“Keep your mouth shut and hold your tongue!” (Leave the leadership alone.)

A new revelation and commandment

As time goes on, I am becoming more and more aware of problems in the church, of practices that don’t match our scriptures, of ecclesiastical abuses and errors in judgment and policy, etc.  Sometimes the abuses hit home and a nerve and I feel like “putting forth my hand” to make a correction, speaking directly to the leadership.  This blog, for the most part, does not address the leadership, but the membership.  This is by design.  I have always taken a “leave the leadership alone” stance and have always believed that the Lord will make His correction in His own way and in His own time.  And so, I have never spoken, though occasionally some words nevertheless get out, but only in general terms.

However, I have watched as others have spoken out, publicly, and these have been disciplined or even excommunicated for doing so.

Now, I want everyone to understand that when I started this blog, I left the leadership alone because that was the Lord’s business, not mine.  But as time went on, I began to feel a desire to speak up and to these many issues, for there are many corrections to be made and many misconceptions, both at the general and leadership levels.  At some point, while feeling these desires, I began to offer up prayers to God about them.

(The reader needs to understand something about me and prayer.  When I pray to God for something, I don’t offer up one or two occasional prayers, or pray daily for a minute or two.  No, I send up a barrage of constant and fervent prayers, all day long, over many days, incessantly, for as long as it takes, until He answers me.  I send up what seem to me to be millions of prayers and if God could open up your ears and eyes so that you could know of these things, you would also say the prayers seem never-ending.  As a result, I eventually always get a response from Him in some form.)

In this particular case, I got an answer fairly quickly.  Now, my request was to be able to open my mouth and speak about all that I was observing concerning the leadership.  But the Spirit said to me:

“Hold your tongue and shut your mouth!”

Apparently, it is neither the time to correct the leadership, nor am I, or anyone else, authorized to do so.  I must assume, from this revelation and commandment, that it will be up to the Josephite to make the correction.

Now, after getting this revelation, I, nevertheless, started to write a draft post—not on this blog, but in a notebook, so as to at least put down on paper my gripes—and was smitten, by the Spirit, with a stupor of thought.  I couldn’t figure this one out.  I could see the problems, but not the solutions.

What this means for others

Lest anyone think that this revelation is for my consumption only, of only personal application, let me say that this post is NOT forbidden me by the Spirit.  I can write it with God’s blessing.  As I said above, no one is authorized to correct or even criticize the leadership publicly.  If you have got a gripe or think you’ve been the victim of ecclesiastical abuse, go through the proper channels, and if you do not get satisfaction, then start offering up your prayers and complaints to God, but “keep your mouth shut!”  Do not make the mistake of speaking out publicly against the leadership.  If you do so, it is because you are being deceived by a false spirit and the devil is operating in you, despite any true grievances you may have.

There is a time for all things

And Alma tarried many days with Amulek before he began to preach unto the people.  And it came to pass that the people did wax more gross in their iniquities.  (Alma 8:27-28)

God did not send these two forth immediately, but waited until the people had waxed more gross in their iniquities.  Now is not the time for anyone to criticize the church leadership.  So, don’t do it.

You’ve criticized and been kicked out.  Now what?

Repent, humble yourself before the leadership and come back in.  (I bet there will be many that don’t like this counsel!)

And he [Zedekiah] did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord.  (2 Chronicles 36:12)

Jeremiah 23

I’ll close by using this chapter of Jeremiah as my example, which speaks on false prophets.  For those who end up criticizing the leadership, typically do so because of a belief that they are false prophets.  In truth, they are not false prophets, for they don’t prophesy anything, true or false.  They are merely priests and teachers that like to quote each other a lot:

Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbor.  (Jeremiah 23:30)

And they like to be sustained and called prophets, seers and revelators.  And they like to have their counsel obeyed.  Because they have the keys.  And they DO have the keys.  But on to Jeremiah.

Now, here is the main part of this chapter that deals with false prophets in our day, which I will not fully expound:

Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.  The anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.  (Jeremiah 23:19-20)

So, everybody just chill.  In the latter days, even in our days, God will deal with these false prophets, using a whirlwind.  In other words, He is going to do this by His own miraculous power, and the whirlwind (tornado) is the coming sign of that power.

On to Jeremiah 23:

Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!

saith the Lord.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people;

Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings,

saith the Lord.

And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.

And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking,

saith the Lord.

¶Behold, the days come,

saith the Lord,

that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called,

The Lord Our Righteousness.

Therefore, behold, the days come,

saith the Lord,

that they shall no more say,

The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

But,

The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country,

and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.

¶Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the Lord, and because of the words of his holiness.

For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.

For both prophet and priest are profane;

yea, in my house have I found their wickedness,

saith the Lord.

Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation,

saith the Lord.

And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.

I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets;

Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.

Thus saith the Lord of hosts,

Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.

They say still unto them that despise me,

The Lord hath said,

Ye shall have peace;

and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart,

No evil shall come upon you.

For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?

Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.

The anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.

I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.

But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

Am I a God at hand,

saith the Lord,

and not a God afar off?

Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?

saith the Lord.

Do not I fill heaven and earth?

saith the Lord.

I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying,

I have dreamed, I have dreamed.

How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.

The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully.

What is the chaff to the wheat?

saith the Lord.

Is not my word like as a fire?

saith the Lord;

and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets,

saith the Lord,

that steal my words every one from his neighbor.

Behold, I am against the prophets,

saith the Lord,

that use their tongues, and say,

He saith.

Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams,

saith the Lord,

and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all,

saith the Lord.

¶And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying,

What is the burden of the Lord?

thou shalt then say unto them,

What burden?

I will even forsake you,

saith the Lord.

And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say,

The burden of the Lord,

I will even punish that man and his house.

Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother,

What hath the Lord answered?

and,

What hath the Lord spoken?

And the burden of the Lord shall ye mention no more: for every man’s word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts our God.

Thus shalt thou say to the prophet,

What hath the Lord answered thee?

and,

What hath the Lord spoken?

But since ye say,

The burden of the Lord;

therefore thus saith the Lord;

Because ye say this word,

The burden of the Lord,

and I have sent unto you, saying,

Ye shall not say,

The burden of the Lord;

Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence:

And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.

