Committees of Safety Explained

Today, common Americans - your relatives, friends, neighbors, and co-workers,- are forming Committees of Safety in the several States in order to tackle the gravest threats to their liberties, prosperity, and even survival as a self-governing people that have confronted this country in generations. They need your help. Now, while there is still time.

Our form of government has been flipped upside down. The principles for our form of government are spelled out in our Declaration of Independence, our State Constitutions and the Constitution for the united States. The Creator created the People , the People created our States, We The People and the States created the federal government. Instead today the federal government and its agents act as if they were "gods" bullying, bribing and terrorizing the States and the People. We must reverse this. We believe the plan the Committees of Safety have laid out will do just that and will restore our Republic non violently.

The Committees are focusing on the things that will provide "Security of a free State".

1.Security of our money - Hardly anyone will deny the present fiat monetary system (the Federal Reserve System) is unsound and unsustainable as well as unConstitutional. We are offering solutions to this problem that will inject sound, stable Constitutional money into our State's economy.

2.Security from natural and man-made disasters - Most everyone will agree with disgust the way the Department of Homeland Security (using Blackwater, Army and National Guard troops) and FEMA handle a disaster (such as hurricane Katrina) This top down approach is a disaster in itself. The solution, We the People, in our communities, best understand our local conditions and needs. We will need preparedness training to help support our first responders (our local police, fire and E.M.S.)

3. Security of our vote count- Most Americans are aware now of the massive vote fraud taking place in our country today. According to the New York Times and L.A Times articles, as well as a HBO documentary "Hacking democracy" these optical scan and touch screen machine can be remotely hacked into and the vote totals altered. We believe the best solution is, hand counted, paper ballots, counted in public view. Then publicly display the results at the polling place as well as the internet. Anything less than this transparency is a sham. Without a secure, honest, transparent vote count, we can't vote honest representatives in or vote the bums out.

4.Security of our food and water - Most Americans are not prepared in the event of a natural disaster , with the disruption in the supply of food, water, power, etc, and have a very limited supply of food and water stored (usually only a few days). Addressing these issues and offering solutions at the community level will bring the people together and provide for our common welfare.

These security issues, and others can and should be dealt with at the local community and State level, not the federal level.

The Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, etc. are neither inclined nor prepared to provide true "national security" in the form of "the security of a free State" of which the Constitution speaks in the Second Amendment. Instead, when these agencies arrive "to restore order" in their ham-handed ways in the midst of chaotic conditions, Local public officials immediately lose control of their jurisdictions; individuals, families, and businesses invariably suffer abridgments of their freedoms; and power inevitably shifts from We the People and the States- where the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution declares that most of it should reside- to unelected "internal-security professionals" for whom "maintaining order", even at the cost of Local citizens' individual freedoms and personal prosperity, is the sole desideratum. True "national security" degenerates into police-state regimentation.

This situation can only become worse as future crises- and in the not-so-distant future, too- become ever more extensive, intensive, prolonged, and intractable.

And that future crises are breaking out at an ever-accelerating pace-- particularly affecting this country's and the world's monetary, banking, and other financial systems-- points up the urgency of the problem. No less than the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States have admitted that these systems are now largely out of control. Bail-outs of hundreds of billions (even trillions) of dollars expose the dangers even more starkly. And there is no end in sight.

So America will be faced, and must be prepared to deal, with unavoidable crises of perhaps catastrophic proportions, today and for many tomorrows to come. Unfortunately, she is not ready to take on this challenge. If that deficiency is not remedied, and very soon, the damage America will suffer will not only will be incalculable but also irremediable.

1.THE ABSENCE OF CONSTITUTIONAL MILITIA

A lack of preparedness exists throughout America primarily because no State maintains a fully constitutional Militia, capable of performing the constitutional duties "to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions". This is an intolerable state of affairs.

The Second Amendment to the Constitution describes "[a] well regulated Militia" as "necessary to the security of a free State" - the Militia being the only institution that the Constitution describes as "necessary" for any purpose. Every American who considers himself a constitutionalist and a patriot- indeed, every American who simply desires to live in peace in "a free State"- must in good conscience and personal self-interest support this fundamental legal principle in both word and deeds. And every public official who is "bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution" labors under an unavoidable constitutional duty to take whatever action are within his authority to ensure that "[a] well regulated Militia" are maintained in each and every one of the several States.

