I Love My Country, But Fear My Government

by Michael Holcombe (Florida)

Speech given at the Freedom Forum of the IAP National Conference, January 18, 2003, Salt Lake City, Utah.  Mike Holcombe is State Chair of the Independent American Party of Florida.

They say brevity is the soul of wit – well, I must be a moron because I'm scheduled to speak to you for about a half-hour.

Most people are afraid of public speaking. Some of you already know me, you know that I'm not. People I've found are afraid of public speaking for a number of reasons. Some fear being misunderstood. At our first regional conference I was misunderstood. And much of what say today will likewise be misunderstood. I've got no fear of that. You're only going to hear whatever it is that you want to hear – no more, no less. I can only control what I say. It's up to you to hear. So what then is the point of public speaking? To make you think, my friends. To make you think.

Many people are afraid of public speaking because they fear that the audience won't like them. I'm not here to make friends. I don't care if you like me or not. Some things need to be said. And I've got the courage of my convictions to say them. Because the people I represent expect these things to be said.

Now when was the last time you heard your local politician offer up those words? "The people I represent." Usually you hear them utter "I've got people or voters in my district," or the worst one – "my constituents." They don't represent us anymore. We're simply a group that belongs to them – like slaves and like sheep – lambs being led to the slaughter, sacrificed on the alter of public trust for the betterment of their careers.

Well, the people I represent have had enough. They're just too afraid to say so themselves. See, most people are afraid of the permanence of public speaking back. Oh sure, you can apologize for it like Trent Lott did. You can attempt to redefine it like Bill Clinton's testimony regarding the "word" is. But once it's said publicly you can't really take it back. So let me offer you this. I've been called a racist. Not by those who know me for sure, but by the ignorant leftists who only hear what they want to hear. They've heard me say that there is no black America, there's no Hispanic America and they label me. Well gee, I've seen North America and South America on a map, but I defy you to show me where black America is. Where on the map is Hispanic America? Yeah, I'm a racist.

I believe that if you're a member of the human race then I'm with you. I don't care about your skin color nor about your ancestry so long as you're human. And I can back that up historically.

In 1985 I moved to Florida. My roommates were both black. My father disowned me because I was in his terms "an Oreo cookie." But today I remain friends with one of these men, going as far as to call him the brother that my mother never had. Now some people think I'm now stepping out to that slippery slope. I prefer to think that I'm tobogganing down the hill of understanding.

So let is also be know that I've been called a sexist. Feminists don't want to be called Female or Woman. And gee, they get really offended when you call them lady. What should we call them? I firmly believe that women need to know their place in our society. And that place is upon the pedestal that we men place them. You see real men know who runs the household, who raises the kids, who keeps us sane while we're supposedly running the rest of the world. Real men know how to treat the women they represent and aren't afraid to speak up for their families when push comes to shove. Real men know the sacrifices that must be made by both man and wife. And if that makes me a sexist, then okay, but honey you're staying home with the kids until they're able to go to school. And as far as the women's movement in this country is concerned, let me say this: I'm all in favor of the women's movement, especially when I'm walking behind it. Ha ha.

Now the liberals would probably tell you, oh let me salivate at some of these sound bites. They could go nuts, they could go back to their newsrooms, their editing studios and cut this speech up to conform to their worst news stories. You and I will know the truth and the truth tastes mighty good, let me tell you. And when you boil it all down, that's what it's all about – because you've got nothing to fear from the truth. Sure it's an acquired taste. Some people don't appreciate it; but most people do and they love it.

The truth is I'm not even worthy to address this congress assembled here today. I am simply a tool. Words have come to my mind. I've jotted them down and I speak them. If those words have descended from on high, well that's up to you to decide. The truth is I'm nobody special. I'm just like you created equally and endowed with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

In 1922 a gentleman by the name of J. G. Holland wrote a poem for the Boston Herald which I would like to share with you today.

