Anti-Jesus Lawyer: "Punish Chaplains for Praying.

Urgent Petition! Defend Military Chapels. Demand Congress stop desecration of Christian chapels and altars on military bases. Select here, sign petition, we will fax all 535 Congressmen and Senators (saving you time!) Or sign free option here.

Anti-Jesus Lawyer: "Punish Chaplains for Praying." Take action.

An atheist complainer threatening to sue Army Chaplains for praying just hired a lawyer.

Anti-Jesus attorney Mikey Weinstein, founder of the [Militant Religion Foes] Foundation, who recently sued me (and lost) to stop me from praying the Psalms to God (he failed), is now representing Atheist soldier Victoria Gettman.

Weinstein has reportedly demanded the Army punish a chaplain because he led a voluntary prayer at a suicide prevention class. [Earth to Mikey, the First Amendment protects the speaker, not your easily offended ears.]

Huffington Post reports "he and his litigation team intend to pursue an 'aggressive' federal lawsuit if the Army fails to rectify Gettman's complaints."

"Weinstein said the foundation's message to the Army is twofold: First, the Army should 'move with light speed' to review and remedy this case. Second, if the Army decides not to review Gettman's complaints, Weinstein said the Army should prepare to 'tell it to the judge.' [Nevermind that Weinstein has reportedly lost all 5 lawsuits he's filed.]

"Weinstein had previously contacted the Army to demand that the chaplain be disciplined for the mass prayer and that the Army provide a written apology to the soldiers."

The atheist complainer threatened to sue the U.S. Army to stop Chaplains from praying to the "Heavenly Father," even if they don't pray "in Jesus' name," reports Christian News.

"...Staff Sergeant Victoria Gettman is unpleased with the response that she has received from her superiors in regard to complaints that she had lodged over the prayer, which was delivered last September. Gettman and a number of other soldiers were attending a mandatory suicide prevention session, which concluded with a prayer. The prayer itself was voluntary as soldiers were not required to participate."

Watch Dr. Chaps' 6-minute opening commentary defending these Army Chaplains, here-->

But the Army spokesman said nothing was wrong, because the Chaplain didn't pray 'in Jesus' name.'"The chaplain's prayer had no reference to any specific deity, and ended with the words, 'through Your holy name.'"

[Dr. Chaps' comment: The Army cannot forbid Chaplains from praying 'in Jesus' name' because the U.S. Supreme Court declared in 1991, Lee v. Weisman, that by censoring prayer content the government violates the First Amendment. If the atheists now threaten to sue even "generic" prayers, we might as well pray 'in Jesus' name' as is our legal right.] Who's willing to fax all 535 Congressmen and Senators, to defend chaplains and chapels?

Please select here to sign urgent petition, and we will fax all 100 Senators (saving you time!) to PROTECT MILITARY CHAPELS, CHAPLAINS AND TROOPS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM to oppose immorality, restore the good chapel amendment from H.R. 4310.

Or you may choose our Free Petition Option Here.

Obama removes Christian Cross from Army Chapels. Take action!

To mollify atheist complainers, President Obama's bureaucrats overseeing the U.S. Army have ordered the removal of Christian crosses from chapel buildings overseas, reports Fox News. The new Army Regulation 165-1 reportedly requires "permanent or fixed chapel furnishings, such as the altar, pulpit, lectern, or communion rail will be devoid of distinctive religious symbols," and "the chapel environment will be religiously neutral when the facility is not being used for scheduled worship." Christian symbols have already been removed from at least one Army chapel on a base in Afghanistan (full story below).

Obama's Pentagon further enforces allowing 'gay' wedding ceremonies in military chapels in all 50 states, in clear violation of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act which defines federal marriage as only valid between one man and one woman. Such illegal same-sex 'wedding' ceremonies have already taken place in military chapels in Florida, Louisiana, and New Jersey, three states that forbid gay 'marriage,' as reported in detail below.

