Charles Rangel
With the intent of giving this site a major redesign, I have been neglecting it for the past few months in favor of other activities. However, my lack of attention hasn't slowed down our masters in Washington D.C., who continue their relentless march to exert control over every area of our lives.
The John Galt Pledge website was originally created in response to Obama's campaign promise, and the administration's subsequent calls, for the imposition of a mandatory national service requirement upon every citizen of the United States, in fulfillment of an obligation that it is claimed we owed to our country as a condition of our simple existence. Over the past year, this blog has chronicled the steady increase in funding of agencies tasked with placing the livelyhood of an ever increasing percentage of the population under direct federal control, as well as the underground movement to impose mandatory "community service" work upon students as a requirement for their obtaining an education.
As I predicted, once these politicians were no longer fully preoccupied with the tasks of nationalizing entire industries, ramming socialized health care down our throats, and increasing their regulatory control over all aspects of our personal and business finances, they would soon get back to the fundamental task of fully enslaving us. Well, that day has come. On July 15, 2010, Charles Rangel introduced H.R.5741, the preamble of which reads:
| To require all persons in the United States between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform national service, either as a member of the uniformed services or in civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, to authorize the induction of persons in the uniformed services during wartime to meet end-strength requirements of the uniformed services, and for other purposes. |
No longer suffering any of the ambiguity that was contained in the language of the previous H.R.1444, this bill spells out all of the details. How long will your period of servitude to the state last? According to section 104:
| (a) General Rule- Except as otherwise provided in this section, the period of national service performed by a person under this title shall be two years. |
And what will you be required to do? Well the preamble indicates military service or homeland security work is a possibility, but then there is that always present, all purpose phrase, "and for other purposes". Section 103 states:
|
(b) Forms of National Service- The national service obligation
under this title shall be performed either—
(2) in a civilian capacity that, as determined by the President, promotes the national defense, including national or community service and service related to homeland security. |
So, "community service" "as determined by the President", leaves open the possibility that for two years of your life, you may find yourself directed to read to the elderly, weed gardens, work on some sort of WPA task, or any other function that the president declares is a boon to "the community".
How will the legislation be administered? Excerpts from section 105:
|
(a) In General- The President shall prescribe such regulations
as are necessary to carry out this title.
(b) Matter To Be Covered by Regulations- Such regulations shall include specification of the following:
(2) Standards for satisfactory performance of civilian service and of penalties for failure to perform civilian service satisfactorily. [...] (7) Such other matters as the President determines necessary to carry out this title. (c) Use of Prior Act- To the extent determined appropriate by the President, the President may use for purposes of this title the procedures provided in the Military Selective Service Act (50 U.S.C. App. 451 et seq.), including procedures for registration, selection, and induction. |
The government will decide not only exactly what tasks you will be assigned to execute, but will also determine what level of performance is expected of you. Failure to live up to their standards will subject you to unspecified "penalties".
The government will now be assessing the physical and mental fitness of every citizen, as per section 106:
| (a) Examination- Every person subject to induction under this title shall, before induction, be physically and mentally examined and shall be classified as to fitness to perform national service. |
Of course, this should be much easier with the government controlling all medical care in the country and maintaining centralized health records on each of us, thanks to the recent health care legislation.
And ladies, just to make sure that there is no gender discrimination, section 201 mandates that the Selective Service Act be amended to fully apply to all females:
|
(a) Registration Required- Section 3(a) of the Military
Selective Service Act (50 U.S.C. 453(a)) is amended—
(2) by inserting 'or herself' after 'himself'; (3) by striking 'he' and inserting 'the person'. (b) Conforming Amendment- Section 16(a) of the Military Selective Service Act (50 U.S.C. App. 466(a)) is amended by striking 'men' and inserting 'persons'. |
Consider the following:
- When the first modern Income
Tax was levyed in the U.S. in 1913, the top rate was 7% on income
over $500,000 (equal to $10 million 2007 dollars), but rose to 79% by
1936, and 94% by 1944.
- When Social
Security was enacted in 1935, the payroll tax rate was 2% up to a
maximum income of $3,000, and has since grown to a total payroll tax
(Social Security and Medicare) of 15.3% assessed on up to $106,800 of
income.
- Privacy concerns over the issuing of Social Security numbers in 1935 resulted in a promise by the federal government that they would not be used for identification, and the original cards included the long gone statement, "NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION". Subsequent legislation has eroded these supposed guarantees, now making the Social Security number a de facto national identification number for all citizens.
It wasn't long ago that Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel stated
-
"Everybody—somewhere between the ages 18 and 25—will
serve three months of basic training and understanding in a kind of
civil defense."
And now, just a short time later, we are contemplating a two-year period of each person's life being totally owned by the federal government and controlled by the whims of the president. The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states:
-
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place
subject to their jurisdiction."
If H.R.5741 is not a clear cut form of involuntary servitude, enslaving every citizen to the state, then the concept of constitutionally-protected individual rights is completely meaningless.
Rights are absolute moral principles; they do not exist along some sort of sliding or flexible scale of applicability. As can clearly be seen in the examples of Income and Social Security Taxes noted above, once you cede to the government the "right" to take even one cent of your property, then you have totally invalidated the concept of property rights and there is no longer any constraint remaining to halt the taking of 25, 50, 94 or 100 percent of your earnings.
By the same token, if you grant the government the power to dictate just one second of your life, then you have fully abandoned the right to your own life and the liberty to do with it as you see fit. The government will consume first that second – then three months – then two years – and finally, any additional amount beyond that it deems useful for its own purposes. You are then nothing more than a literal slave – a human resource owned by the state, to be utilized by political masters as they best see fit.
Everything the government has been doing over the past one hundred years has been only a precursor to this ultimate goal — the total enslavement and control of the citizenry. Barack Obama is one of the most consistent advocates for the totalitarian subjugation of the populace, but his ability to act rests firmly on the shoulders of a century's worth of politicians who have steadly chipped away at the constitutional edifice of individual rights. We now stand at the tipping point which will determine the future of freedom in America, and what happens rests upon the decision of every citizen. Will there be enough people who recognize the significance of what is happening with the destruction of their rights? And will a sufficient number be willing to act to defend their life, liberty and property, as our forefathers once did? With each day that passes, the options grow fewer.
It's your life. What are you prepared to do about it?
For more information on the philosophical ramification of this movement towards mandatory national service, refer to the original essay on the John Galt Pledge page.