Written by: Michael W. Howell

Senior Writer and Editor at Fighting the Tyranny

February 16, 2020

While open letters are commonly addressed towards a specific person and intended for the general public, in this case, I want to talk to a particular collective – the liberty movement. The purpose of this letter isn’t to call out the liberty movement in a negative way. It is, instead, meant to serve as a reminder of our goals and as a challenge for the upcoming obstacles impeding the complete liberty we seek. I’ve observed over the years the liberty movement has failed to keep our direction and our once unshakable resolve. We have compromised our beliefs as we’ve looked the other way in times when we should have stood on the principles we once advocated so firmly in the past to bring forth. The constitutional Republic can not continue the values and beliefs of freedom under the eternal plan of compromise to the political games.

To move forward, I feel we need to reflect back on what brought such a group of diverse people and ideologies together in the beginning. In my personal march towards liberty, I trace my participation to the message of former Congressman and Republican Presidential candidate, Dr. Ron Paul. It was his message that tore down diverse barriers that the establishment had built on their conquest to divide us, instead of the unity we all longed for. For many that I met along the way on my journey, it started long before Congressman Paul’s run for the White House.

So, what are the issues that started to unite us and set in motion the tidal wave of free and independent thought of the new collective known as the liberty movement? Well, once the veil of tyranny started to be pulled away, the concerns that we all feared were confirmed. We saw that not only are we a controlled nation on its way to losing our national sovereignty, but the attack was zeroing in at the level of the individual right. The tyranny was on all fronts of our daily lives, quickly steamrolling towards centralized global control of our resources, monetary system, judicial processes, and manipulation of foreign/domestic policies with nefarious intentions.

Too Big To Fail

As the liberty movement began to grow, one of the main topics surrounding the expansion of the collective was the bailout of the major banks, not only here at home but around the world as well. The Occupy Wall Street group was out in full force while another new group was forming during this time as well – the Tea Party. While both of these movements were eventually infiltrated and quickly dissolved, they did help bring awareness to the deception of the Central Banks odious practices of deliberate corruption.

For many Americans, the separation between the corporations and the people was reaching a boiling point. The incantation, or mantra that was coming out of Washington in the form of “too big to fail,” was beginning to fall on the maddening ears of the citizenry. Frustration levels reached resentment levels when on October 3, 2008, President George W. Bush signed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. The act was proposed by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and the 110th Congress would sign off on the $700 million bill that would bail out the banking industry.

Middle America, who already felt they had been slapped in the face repeatedly by their representatives, was now fed up and showing their displeasure on the campaign trail and anywhere else they could get their voices heard. As an independent journalist myself during the 2008 presidential campaign, I remember the high energy protests outside at all of the presidential debate halls. Our signs filled the air as our chants of “End the Fed” drownded out all the broadcasts from the major news channels that were reporting live on the air from the venues. It was a momentum towards liberty we, as a nation, hadn’t felt in decades – if not longer!

End The Fed

I must admit right off that it was my research into the draconian Federal Reserve central banks and the criminal practices of the fractional reserve lending system that first brought me to the liberty movement. Once I was inside the movement and making friends, I found that was the case for many of us. To me, this was when the liberty movement started to feel like a family – an entrusted and undivided unified family. Quickly I would come to realize that it was because of the works of G. Edward Griffin’s “Creature of Jekyll Island” and Ron Paul’s “End the Fed” books that gave so many of us the clarity and understanding of what was compromising our individual liberties and freedoms.

I remember in 2008, while I was at the CNN hosted Presidential debate in Jacksonville, Florida, the End the Fed signs outnumbered any sign that could be seen there. Whether you were Republican, Democrat, Independent, or Libertarian, there was no denying one common issue that was overwhelmingly bringing together everyone there, and that was the corrupt Federal Reserve. I often think of that moment at the CNN debate as my “awakening.” In actuality, it had come some time prior, but that day/night there was almost euphoric for me.

I had planned for some time to make the trip to a presidential debate and saved all my vacation time I had accumulated while working at a machine shop in my hometown in Louisiana. The time had come, and I was ready to make the 11-hour drive, not knowing what I was going to do when I arrived there. I just knew I had to go and see for myself. For many months leading up to this trip, I was occupying myself with a barrage of non-stop YouTube videos and learning all I could about a new candidate (well new to me) Congressman Ron Paul. What grabbed me initially about him was the way he spoke about the banking cabal and how it was this broken system that centered around perpetual debt as the only means for its existence. This was when I started hearing the term “debt slaves.”