To answer Obama's defiance of DOMA, one U.S. Congressman is fighting back. Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS) introduced an amendment last year to H.R. 4310, on which The Hill reported: "Members of the House Armed Services committee voted to include the measure by Rep. Steve Palazzo (R-Miss.) into the panel's version of the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill...The measure, which prevents 'marriage or marriage-like ceremonies' between same-sex couples from taking place at American military bases, was approved by a 37 to 24 vote along party lines."

Unfortunately this good chapel-protecting bill was blocked by Senate Democrats last fall, but could be re-introduced by Congress this spring, IF we petition all 535 Congressmen and Senators to take action.

Would you please sign our petition? If you sign, we fax it to Congress, saving you time.

Please select here to sign urgent petition, and we will fax all 100 Senators (saving you time!) to PROTECT MILITARY CHAPELS, CHAPLAINS AND TROOPS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM to oppose immorality, restore the good chapel amendment from H.R. 4310.

Or you may choose our Free Petition Option Here.

Army removes Crosses from Chapel Buildings. Take action!

The hostility of the U.S. Army to Christian freedom continues, as atheist complainers have succeeded in forcing the removal of Christian crosses from a base chapel.

Fox News confirms: "The U.S. military ordered soldiers to remove a cross and a steeple from atop a chapel and to board up cross-shaped windows at a remote American forward operating base in Afghanistan.

"The removal of Christian symbols from the chapel at Forward Operating Base Orgun-E came after a solider complained - leading American Atheists president David Silverman to send a letter to the Pentagon.

[Army regulation bans Jesus? Watch Dr. Chaps 5 minute TV commentary on this story-->]

"Under this [Obama] Administration, the military has become a Christianity-free zone," said Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. "As a veteran, there's an irony here. You put on the uniform to defend freedom - chief among them is freedom of religion. And yet, you are stripped of your own freedom to practice your faith."

[Dr. Chaps' comment: MILITARY CHAPEL BUILDINGS ARE NOW DESECRATED by homosexual "wedding" ceremonies in all 50 states. Please help me take action to defend military chapels by signing our petition, and we will blast fax all 535 Congressmen and Senators...]

Please select here to sign urgent petition, and we will fax all 100 Senators (saving you time!) to PROTECT MILITARY CHAPELS, CHAPLAINS AND TROOPS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM to oppose immorality, restore the good chapel amendment from H.R. 4310.

2,000 Chaplains petition 26 Senators to protect freedom. Will you join them?

2,000+ Military Chaplains are petitioning these 26 Senators through their bishops, to protect religious freedom and stop sod omite desecration of military chapels, ADF reports.

"The Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, an organization of chaplain endorsers, calls on the U.S. Congress to protect the conscience of our military personnel in the wake of the Senate's refusal so far to pass such protections.

"Earlier this year, in Section 536 of H.R. 4310, the House passed language protecting the rights of conscience of members of the armed forces, including chaplains. The House also passed language in Section 537 of H.R. 4310 that ensures military chapels are not used for any marriage or marriage-like ceremonies involving anything other than the union of one man and one woman. The Senate removed both of these sections when it passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act.

"No American, especially those who wear the uniform, should be required to give up their religious values,” said Chaplain (COL) Ron Crews, USAR retired, executive director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. 'Men and women who courageously serve in our armed forces should be able to serve without having to violate their consciences. Service members, including chaplains, who have sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions need to be able to serve without fear of recrimination against their values.'

"The National Defense Authorization Act is currently in conference committee.

"'Americans concerned about protecting the rights of conscience of our service members should contact their senators and encourage them to agree with the language passed by the House of Representatives,' Crews said."

[Dr. Chaps' comment: Friends, NOW is the time to call 202-225-3121 for all 26 members of the Senate Armed Services committee, and all 61 members of the House Armed Services Committee, who will hash out these major decisions during conference committee.]

Don't have time to make 87 phone calls? You can fax all 87 members instantly, just...

Please select here to sign urgent petition, and we will fax all 100 Senators (saving you time!) to PROTECT MILITARY CHAPELS, CHAPLAINS AND TROOPS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM to oppose immorality, restore the good chapel amendment from H.R. 4310.

Obama desecrates Military Chapels in all 50 states. Can 2 Senators stop him?