Okay, so the point is that although there are and will be false pastors, prophets and priests that scatter the Lord’s people, preach lies and so forth, it ain’t up to you or me to fix this.  If ever this prohibition of the Spirit is lifted, I will post accordingly, but these are the standing orders I have received—and it was last year (2014) that this was communicated to me—and according to my understanding, they apply to everyone, not just me.  So heed them.

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Surely the Lord God will do nothing, until he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

A mass of confusion

Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets  (Amos 3:7)

Surely the Lord God will do nothing, until he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets  (JST Amos 3:7)

I like the Joseph Smith Translation version best so that is the text that I will use for this post.

The recent Invitation sent out by the Remnant (Denver Snuffer-inspired) groups got me thinking about how polarized the latter-day saints have become in their testimonies.  I’ve read testimonies claiming that the Holy Ghost manifested the truth of Snuffer’s claims, and testimonies claiming that the Holy Ghost manifested the falsehood of his claims; testimonies that the church is true and the leaders are led and inspired of God and testimonies that the Brethren have departed from the way; all of these claim that their testimonies come from the Holy Ghost.

Additionally, I’ve read opinions of the latter-day saints saying that the Holy Ghost can say one thing to one person, such as “this is true,” and the exact opposite to another person, such as “this is NOT true;” and that it all depends upon what the person needs to hear in that particular moment.  Truth or revelation, then, becomes relative to the circumstances of the person, but the Spirit is the same, meaning such contradictory manifestations proceed from the same Spirit.  On the other hand, there are those who are quick to say that such manifestations DO NOT proceed from the same Spirit, but that one of these contradictory revelations come from a false spirit, or from imaginations of the heart, delusions, wishful thinking, etc.

A little bit of personal history

On this blog I have tried to stay as low key as possible about the real me, my actual experiences in real life, etc., so that no one can recognize me.  But I want to take a little time, for once, and tell a few facts, so that people understand my perspective a little better.

I already said on this blog, on the Baptism of Fire post, I think it was, that when I was nine years old, I had a baptism of fire.  That was the second time the Holy Ghost manifested anything to me.  The first time, I missed it, or did not recognize that I was having a manifestation of the Spirit, because the missionaries neglected to tell me anything about the Holy Ghost, and so I had to put the pieces back together later on, like a detective, and reconstruct what actually happened.  Two or three months after I turned nine years old, the missionaries knocked on my family’s door and during their discussion, in which they read the First Vision account of Joseph Smith, I gained a testimony of him by the power of the Holy Ghost.  I won’t give any more details than that, for it will reveal who I am, for all who know this story will immediately recognize the peculiarity of all the circumstances.  So, after this first manifestation, I had a second one, the baptism of fire, which again, I will not go into all those details, for all who know me are very familiar with this story.

The first two manifestations represented revelations, or manifestations of the spirit of revelation.  After the baptism of fire, I joined the church.  My memory of this next manifestation is a bit sketchy, but I believe it was after my baptism, and not before my baptism, but I know for sure that it was after the baptism of fire, that it occurred, but I don’t remember who I was speaking to; anyway, I was speaking to a family member and I prophesied that all of our immediate family would end up joining the church.  This was the third time I had received a manifestation of the Holy Ghost, and it was a manifestation of the spirit of prophecy.

The prophecy itself was significant, in that one of our family was a professed atheist and agnostic, but within about three years became converted to the Lord and joined the church, nonetheless.

After my baptism, we began attending church on a regular basis, and I became churched.  By this I mean that I turned my attention from where it was, on God, to the 15 Brethren and the Church, and I became a more or less normal latter-day saint, like any other Mormon boy, except for the curious experiences I had as an investigator and new member.  Not surprisingly, the manifestations of the Holy Ghost altogether ceased.

Five years went by in spiritual silence, with me not understanding why the manifestations stopped, for I was very confused as to why the Spirit was no longer speaking to me.  This may have been normal for other members, but it was not the normal that I wanted.  I joined the church wanting to experience the same things the ancient saints experienced, all their various manifestations, and I got them, at first, but now they suddenly ceased, and I was very upset about it.  “What was I doing wrong?” I wondered.

However, when I was 14 years old, I went to General Conference and while listening to the current president of the church speaking, the Holy Ghost again fell upon me and declared that the man was a prophet of God and was speaking the truth.  “At last!,” I thought.  “The Spirit speaks to me again!”  And what was the man saying?  He was calling the church to repentance, telling everyone to read the Book of Mormon.

I thought, “Well, it certainly is true that I have been a member of this church for about 5 years now and I have never, not even once, attempted to read the Book of Mormon.  That must be what I am doing wrong.”  So, I made the attempt.

Again, I will leave out a lot of details.  Suffice it to say that I began reading that book, and I prayed fervently every day, for about 15 straight days, to have the Holy Ghost manifest to me that it was true.  On the 14 or 15th day, as I was reading somewhere in Alma, the Holy Ghost again manifested to me, saying that: “What you read is true!” (referring to the entirely of the book.)

This was my fifth manifestation of the Holy Ghost and the fourth manifestation of the spirit of revelation to date.

Now, from this time forward, I completed the book and became quite depressed; for the Book of Mormon called me to repentance, for I had grown prideful and hard-hearted in the last five years, and although I made a conscious effort to put the Book of Mormon teachings into practice, it was very difficult.  The doctrine of that book was different than what I was being taught at church or at home or at school.  No one taught me the things I learned from that book.  The Book of Mormon was, essentially, my only doctrinal teacher; the prophets who wrote it the only ones that taught me the actual doctrine of Christ.  So powerful an effect it had on me that it became my all-time favorite book, and I was an avid reader who liked a lot of books, so that was saying a lot.

To give you an idea of how prideful I was, let’s fast-forward just one year forward, when I was fifteen.  I received my patriarchal blessing and after the blessing went home.  Some time passed and then I got the written copy.  “What’s this?  These written words are not perfectly accurate according to my memory.  They typed it up wrong.”  So, I called up the patriarch.  “You typed it out wrong.”  “No, I assure you, we got it right.  We recorded it with a tape recorder and my wife typed it out as she heard it directly from the speaker.  It is word-for-word.”  “No, you messed it up.  In such-and-such a part, you missed this part that said so-and-so.”  “Well, I can’t account for what you heard, but that was not on the recording.”  And I argued with the man, back and forth, in frustration that they did not record it correctly!  Now, who in the world argues with a patriarch over their blessing?