God, grant us men a time like this demands,
Great hearts, strong minds, true faith and willing hands.
Men whom the lust of office does not kill
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy
Men who possess opinions and a will
Men who have honor
Men who will not lie
For while the rabble with their thumb worn creeds,
Their large professions and their little deeds,
Wrangle in selfish strife
Lo, freedom weeps,
Wrong rules the land
And waiting justice sleeps.

Well folks, God has given us men right here, right now with the IAP. It's time to wake up justice. We're going to come knocking on your door. It's time you tipped those scales back to what brought this country to greatness – Freedom. This country was founded on the belief that all people are basically good, and if you just leave them alone, they'll continue to choose good over evil.

Unfortunately, what we've evolved into is a lesser of two evils mentality. We've got the Republicans and we've got the Democrats. And as a fellow radio talk show host once told me, – That's it! That's the ball game. You can't win the World Series unless you're on an American League or on a National League team. Well big guy, I love your radio show, but! The World Series isn't played by the world! It's only played by the arrogant United States. If we let in the rest of the world, the Japanese would be kicking our butt. And that's what I see the IAP doing. We're starting up a true World Series of politics right here together. Major league, national league, the Independent American League! Let's kick some Republicrats, huh? Or are you afraid too?

Are you afraid that this Floridan is speaking out of school? Does this Flor-idiot not know his place? Well there are those who will deprecatingly say that Floridians can't even count votes correctly. To them I submit that when my daughter, Amber, was four years old or about four years old, she came to me and she said, "Daddy I can count to a hundred, you want to see?" Well, like any proud father, I said, "Sure." And she began, "One, two, skip a few, ninety-nine, a hundred."

You laugh, but next morning I submitted her name for Supervisor of Elections in Miami and Broward Counties. The people I represent are sick of the lies we get from both sides of the aisle. And we're afraid that this is all we can hope for from a government of Republicrats. We're sick of the so-called bi-partisan, democratic process when we know that our founding fathers designed a non-partisan representative republic. The people I represent are afraid of their rulers who refuse to bow to the demands of the people when we've called for term-limited government. They're afraid of the judges who side with what's legal rather than what's right and just. They're afraid of the lawyers who claim to be for the people when actually for the money. The people I represent are afraid of the Janet Reno's of this world, who storm into houses on a whim, with guns in the faces of little boys, or who storm into churches because they can control the propaganda machine and call that church a cult.

The people I represent are afraid of the John Ashcrofts of this world who can now invade your privacy just on the suspicion of being linked to a terrorist. They're afraid of renting their apartments to middle easterners because of those suspected links. But they're afraid of not renting apartments because of discrimination lawsuits from the ACLU. Hell, the people I represent are even afraid of joining the NRA because they might be considered militia and thereby subject to a Randy Weaver type incident. They're afraid the ATF is got to come in and kill their family, or that the state's child protective services will come into their homes and try to take their kids because of some anonymous tip. Love the Country, Fear the Government.

And that's why I'm here today. I'm not afraid. You all here have seen to that. You give me hope – hope that we can restore the Constitution of these United States – hope that the good Lord can see that our cause is just and true and will aid us in this endeavor. You here give people like me, a simple nobody, strength to continue. So I pray that you look at that man in the mirror tonight and you see what I see – the American you always read about in history books. We each have a little patriot in us. I hope yours comes out to play. And I say "play" because to some people politics is just a game.

People like Tom Daschle play with families like mine all the time. To people like Tom Daschle, taxes are a game too. They raise taxes on the rich and ones who aspire to be rich in order to redistribute the money to the tired, the poor, the huddled masses. Now Daschle is a Democrat. The Republican (excuse me). The congressman in my district is a Republican, so I wrote to him just to ask him a simple question. Dear Honorable Cliff Stearns; While I appreciate your voting record in your efforts to reduce the expansion of Medicare – Medicare is still expanding – and now you suggest that we pay more for a package of prescription drugs for senior citizens, not based on need, but simply because they've achieved a ripe old age. Can you please point out for me the specific section of the Constitution that grants Congress the right to tax any one American for the benefit of any other American?

