be counted! You don’t have to be first, but you do have to stand and join your brethren. “Seek ye diligently!” Heed the warnings of America’s wise forebears, prepare yourselves for the challenges yet to come. I hope the articles in this newsletter will prove educational, enlightening, inspiring, and at times, humorous. We will endeavor to cover all aspects of what is means to be a true American Patriot. A Patriot is a father, a brother, a husband, a son, and above all, a man of honor. He is a man who knows this country was founded by the best men Heaven could send her, and he honors their sacrifices. — Derek Stephens

“Of what benefit are convictions, if one is not willing to live by them? —Anonymous m y

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dates never win anyway.” These, and similar phrases, have been taught to me for many years. This is the mantra of the majority. Not only do I understand these talking points…I have used them all myself. Not six months ago I said the following to an online friend who was convinced that voting third party was like giving “half a vote to each of the major candidates.”

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An excerpt from Patrick Henry’s famous address given in Richmond to the Congressional delegates from the colony of Virginia:

“ ...If we wish to be free -- if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending -- if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us! They tell us, sir, that we are weak -- unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of the means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the

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holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable -- and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come! It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, "Peace! Peace!" -- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!” Patrick Henry - March 23, 1775

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The Lord could, I suppose, have avoided the war in Heaven over free agency. All He needed to have done was to have compromised with the Devil—but had he done so he would have ceased to be God. While it is more difficult to live the truth, such as standing for free agency, some of us may in the not too distant future be required to die for the truth. But the best preparation for eternal life is to be prepared at all times to die—fully prepared by a valiant fight for the right. Let us act like men, men who are sons of God, men with a sure knowledge that there will be a resurrection—and a final judgment. — Ezra Taft Benson

“It is infinitely better to have a few good men, than many indifferent ones.”

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“This is where you are wrong, my friend. It is not half a vote for the Democrats; it is a WHOLE vote for them. Whenever you choose to not vote for the lesser of two evils, you may feel better, but your vote (that would have gone to the Republican) will put the [Demo]crat one step closer to victory. Sorry, I know I have incited a flame war, but them (sic) are the facts!” Frankly, I have spent a great deal of my life arguing this, and related, points. I cannot remember an election where I did not vote. I also cannot remember an election where I did not cast a ballot for one of the two major political parties. I have been of the opinion that, in order to do the better good, I must cast my vote for the best of the two, winnable, candidates. Truthfully, I used to laugh at those who voted for the other guys. Just a few weeks ago, I was willing to go to the polls, hold my nose, and pull the lever for John McCain. I do not like John McCain. I think he is an abomination to the Republican party. He is a RINO. He is a left-leaning, moderately pro-open border, anti-freedom of speech, Second Amendment sell-out, anti-Constitutional, socialist blight on the America that I know and believe in. Knowing that, I was still willing to cast a vote for him. A vote for John McCain, in my mind, was a vote against Barack Obama. A vote for John McCain, in my mind, was a vote to bring our troops home from Iraq in honor, and not in disgrace. This, above most other matters, was foremost on my list of whys. I am a strong supporter of the United States Military, and whether or not we should or should not be in Iraq, we are there. We should finish the job and come home with honor. That is McCain’s view and it is in opposition to Obama’s stance. If the war had not been an issue, I may have come to my conclusion much sooner. At the time I made this decision, I knew that either John McCain, or Barack Obama would be elected on November 4. I am no simpleton. I have also had not changed my mind that a vote for a third party candidate was a vote that would not go to McCain, and thus, would only help the other person (he who cannot be named anymore to avoid too frequent use). Regardless, I had made a decision (three weeks before the election) to vote for a minority party candidate for the first time in my life. The following is summary of why: Idaho is a Republican State Unlike some of my friends, I do not live in a swing state. There is a reason that the two major candidates were not spending money and time in the great State of Idaho. McCain knew he would win it and Obama knew John would win it. Not since1964 has Idaho gone Democrat in a presidential election. McCain would win Idaho’s four electoral votes whether or not I vote for him. However, that is not the reason I did not cast a ballot for him, but it helped me sleep better on that Tuesday night.