In hindsight, I now know what happened.  But it took an adult mind who has had many years of experience with the Holy Ghost to figure out what happened during that blessing session, which caused the 15 year old me such consternation and frustration, to the point of sticking to my guns and telling the man the recording was wrong and that my memory of the event was superior to the recording.  Was the recording wrong?  No, it was correct.  Those were the very words that the patriarch spoke.  Was my memory wrong?  No, it was correct.  Those were the very words that the Holy Ghost spoke to me, and added to the blessing, above and beyond what the patriarch said.  There was a sort of double prophecy going on during that session, one upon the patriarch and one upon me.  But I did not know it, and neither did he, hence the confusion and subsequent angry phone call.

I mention this to show how prideful I was, but also to show that from the time of the manifestation of the Book of Mormon to me, at age 14, to now, the Holy Ghost never stopped manifesting revelations and prophecies to me.  And it was because I began, again, to turn my attention back to God, where it was when I was nine years old.  As a result, spiritual “stuff” started pouring through, and has only increased as the years go by, as I get more proficient in these things and more obedient to God.

Now, when I was a teenager, I used to call all these manifestations, “revelations.”  This, because I was still quite churched and assumed that only the 15 Brethren could receive prophecy, but it was perfectly okay for members to receive personal revelations.  (Looking back, it is amazing just how indoctrinated I became in 5 short years of attending church!)  Later on, though, with my now adult mind, I realized that many of these things that I always called, “revelations,” were in actuality prophecies.

Revelations and prophecies were not the only two types of manifestations I received over the years.  The gift of the discerning of spirits, for a long time, was the one gift that I thought I most definitely had.  But also other manifestations of the gifts have happened, which I won’t go into.

I used to think all this stuff was just normal.  Anyone I talked to and told them some of the stuff I was getting (and it was a lot of stuff), would just listen, but wouldn’t say anything.  I thought that it was because they believed my words.  I found out on the mission, as a now adult, that this was not the case.  They just didn’t want to put down a child.  On my mission, though, I discovered that no one believed a single thing I ever said, about any of these manifestations.  Not even my missionary companions.

I came home from my mission quite depressed, that I got all this “stuff” from the Spirit, almost constantly, but no one believe a word of it.  What good was a testimony if no one believed your word?  I thought, at the time, that this was just my mission environment, but upon returning home, I discovered that my friends, now adults like me, were as unbelieving as the unbelievers and missionary companions of my mission.

For example, upon returning home, I received a double prophecy: first this will happen, then that will happen.  The prophecy was sure and not in any way conditional.  I decided to inform the church friends of my youth.  Surely they will believe it.  I told them the first part of the prophecy, but kept the second part secret.

They said, “Well, it is possible that it could happen.”  I affirmed it was a sure prophecy and that it would happen even as it was spoken.  Then conditions changed drastically, making it improbable.  “Well, there is a chance, but it is not likely it will happen.”  I continued to affirm and assert the sureness of the prophecy.  Then conditions changed even more drastically, making it impossible.  “Well, I guess it wasn’t a prophecy, after all.  There is no way it can happen.”  What?  I thought you guys believed me?  I said it was a prophecy, given of God, not a prediction!  It will happen, just as stated!  “You are crazy to believe this will still come to pass.”

Years went by and I ditched these believer friends who were really unbelievers in believers’ clothing.  I had many chances to mention the prophecy to others.  Same reaction: “You are nuts.  This thing is absolutely impossible.  Let’s stop hanging around the crazy man.”  I stopped saying the prophecy.  More years went by.  I waited for the change in conditions.  Suddenly conditions changed drastically.  They continued changing drastically, opening up the fulfillment of the prophecy.  Miracles happened, which paved the way for the fulfillment of the prophecy.  Then…the prophecy was fulfilled, every whit!

The second part of the prophecy is still unfulfilled, but I am as confident as ever that it, too, will be miraculously fulfilled.

When I point to that first part of the double prophecy, to those who know about its impossible fulfillment, they don’t want to talk about it.  “That’s old news.  What about all the many other utterances you have made?”  What about this other prophecy I spoke which was fulfilled every whit?  “We don’t care about that, either.”  What about this other thing that also proved that the manifestations I receive are true?  “Old news.  Show us that these other, impossible prophecies are true, and then we’ll believe you.  Otherwise, we just think you are crazy.”

And so it goes.  I am met with a wall of unbelief at every hand, and those who have heard any of the prophecies I have uttered, cannot accept them as true, therefore they almost always think I must be delusional or something.

Looking back, I realize that all those people who heard me throughout the years, and held their tongues, did so because they must have thought I was nuts.

And now when the king had heard these words, he said unto his priests:

Away with this fellow, and slay him; for what have we to do with him, for he is mad.

And they stood forth and attempted to lay their hands on him; but he withstood them, and said unto them:

Touch me not, for God shall smite you if ye lay your hands upon me, for I have not delivered the message which the Lord sent me to deliver; neither have I told you that which ye requested that I should tell; therefore, God will not suffer that I shall be destroyed at this time.  But I must fulfil the commandments wherewith God has commanded me; and because I have told you the truth ye are angry with me. And again, because I have spoken the word of God ye have judged me that I am mad.  (Mosiah 13:1-4)

Up until the last few years, all my revelations have been personal, meaning for my consumption only.  But a recent change got me taking messages given to me by the Lord to deliver to other people.  Nothing ticks off a person more than you bringing them a word of the Lord against them, testifying of their iniquities, telling them to repent, and issuing a prophecy of what will happen if they do not repent.  I never expected to be doing this, but it has happened, and I got the same treatment as the other guys: both the message and messenger is despised and mistreated, the message is not believed, and the messenger’s situation is made worse as a result.

I read stuff like this now and go: “Oh, yeah, I totally understand what he’s getting at!”

