 | Christian Patriots Part III |
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Only Christian Patriot common law courts with juries composed of sovereigns can sit in judgement of a sovereign |
"Common law" as
practiced by the Christian Patriots is not law in
the sense that most people understand it. It is the arbitrary and
capricious pronouncements of petty tyrants. The Christian Patriots
frequently claim that common law descends from the Magna Carta. It
does, but only in the sense that they see themselves as modern
feudal lords whose sovereignty is granted by God, sealed by their
"pure-bloodedness" and secured by their property. The "peers" of
a common law jury are not peers in the ordinary sense of equals.
They are peers in the sense of aristocratic lords in the earthly
Kingdom of Heaven. As sovereigns, their word is law. Failure to
obey that law is treason and punishable by death.
The hierarchy with the Christian Patriot sovereigns below God and above all others can be seen in this excerpt from the Justus Freemen's "Our de jure county government": "Our" Lawful Chain of CommandAttorneys are frequently baffled by common law practices, since the documents which the Christian Patriot sovereigns issue frequently look very similar to standard legal documents. Many Christian Patriots have spent considerable amounts of time studying legal language and procedure. As a result, Christian Patriot common law shares much of the form of law, but few of the basic assumptions and definitions. Most of the jail-house lawyering done by Christian Patriots is learned by rote and believed with a religious fervor. This can -- and frequently does -- lead to considerable confusion and shouting matches in courtrooms, as occurred when the Justus Township Freemen were arraigned. The Christian Patriot claim that real courts do not have jurisdiction over them is the usual starting point for common law legal shenanigans. The peers of the Christian Patriot Republic refuse to be judged by anyone who is not a Christian Patriot sovereign. Only Christian Patriot common law courts with juries composed of sovereigns can sit in judgement of a sovereign. Should anyone disagree with the sovereign challenging jurisdiction, that disagreement -- even coming from the bench in a real courtroom -- is an "unconstitutional" act and thus proof of treason. Since the penalty for treason is death, the next step is usually a death threat against the judge, sheriff, prosecutor, county clerk or who ever dares to disagree with the sovereign. | ||
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The Banking Conspiracy |
The final
piece in the Christian Patriot puzzle is their attitude
towards money and banking. Expressed -- as usual -- as a
conspiracy theory, the Christian Patriot mythos describes "money"
as only gold and silver. All paper currency and financial
institutions (except their own) are fraudulent.
In the minds of Christian Patriots, the banks are all controlled by Satan through the Jews. It's not as fashionable these days to say Jews control the banks as it used to be, so the most common catch- phrase is "international bankers." The bigger the bank, the closer to the Prince of Lies. In the minds of Christian Patriots, the center of the entire conspiracy is housed in the Federal Reserve and the creation of the Federal Reserve was part of the Illuminatti conspiracy which also altered the Constitution by passing all those "unconstitutional" amendments to the organic Constitution. Most conspiracy theories have this sort of internal logic in which everything is connected to everything else -- conclusions become assumptions which lead to conclusions which are the original assumptions -- in a dizzy circle of logic without reason. The historical circumstances which gave rise to the banking conspiracy theory are many: Disraeli's self-aggrandizing novels, the introduction of "greenback" currency during the Civil War, the role of political corruption in the many railroad and banking scandals of the era surrounding the Civil War, wild swings of inflation and deflation during the boom and bust cycle of the last two decades of the 19th century, the appearance of racial anti- Semitism, anti-immigrant hysteria, the rise of the Populist Party and most of all, the Free Silver issue. Without going into the history of political theories about the "money issue" of the last four decades of the 19th century, suffice it to say that by the end of the 19th century the "banking conspiracy" theory was: The United States -- and particularly the those states whose economies depended upon wheat, cotton or silver -- had been victimized by an international conspiracy to deflate the value of American goods by the "disappearance" of silver coinage. This conspiracy was directed from Britain by Jews and the House of Rothchild.Those who grew up during this period were subjected to a political climate described by Richard Hofstadter as "the wave of almost unbelievable money mania." The impressions of childhood became the prejudices of later life. The 1920's saw William Jennings Bryan involved with the Klan; Thomas E. Watson cheerleading the lynching of Leo Frank; and Henry Ford publishing The Protocals of the Elders of Zion as The International Jew. The depth of feeling inspired by Populist "money mania" is indicated by Sen. Ashurst of Arizona's statement to Treasury Secretary Morganthau: "My boy, I was brought up from my mother's knee on silver and I can't discuss that with you any more than you can discuss your religion with me." With the creation of the Federal Reserve system, the passage of the income tax and the final recognition of federal responsibility for the general welfare during the New Deal, the final stones of the foundation of the modern "banking conspiracy" theory were laid. Again, the generational lag postponed the superstitious hysteria past the end of WWII. At this time, the seeds of Identity began to take root through the actions of Wesley Swift, William Potter Gale, San Jancinto Capt and others under the cover of "anti-communism." In its current form the Christian Patriot "international banking conspiracy" myth now goes: The Jews who control international banking have centralized financial institutions into a monolithic conspiracy which is able to direct the affairs of governments by currency manipulation and expanding the national debt. The Internal Revenue Service, Federal Reserve, World Bank and a few other institutions now seek to control every individual by issuing tax-payer identification numbers, credit cards and, in the most recent twist, implanted "microchip" transponders. All of this is related to the Scriptural prophesy in Revelations 13:15-18 about "the mark of the Beast [666]." As "money" becomes separated from the real value of gold and silver by the use of paper currency, checks, electronic funds transfers and other forms, the resulting monetary system has become a fraud. This fraud works through all aspects of the system of taxation, licensing, banking and lending with the goal of enslaving the world population to the "international bankers." | ||
The Christian Patriot World View |
In their corner
of American political opinion, Christian Patriots
have collected all the conspiratorial baggage of American history
and assembled it into a cohesive and comprehensive -- but
fundamentally irrational -- explanation of the world. These
beliefs commit them to revolutionary and frequently violent action.
