Make America States Again.

[Captain Huk]

https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/b...-states-again/

I amhonored to speak at the graduation from high school of these young men andwomen who were once my students and who are now my friends.

We’vegrown so close, in fact, I’ve decided to graduate with them!

Overthe last few weeks, as the day of my departure grew near, many of these dearfriends have thanked me for the lasting impression I’ve made on their lives.Now, while anyone of them can tell you that being unable to take a complimentis my fatal flaw, I responded honestly when I told them that they have had aslasting effect on my life as I have had on theirs.

Overthe past four years, these 21st Century Sons of Liberty have confirmed my hopethat my call to come to Arizona and to Heritage Academy was issued by God.

As wesat together, telling stories of Raging Catfish and reading the words of UncleAlgy, I saw the light grow in their eyes. I was only able to see that growinglight because my own light and knowledge was increasing, too.

When Ispoke last year, I related inside jokes and told each of the graduates things Iwould always remember about our relationship, but this year, those things havebeen said privately and in class, which I believe was more appropriate and moremeaningful.

Tonight,I will relate only a few of the accomplishments of these, my best belovedbrothers and sisters, but I want this, my last lecture, to be less nostalgicand more ennobling; less lighthearted and more light bearing.

Manyof you have seen the “Factious and Discontented” shirts. Those shirts weretheir idea and the slogans on the back and down the sleeve, were chosen bythem, as well. Whenever someone would say, “Isn’t being factious anddiscontented a bad thing?” We would smile at each other and say, “Yeah, if you’rea tyrant!”

Speakingof tyrants — which is something I almost never do, right, kids? — so many ofthe things we’ve written would cause great anger in tyrants if they were toread them, but we’re not worried because we all know that tyrants never read!

In thefew months before moving to Arizona, I re-read many of the books that ourFounders’ read, in preparation for teaching them to my students. Duringthat preparation I came across a passage in Trenchard and Gordon’s Cato’sLetters that profoundly struck me and that set the goal for the atmospherethat I would try to create in my classroom:“No sooner had the Athenians heard Demosthenes,but they were subdued by the energy of his words; and, having lost all terrorof the tyrant Philip, they ran headlong into the defense of their city. Heinflamed their minds with a passion for glory and liberty, and covered theirhesitant considerations in the magical mist of his eloquence; so that, inspiredby it, like men now possessed by courage, they took sudden, bold, and honorableresolutions.”

It isn’tappropriate for me to judge whether I achieved that goal or not, but I testifythat He who will one day judge me and each of you, knows that I’ve tried mybest and have given it my all.In ourtime together, we’ve read the words of men who gave all, even their lives, inthe defense of liberty. These men have become their heroes and I am sure thatthese men, wherever they are, are so grateful to this group of graduates forhaving remembered their names and having studied their words, when it seemsthat the rest of the world has completely forgotten them.Theworld has forgotten these men — the men we call the Founders’ Recipe — notthrough a lack of desire for the truth or a disregard of the wisdom theytaught, rather the names and deeds of these men who meant so much to ourFounding Fathers have been purposefully purged from our collective memory bythe tyrants who created federally mandated school curricula.

Why,some have asked, would the books written by these influential men have beensystematically stripped from our schools?Tothose who have read these books the answer is easy: the tyrants fear that if weread what our Founders read, what might do what our Founders did! Throughthe study of the words of the 37 men most often quoted by our Founding Fathers,these graduates have come to know not only what is in the Constitution, but whythose things are included there. That is powerful and as such, it is dangerousto thTheseyoung men and women seated here know that if all men are created equal, thenone man gets power over another man in only one of two ways: consent or force. Thus,they know that if the government commits any act beyond the boundaries of itsconstitutional authority, then the government is acting without our consent andwe are not obliged in any way to obey.Infact, to obey the orders of a man who commands you without your consent, is theact of a slave, not the act of a free man! I can testify to you, ladies andgentlemen, that every one of these graduates are free men and are determined tostay that way!Now, for my last lecture.

We live in dark times. The stark and inescapable truth is that we must not be easygoing at a time of such clear and present danger to our republic. Wemust be loyal where others are traitorous. We must be tirelessly engaged in thecause of defending liberty against all her enemies — foreign and domestic. As theRoman orator Cicero said as he spoke in the Senate against those in that bodythat were plotting to destroy the republic: “Let there be written upon thebrow of every man how he feels about the republic.”Ladiesand gentlemen, today is the day for the declaration of allegiances. All whoclaim to care about the Constitution must come out courageously and proclaimtheir loyalty to the liberty cherished by our ancestors.Tobegin with, politicians needn’t bother drawing near to the Constitution withtheir lips while their voting record and personal morality is far from it. Weneed no sunshine patriots or compassionate conservatives. Wewill no longer tolerate wolves in sheep’s clothing. Wewill banish forever from the ranks of the defenders of liberty allcapitulators, all compromisers, and all cowards. Wewill only accept the aid of men and women who care less for personal popularityor partisan promotion than for the zealous and selfless defense of our countryand our ConstitutionThoseengaged in the fight to restore the sovereignty of the states — including theirright and responsibility to unapologetically nullify each and everyunconstitutional act of congress, court, or president — must recall andreaffirm these words spoken by Samuel Adams:

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”

Andthis must begin today!Today,consecrate yourself to the “animating contest of freedom.” Today,begin toiling in the daily reconstruction of the barriers that our FoundingFathers erected between the branches of government, between the generalgovernment and the states, and between self-government and tyranny. Today,steadfastly and fearlessly profess your love of liberty and your undeviatingdevotion to principle over party. Today,put all the elected enemies of the Constitution on notice: We will not retreat,not another inch. We will not compromise with them and we will not re-electthem. Infact, we will not rest until the Constitution is restored to its proper placeand anyone who stands in the way of that endeavor is either converted to thecause or marked as a traitor.Today,refuse to be labeled a “Republican” or “Democrat.” Refuseto be pigeon-holed as a “conservative” or even a “libertarian.”Fromthis day forward, all of us — united — must proudly gather beneath the bannerof the Constitution and manfully resist being moved, mocked, or manipulated.Askyourself this question: Which is more treasonous: to exceed the boundaries ofpower listed in the Constitution or to enforce them?What,then, is the answer to all the tyranny, all the federal despotism, all theattempts by Washington, D.C. to control, as Patrick Henry said, “everythingdear to human existence?”James Madison gaveus the answer in the Virginia Resolution:

“The states have the right, and are duty bound, to interpose for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining within their respective limits, the authorities, rights, liberties appertaining to them.”

Inother words, to paraphrase a popular politician: we must:MakeAmerica STATES Again!​Finally,I’ll let the last words I speak to you as a teacher at Heritage Academy comefrom a man who is our hero and was a hero to our Fathers: the republicanmartyr, Algernon Sidney:

I do not know what success God will give unto our undertaking, but I am certain that I can have no peace in my own spirit if I do not endeavor by all means possible to advance the interest of God and his people. Others may judge where this desire comes from better than I, but I know that if it be from God, He will make it prosper.
I pray that God defend us from our outward enemies, but more especially from those that are within ourselves. Pray that God give us a knowledge of truth and that we be constantly directed in seeking that which is truly good, for this being obtained, all other things will follow.
May we know what, when, and how we are to act; and may we then act, suffering or prospering according to the will of our Maker.

[Samuel Adams]

Amen !!