An amazing article by our friends at Last Resistance quotes me and asks the question I've been raising for a year now. Can Senate Republicans save military chaplains from court-martial, if they refuse to facilitate homose xual "marriage" ceremonies?

In response to YOUR faxes, two Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS) and my friend James Inhofe (R-OK) have just introduced new legislation in the Senate, as "The Military Religious Freedom Act." I met with Wicker's staff this summer, and they received my suggestion clearly, since the new bill mirrors the two good amendments already passed by the House, and protects both military chaplains AND chapels from desecration.

Sadly, more homose xual "weddings" are desecrating Christian chapels on military bases, for example in this story that features a Navy Chaplain who apparently desecrates a Christian chapel in New Jersey with a sod omite ceremony endorsing sin.(And then claims nobody is offended when Christian chapels are desecrated by acts of sod omy.)

This "wedding" in New Jersey is President Obama's latest assault on military Christians, after homose xual ceremonies have already desecrated chapels in Florida and Lousiana.

All three states ban homose xual "marriage" so why do reporters lie for Obama, claiming these ceremonies are only authorized in states where gay marriage is licensed?

This is proof that what I said is true, that Obama has forced homose xual "marriage" upon all 50 states. AP reports Obama's policy: "Under current policy, these ceremonies are allowed on bases where the marriage or civil union is legal under state law."

In other words, not only does Obama abrogate federal law, the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (which applies on federal land, i.e. military bases), but he also abrogates the state laws of New Jersey, Florida, and Lousiana, which clearly prohibit homose xual "marriage."

Let's stand with Senators Wicker and Inhofe, to demand all 100 Senators protect chapels.

Please select here to sign urgent petition, and we will fax all 100 Senators (saving you time!) to PROTECT MILITARY CHAPELS, CHAPLAINS AND TROOPS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM to oppose immorality, restore the good chapel amendment from H.R. 4310.

First Lesbian 'Wedding' desecrates Military Chapel. Obama violates state law.

President Obama trampled on Louisiana state law, and desecrated the Christian chapel on a military post at Fort Polk, Louisiana, by authorizing the first homose xual 'wedding' ceremony by a lesbian couple in a military chapel. Flaunting his federal power over Louisiana (whose law clearly defines Marriage = 1 Man + 1 Woman), and ignoring the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, Obama's Pentagon lawyer Jeh Johnson issued a memo this year forcing all military chapels in all 50 states to be open for 'gay' weddings.

Now we learn that three weeks ago, a lesbian couple was secretly 'married' upon, and desecrated the Christian altar in the base chapel with sod omy, marking the first reported homosexual wedding in a military chapel ever. A pro-homose xual chaplain presided at the 'marriage-like religious ceremony' of two lesbian soldiers, but did not issue a license, making the union illegal in the eyes of both Lousiana law, and the laws of Almighty God.

Congressman John Fleming, M.D. (R-LA) told CNSNews.com on Wednesday that "the U.S. Army had confirmed to him that the chaplain had performed the ceremony less than a month ago in the base chapel at Fort Polk, which is in Fleming's district."

"It is my understanding that this is the first ceremony of its type on an American military base and that is, as it's reported, it was a wedding ceremony between two members of the same gender who are uniformed members of the Army," Fleming said.

Former Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO), said last year this confirms the need for the Senate to pass two good pro-chaplain amendments protecting chapels and chaplains free speech: "It is very concerning that a same-sex ceremony would occur on a military base in a state where the definition of marriage has been clearly defined as between one man and one woman," Akin said. "This action is clearly in contravention of state law, and also violates the Defense Department policies issued last fall. This appears to be a case where political agenda has trumped the rule of law, which is absolutely unacceptable. This confirms the importance of the language that my colleagues and I worked to include in the House-passed National Defense Authorization Act for 2013, which would protect chaplains and servicemembers from this liberal agenda. The same individuals who will violate the law to advance their agenda will persecute those around them who disagree with their views."

"Congressman Akin has led the efforts to protect traditional marriage on military bases. In 2011, Congressman Akin offered an amendment to H.R. 1540 which was stripped by the Senate. In May 2012, Akin offered an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2013 which would protect servicemembers and chaplains from recriminations based on their concerns regarding same-sex marriage."