I remember driving all night and arriving in Jacksonville, Florida, early in the morning. I arrived on the university campus before any of the crowds started to form, and just as CNN was setting up the stage area, they would be broadcasting from. I got out my cell phone and made all the necessary calls back home, letting my friends and family members know I had made it safely. A short time later, the large grassy area outside the debate hall started to fill up. The atmosphere immediately started to resemble what I had been witnessing in the online videos I had been watching. Almost instantaneously, the “Ron Paulers” presence was felt. I was at home!

Since I was so new to this movement and eager to learn as much as I could about the evident passion these supporters had for their candidate, I wanted to be a sponge and absorb as much of the message of liberty I could possibly find. Everyone and I do mean everyone I came into contact with did not disappoint. I arrived there alone and somewhat tired from the 11-hour all-night drive I had made, but quickly, I was rejuvenated by the political shift that I was in the presence of witnessing.

From group to group, I made all the rounds. The Occupy Wall Street group had their section. The anti-war crowd had their part as well. In fact, all political affiliations were there and representing. However, it didn’t seem divided or sectioned one bit. It was all-inclusive and rooted in the ideals of liberty. The main focus at this rally was without question streamlined around two things. Getting Dr. Paul elected and ending the Federal Reserve once and for all! Although our efforts to get the Congressman elected fell short (because of corruption from inside the Republican party), the message was clear. The Federal Reserve had to go!

Foreign Policy

“Blowback” is a CIA term first used in March 1954 in a recently declassified report on the 1953 operation to overthrow the government of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran. It is a metaphor for the unintended consequences of the US government’s international activities that have been kept secret from the American people.

Blowback. This is a term that was not mentioned often until the birth of the liberty movement. Without question, we are seeing the harms of our foreign policy and just what ignoring the consequences of blowback can do while waging two illegal and undeclared wars in the Middle East.

I remember when I use to talk about blowback to people, and the reaction was like a deer caught in a car’s headlights. To me, the topic of blowback and how it is putting our troops on foreign soil in more harm’s way was always a tough sell to the masses. The cognitive dissonance that the public has, especially when it comes to our men and women in uniform, is alarming to observe.

The Republican neocons had gotten their wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that they had been seeking after the attacks on 9/11. At the same time, the liberal anti-war crowd was suspiciously absent when President Obama continued those same unconstitutional wars. With their foot in the door, so to speak, it would open up America’s proxy wars on a whole new scale broader than ever before. Now the once sovereign constitutional Republic was expanding her empire through the commonly used fear tactic of “keeping her safe” from outside forces that they claimed were hellbent on destroying her. “We must fight the terrorists over there, so they don’t come here” was filling up all the news cycles around the clock. The Military-Industrial Complex’s assembly lines went into full swing pumping out the latest and deadliest “machines of war” to make sure that America would remain on top and ahead of the fight. What the politicians didn’t see, or didn’t care to see instead, would be the immediate blowback that the newly formed “War on Terrorism” would have on our allies and soldiers fighting the proxy wars for the globalists.

We are now 19-years into the War on Terrorism, and there doesn’t seem to be an exit plan in sight. In fact, that was the real objective all along. The real intention was to expand, militarily, adding more American bases to the existing empire. We are now at over 700 military bases that are in over 130 countries. Some estimates have us at more than the acknowledge 700 installations.

Domestic Policy

As I mentioned above, the Federal Reserve’s criminal and illegal actions were at the center of our concerns. We once fought for an audit of the Fed that we knew would lead to an absolute abolishment of the central bank once the corruption was brought to light and out in the open. Now, there is hardly a mention of the bank’s practices and no legislation in the pipe to continue the momentum we started to establish. We need to regain that fight and commitment and hold our politicians accountable for the crimes they turn a blind eye to that allows the transfer of wealth from the American people.

Some of the domestic policies that we should seek to limit or abolish altogether are the Patriot/Freedom Act and the NDAA in its current form(s). After the attack on 9/11, emotions were high, and revenge/justice was in the hearts and minds of all Americans. The ruling oligarch would use these emotions to tighten the noose on us here at home. A little known fact among the people is that the Patriot Act was actually written years in advance of the terrorist attacks that happened on 9/11. They just needed the “right major crisis” to roll out the legislation into law. Now, they had the required crisis and the emotion of the people to accept almost any legislation they would ask for.