Nonetheless, Congress and the States' legislatures have done next to nothing up to now to satisfy the constitutional requirement --"the security of a free State"- be based upon "the Militia of the several States", decentralized throughout the country in fifty States and thousand of counties, in the persons of tens of millions of citizens. Instead politicians in Washington,D.C., have created this "Department of Homeland Security" apparatus based on a top-down bureaucratic structure, top-heavy with professional para-militarized police forces, that not only have no resemblance to a constitutional Militia, but also directly threatens the survival of "the security of a free State" throughout the United States.

Congress will do nothing on its own to correct this dangerous state of affairs; and it is probably impossible in the present political climate and circumstances for patriotic Americans throughout the whole country to influence sufficient Members of Congress, sufficiently quickly, to enact the necessary remedial legislation.

So the States must be the initial targets for reform. This is highly appropriate, for reason of both constitutional principle and political practice. After all , the Militia are constitutionally "the Militia of the several States", and therefore originally and primarily the States' responsibility. The existence of fifty separate State legislatures affords patriots forty-nine more opportunities to promote reform than Congress alone offers. And the first State to enact the necessary statute would be an exemplar and encouragement to the others. Nonetheless, State legislatures cannot be expected to take up this task on their own. Rather, each State legislature will likely wait for Congress or some other State to take the first step- with the result that no legislative action all occurs.

Therefore, We the People ourselves must take the lead and bear the initial burden in obtaining State legislation to revitalize "the Militia of the several States". This is highly appropriate, too, because Americans are a self-governing people. And self-government is not a spectator sport. Legislators actually represent the people only when they respond to pressure- and better yet, leadership- from the people.

This is not a matter of political revolution or rebellion, but rather of restoration of true constitutional government. Although America's present plight is extremely serious, and becoming more so every day, Committees of Safety do not believe that the country has quite yet reached the dire straights which the Founding Fathers described in the Declaration of Independence. Committees of Safety do not believe that America's "Form of Government" has failed, that her "Form of Government" has lead to "a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object" which "evinces a design to reduce [the American people] under absolute Despotism", and that "it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish [her Form of Government], and to institute new Government" at this point "in the Course of human events". Committees of Safety do not believe this extremity has been reached, because they know that America's true "Form of Government"-- with fully constitutional Militia in each of the several States-- has not been in operation for over a hundred years! How could anyone expect America's "Form of Government" to function properly, when a component that the Constitution itself declares is "necessary to the security of a free State" has been allowed to atrophy, and thereby not to play its intended role in the government?! And is it possible even to imagine "the Form of Government" becoming destructive of common Americans interests, if common Americans, in the tens of millions, were actually participating in Local Militia units, concerning themselves on a day-to-day basis with the most important issues of their own security, rather than leaving these matters to careerist politicians, professional bureaucrats and selfish special-interest groups?

2.THE MEANS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM

State legislation is legally necessary if America's urgent need for "security of a free State" is to be solved- as it must be solved- by revitalizing the constitutional Militia.

To determine what the phrase "[a] well regulated Militia" means in the Constitution requires reading that phrase in light of "the conditions, and ...the history, of the law as previously existing". [United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649, 653-654 (1898).] For some one hundred and fifty years prior to ratification of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, every Colonial and State Militia was organized pursuant to statute. Therefore, such is the form a constitutional "well regulated Militia" must take today. And so the Constitution itself says, describing the Militia as "the Militia of the several States", not "of the United States", and not composed simply of private individuals acting on their own initiatives. These and these alone are the Militia the Constitution declares to be "necessary to the security of a free State". So, regulation in this manner- pursuant to separate statutes enacted in and by each of "the several States"- is mandatory if the Militia are to exercise legal authority. But, once regulated in this way, the Militia will enjoy such authority not only under their States' laws but also directly under the Constitution of the United States.

Beside being legally necessary, enacting statutes one by one in each of "the several States" is also the most practical way to proceed at this time. We the People do not have to wait for majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate favorable to revitalization of the Militia, and for a President who will not veto the legislation. Rather, patriots can take effective action right now in at least some State or States.

Moreover, Americans do not even have to wait for their own State legislators to take the initiative. Rather, they can do all of the groundwork themselves (as described below).