Well, let me tell you what my fifteen years in radio have taught me. Never ask a question that you don't already know the answer to. Read the Constitution. The answer is nowhere. Nowhere in the Constitution does it allow for this type of taxation. In the words of several U.S. Presidents, there's simply no Constitutional authority for this. Hell, even the income tax is voluntary. Look it up. Now unfortunately, the government doesn't want you to know it's a voluntary tax, so they've got the IRS to hound you into paying every year. But I'm telling you be afraid no more. The 16th Amendment needs to be read by you before April 15th. You do have to file, but you don't really have to pay. But I bet though, come April 15th you'll still be too afraid to write exempt at the bottom. Love my country, Fear the IRS.

You thought about that for a second huh? Sure it's fair – Fear the IRS, but you know what's even more fair? Write this one down if you can. www.fairtax.org You go check that out and then go check out the NADN website. The National Audit Defense Network and see if you're still afraid of the IRS.

Anyway, I digress, let's get back to Cliff Stearns. Cliff Stearns, Republican, six weeks later responded. But he completely ignored my question. Surprise, surprise! He did however thank me for my Social Security concerns. Now can you believe that? Of course you can! But since this is a public forum let me address Mr. Stearns. Hey Cliff, I've got no Social Security concerns. You know why? Social Security is a socialist fallacy. It's a fraud Cliff, it's a pongee scheme that would land me in jail if I submitted it to a group of investors, but it's funded just about every entitlement since it's inception by that communist FDR. Oooh, the Social Security system is a tax and spend rip-off that was foisted upon the American people to garner votes for a crooked politician who really understood the power of influence, pedaling and racketeering.

You want proof of that? Let me ask you ? where's the social security trust fund? Which bank is it in? Ah, the liberals would be frothing at the bit right now. Uum, he just called Franklin Delano Roosevelt a communist. Yes I did! But don't forget – he was also a thief, a racketeer, a fraud and a socialist who is no better than Marx, Mao, Lenin, or Woodrow Wilson. Yes, Wilson too was a socialist. It was Wilson who converted this fine republic into a simple democracy with the direct election of Senators.

I love my country, so I'm afraid that we need to repeal the 17th amendment friends. It was Wilson who took a page out of Marx's Manifesto with the direct control of the country's monetary system. Wilson gave us – drum roll please – the Federal Reserve. Who owns the Fed? Not the U.S., I can assure you. Where's the bulk of our national debt? With the Fed. Who controls the U.S. economy? The Fed. Who regulates the value of the currency? The Fed. Who tells the government how much money it can coin or print? The Fed. And where in the Constitution does it say that we can get into the banking industry? It doesn't! So who owns the Fed? Well I'm not going to fly off some handle and give you some conspiracy theories, but I'm afraid that the Fed runs all the money and that we, the people do not. Love the Country, Fear the Fed!

And why did Wilson do this to America? Well, to understand it thoroughly, you'll need to read a book entitled Phillip Drew, Administrator. It was written in the nom de guerre by Wilson's closest friend Colonel Edward Mandel House. House also wrote a choice opinion regarding our Constitution. You want to hear it?

The Constitution, product of 18th century minds and quasi-classical medieval conceptions of republics was thoroughly outdated. The country would be better off if the Constitution could be scrapped and rewritten.

Show me who your friends are, Mr. Wilson.

My friends are here. My friends have read the Constitution, and understand that its beauty is in its simplicity. It limits the government. It protects the individual, assuming that the individual will recognize that any infringement upon his rights and freedoms is an infringement upon us all. Our Constitution is the rule of law over men. And no man is above the law.

The government should be afraid of us, not the other way around. But Americans still live in fear. They're afraid of losing their jobs because their company is going bankrupt, but the company still has to pay exorbitant taxes to the government which they then pass on to consumers, who in turn pass up the products because it's cheaper to buy elsewhere. It's simple economics that's being naively ignored by Washington to the detriment of the economy. Love my country, but fear economic downturn.

