A Meditation From Stewart Rhodes
Stewart Rhodes, founder of Oath Keepers, sent this morning a letter to the Board of Directors and other Oath Keepers officers and volunteers, and upon reading that letter I knew I should share it with all of our members and readers here at the national website for Oath Keepers.
This is the spirit which founded Oath Keepers, in our founder’s own spontaneous words. The following was composed while Stewart was discussing something with one of our members in a private message exchange at our forums. The point being discussed referred to something a dying World War II veteran was telling his grown son – it was a confession from an old warrior to his son, admitting that though he and his generation won WWII, they had not defended this nation from “enemies within”, and he was worried in his last hour on earth that he had failed to protect liberty for his son and grandchildren.
Stewart Rhodes replied to the son, who is a member in Oath Keepers and who has his father’s belated recognition of the direness of our time, but that discussion between one of our members and Stewart led to Stewart’s message to Oath Keepers’ leadership personnel.
Please enjoy a moment of spiritual meditation by reading this note to Oath Keepers’ leadership.
Salute!
Elias
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Washington Praying
Message to Oath Keepers leadership from Stewart Rhodes.
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I think we need to keep in mind that many of our members and supporters are just like this man. They are deadly serious about their obligation to fix our country, and they have a well justified sense of urgency to get it done before they pass away. They don’t want to die leaving their mess for their kids to fix, like their fathers did. I know we all feel the same. But it is good, I think, to reflect on that a bit and remember why we are all here, and why we are doing this. And whenever we deal with any of our members and supporters, I think it is a good idea to always keep in mind that sense of urgency they feel, and that they may each be just like this Marine veteran, who had those words whispered in his ear by his WWII veteran father.
That is a person who deserves respect and patience if he comes across as a bit strident. We need to treat them all with the same consideration we would want if we joined an organization that held itself forward as being all about keeping the oath to defend the Constitution, with a motto of “Not on Our Watch!” And we need to be patient with them if their ideas of how to defend the Constitution may differ some from our ideas. I’m not saying they get a free pass and can do as they please within our org. Just saying we need to keep that sense of urgency and sense of grave responsibility in mind.
As for ourselves, as I said above, it is good to remind ourselves of our own commitment to keep our oath and defend the Constitution, and restore the Republic, before our time on this earth is done, or at least get the Lion’s share of the work done so the burden on our kids and grandkids is lighter. It was that sense of urgency that drove me to start this organization, and no doubt it is the same sense of urgency that drove you to stick your necks out by joining me as leaders in this org. Just like this man looks at his beautiful Grandchildren and worries about what they will face, I know we each do the same with our kids and/or grandkids. I do that all the time. In fact, on days when I am feeling worn down, discouraged, and even thinking that it is hopeless, that it is too late to save America, I look at my kids, such as my little five year old daughter Liberty, or my two year old son River, and I reflect on how they were born free, with natural rights to life, liberty, and the right to pursue their own happiness, and then I think of dying and leaving them in the grips of an every growing American police state and that tends to snap me out of it and get me going again. I will do all I can, and all I have to, to leave them free. They look to me for protection. They depend on me. I cannot let them down.
The status quo, doing it as it has always been done, going along to get along, being PC, will not fix this country. The “Greatest Generation” did it that way, and they failed. My Mother’s generation (which some of you are from) also did it that way, and they too failed to hold back the tide of a metastasizing cancer of unconstitutional government power (giving due allowances for those of you from that generation who are still in the fight, and who’s ultimate success or failure is still yet to be determined).
My generation is now failing too, for the same reasons, and the cancer has nearly killed our nation. Doing it the same way now will also not get it done. That is why so much of the conventional wisdom of how the fight for liberty, and efforts like this, should be done are just flat wrong. That is why I don’t wait years to build up infrastructure, money, organization, etc. before doing things. We just flat don’t have the time to do it like that, nor do we have time to worry overmuch about being PC.
We are running out of time, and it will take unconventional and sometimes very controversial methods to right this ship, if it can be righted at all, before it sinks to the bottom. We need to think like the American Revolutionaries, using every ounce of intelligence, wisdom, innovation, cunning, and courage we have. We need to think like Sam Adams, Ethan Allen, and Francis Marion (the Swamp Fox), all who showed cunning and initiative, using unconventional methods to win. And if it comes to it we need to be like Samuel Whittemore.
The duty is ours, and the fate of unborn millions truly is in our hands, just as our fate was in the hands of the Founding Generation. It is now our turn to fight for the rights not of ourselves, but of our children, grandchildren, and millions yet unborn, and we must keep that big picture in mind. Nothing else matters. Not our bills, our careers, our standing among our peers, our titles, honors, not our professional achievements and associations, our identities as this or that, not our professions,our bank accounts, our pensions, our homes, or even our lives or liberty.