Behold ye are worse than they; for as the Lord liveth, if a prophet come among you and declareth unto you the word of the Lord, which testifieth of your sins and iniquities, ye are angry with him, and cast him out and seek all manner of ways to destroy him; yea, you will say that he is a false prophet, and that he is a sinner, and of the devil, because he testifieth that your deeds are evil.  (Helaman 13:26)

My boyhood desire to experience what the ancients experienced didn’t include their persecutions, but I guess at least I can say I know what it’s like…

Conditions will change

Regardless of what anyone believes about me, none of that matters one bit.  None of my prophecies have failed and none shall.  Those that have been fulfilled have been fulfilled every whit.  Those that haven’t been fulfilled, haven’t yet.  These things take time, and it all comes down to the change in conditions.  My adversaries hate the fact that I am more confident than ever about every single thing I’ve prophesied coming to pass.  They point to that as evidence of insanity, “For surely these many things you’ve said are impossible!”  I point to my hundreds of manifestations and to their one or two manifestations (had when they were young) and say that that is evidence that they are spiritually dead.

Now, I don’t go around saying that I am a prophet, but I dang sure will not deny that I have the spirit of prophecy and revelation, and when it manifests, I ain’t gonna deny that.  This leads me to some perplexities.

Confusions

In all my years, I’ve only met a handful of people that I felt, or discerned by the discerning of spirits, had the Holy Ghost upon them, manifesting one of the gifts.  A mere handful.  As in no more than five people.  Out of hundreds or thousands of latter-day saints I’ve met over the years.  So, to say you are a latter-day saint doesn’t mean much to me.  If I discern the seed of faith in you and the Holy Ghost, then you start blipping on my radar, and I begin to rejoice.  Otherwise, you are essentially spiritually dormant (sleeping), if not altogether dead.  To me, at least.  This, I suppose, ticks people off, when they see I ain’t impressed.

So, when I look to all those making this or that claim, I wonder what the heck is going on?  If Amos’ words are true, then God won’t do anything until he reveals the secret to His prophets.  But who are His prophets?

Those who are loyal and faithful latter-day saints, look to the 15 Brethren and say they are the Lord’s prophets.  Others look to other people, such as Denver Snuffer or others, and say they, or he, is the Lord’s prophet.  I’ll use Denver as my example.

Denver says the Lord told me this thing, fulfilling the words of Amos, but didn’t say the same to the 15 Brethren, because they ain’t prophets.  Those who follow Denver say, “Amen, brother!”  The 15 say the Lord didn’t say this to us because He never said it at all.  We are His prophets, so if He speaks, He’ll speak to us.  The fact that He hasn’t told us that, means He hasn’t told Denver, either!  Denver is just making it up as he goes along.  This proves he’s not a prophet, ’cause if he was, he’d be saying what we say!  Those who follow the 15 say, “Amen, Brethren!”

Now, I got a real problem with this mess, because I sure as heck know that the Holy Ghost has been manifesting revelations and prophecies to me about a great number of things, but I’ll just pick a recent topic that has my attention of late: the Josephite, and none of these 16 individuals have said even a dang peep about this thing.  In fact, no one, but myself, has said anything about the Josephite.

Now, I’m going to pull a 15-year old LDS Anarchist on them all and stick to my guns and say to them like I said to that old patriarch, that I ain’t the one in error. If y’all ain’t receiving manifestations and revelations and prophecies on this guy, then y’all wack. Which means none of you are prophets.

I have looked at the Denver matter and the Spirit says nothing to me about it. I have looked at others professing this or that claim, and the Spirit says nothing to me about them, either. But when I looked at Joseph Smith, the Spirit immediately manifested. When I look at the 15 Brethren, I know they have the keys of the priesthood, and that is good enough for me. But prophets? Sorry, but the Spirit hasn’t manifested any such thing to me. The five individuals I mentioned do not include General Authorities.

I also look at all these people saying, “God spoke to me and said this” or “God said that to me” and I notice that a lot of these manifestations are always along the same lines. Catastrophe is coming, end times stuff, cleaning of the church, and so forth. There seem to be patterns of “manifestations” and “revelations” among latter-day saints. But, the stuff I get doesn’t fit these patterns. There’s going to be a new set of articles of confederation? Who, besides myself, has prophesied such a thing? The state of Israel is going to be broken up? Again, who has prophesied these things, besides myself? An earthquake is going to break up the church? The Book of Mormon is going to retranslated? And so on and so forth.

I feel like the odd man out. I feel like Jeremiah, surrounded by all these many phony prophets who said that Jerusalem would stand forever and he alone said no, it was going to be destroyed. No one is saying what I am saying. My adversaries would say, “That’s because you are insane. They are right, and you are wrong. They are all saying similar things because they have the Spirit, and are saints, while you are the real sinner and in need of repentance, yet you call us the sinners.” Sha, and monkeys might fly out of my butt.

What I know is this: what I said on this blog, that are prophecies, will come to pass, for they are real prophecies given of the Holy Ghost, and all these people professing prophecy or prophetic mantle, who don’t know anything about what I say, are suspect in my estimation, from top to bottom, your claims and titles be damned, for why hasn’t the Lord revealed these secrets, which are written on this blog, to all you phonies, er, I mean, guys?

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Whisper and Write

The new translation of the Book of Mormon, according to my understanding, is going to be a bit different and much more involved than the first one done by Joseph Smith.

Whisper, Speak, Speech, Crying

For those who shall be destroyed shall speak unto them out of the ground, and their speech shall be low out of the dust, and their voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit; for the Lord God will give unto him power, that he may whisper concerning them, even as it were out of the ground; and their speech shall whisper out of the dust.  (2 Nephi 26:16)

And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.  (Isaiah 29:4)

And she shall be brought down, and shall speak out of the ground, and her speech shall be low out of the dust; and her voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and her speech shall whisper out of the dust.  (JST Isaiah 29:4)

And I exhort you to remember these things; for the time speedily cometh that ye shall know that I lie not, for ye shall see me at the bar of God; and the Lord God will say unto you:

Did I not declare my words unto you, which were written by this man, like as one crying from the dead, yea, even as one speaking out of the dust?  (Moroni 10:27)

The Josephite, when he makes his translation of the plates of Mormon, is going to hear the actual, un-translated words on the plates, in their original language.  His spokesman, the guy who will be helping him, is going to declare these un-translated words, along with their interpretation, to the remnant.

Write, Writing, Words

And the Lord said unto me also:

I will raise up unto the fruit of thy loins; and I will make for him a spokesman.