[Dr. Chaps' comment: Folks, I have been repeatedly saying for months, what nobody believed was true, that military chapels both Catholic and Protestant will be desecrated in all 50 states by acts of sod omy on the Christian altar, robbing all our troops of their right to a sacred worship space. Any chaplain who objects will be punished, and the keys to his chapel must be turned over to homose xual activists. Does anybody doubt that my warning has now come true?]

We must take action to protect our chapels. Please sign our petition to all 100 Senators.

Please select here to sign urgent petition, and we will fax all 100 Senators (saving you time!) to PROTECT MILITARY CHAPELS, CHAPLAINS AND TROOPS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM to oppose immorality, restore the good chapel amendment from H.R. 4310.

God Bless you, in Jesus' name,

Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt, PhD
Who is Dr. Chaps? Read bio here.

Firearms Company Leaving Colorado Over Anti-Gun Laws As Promised

by Dave Jolly 

In February, firearms company Magpul informed members of the Colorado state legislature that they would leave the state if the anti-gun laws being considered were passed and became law.
Magpul is a relatively new company founded in 1999.  Today they employ 600 people and generate close to $100 million in sales.  Their primary business is the manufacture of 30 round clips and other accessories for assault and assault-style weapons, most of which is purchased by the US military.

Doug Smith, COO of Magpul said:

“If we’re able to stay in Colorado and manufacture a product, but law-abiding citizens of the state were unable to purchase the product, customers around the state and the nation would boycott us for remaining here.  Staying here would hurt our business.”

Once word got out that they were looking to relocate out of the state, they began to receive offers from states like Texas and South Carolina to bring their business to these more gun friendly states.  Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) sent Smith a letter telling him that South Carolina believes in the Second Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms.
This Wednesday, Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) signed three of the anti-gun bills into law.  The new laws limit magazines to no more than 15 rounds and requires backgrounds checks for all private and online gun sales.

On February 27, John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) and president of the Senate, introduced a bill that would hold the manufacturer, seller or owner of any assault or assault-style weapon, liable for any damage the weapon causes in the state.  In introducing his bill into the state senate, Morse said:

“The bill I envision… it will deem these guns as unreasonably dangerous.  It will not ban them, it will just hold people strictly liable, strictly responsible for what occurs. The effect is that everyone in the chain will be responsible for the actions of that gun.”
“It will only apply to military-style assault weapons, firearms that are not handguns, bolt action rifles or shotguns.”

Holding to their promise to leave the state if any of these anti-gun laws passed, Magpul announced on their Facebook page that they are already transitioning their business out of the state of Colorado.  Their post read:

“Apparently Gov Hickenlooper has announced that he will sign HB 1224 on Wednesday. We were asked for our reaction, and here is what we said:”
“We have said all along that based on the legal problems and uncertainties in the bill, as well as general principle, we will have no choice but to leave if the Governor signs this into law. We will start our transition out of the state almost immediately, and we will prioritize moving magazine manufacturing operations first. We expect the first PMAGs to be made outside CO within 30 days of the signing, with the rest to follow in phases. We will likely become a multi-state operation as a result of this move, and not all locations have been selected. We have made some initial contacts and evaluated a list of new potential locations for additional manufacturing and the new company headquarters, and we will begin talks with various state representatives in earnest if the Governor indeed signs this legislation. Although we are agile for a company of our size, it is still a significant footprint, and we will perform this move in a manner that is best for the company and our employees.”

“It is disappointing to us that money and a social agenda from outside the state have apparently penetrated the American West to control our legislature and Governor, but we feel confident that Colorado residents can still take the state back through recalls, ballot initiatives, and the 2014 election to undo these wrongs against responsible Citizens.”
Hopefully, other firearms manufactures in Colorado, New York and Maryland will follow Magpul’s example and relocate their operations to more gun friendly states like Texas or South Carolina.  Why would they want to operate in a state that legislates against their business and forbids residents from purchasing many of their products?