All of that is just flotsam and jetsam in the vast ocean of time and history. We are all going to die anyway, some of us sooner than others, and when we do, all that stuff we thought was so important will be washed away as meaningless, and all that will matter is whether we left our kids free, just like that World War II veteran realized at the end of his life. He knew that despite all his obvious heroism and sacrifice against the external foe, despite all he had seen and done, despite the sacrifices of all his buddies that didn’t come home, he knew that he had failed to defend against the internal enemies within the gates.
All that matters is if we succeed now in defeating the enemies of liberty who are killing this nation. It won’t matter that we tried hard, that we meant well, that we were good people. What will matter, when we are gone, is whether we won. That’s what will matter to our kids and grandkids. Did we win their liberty? Did we leave them free, or in bondage? Did we win or lose? Nothing else matters. For the sake of our posterity, we must win.
Stewart
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June 27th, 2011 at 12:53 pm
Awesome! And No truer words Could Be Said! Its Our time to Win Freedom!
June 27th, 2011 at 1:11 pm
Thank you, Stewart.
June 27th, 2011 at 1:28 pm
yes, thank you Stewart, and thank you to all of you!!!
June 28th, 2011 at 3:52 am
John, Larry, and Kelly,
Thank y’all for reading and appreciating that. Stewart is a true man and a great American, and I am humbled to work with him, and to register the inspiration which comes from his heart so freely and readily every day. I’ve been with him since the start of Oath Keepers back in early 2009. He is just like this, as a person and as a leader, consistently. As I said, I feel blessed to work with this organization. And I’m blessed to meet such nice American patriots as y’all. It’s downright encouraging, lol! Thank you each.
Salute!
Elias
June 28th, 2011 at 8:57 am
How blessed we are to have a Leader of such genuine purpose and clarity of thought.
June 28th, 2011 at 12:50 pm
The hour draws near that we must take our responsibility very seriously. Stewart has shown to be a leader of merrit, courage,and wisdom with a balance of compasion and faith. A man I am very honored to live in the same time span of the earth. A sentament I feel toward fellow Oath Keepers. I was asleep to the internal threats to our Freedom’. But now I am making sure that my children are acutely aware of their responsibility, and I am doing double time to right this ship. The party’s over.
June 28th, 2011 at 1:24 pm
Having served in Vietnam when I returned home I felt as though Washington had/were using the men and women within our armed forced for their political gain, having nothing to do with the good of America. For years my wife thought I there was something wrong with me because she didn’t understand what was going on. She’s since changed her mind realizing that this Nation has been under attack for many years and Washington (both Democrats and Republicans) is nothing more than a smoke and mirrors game. I’ve thought for years that if we are going to fight for a cause let it be for our freedoms as we have no right to be telling other Nations how to conduct business unless they pose a threat which none of them do. It is time for a revolution in this country that will rid us of our cancer. Our politicians have become nothing but a bunch of whores working for special interests that’s tearing this country apart.
June 28th, 2011 at 1:41 pm
Stewart,
A man after my own heart. It’s time for an Oathkeepers Liberty march. Start walking from Nevada toward D. C.when the weather is cooler, like mid September. Oathkeepers who can will march with you and when you pass through Oklahoma all of the Texas Oathkeepers who can will join you. My legs are hurting from my years in the US Army, but I’ll walk with you and the others until I cannot. The only other choice we about have left is to start building foxholes to make an armed stand. Business as usual with politickin won’t work. Our Congress has been usurped by an out of control White House and I truly believe America as we knew and had hoped to preserve will not last through another four years of the Obama administration.
June 28th, 2011 at 2:03 pm
Well stated my Brother, Time is NOW. We OathKeepers must rise up and engage the blatant violations of the Constitution. It appears that there are no Statesmen or Stateswomen that are willing to lead the charge. We must formulate a plan of action and execute that plan, very, very soon. IMHO, we will NOT see another Presidential election due to the advent of some sort of Martial Law that is going be enacted to control the populist. We have taken the Oath and must react.
June 28th, 2011 at 2:36 pm
A while back I got in a rare philosophical discussion with my son-in-law, a 40-year-old IT manager for a Fortune 500 Company. He and my daughter get most of their news from The Daily Show, so I was shocked when I asked him what he thought the future held, and he said, without hesitation, that he was certain his two sons (11 and 14) would someday live under tyranny, and he felt helpless that there was nothing he could do about it. I told him, also without hesitation, that there would have to be several million dead Oath Keepers before that would happen.
Thomas Jefferson thought that to safeguard liberty we would have to take up arms once every generation or two. That we’ve only done so against each other once in 222 years speaks well for our form of government and Americans in general. I have this horrible gut feeling that the second time is drawing near unless a lot of Americans quit hitting the snooze alarm and wake up.
For the Republic,
LCDR Stan Needham
USNR-Retired