And I, behold, I will give unto him that he shall write the writing of the fruit of thy loins, unto the fruit of thy loins; and the spokesman of thy loins shall declare it.

And the words which he shall write shall be the words which are expedient in my wisdom should go forth unto the fruit of thy loins.

And it shall be as if the fruit of thy loins had cried unto them from the dust; for I know their faith.

And they shall cry from the dust; yea, even repentance unto their brethren, even after many generations have gone by them.

And it shall come to pass that their cry shall go, even according to the simpleness of their words. because of their faith their words shall proceed forth out of my mouth unto their brethren who are the fruit of thy loins; and the weakness of their words will I make strong in their faith, unto the remembering of my covenant which I made unto thy fathers.  (2 Nephi 3:18-21)

These words and the writing spoken of here is not the translation of the words on the plates, but the actual words.  The Josephite will be copying the characters on the plates, to be published, along with an English translation of those characters—(which English translation is necessary, for, according to Moroni: “none other people knoweth our language; and because that none other people knoweth our language, therefore he hath prepared means for the interpretation thereof”)—and will be teaching the spokesman how to pronounce the characters and words that he has copied, for he (the Josephite) will know how to pronounce these words, for he will hear these words whispered to him.  Then, the spokesman will take the same and declare them, in the original language, along with their translation, to the remnant.  In this way the remnant comes to the knowledge of their fathers, even the knowledge of their language, for they will learn their language, and once they understand these words, and hear them declared by the spokesman by the power of the Holy Ghost, something marvelous will occur, for these words, written in weakness, are now spoken and understood.  Remember what Nephi and Moroni said about their language?

And now I, Nephi, cannot write all the things which were taught among my people; neither am I mighty in writing, like unto speaking; for when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men.  (2 Nephi 33:1)

And I said unto him:

Lord, the Gentiles will mock at these things, because of our weakness in writing; for Lord thou hast made us mighty in word by faith, but thou hast not made us mighty in writing; for thou hast made all this people that they could speak much, because of the Holy Ghost which thou hast given them; and thou hast made us that we could write but little, because of the awkwardness of our hands.

Behold, thou hast not made us mighty in writing like unto the brother of Jared, for thou madest him that the things which he wrote were mighty even as thou art, unto the overpowering of man to read them.

Thou hast also made our words powerful and great, even that we cannot write them; wherefore, when we write we behold our weakness, and stumble because of the placing of our words; and I fear lest the Gentiles shall mock at our words.  (Ether 12:23-25)

The Nephite language was weak in a written form, but when spoken by the power of the Holy Ghost, it was “mighty” or “powerful and great” and virtually impossible to convey in a written form.  Now, the Gentiles will get the interpreted version of the Book of Mormon, in plain and weak English, but the remnant is going to get the actual words, in spoken form, spoken by the spokesman by the power of the Holy Ghost, who will be taught by the Josephite; and the remnant is going to freak out at how powerful these words are.  The Josephite “shall be esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins,” and how could he not?  When you come to someone and give them a spoken language that transcends anything on earth, in power, all you feel is gratitude.  Do you remember when Amulon and the other priests of Noah joined the Lamanites?  What did king Laman do?

And now the name of the king of the Lamanites was Laman, being called after the name of his father; and therefore he was called king Laman. And he was king over a numerous people.  And he appointed teachers of the brethren of Amulon in every land which was possessed by his people; and thus the language of Nephi began to be taught among all the people of the Lamanites.  (Mosiah 24:3-4)

Or, when the people of Zarahemla were found, what did king Mosiah do?

And at the time that Mosiah discovered them, they had become exceedingly numerous. Nevertheless, they had had many wars and serious contentions, and had fallen by the sword from time to time; and their language had become corrupted; and they had brought no records with them; and they denied the being of their Creator; and Mosiah, nor the people of Mosiah, could understand them.  But it came to pass that Mosiah caused that they should be taught in his language. And it came to pass that after they were taught in the language of Mosiah, Zarahemla gave a genealogy of his fathers, according to his memory; and they are written, but not in these plates.  (Omni 1:17-18)

Why was the language of Nephi so important?  Because it rocked, in its spoken form.  After many generations, though, the Nephites had altered their written languages, both the Egyptian and the Hebrew:

And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.  And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no imperfection in our record.  But the Lord knoweth the things which we have written, and also that none other people knoweth our language; and because that none other people knoweth our language, therefore he hath prepared means for the interpretation thereof.  (Mormon 9:32-34)

Do not think for a minute that this alteration that Moroni speaks of was a corruption of their language.  No, what Moroni means is that their spoken language was so powerful that they had to alter both Egyptian and Hebrew to accommodate it.  In other words, they had to upgrade these written language forms to try to make them convey the meaning of the exceedingly powerful spoken form they used, for the Nephites diligently improved everything around them, even their spoken and written languages.  In the case of Egyptian, they could not sufficiently upgrade it to match the spoken form.  In the case of Hebrew, they were able to upgrade it to convey all the meaning.  But they were commanded by God to write this record in Egyptian, not in Hebrew.  The record was intended to eventually be translated into English, and English, interestingly enough, has a connection to Egyptian, according to the LDS Bible Dictionary:

Writing

From latter-day revelation we learn that writing sacred records and the recording of genealogy began with Adam and his immediate family. Adam and the early patriarchs had a perfect language that was both spoken and written. See D&C 107:57; Moses 6:5–6, 45–46; Abr. 1:31. This was an important intellectual ability of the people of God, and was given by inspiration. However, among nonbelievers it appears that there was an intellectual retrogression, so that many peoples subsequently have been without the blessings of a highly cultured spoken and written language. There has been a gradual renaissance in literary things, but nothing yet has equaled the pure and undefiled language of Adam. The promise is, however, that perfection in language and writing will return in the future with the full establishment of the kingdom of God on the earth (Zeph. 3:9; see also Moses 6:5–7).