Is America a Republic or an Empire?

by Dr. Robert R. Owens 

What I propose to do in this column is examine what are the hallmarks of empire and ask my readers to honestly ask themselves, “Is America a republic or an empire?”

Over the years in this column I have written about the American Empire.  I have advocated jettisoning the Empire to save the Republic.  This topic has sparked debate and controversy even among the most dedicated readers.  Usually the argument runs like this, “America is not an Empire, never has been and never will be,” or “America’s far-flung military deployments are not the garrisoning of an empire it is instead a forward defense of the homeland.”
In my most recent column along these lines, aptly entitled, “Republic or Empire?” in several publications there was spirited debate about whether or not America could be called an empire.  Some people seemed to take offense at the very idea.  Others who usually agree with my political stands find this and my other foreign policy positions such as bringing our troops home, concentrating on defending America, and equitable trade with all unacceptable.  I present and promote these foreign policy positions as requirements for restoring limited government. It is my belief that as long as we are involved in endless war there is no real possibility to re-gain control of our government, our budget, or our future.
What I propose to do in this column is examine the hallmarks of empire and ask my readers to honestly ask themselves, “Is America a republic or an empire?”

First, it makes no difference whether it is the President, the Paramount Chief, an Augustus, the First Citizen, the Dear Leader, the Great Helmsman or der Fuehrer.  It doesn’t matter if it is an executive branch, a Politburo, a Central Committee, the Cabinet, or the collective leadership.  Whatever form it takes, an empire is always dominated by a highly centralized executive power.
America was designed not to be an empire but instead to be a federal republic made up of a central government and state governments which were the precursors and creators of the central government.   This central government founded upon and constrained by a written constitution originally presented the world with something new, a national government made up of divided co-equal powers.  The Congress to make the laws, the executive to enforce the laws, and the judicial to judge if the laws conformed to the Constitution: the guiding light and touch-stone of American limited government.  This worked well to establish and maintain a republic but it would not foster nor perpetuate an empire.
Thus the Constitution established the framework of what became known as the system of checks and balances.  Only congress could make laws, but the President could veto them.  Congress could over-ride a president’s veto, but the Supreme Court could declare laws unconstitutional making them null and void.  The president is in charge of foreign policy and is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, but the Congress controlled the purse and could cut off funding.  Upon petition the Supreme Court could declare the actions of the president unconstitutional yet the president could appoint justices to the Supreme Court.

Did this work perfect?  No, there were always swings one way or another.  There have been powerful Supreme Courts such as under Chief Justices Marshall or Warren that changed the complexion of the country.  There have been powerful Congresses such as the one from 1865 to the mid 1870’s that virtually ignored presidents and set policy.  There were powerful presidents such as Jackson or Lincoln.  However the pendulum always swung back and forth.  If you examined all three institutions there was one thing missing.  Where was the sovereignty?  Who was the nation?
In the highly centralized state, which is an empire whether personal or national, the leader or leadership operates according to the sentiments of the Sun King, Louis XIV of France who said, “I am the State.”  During the birth of the American system, our Founders had spent more time debating this than any other aspect of the government, who would be the sovereign power.  They had just fought and defeated one tyrant and they did not want to exchange one for another.  They didn’t trust the sovereignty of the nation in the hands of an executive because of the long and bloody history of Europeans with absolutism and divine right.  They didn’t trust an assembly after their recent history with the tyranny of the British Parliament and their Stamp Act, Quartering Act and other attempts to bring the colonies to their knees.  They couldn’t place it in the hands of the Supreme Court for that body would be merely judicial.

Instead they came up with a new idea in the world.  They placed the sovereignty of the nation in the hands of We the People.
The Constitution is designed to empower the people not the government.  Though today it is stretched and interpreted to give the government the power to do whatever it wants whenever it wants originally it was constructed to limit government.
We the People could vote the Congress in or out, we could choose our own president, and if the Supreme Court said something was unconstitutional that we wanted we could change the Constitution using a mechanism embedded within the document itself.  For the first time no leader or oligarchy owned the state, instead the state belonged to the citizens.
What do we see in America today?  We have a president who says, “We can’t wait for an increasingly dysfunctional Congress to do its job. Where they won’t act, I will.”  When Congress after deliberation decides not to pass the Dream Act giving amnesty to millions, the President uses an executive order to make it law by decree.  When the Congress refuses to pass a cap-and-trade law that many believe will hamstring our industry and hobble us in the race with other nations, the president orders his EPA department to enforce it anyway.  Without consulting Congress the President takes us to war against Libya and deposes a government.