And it's not just a lack of consumables; it's NAFTA, which opened up the borders so that American companies can now move to Mexico for labor rates of two dollars an hour instead of Union rates of about twelve dollars an hour. How does that ripple the economy? Well, the Mexican's now work from home for two dollars an hour when they used to migrate north to pick fruit in California for a buck fifty an hour.

The out of work union folks, they now take those fruit picker jobs, under the table of course, for about five bucks an hour, and what does that do to the price of fruit? Yeah, it triples. And it's not just produce, but meats too. Prices go up while income has gone down.

The saddest day I ever experienced was the day I sat down at a McDonald's eating my lunch with a Mickey D's employee next to me at the next table. She was eating a PBJ [peanut butter and jelly] from home. Well, I made some comical reference to the food or to the cleanliness of the kitchen and asked her why she was eating a PBJ from home. She explained to me that she just couldn't afford to eat there. Love my country, but fear the desperation.

The people I represent fear the government because they either don't know the law or they don't agree with the law. They fear a government that lets a murderer walk free because some glove didn't fit – but makes a 90 year old glaucoma patient spend a year in jail because she bought some weed to ease her pain. And when did the government make this little weed illegal anyway? Nineteen thirty-seven, a little bit after they repealed the Volstead Act. You know why? Because weeds can't be taxed, and marijuana was cutting into the huge profits of the then thriving alcohol traders, specifically the Kennedy Clan from Taxa-chussetts.

Now I'm not passing judgment on either the murderer nor the dope smoker. I'm simply saying that there's something wrong. And my fear is that it's only getting worse. For example in Baton Rouge, Louisiana police as of yesterday were simply pulling over white GM pickup trucks and asking the occupants to submit to a DNA test because they're looking for some murderer. Indiscriminate any white GM pickup truck, let's pull it over and ask the occupant to submit to a DNA test.

Just two days ago I was in Denver. It was one of radio's top news stories on KNUS AM710. Denver police were going to begin cracking down on people who warm up their cars by leaving them unattended. You see it's a crime in Denver to leave your car running. They say it's an attraction to car thieves – so why not arrest the car thieves?

And the worst. September 6, 2002, an appeals court decided that any law defining marriage, as "the exclusive union between one man and one woman" was unconstitutional and discriminatory. Mind you, this was Canada. But it's coming our way soon if we're not careful. You see eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. But I'm afraid that the price is considered too high by some. Love my country, but fear the apathy.

We also fear the secularists. We now have to wait for the words "Under God" to be ruled upon before principals will let school children recite the pledge again. What's next? Oh yeah! The money. It's time we got those atheists recognized by removing that offensive U.S. motto from the currency. Well, the people I represent have something to say about that. "In God we Trust" Jack. You don't like it, stop using our money! Find some other country's money and use that. No, no, better yet, go start your own secular atheist country. Go be with the heathens, the pagans, the satanists, the whomever. Don't leave our "one nation under God" mad, just leave!

And watch out for them radical Islamic fundamentalists when you go. They hate the Jews, they hate the Buddhists, and with good reason – proximity. But the Christians are also on their target list because we live by that golden rule – do unto others, and turn the other cheek. We allow people the freedom to choose because we believe they'll choose good. We are forgiven in accordance to our own forgiveness. We let homosexuals walk freely among us because we hate the sin, but not the sinner. We believe that there's always time for redemption. To Islamics however, America is the great infidel. To Islamics, an atheist country would be easy pickings. So I say GO! To the atheists, because it would be the most American thing you could do with your un-American little . . . . Love my country, fear the anti-religious zealots.