3. THE VEHICLES FOR SOLVING THE PROBLEM- COMMITTEES OF SAFETY

"Committees of Safety" is a name highly appropriate for the groups being organized in pursuit of this goal, for two reasons:

First, that name perfectly describes the program and the problem being addressed: namely, organizing people to deal through concerted efforts with the most pressing issues of their community's safety.

Second, that name draws a historical parallel between the problems Americans face today and the problems that challenged the Founding Fathers who bequeathed to us the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the "free State" of which they are legal foundations- because what modern Committees of Safety must do in these times is very much akin to what Committees of Safety did in the founding time.

The original Committees of Safety were composed of actual members of the States' legislatures- generally, recognized activists and other leaders within the States- who were appointed to the Committees by the legislatures, to serve as the legislatures' agents and advisors, and to carry on the legislatures' work during recesses. The Committees were never independent of the legislatures, and never carried out any plans that were not approved by the legislatures.

The chief concern of the Committees was the safety of the public: "to put the territory under their supervision in a state of defense and maintain it there effectively". [Agnes Hunt, The Provincial Committees of Safety of the American Revolution (Cleveland, Ohio: Western Reserve University, 1904), at 161.] The Committees also tried to fit their plans and activities into a broader pattern suitable for the States as a whole, by frequent communications among themselves. Overall,

These men gave their time and strength willingly to the cause and worked untiringly for the defense of their province. Often no pay was given them, often they were obliged to take depreciated paper.

It was no easy task that the Committees undertook. They were obliged to overcome the inertia that attends the starting of any movement; to contend against incredulity, fear, and discouragement until they could make results justify their acts. The Committees placed [defense of public] on an effective basis, and the state government merely continued the work it had begun. [Hunt, at 156]

Although modern Committees of Safety are not groups specifically commissioned by their State legislatures, they are performing a function equivalent to, and as important as, those of the original Committees of Safety : namely, advising State legislators on constitutionally correct manner in which to structure "security of a free State" through revitalization of "the Militia of the several States". Moreover, at this time, Committees of Safety are the only groups performing such a function inside or outside of any State's legislatures.

Committees of Safety are organizations composed of citizens from all walks of life at the local community level - neighborhood, precinct, ward, town, city, and county - who exercise their constitutional rights of association, speech, and petition through non-partisan, non-violent, public education and legislation and legislative activism for the purpose of restoring in their own States what the Constitution declares as "necessary to the security of a free State" throughout the United States : "the Militia of the several States". To this end, Committees of Safety will :

1. Organize activists and concerned citizens to attend our town and county Committee of Safety meetings;

2. Build a coalition of others within our community including our State representatives and State senators to attend our meetings and become members of the Committees of Safety;

3. Form sub-committees to work on the most pressing security issues for the State (for ex.1. Security of our money, 2. Security and preparedness for natural or manmade disasters and 3. Security of our vote count)

4. Circulate petitions in our communities, that call for the revitalization of the Constitutional State Militia ( those signing should indicate if they will also volunteer in some capacity when the bill is enacted)

5. Propose - and where possible actually draft - model legislation to revitalize the Constitutional State Militia

(we may want to call it the "Free State Security Bill" )

All of this to be accomplished one State at a time, restoring the system of community defense crucial to a "Republican Form of Government" in each State through the efforts of the people themselves - true "government of the People, by the People, and for the People".

Committees of Safety are educational and advocacy groups (1st Amendment).They are not "private militia", "para-military groups", "firearms-training groups", "gun-rights organizations", "survivalist groups", or any other associations or entities of that nature. Any individual can be, and is welcome as, a member of a Committee of Safety even if he does not possess a firearm, and even if he does not want to (or for religious or other reasons of conscience cannot) possess one, but nonetheless recognizes the need for community preparedness according to constitutional principles and under State statutory authority. No individual member can be a member of the Committees of Safety who proposes that the Committees of Safety should identify itself as some form of "militia" or that the Committees of Safety or its individual members should engage in any form of para-military activity.

Committees of Safety has been building an infrastructure from the grassroots up, and now has 30 county organizers in 16 States, with members in 23 States. Our goal is to have a Committee of Safety in each of the 3,068 counties across the country this coming year. We are a non-partisan, educational, and strictly constitutional lobbying organization. A key goal is to get to know local State representatives and State senators on a personal basis"encouraging them to join county committee meetings where the focus will be on how to draft State statutes to revitalize the Militia along constitutional lines.