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believe election is harder. At first glance, it appears to be a no-brainer. Bill Clinton was a despicable, immoral, and dishonest man. He can hardly be called presidential material. However, I believe that Bush 43 has done more to strip us of our freedoms and pull us, as a nation, further away from the Constitution than Billy Boy did. Based on that assessment, who is the lesser of two evils? I believe that politics, by nature, is a beast of compromise. It was so in the beginning, and will continue to be so in the future. Even the Founding Fathers had to compromise in order to ratify the Constitution. The northern states had to conditionally accept slavery and the larger states had to, reluctantly, accept the organization of the Senate to name just two. We never get all we want and we may never have the perfect candidate. I no longer feel, however, that because the system is imperfect, we continue to vote for those who have proven to be second only to the worse. We have compromised ourselves into socialism, and the time has come to take a stand! Fire Them! I run a small business. In addition to my daily lists of “to-do’s,” I must also watch over and lead seven employees. They are my employees and I their employer. If they are not doing the job I wish, I educate and correct them. If they continue to not live up to my expectations, I fire them. Good business demands it. No viable company can afford to keep employees who continually run their business into the ground. The Founding Fathers, wisely, created in our country, not a democracy, but a representative republic. We elect those who we believe hold our views and ideals and will likely vote as we would if we were there. As such, the people (you and I are the employers and those who we elect are our employees. Elected officials will stand before an authority figure, place their hands on the Bible, and take the oath of office; “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Very few follow it up by walking the walk. Just as a wise boss would send a bad employee packing for the benefit of the company, we must also give our bad politicians the old pink slip for the benefit of the country. Several weeks ago, I wrote my representatives. I asked them not to vote for a bill which I thought led us further down the path to socialism. One of them listened to me and two of them did not. I was taking notes. Just as a parent must enforce a child’s consequences, I will not draw another line in the sand. This year, my votes backed my language. The Protest Vote One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. We, the American voter, continue to elect the same types of politicians and then complain that we continue to get the same, lack-luster service from them. I guess, given the outcome of the Presidential election, we are in for four more years of complaining.

The Lesser of the Two Evils A talking point often put forth by those who frequently vote minority party is, “If you vote for the lesser of two evils…you are still voting for evil.” I have also heard it put this way, “Voting for the lesser of two evils is like voting for Hitler because he killed less people than Stalin.” Not that those two dictators ever ran against each other for county commissioner, but you get the point. My debate in the past with these points has been, “Okay, good point, but I can actually see myself voting for Hitler over Stalin in a hypothetical election. In hindsight, I would save millions of lives by doing so.”

I, like many of you, have watched as our elected “leaders” continue to flush our great democracy down the toilet. For those of us who have read and studied the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights; for those of us who have read the Federalist Papers and know something of our Founding Fathers and their ideologies; for those of us who believe this land was given to us as a gift from God, we are fed up! I am disheartened at best and fighting angry at worst to watch our officials continue to move us further from a representative republic and capitalism to a monarchy and socialism. Those who we elect are so far from 1787 that James Madison is likely hanging his ghostly head and weeping.

However (as an acquaintance of mine recently pointed out to me), if you put George W. Bush and Bill Clinton side by side, the make

I realize I am one person. I realize I have but one vote, but this year I am sent a message, however meager it was, to the Washington elitist.