These are the actions of an executive out of control.  Under the original American system if anyone would have asked, “Who speaks for the people?” the answer would have been the House of Representatives because they were elected every two years and were thus closest to the people.  It wouldn’t have been the Congress as a whole because under the original system the senate was chosen by the various state legislatures and was designed to represent the states.  It was the House which spoke for the people.  Today it is the President who uses the bully pulpit magnified by a subservient press and a thousand government media pressure points and outlets saying in effect, I have a mandate from the people.  I am the embodiment of their will.  I am the state.
The next hallmark of an empire we will look at is that domestic policy becomes subordinate to foreign policy.  The American President is constitutionally in charge of foreign policy so there is no better place for the holder of that office to act without any restraint.  Treaties must be ratified, so our presidents began in the 1940’s to forge personal agreements with the leaders of other countries that had all the force of treaties with none of the messy Senate confirmation required.  Using their power as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces modern presidents have also used their authority to start wars as in Kosovo and Libya, to sign cease fires as in Korea, and to commit America to the support of dictators and tyrants through deployments and equipment transfers, all without any Congressional oversight.

If we ask ourselves, has domestic policy really become subordinate to foreign policy think about whose infrastructure are we being taxed to rebuild?  In Afghanistan and Iraq our money and our companies are building new schools while ours fall apart, we are building new roads in Afghanistan while we watch our own bridges crumbling.  We give billions to countries and governments that despise us.  We borrow money to give it away and then sometimes borrow it back all in a bizarre dance balancing foreign interests at the expense of We the People.
Another hallmark of an empire is that the military mindset becomes ascendant to the point that civilians are intimidated.  Think about the Defense budget.   In 2012 it was over 600 billion dollars.  Does anyone believe Congress or anyone else really knows where all that money is going?  The size, scope, and unbelievable waste in the defense budget stagger the imagination.  However, to even question the defense budget will immediately get someone labeled as an isolationist who wants to gut our defense and surrender to the enemy.
Many people will argue that we are in a war and that during war of course the defense budget will be bloated.  Can you remember any time since 1942 that we haven’t been in a war?  Yes, there were the brief days of the “Peace Dividend” under Clinton after the Soviet Union dissolved which actually became the rational for increased defense spending.  And during those brief days of peace back in the 1990’s we fought a war and enforced a decade long no-fly zone in Iraq, attacked Serbia, sent troops, planes or other assets to Zaire, Sierra Leone, Bosnia (numerous times), Herzegovina, Somalia, Macedonia, Haiti, Liberia, Central African Republic, Albania, Congo and Gabon, Cambodia, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, Afghanistan, and East Timor.  And this was our only decade of peace since the 1940’s, and to question any of this is considered tantamount to treason.  We must ask ourselves, “Has the military mindset become ascendant to the point that civilians are intimidated?”

Perpetual war for peace has led the peaceful American people to be ensnared in the clutches of the military-industrial complex as president Eisenhower warned it would in 1961.
All empires develop and maintain a system of satellite nations.  When we hear of this we immediately think of the old USSR and their slave states in Eastern Europe.  Advance the idea that America has satellite nations and people become irate.  “How could you say such a thing about America?”  Look at our so-called allies.  Do they fit the description as satellite nations?  A satellite nation is one that the empire deems is necessary for its own defense.  It is also one that feels it cannot stand alone and wants the empire’s protection.
That is the deal.  The empire commits to protect the satellite and the satellite agrees to stand with its back against the empire facing a common foe.  Add to that the fact that we supply money and material to build the national defenses of our satellite/allies as well as economic aid and a preferential trade system.  Think about these ideas and decide for yourself whether or not America has satellite nations ringing the heartland of the empire.