While not all Christian Patriots are believers in Identity
doctrine, most -- if not all -- have adopted the assumptions of
Identity as key beliefs:
The Christian Patriot movement is driven much more by the theological world-view of Identity doctrine, rather than a political ideology. Because religion has only recently come to play a direct role in national politics, there is a blind-spot in most observers' picture of the outbreak of Christian Patriot militancy which began in 1992. This is no doubt partly due to the respect for and toleration of religious dissent in America. The result is that Christian Patriots -- such as the Justus Township Freemen in Montana -- have been labeled "kooks," "crack-pots" and "extremists" without a serious examination of the belief structures which have led them to their current situation. Researchers and experts familiar with Christian Patriotism have adopted two complementary metaphors which capture the structural role of these beliefs: | ||
A chain of association that connects most groups across a wide range of opinion and belief |
Leonard
Zeskind, an expert on Christian Identity and a active
participant in opposing the Posse Comitatus in the 1980's described
the belief structure as a "conveyor belt" at a research conference
held in January 1992. The meeting was called by the Northwest
Coalition Against Malicious Harassment to discuss the current state
of knowledge and implications of the militias. Over 40
participants from all over the nation attended.
As Zeskind explained the metaphor of the conveyor belt, people come into contact with political or religious groups looking for answers to the problems of society. Political affiliation is not tightly compartmented and there is always overlap with other groups. The members of political/religious minorities draw upon larger groups for their recruits. One often sees these recruiters hanging around the fringes of meetings, seeking to make contact with people who might be sympathetic to their cause The recruiters frequently ask to speak before other groups so that they can give their opinions wider exposure. In this way, there is a chain of association that connects most groups across a wide range of opinion and belief. As a potential convert becomes dissatisfied with one group, there is usually a recruiter for another -- and perhaps more extreme -- set of opinions somewhere nearby. According to Zeskind, this chain of association acts like a conveyor belt to carry susceptible people towards extreme actions and beliefs. Ken Toole is director of the Montana Human Rights Network, the first civil-liberties group to come into direct confrontation with militias. Toole takes a slightly different view from Zeskind's, but the image of people being actively selected by their sympathy for particular beliefs is also present. In Ken Stern's recent book on the militias, "A Force Upon the Plain," Toole explained how this works: "It's like a funnel moving through space," said Toole. "At the front end, it's picking up lots and lots of people by hitting on issues that have wide appeal, like gun control and environmental restrictions, which enrage many people here out West. Then you go a little bit further into the funnel, and it's about ideology, about the oppressiveness of the federal government. Then, further in, you get into the belief systems. The conspiracy. The Illuminatti. The Freemasons. Then, it's about the anti-Semitic conspiracy. Finally, at the narrow end of the funnel, you've drawn in the hard core, where you get someone like Tim McVeigh popping out.... [T]he bigger the front end of the funnel is, the bigger the number that get to the core."The notion of Christian Identity doctrine as the "motor" for militant white supremacy is widely shared among experts. Many of the most violent white supremacist groups of the last three decades have either been led by or composed of individuals who are Identity believers: Posse Comitatus; The Order; The Order Strike Force II; Phineas Priests; The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord (CSA); Aryan Nations; Texas Emergency Reserve; Committee of the States; Christian Patriot Defense League; and the Justus Township Freemen, to name a few. Accepting Leonard Zeskind's metaphor of a conveyor belt or Ken Toole's image of a funnel moving through space, one then must ask, "What drives this mechanism?" Among experts, the overwhelming majority agree that Christian Identity provides the "motor" for recruitment, propaganda and militant action by Christian Patriot white supremacists. A mandate from God is a powerful thing to true believers.
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Albion Monitor April 15, 1996 (http://www.monitor.net/monitor)
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