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“I am sick and tired of losing my freedoms, and I will continue being a part of putting you there no longer!” A Call for Others to Join Me I have heard that government is like a large, aircraft carrier moving at a swift speed in a wide ocean. If it is headed the wrong way, it takes a very large, wide, and slow turn to get it corrected. I did not expect this country to vote for the best candidate on November 4. I was right. I do not expect them to vote for the best candidate in four more years or even four years beyond that. I do, however, hope to start turning this machine around. My vote did not swing the election in 2008, but with the help of good people, like you, it may in the future. Abraham Lincoln was a third party candidate. His message was right for America in 1860. More importantly, America was right for Lincoln in 1860. I believe we, as a people, are moving closer to being right for another minority party candidate. If we, as the voting public, continue to say, “A third party candidate will never win,” we, as the voting public, will continue to be right. If the old argument that “your vote is important,” and “you can make a difference,” has teeth, then I believe it is time for me to start making the right kind of difference. Maybe Americans are beginning to get as fed up with what is going on in Washington as I am, and we will see a revolution at the ballot box. Getting there Faster May Not be Such a Bad Thing The “lesser of the two” argument is often expanded to, “If our officials are leading us down the road to destruction, don’t you want to slow that process as much as possible by not allowing the other guy to get in?” Again, I was in this boat too…until a few weeks ago. I believe this world is going to get much worse before it gets better. Though I am not looking forward to the difficulties that await us (and I am far from a masochist), I am no longer so sure that a slow road hell is any better than an expressway. In my mind, John McCain and Barack Obama are taking this country in the same direction. One is riding the tortoise of tyranny and the other the rabbit of radical oppression. Anyway you look at it, we are headed to the same fate. It matters only the speed in which we get there. Though I would never take this argument to the extreme and purposefully vote for the candidate who will bring the signs of the times upon us more rapidly, if my vote does indeed help the rabbit to win the race, I am no longer disheartened by that end. I would rather fight the foretold battles than pass the struggles for freedom to my children to fight. Bring it on, let me fight, that my children might live in a time of peace and liberty. Religion and Prayer I am a religious man. I am a prayerful man. Though, by policy, my religion does not involve itself in endorsing one candidate or party over another, they do encourage their patrons to become involved in the political process and vote. A few weeks ago, my religious leaders asked me to, “vote for and actively support those you believe will most nearly carry out your ideas of good government” (bold for emphasis is mine). Sorry but, for me, that was not John McCain. My beliefs also tell me that there will come a time when I will meet our Founding Fathers in the next life. A patriotic friend of mine recently reminded me of this. I will have an opportunity to shake the post-mortal hands of Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry. These men paid a heavy price that I might live in a country of freedom and free of oppression. When that day comes, I hope I can look them squarely in the eye, thank them for their sacrifices, and report that I did my part to preserve what they started.

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I am also a prayerful man. I believe that God gives direction to those who pray. I believe that prayer can be a deeply personal and private matter between man and his Maker. As such, I will not share details of mine. Needless to say however, this is the first election that I can remember where I have actively prayed for guidance and confirmation concerning my voting choices. Though this is not the only reason I voted third party, it helped me walk with my head high when I left the polling place...regardless of the final outcome.

I Love America and All it Stands For This is a decision that I have struggled with for months. It has not come without much struggle and I have waffled on the issue many times. In the end, however, I felt grounded and confident in my decision. Each of the reasons given above are important to me. No reason is more important, however, than this: I love America and all it stands for! The past three or more years have been interesting for me. During that time, I have felt a strong desire to read, study, and internalize all good material I could find on the Founding Fathers and their writings. I do not know for sure where that pull has come from. My wife and I decided several years ago to home school our children. It seems that many who home school also have a desire to know these same truths. The interesting part is that I have not felt compelled to this individual study because of home schooling. Rather, I believe the fact that we are teaching our children privately has actually caused me to push against this desire. I guess I did not want to be like all the other home-schoolers. However hard I have fought though, the drive remains and I am compelled to learn from Madison, Henry, Adams, Washington, Jefferson, and others. I do not feel that I am alone. A revolution in this country is coming. I do not know when and I do not know how. I pray it is with ballots rather than bullets. I believe the good Lord knows our fate and is putting into the hearts of patriotic men and women now the seeds of liberty in preparation for such. My seed is young, but I can no longer continue to vote for those who do not value the roots of freedom that I love and honor. Study and education is idle until one puts it to use. Conclusion I hold no ill feelings toward those whom this essay does not persuade. As I have pointed out, I was in your camp until just a few weeks ago. I only hope that you will grant me the same courtesy. They say that voting for a minority candidate is a waste of a perfectly good vote. If this is so, consider my vote wasted.

“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.” -John Quincy Adams

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Want to submit an article? Have a comment? Want to join our mailing list? Email at: [email protected] The views and opinions expressed herein are strictly those of the authors and should not be construed to be those of any other business or organization. Copyright The Muster Drum Newsletter 2008