I've been away for awhile. I cut my teeth here on 912 Communique (and a couple of other 912 sites) in the beginning of this national nightmare. I had never been very politically active, had really not given politics much thought. I always assumed everyone felt the same way about America I did. I was dumbfounded when an overt Marxist was elected to the Presidency.

My world turned upside down. What my father, my grandfathers, my uncles and I had fought for was being voluntarily disassembled by the left. I discovered there were people out there that didn't feel the Constitution was the clearest, most concise directions to run a government ever written, but rather than that, was just a 'piece of paper written by a bunch of dead white guys'.

I didn't know much, it had been a long time since I had a Civics class and I'd been busy making a living and raising kids, but I had a lot of passion. I jumped in and 'debated' liberals, progressive's, even self-avowed communists; a lot of the time I got my ass handed to me because, even though I had passion, I didn't have any knowledge. I knew America is the best thing to happen to mankind since we crawled out of the caves, but I didn't know why. I couldn't articulate what I didn't know.

So I went away and I learned. I started out by studying the Constitution. We had Constitution classes at the Tea Party meetings. I searched out books on the Constitution and I read those. Then I got ahold of "The 5000 Year Leap" - I love that book! I read it, and re-read it, till the pages are ragged. I looked into the influences that shaped the Founders and read those works as well - Blackstone, Locke, Hobbes, Aquines, Cicero, Polybius, Wilson, Montesquieu are only a few. I studied the Scottish Enlightenment. I learned about Natural Law, Natural Rights, I studied their antithesis, Acquired Rights, to get an insight into the Left's mindset. I read Alinsky, Cloward and Pivens, Hoffman. I am a member on several other sites where liberals and patriots clash freely and now it's not I that have my ass served up.

Who I am now:

Right-wing extremist, potential domestic terrorist, racist, redneck sombitch clinging to my Bible and my gun. You know...... a Conservative, a veteran, white person of faith that owns a gun. Or two. Or......

What I believe:

Your unalienable rights are established by your Creator and are not subject to be given, removed or altered by any man or government. An entitlement is granted by government and is only an entitlement as long as it is granted.

Mankind has the right to self-government, to bear arms for self defense and to own, develop and dispose of property. We have the right to make personal choices, of free conscience and to choose our profession. We have the right to choose a mate and beget our own kind.

We have the right to assemble, to petition and of free speech. We have the right to, but not always the benefit of, a free press.

We have the right to enjoy the fruits of our labor, to explore and develop the natural resources of the earth, to improve our position through barter and sale, the right to contrive and invent.

We have the right to privacy, to personal security and to provide nature's necessities - air, water, food, clothing and shelter. We have the right to contract, to free association, and to a fair trial.

Along with these rights come some public and private duties to maintain those same rights. Forgetting these is where it all began to go horribly wrong.

First, we have the duty to honor the supremacy of the Creator and his laws. The duty not to take the life of another except in self-defense, to not steal or destroy the property of another and to be honest in all transactions with others.

Children have the duty to honor and obey their parents and elders while parents have the duty to protect, teach, feed, clothe and provide shelter for children.

We have the duty to support law and order and to keep the peace, not to contrive through a covetous heart to despoil another, to honorably perform contracts and covenants both with God and man and to not trespass on the property or privacy of another.

We have the duty to provide, to the best of our ability, for the needs of the helpless - the sick, the crippled, the injured, the poverty-stricken. The duty to become economically self-sufficient.

We have the duty to maintain the integrity of the family structure, to perpetuate the human race, to be temperate and to not promote or participate in the vices that destroy personal and community life.

We have the duty to support personal and public standards of common decency, to follow the rules of moral rectitude and to not aid or abet those involved in criminal or anti-social activities.

And we have the duty to perform our civic responsibilities - VOTE, assist public officials, serve in official capacities when called upon, stay informed on public issues, volunteer where needed.