Now I touched on atheists – excuse me, Islamics. That usually goes hand in hand with terrorism, so before liberals have a cow, let me just say this. Islam is not the enemy. Every attempt to create a jihad or to refer to the hostilities as Bush's crusade, is wrong. It's a war – rather, it's not a war, it's not a religious war. It's a war against those who'd prevent religious freedoms. It's American History 101. We left England for the colonies to avoid persecution. We established a nation where you can believe in God as you want to believe, worship as you want to worship, not worship as you want if you don't want to worship. Any attack by a religion to force itself upon another with the mandate of convert or die is an attack upon us all. All three inalienable rights are being infringed upon and it is this core belief – our very foundation itself – that must be defended.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but constitutionally, isn't Homeland Security the only job of government – militarily, economically, collectively protecting our very way of life, provide for the common defense and all that? So why does the government have so many different departments? And why did September 11th actually happen at all? Apathy, specifically apathetic president. A pathetic president, Clinton. Clinton decided to provide the general welfare and simply promote the common defense. Well, Billy, you've got it backwards, Bud. And here I thought he was stricken with peronies, not dyslexia.

An attack upon one freedom is an attack upon all, just like an attack upon one state is an attack upon us all. Hirohito found that one out the hard way when he awoken the sleeping giant. So why don't we uphold that belief when the IRS attacks our neighbor? Why do we simply drive by the routine traffic stop on the highway when we see the police tossing a cars contents onto the shoulder in an obvious search for something that some dog may or may not have smelled. Why do we allow this police state to attack our 4th Amendment and we give it new provisions to intrude our e-mails, pages, cell phone calls, all under the guise of homeland security. And tell me my friend, do we even have a 2nd Amendment any more? Not according to almost fourteen of the twenty-four judges on the Ninth "Circus" Court of Appeals in California. They said an individual has no right to bear arms unless he's part of an organized militia, to wit the National Guard. They'll be taking away our guns soon, people. Love my country, fear the Gestapo.

And to think our rulers have sworn to uphold and protect that very document they're trampling with their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. I fear they've forgotten the meaning of the word unless of course they've replaced honor with career. Hell, they've even disavowed the sanctity of human life with the continued existence of the Rowe v. Wade decision and it's assisted suicide repercussions. Now you consider it for a moment. Thou shalt not kill. I discussed this with my older brother once. He rephrased the passage thusly: Thou shalt not commit murder. I can argue the benefits of both phrases. But the question we must ask is, "What is Life?" Or rather, "When is Life and who decides?" Well, actually our nation's Supreme Court is no better at this decision than this congress assembled today. But if we live a republic, then life is begun when the law says its begun. And several laws on the books today since the seventeen hundreds, adapted from laws on the books since the 2nd Century state, clearly state that life begins in the womb. If you murder a pregnant woman and the baby dies, you're then charged with a double homicide.

If we live as a simple democracy, why do the courts block the will of over 62 per cent of the U S. population that say life begins in the womb? It's not a choice; it's a child! Abortion is murder. Without life there can be no liberty. And an aborted fetus cannot vote on the matter ever. So it's up to you and I to see that we get it done. I say that if you've never been aborted you shouldn't make others forcibly face that procedure, as approximately 3500 innocent would-be Americans do every day. Love my country, fear the murderers.

Now wait, somebody passing by in the hallway might just decide to call me a hypocrite. Yes, I was once a murderer too. You see I did nothing to stop my own issue from being aborted. And I conspired to conceal a friend's abortion from her mother. For these crimes, I've asked God for forgiveness, even if you think me wrong. You see, that's the beauty of redemption. I've spilt innocent blood, but I also believe that innocent blood was spilt for me on Calvary. I know what I've done and I know now what I must do. I was fourteen then, merely a child. At the time, the debate was not life or death, right or wrong. The debate was choice. As we all know, children will not choose good or evil. They will always choose the easy way out without the proper guidance. Children learn what they live. I was no exception. I'll offer you this as a means of further explanation: at the time, I lived with an abusive alcoholic who was hell-bent on making his children pay for his mistakes. On several occasions he was heard to recollect the choice of aborting my older brother thereby not having to get married so young. His regrets were my existence. Loved my life, but feared my father. And then I grew up.