Another hallmark of empire is that a psychology or psychosis of pride, presumption, and arrogance overtakes the national consciousness.   We are all familiar with the twenty-first century incantation of “Too big to fail.”  That was applied by our bailout happy leaders to their pet banks and companies during the opening days of the Great Recession.  It is also an apt description for the way in which most Americans view our position as the most powerful nation on earth or as the silver tongued talking heads like to say, the world’s sole superpower.  Since the end of World War One the United States has been the unchallenged mega power among the western block of nations.  Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union we have towered like a colossus over the rest of the world.  In the memory of most people now alive it has always been this way.
To most people the way it has been is the way it shall be.  We speak of embracing change and of realizing that change is the only constant but few can really think that way.  The familiar seduces us into thinking that the momentary circumstances of today are the unshakable foundations of tomorrow.  To the children and grandchildren of the greatest generation the world will always gaze in awe at the great American eagle soaring above the world.  Our navies rule the waves, our masses of fighters, bombers, and drones can reach out and touch any corner of the globe, our troops are the best trained, best equipped, and best led armies the world has ever seen, so such a mega power could never fall.

So it seemed to the inhabitants of Rome the eternal empire.  So it seemed to the British when the sun never set upon the union jack.  And so it seems to us.  Even though a rag-tag group like Al Qaeda defies our attempts to destroy them and continues to grow and multiply around the world.  Even though the Taliban not only have withstood more than a decade of war they stand poised to reclaim their country as soon as we leave.  Even though our deficit spending and the national debt it creates is leading us to a financial collapse that our own military leaders have identified as the greatest threat to our security, and our leaders only answer is more spending.  This pride, presumption, and arrogance blinds us to the enduring truth of what comes before a fall.
Finally an empire is the prisoner of history.  A republic is not required to act upon the world stage.  It can pick and choose its own way seeking its own destiny as a commonwealth of citizens.  An empire must project its power for fear that if it doesn’t another leviathan will arise to take its place.  A free republic that has maintained its independence is able to decide where and when it will become involved.  An empire is always the leader of a center heavy coalition comprised of the imperial core and the associated or satellite nations.  As such it is the collective security against the barbarian, the other that drives the actions of the empire.
In the parlance of our day it is our turn.  It is our turn to be the policeman of the world, our turn to keep the peace, to guard civilization from the unwashed hordes who seek to turn back the clock and bring darkness into the world.  We are a vanguard of stability in a world beset by chaos, and so were the British and the Romans before them.

Other writers may say something has been left off these hallmarks while others may say some of these don’t apply.  To all I would recommend a study of former empires to see if they agree these properties are found in all of them.  Then ask ourselves, “Are these properties present in America today?”  Once we have completed this process we will be able to answer the question for ourselves, “Is America an Empire?”  If we decide, yes it is, we have to realize that there is a trajectory all empires follow: they rise and they fall.
We might decide that,we as the first empire that is not set-up to plunder wealth but instead to distribute wealth, are different, and therefore we will break the mold.  We will stand while others have fallen.  One look at our debt should persuade anyone that what we have built is as unsustainable as the British, the Roman, or any other empire we wish to use as a standard.
Do you say, “We can’t be an empire because our president is elected.”  So were the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, so were the kings of Poland. It is the empire that empowers our executive.  Do you say, “We can’t be an empire because we have a Congress.”  So did Athens,Rome, and Britain.  Do you say, “We can’t be an empire because we have freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, why we even have the freedom to own weapons.”  So did Athens, so did Rome, and so did Britain.
While we are yet on the glory side of the fall let us abandon the empire to save our republic.  Let us resign from the great game of thrones, rebuild America, secure our own borders instead of those of Korea, or Afghanistan, and reaffirm our dedication to be the last best hope of mankind: a federal republic operating on democratic principles, securing our God given liberties, providing personal freedom, individual liberty, and economic opportunity to all its citizens.

Before the Fed turns one-hundred this December, let’s make sure it gets audited! 2013 can be the year that the House and the Senate pass legislation to Audit the Federal Reserve Bank!

Tell Congress: Audit the Federal Reserve – Send Free Messages to Lawmakers!