The English alphabet in use at the present day is derived from that used by the Egyptian priests in the 25th century B.C., the intermediate alphabets in the line of descent being the Phoenician, Greek, and Roman. In the earliest Egyptian writing the symbols used (called hieroglyphs) were pictures denoting ideas or tangible objects; later they denoted sounds, as in modern alphabets. Papyrus (made from the pith of the plant Cyperus Papyrus) was the ordinary writing material. It becomes brittle with age, but there are still in existence many thousands of manuscripts written upon it. Some of the papyrus rolls were of great length; one that has been preserved is 144 feet long. The writing was in a series of parallel columns. A reed pen and vegetable ink were used. In Babylonia books were written on clay tablets or cylinders while the clay was damp, with a sharp-pointed instrument called a stylus. The symbols used were cuneiform or wedge-shaped. Large libraries of books written in this way have been discovered.

In 1887 a very important discovery was made at Tell el-Amarna in Egypt, between Thebes and Memphis, of some clay tablets with cuneiform inscriptions on them. They proved to be the official correspondence between King Amenophis Ⅳ (about 1380 B.C.) and Egyptian governors stationed in Palestine and elsewhere. Jerusalem and Lachish are mentioned by name. This discovery shows that Babylonian writing was used in Palestine 14 centuries before Christ and was the usual medium for official intercourse among the nations of the East. (See Tell el-Amarna Letters.)

It is clear from the Old Testament that the Israelites used rolls (Jer. 36:2, 18, 23) that were made of sheep or goat skin. The Hebrew alphabet was the same as the Phoenician. The words were written from right to left. The oldest existing Hebrew inscription is that of the Moabite Stone. After the return from the Exile the shape of the letters changed somewhat.

The original manuscripts of the New Testament were probably written on papyrus; the earliest copies now in existence are on vellum. Manuscripts written in capital letters are called uncials, while those written in smaller letters and a running hand are called cursives. Uncial manuscripts are, as a class, older than cursives. No uncial is later than the 11th century, and no cursive earlier than the 9th. The oldest manuscripts are written with no breaks between the words and very few stops.

The Book of Mormon presents many interesting insights regarding the problems of writing. See Jacob 4:1–3; Mosiah 1:3–4; Morm. 9:32–34; Ether 12:23–25.

The English language, also, according to what I wrote in the 10th part of the 13-part series analyzing the New Articles of Confederation (NAC), will be transformed after the passage of the NAC.  I wrote in that post that this has prophetic implications, but that I wasn’t going to get into it there.  I also am not going to get into it here.

I suppose that the Gentiles who repent will also be offered the opportunity to learn the original Nephite tongue and so get the words in their un-translated form, but it appears that the Lord intends to give to each people His word in their own language.  As the remnant’s original language was lost to them, it must be restored and given back to them, thus, they will get the word in their own language, after all, and they will most likely leave off all the other tongues they have learned over the many years since the demise of the Nephites.

Remember Nephi’s exposition of Isaiah’s prophecy in 2 Nephi 27?

And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall bring forth unto you the words of a book, and they shall be the words of them which have slumbered.

This is not the translation of the words of the book, but the actual words.

But the book shall be delivered unto a man, and he shall deliver the words of the book, which are the words of those who have slumbered in the dust, and he shall deliver these words unto another; but the words which are sealed he shall not deliver, neither shall he deliver the book.

Did Joseph deliver only the translation of the words on the plates to Martin Harris to take to professor Anthon?  No, he copied off a bunch of the characters from off the plates (which were the words of the book) and translated some of them, and then gave all of that to Martin.

And the day cometh that the words of the book which were sealed shall be read upon the house tops; and they shall be read by the power of Christ; and all things shall be revealed unto the children of men which ever have been among the children of men, and which ever will be even unto the end of the earth.

Again, these are the actual words, not a translation.  The entire world is going to have the revelation of all things given to them, by these words, written by Moroni in the Nephite language, and read to them by the power of Christ, in their original tongue.  How will the world be able to understand these words spoken in this ancient tongue?  Why, by the outpouring of the gift of the interpretation of tongues upon the world, of course.

Remember, yet again, that the Nephite language was astoundingly powerful in its spoken form, while the Jaredite language was amazingly powerful in its written form.  As these words were to be audibly read to the people, Moroni had to write the Jaredite words in his Nephite language, so that they could later be spoken to the world.  And thus Moroni would get his wish, for all these righteous Nephites were so dang powerful in faith, that any darn thing they wanted they got:

Behold, I am Moroni; and were it possible, I would make all things known unto you.  (Mormon 8:12)

Oh, it’s possible alright, Moroni, for the Lord is a miracle worker and He has already provided a way to make your desire come to pass.  Moroni is indeed going to make all things known to everyone, both quick and dead.  Okay, continuing on with 2 Nephi 27:

And there is none other which shall view it, save it be a few according to the will of God, to bear testimony of his word unto the children of men; for the Lord God hath said that the words of the faithful should speak as if it were from the dead.  Wherefore, the Lord God will proceed to bring forth the words of the book; and in the mouth of as many witnesses as seemeth him good will he establish his word; and wo be unto him that rejecteth the word of God!

Once again, these words must be brought forth (copied and published in their un-translated form) and spoken in their original tongue in order for these prophecies to be fulfilled.

But behold, it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall say unto him to whom he shall deliver the book:

Take these words which are not sealed and deliver them to another, that he may show them unto the learned, saying:

Read this, I pray thee.

And the learned shall say:

Bring hither the book, and I will read them.

And now, because of the glory of the world and to get gain will they say this, and not for the glory of God.

And the man shall say:

I cannot bring the book, for it is sealed.

Then shall the learned say:

I cannot read it.

Wherefore it shall come to pass, that the Lord God will deliver again the book and the words thereof to him that is not learned; and the man that is not learned shall say:

I am not learned.

Then shall the Lord God say unto him:

The learned shall not read them, for they have rejected them, and I am able to do mine own work; wherefore thou shalt read the words which I shall give unto thee.

Touch not the things which are sealed, for I will bring them forth in mine own due time; for I will show unto the children of men that I am able to do mine own work.

Wherefore, when thou hast read the words which I have commanded thee, and obtained the witnesses which I have promised unto thee, then shalt thou seal up the book again, and hide it up unto me, that I may preserve the words which thou hast not read, until I shall see fit in mine own wisdom to reveal all things unto the children of men.

For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith.

We have always interpreted these passages as applying to Joseph Smith and that “read the words” means “translate the words into English,” but these passages might actually mean what they actually say, for when the Josephite reads the words, he’s going to literally read them, in the actual Nephite tongue.