Now its written somewhere that the tree will be known by its fruit. Well where do your tree roots lie? I chose my roots in my mother. Although she considered traveling to Canada for an abortion as an option, she instead chose life and had my brother. Two years later I came along, a year after that my younger brother, and a decade later divorce. Bouncing from moms to dads to dad's girlfriends to grandmas to a friend's house, another friend's garage, the back of a '68 Ford LTD, a dorm room, the back room of a bar, under a bridge – hell I've lived a colorful life, if not checkered a by some elements of society. I've seen it all and done it all, and some of the good stuff I've done twice. Some of it I'm not so proud of. But all of it makes me who I am and none of it makes me any better or worse than you. God made us all equal. This country was founded on that principle, and I'm afraid that we've lost site of that.

We need to focus on what's wrong and fix it. And then focus on what's right and expand it. I see what's wrong with America today. There are two bullets pointed at the head of every American – Liberalism and Corruption. Here's how they're going to kill us off in the words of H. L. Menkin. You might have heard these words last night [at evening speakers' forum], but you'll hear them again today.

The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government. They have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principle device to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can't get and to promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten, that promise is worth nothing, but the tenth time is made good by looting 'A' to satisfy 'B'. In other words, government is a broker in pillage and every election is sort of an advanced auction sale of stolen goods.

To quote Thomas Jefferson, an insult unpunished is the parent of others. Liberals or socialists have been insulting our Constitution since it was written.

These same socialists have been labeling themselves differently every decade to re-invent or to refresh themselves, but its the same old story – the beatniks, the hippies, the yuppies – they're the baby-boomers of the sixties who thought they knew better than their own parents and now wish to control every aspect of their own children in order to vicariously preserve themselves a place upon history. And now they want to raise the legal drinking age to 25, while lowering the age of sexual consent to 14. In some states that age is already 12, but that's a whole another story. Its simply the same boatload of crap they've been trying to feed us since time immemorial, only nowadays they're calling themselves liberal democrats. I honestly know of no greater terrorist threat to the United States than that posed by the liberal Democrats.

But as I said earlier, I believe in redemption. I believe its high time these spawn-of-ignorance were educated by their own arrogance in the methods of their own hand toward the destruction of America's innocence. Each time we crush the liberal left and take back our homes, our churches, our temples, our mosques, our schoolhouses, our courthouses and our state houses. Its time we start allowing Americans to once again think for themselves by teaching children how to think – not what to think. Repeal the 17th Amendment. Repeal the income tax. Repeal the death tax and the marriage penalty. Re-institute the family. Abolish the department of education to allow local schools to control local curriculum. Abolish the IRS, the DEA, the AFT and all those other alphabet agencies who infringe upon the rights and freedoms of honest Americans while giving a pass to criminals.

Its time we stood up for our independence as Americans and draw the line in the sand – this far, no farther! Establish term limits. Bring in fresh blood to Washington to the state legislatures, the county commissions. Consider what your lives are worth without the freedom to think, to pray, to live, to love how we wish. If you can't dream it, you can't do it. So please pardon me for paraphrasing Walt Disney, but if there was ever an American icon who's message was perverted and who's now faded into the annals of liberalism – Liberalism has destroyed the family nature of Disney programming. For example: ABC is now a Disney company giving us such homosexual fodder as Will & Grace. Liberalism and its permissiveness is destroying America's culture to the point that terrorists consider us infidels. Liberalism is thus the cause of 9/11. Love my country, but I fear the tolerance doctrine of the liberals.

They want tolerance from everybody but give none in return. They'll try to discredit me by calling me a racist, a sexist, a hypocrite, a homophobe, a vagrant – hell even a criminal, but I've addressed all the skeletons in my closet. I've got nothing to hide. So I've got nothing really to fear. And that's why I'm here. Because I love my country, the republic for which Old Glory stands. This country isn't a democracy! This country at least never should be. Its a representative republic. It was founded as such. And that's what we've got to bring back. The people I represent know the difference between the two.

But to illustrate it best, let me close with the words of Alexander Tyler who, when discussing the fall of the Athenian Republic, said these words: A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage.

My friends, democracies and republics are two separate systems – similar yes, but staggeringly different. Don't let these terms become interchangeable. If change must come from within the system let it begin within you. Thank you.