The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act), deceivingly named as it took many liberties and rights from the people, was now the law of the land, and few knew what powers it would transfer to the government. There are many things about the act that is unconstitutional and pass our liberties on to the government without any say from the people the government was to represent. The Patriot Act allows searches that should require a judge’s warrant to be performed with a letter from an FBI agent—called National Security Letter (“NSL”). This is a violation of the fourth amendment of the Constitution.

It also doubles down when it goes after other rights that are constitutionally protected. First Amendment advocates should be concerned about this and especially the troubling aspect of the 2008 audit, which documented a situation in which the FBI applied to obtain an order (to get information). The Court denied the request on First Amendment grounds. Not to be deterred, the FBI simply used an NSL (National Security Letter) to obtain the same information.

Many other provisions in the bill are unconstitutional as well. The Patriot Act was made more robust, and unknowingly by many, with the passing of the Freedom Act on May 13, 2015, when it was passed in the House in an overwhelmingly 338-88 vote.

Following the events of 9/11, the government federalized the airport security through the expansion of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the results of that have been anything but productive. Not only have the TSA not stopped one terrorist attack, but it has also come under the scrutiny from many as a front agency in the attempt to desensitize us to the coming police state the oligarch is setting up.

The National Security Agency’s (NSA) spying program also became one of the most overreaching programs to date. We have found out that our personal information isn’t only compromised, but it is deliberately cataloged, recorded, and stored in high-security areas and sold to corporations for profit. The information that is being stolen from us is our personal emails, social media posts, and activities, along with our internet searches and consuming habits. Once again, this is to help bring in the police state, and the information is also being used to create unjust profiles of many Americans.

Conclusion

My purpose in this article is to remind all of us that these same issues/policies/agencies/etc. are still in place and have only grown in scope and powers since we first started to collectivize and fight for our individual rights and liberties. What happened to our tenacity and passion we once had to eliminate or change these for the sake of preserving liberty? Where, or when did we start to have the cognitive dissonance we used to point out to others? For many of us, we lost once close friends and/or was ridiculed by family members while holding on to our strong beliefs of liberty. Now, it looks as though we gave in to the very same system we all wanted to see turned on its head.

The election cycle of 2016 was the point in time that I trace many jumping off the liberty ship while begging the controlled establishment for a life preserver. It was the same game the political elite have always played against us, but this time they achieved their goal on a more substantial level. In a voting system where the candidates are selected, all they have to do is make one candidate less evil than the other, and that candidate will get the votes. The strategy worked perfectly in the chosen “outsider” candidate Donald Trump. The game of pitting one political party against the other (Republican vs. Democrat and vice versa) was in full effect while confusing the voters on issues, instead, focusing on keeping one out of office.

Since President Trump’s election, we have seen an executive order signed banning bump stocks and his vocal support of Red Flag laws. This is a dangerous slope as many have turned a blind eye and a silent voice to the ban. In fact, many have called me out on social media sites and other venues when I merely mention the ban and upcoming Red Flag laws. Let’s not make it about the bump stock, per se, but about the infringement against the 2nd amendment, we used to rally to protect.

Already there are an estimated 22,000 gun laws on the books in America. Yes, you read that correctly – 22,000 gun laws on the books. There comes a time when it isn’t about the bump stock or magazine capacity or barrel length but the actual infringement of the government on our right to self-protection. Once federal Red Flag laws are implemented, there will be no peaceful way back.

If you look at the 2nd amendment protest that happened in Virginia recently, and others around the country, the one thing you will notice that was absent was the military there to “protect your way of life.” The other thing that should be clear to you was that those we are told are here to “protect and serve” us was not on our side at those rallies. However, they were in full military garb, corralling us to the “proper areas to protest.”

The tyranny goes on and on, and quite honestly, this article could never end. It is our responsibility to continue the efforts to preserve liberty and individual sovereignty. Where did our passion go? Where did our love for personal freedom fade off to? Yes, there is so much happening in today’s times, but we must never let our guard down to protect the future of our kids. The tyranny you accept today is the tyranny they live under tomorrow.

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