Also, these passages don’t exactly match up to Joseph Smith.  For example, after the incident with the learned man, it says “that the Lord God will deliver again the book” to the unlearned man, who we always assume to be Joseph Smith, but did Joseph not have the plates during this episode and then get them back?  To my knowledge, he was always in possession of the plates when he copied off the characters and gave them to Martin. So, delivering again the book makes no sense, unless the passage is talking of a future event, with the Josephite as the unlearned man.  Also, when did Joseph say, “I am not learned?”  We have no record of such an event.  And when did the Lord say to him, “The learned shall not read them…” and so on and so forth?  We have no record of any such revelation given to Joseph.  We latter-day saints have always just assumed that these transactions and revelations happened to Joseph Smith, and he merely didn’t record them.  It certainly is possible (not necessarily probable) that our assumptions up to that point are correct, but then we get to this next part, which also doesn’t jive: “then shalt thou seal up the book again, and hide it up unto me.”  To my knowledge, Joseph never sealed up the plates, nor did he hide them up in the earth again; he merely handed them over to Moroni.  So, these prophecies may, indeed, be speaking of the Josephite and not of Joseph Smith, and what happened to Joseph Smith may have been just a shadow fulfillment.

And again it shall come to pass that the Lord shall say unto him that shall read the words that shall be delivered him:

Forasmuch as this people draw near unto me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear towards me is taught by the precepts of men—therefore, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, yea, a marvelous work and a wonder, for the wisdom of their wise and learned shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent shall be hid.

And wo unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord! And their works are in the dark; and they say:

Who seeth us, and who knoweth us?

And they also say:

Surely, your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay.

But behold, I will show unto them,

saith the Lord of Hosts,

that I know all their works.

For shall the work say of him that made it,

he made me not?

Or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it,

he had no understanding?

Now, this is so obviously speaking of the Josephite, according to my understanding, yet it says, “And again it shall come to pass that the Lord shall say unto him that shall read the words.”  So, this links the Josephite to the preceding verses.  The only conclusion that I can come to, then, is that this chapter is speaking of yet future events.

Shine

And the Lord said:

I will prepare unto my servant Gazelem, a stone, which shall shine forth in darkness unto light, that I may discover unto my people who serve me, that I may discover unto them the works of their brethren, yea, their secret works, their works of darkness, and their wickedness and abominations.  (Alma 37:23)

Certainly Joseph Smith had and used a stone which shone in the darkness of a hat.  But the next verse does not fit Joseph Smith:

And now, my son, these interpreters were prepared that the word of God might be fulfilled, which he spake, saying:

I will bring forth out of darkness unto light all their secret works and their abominations; and except they repent I will destroy them from off the face of the earth; and I will bring to light all their secrets and abominations, unto every nation that shall hereafter possess the land.

All their secret abominations are not on the plates of Mormon, which is only an abridgment; but they are on the 24 plates of Ether, which Joseph did not translate.  So, this speaks of a yet future work.

And I am the same who hideth up this record unto the Lord; the plates thereof are of no worth, because of the commandment of the Lord. For he truly saith that no one shall have them to get gain; but the record thereof is of great worth; and whoso shall bring it to light, him will the Lord bless.

For none can have power to bring it to light save it be given him of God; for God wills that it shall be done with an eye single to his glory, or the welfare of the ancient and long dispersed covenant people of the Lord.

And blessed be he that shall bring this thing to light; for it shall be brought out of darkness unto light, according to the word of God; yea, it shall be brought out of the earth, and it shall shine forth out of darkness, and come unto the knowledge of the people; and it shall be done by the power of God. (Mormon 8:14-16)

This passage is curious because the Josephite prophecy specifically says “Behold, that seer will the Lord bless.”  Also, I suppose that the plates, being gold-plated, would shine once they come out of the earth, and so maybe this has already been fulfilled by Joseph Smith, but I get the feeling that this is speaking of something a bit more miraculous than that, for it says that it (which can include the shining) shall be done by the power of God.

As the Josephite’s ministry is going to be miraculous through and through, the plates literally shining strikes me as something that God would really do, for this is THE great and marvelous work, in which He shows forth His miraculous arm of power.  So, as these plates will save the entire world this time around, and this is going to be the success of the ages, glory should accompany it at every turn.  This is going to be a very big, magnificent deal and I don’t see God opting for mundane stuff this second time around.  So, methinks that the very plates are going to glow and shine with miraculous light.

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A Comparison Between the AOC, NAC & USC

AOC stands for the Articles of Confederation.  NAC stands for the New Articles of Confederation.  USC stands for the  United States Constitution.  As we no longer are under the AOC, nor are yet under the NAC, some of these are necessarily projected assessments. USC assessments are for the current environment.

