Most were not racists, but some were considered so, simply due to their geographic location and love of weapons and military ways. Most were “wannabes”, but there were some brilliant leaders and followers involved; a lot of ex-military. The dangerous ones were the intelligent deviants. He had to walk on egg shells at times, but always seemed to get his message across.
His desire was to consolidate all the minute man or patriot groups under one “organizational umbrella” in order to consolidate political power. He was succeeding; slowly. The leaders were talking and holding combined meetings to discuss strategy, logistics and recruiting. He was reasonably sure one Wyoming Senator was on his side. He and the Senator were alike in patriotism and other ideology, and his aim was to enlist more legislators like him.
He was brought some refreshing fruit drink and a fruit snack and told their elected leader would be with him shortly. Suddenly, he was alone in the cavernous meeting house. It smelled of the forest and of smoke, and of humans. He could hear the distant “pop, pop, pop” of a pistol being shot. The periodic pauses indicated the checking of targets, then the “pop, pop, pop” would start again. Most of these organizations were built around the second amendment right to bear arms, and most of their members loved shooting and hunting. Some just loved getting out of doors.
The various weapons advocates and shooter’s group organizations were always crying “wolf” with regard to second amendment rights being denied. They were right in many instances and kept the members on their toes. Some of the shooter’s organizations had become powerful lobbying groups. They used member contributions to pay Political Action Committee fees for lobbying their cause. Overall it had worked ... so far. America was armed to the teeth, so that any other country having designs on the U.S. would certainly hesitate, based on the fact that their people would get targeted from every bower and creek in the land, much like the colonial revolutionaries had done.
However, if one could slowly remove freedoms from American citizens and make them feel they could only be kept safe by their government, then it might be possible to slowly remove the guts from the second amendment under the guise of “All Americans deserve to feel safe in their homes”. To the walker it begged the question of how much taxes will it take to make them feel safe? How many police, how many video cameras and how many scanners in airports will it take to make them feel safe? William Shakespeare wrote “Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war”. As far as the walker was concerned, the government’s motto was “Cry safety and remove the rule of freedom”.
His thoughts were interrupted by a large swaggering man with a shock of grey hair protruding from his olive drab green cap, and dressed in battle dress camouflage clothing. The guy reminded him of John Wayne. He had a semi-automatic pistol on his side, which as he got closer was revealed to be a 1911 model Colt. He stuck out his hand and delivered an iron grip that tried to crush. When it was returned with the same fierceness, he winced. The walker hoped it had not put the large man off. It hadn’t.
The man said, “God, I love a firm handshake!” He then asked if they could both sit down and talk. The walker was relieved and pleased. He had expected no less, but still… .
The big man introduced himself as Dr. Luke Tarwater. He was a retired gynecologist and said he knew all the gynecologist jokes. They went through the usual, “getting to know each other stuff” and Dr. Tarwater asked the walker if he would address their group that evening. It was Friday and he offered it could start the weekend out in the proper manner. No one there had heard his “sermon” first hand, but all heard about him by then or at least seen a facsimile of his face on the web and read blog reports. He was becoming famous, or perhaps infamous.
The walker said he would be honored to address their group and asked to be given a time. Dr. Tarwater suggested 7:00 p.m. The walker agreed, then asked if he could rest up somewhere for a while. He was given a small, but adequate room off the main hall. It was virtually soundproof. He was delivered some more food, and he prayed for about half an hour.
At six thirty he asked for directions to the latrine, relieved himself and returned to the small room to meditate and change. He came out of the room at 6:55 dressed in black silk pajamas and flip-flops. The chaotic room was over-filled with members, male and female. Several babies whimpered. Youngsters were respectful and disciplined. The room got quiet as he walked to the podium which had been set up especially for his speech. He thanked the crowd quietly and began:
“I am both honored and embarrassed to be here; honored, because I’m talking to American citizens and heroes who love their country; embarrassed, because I would never have chosen this path for myself. One would hope that all Americans of like mind would come together and agree on certain things and that an old man like me would not have to worry about the integrity of our constitution. However, that is not currently the case.
“Our government has become so large, it cannot act. It can only react. It is so fragmented, it cannot be organized. It is so diverse in its directions it can only sit still, print and spend money. There are no politicians who can grasp, control and lead the entire organization. No administration is willing to risk the ire of even a small part of its political base to get our entire country pointed in the right direction.
“The definition of a traitor is, ‘One who betrays one’s country, a cause, or a trust, especially one who commits treason’. Treason is defined as, acting to overthrow one’s government; it is also defined as a violation of allegiance to one’s state or betrayal of trust or confidence. While I do not advocate overthrow of our government, I do advocate justice for those in positions of honor who have betrayed the special trust and confidence placed in them by the American people. I think we all know their names.
“When government organizations are asked to lead, follow or get out of the way; they purposely get in the way. It sometimes takes years for a private American citizen to receive a patent, or just get his or her fair social security compensation after paying into it for forty years. And, don’t try to enter a government building paid for with our taxes, without first going through a security screening process. They call it security; I call it control.
“One cannot inquire to a government organization and expect a timely answer, unless one is very wealthy. I’m sure most of you have tried to contact a local government agency and received the run-around from various demigods. One will never get an answer to a question from an inquiry via government internet, unless satisfied with the FAQs.
“I’m also sure most of you remember when our yearly tax money granted us at least the unfettered entrance to our National Parks. Now we pay to enter those natural shrines; our shrines. If you complain, you’re labeled a trouble maker and either arrested, threatened or both.
“We have become a country of ‘us and them’. How many times have you heard a government official refer to ‘The American People’? Seldom do we hear ‘We the People’. Every administration tries to stay in power; not in service!
He raised his voice, “We-need-to-take-back-control-of ... our ... country!”
He was always met with a standing ovation at this point so he let the chatter die down a bit and then started to use his hands and arms again for accent. He started with a string of words, pausing between each for further emphasis.
“Bearing, courage, decisiveness … dependability, endurance, enthusiasm, initiative, integrity … judgment, justice, knowledge … loyalty, tact and unselfishness; those, ladies and gentlemen are the traits of leaders. How many of those traits can you ascribe to your government leaders? Please think about it. Our military personnel are torn between those traits and their missions each day. They have sworn to live by those traits and if necessary die by them.
“Yet, we have continually sent them into harm’s way without a declaration of war. We have sent them to defend