AOC’s Loose Confederation	NAC’s Tight Confederation	USC’s Tight Consolidation
Government Powers: Few	Government Powers: Few	Government Powers: Lots
Centralized or Decentralized: Decentralized	Centralized or Decentralized: Decentralized	Centralized or Decentralized: Centralized
Militarily: Weak	Militarily: Strong	Militarily: Strong
Military Conscription: No Provisions	Military Conscription: Prohibited	Military Conscription: Yes
Foreign Relations: Friendly	Foreign Relations: Friendly	Foreign Relations: Friendly to Antagonistic
Capitalism or Socialism: Capitalism	Capitalism or Socialism: Capitalism	Capitalism or Socialism: Mix Between Capitalism and Socialism with Socialism Gaining Ground
Economically: Strong	Economically: Super Strong	Economically: Medium to Weak
Taxation: No Power of Taxation	Taxation: No Power of Taxation	Taxation: Unlimited Power of Taxation
Currency: Whatever the States make; Private money can be anything.	Currency: Only Gold, Silver and Copper; Private money can be anything.	Currency: Fiat only; Private money can be anything.
Debt: Allowable	Debt: Prohibited	Debt: Allowable, Practiced and Huge
Classes: Large Middle Class; Small Upper & Lower Class	Classes: Large Upper Class; Small Middle Class; Even Smaller Lower Class	Classes: Large Middle Class; Small Lower Class; Even Smaller Upper Class
Diversity: High	Diversity: Super High	Diversity: Homogenized and Monopolized
Immigration: High	Immigration: Super High	Immigration: Normal
Citizenship: Of a State only	Citizenship: Of a State only	Citizenship: Of the National Government
Population Health: Normal to High	Population Health: Normal to Super High	Population Health: Normal to Poor
Rights & Privileges: Strong	Rights & Privileges: Super Strong	Rights & Privileges: Medium to Weak
Spying on Americans: No Provisions	Spying on Americans: Prohibited	Spying on Americans: Allowed and Practiced
Police State: Small Police Force	Police State: Exceedingly Small Police Force	Police State: Full On Police State; Militarily Weaponized
General Warrants: No Provisions	General Warrants: Prohibited	General Warrants: Yes
State Sovereignty: Sovereign	State Sovereignty: Sovereign	State Sovereignty: Not Sovereign; Subservient to National Government
Secession: Yes	Secession: Yes	Secession: No
Voluntary or Forced Union: Voluntary	Voluntary or Forced Union: Voluntary	Voluntary or Forced Union: Forced
Family: No Provisions Against Attack	Family: Fully Protected From All Attacks	Family: No Provisions Against Attack; Currently Under Attack and Often Destroyed
Same Sex Marriage: A State’s Issue; Can be Yes or No.	Same Sex Marriage: A State’s Issue; Can be Yes or No.	Same Sex Marriage: Yes; Forced on All States.
Abortion: A State’s Issue; Can be Yes or No.	Abortion: A State’s Issue; Can be Yes or No.	Abortion: Yes; Forced on All States.
Marriage & Divorce: Normal Levels of Both	Marriage & Divorce: High Levels of Marriage; Low Levels of Divorce	Marriage & Divorce: Low Levels of Marriage; High Levels of Divorce
Marriage by Right: No Provisions	Marriage by Right: Yes, with State Recognition	Marriage by Right: Not recognized
Manus Marriage: No Provisions	Manus Marriage: Provided for by Marriage by Right	Manus Marriage: Prohibited; Only “Womanus” & “Equal Partner” (SSM) Recognized
Plural Marriage: No Provisions	Plural Marriage: Provided for by Marriage by Right	Plural Marriage: Prohibited
Education: Decentralized & Uncontrolled	Education: Decentralized & Uncontrolled	Education: Centralized & Controlled

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Confederalist Paper #3 – Peaceful Strength

Confederalist Paper #3

Making a Case for a New American Confederacy under the New Articles of Confederation (NAC)

Peaceful Strength

To the People of all the States of Union:

IT IS not a new observation that the people of any country, if they are well-informed, seldom adopt an erroneous opinion respecting their interests. That consideration naturally tends to create great respect for the high opinion which the people of America have so long and uniformly entertained of the importance of their continuing firmly united under some type of common government, vested with sufficient powers for all general and national purposes.  But which type?  A loose Confederation, such as we had under the Articles of Confederation (AOC), or a tight Confederation, such as the one proposed by the New Articles of Confederation (NAC), or tight Consolidation, such as the one we have right now under the United States Constitution (USC)?  The facts seem to support a tight Confederation under the NAC as the PLAN that has America’s best interests in mind.

The more attentively I consider and investigate the reasons which appear to have given birth to this opinion, the more I become convinced that they are cogent and conclusive.

Among the many objects to which a wise and free people find it necessary to direct their attention, that of providing for their safety seems to be the first. The safety of the people doubtless has relation to a great variety of circumstances and considerations, and consequently affords great latitude to those who wish to define it precisely and comprehensively.

At present I mean only to consider it as it respects security for the preservation of peace and tranquillity, as well as against dangers from foreign arms and influence, as from dangers of the like kind arising from domestic causes. As the former of these comes first in order, it is proper it should be the first discussed. Let us therefore proceed to examine whether the NAC’s tight Confederation or the USC’s tight Consolidation, affords Americans the best security that can be devised against hostilities from abroad, trusting that the people will be right in their opinions on these matters if they are properly informed.

The number of wars which have happened or will happen in the world will always be found to be in proportion to the number and weight of the causes, whether real or pretended, which provoke or invite them. If this remark be just, it becomes useful to inquire whether so many just causes of war are likely to be given by tightly confederated America as by tightly consolidated America; for if it should turn out that Confederated America will probably give the fewest, then it will follow that in this respect the Confederal Union tends most to preserve the people in a state of peace with other nations.

The just causes of war, for the most part, arise either from violation of treaties or from direct violence. Under the USC, America has already formed treaties with very many foreign nations, and many of them are maritime, and therefore able to annoy and injure us. She has extensive commerce with almost the entire world and has the circumstance of neighborhood to attend to for some of them.

It is of high importance to the peace of America that she observe the laws of nations towards all these powers, and to me it appears evident that this will be more perfectly and punctually done by one confederal government than it could by the current consolidated national government. For this opinion various reasons may be assigned.

When once an efficient confederal government is established under the NAC, the best men in the country will not only consent to serve, but also will generally be appointed to manage it; for, although town or country, or other contracted influence, may place men in State assemblies, or senates, or courts of justice, or executive departments, yet more general and extensive reputation for talents and other qualifications will be necessary to recommend men to offices under the confederal government, — especially as it will have the widest field for choice, and never experience that want of proper persons which is not uncommon in some of the States. Hence, it will result that the administration, the political counsels, and the judicial decisions of the confederal government will be more wise, systematical, and judicious than those of individual States, and consequently more satisfactory with respect to other nations, as well as more safe with respect to us.

Under the confederal government, treaties and articles of treaties, as well as the laws of nations, will always be expounded in one sense and executed in the same manner, for they all must agree with the New Articles of Confederation, otherwise we cannot deal with them, — whereas, adjudications on the same points and questions, in the consolidated national government under the United States Constitution, have not always accorded or been consistent, for there is no stipulation in the Constitution that such must agree with it, but contrarily, such treaties have actually altered or removed the Constitutional limitations.  Also, the variety of independent courts and judges appointed by different and independent governments, should remain in their separate jurisdictions, which derive from the different local laws and interests which may affect and influence them. This is as it should be; therefore, the New Articles of Confederation do not consolidate these local matters into more general hands that have no business adjudicating in them.  The tight Confederation then only judges between States, but under the tight Consolidation we have currently, the Supreme Court oversteps these proper jurisdictional bounds, blurring the lines, or casting too far a jurisdictional net over the nation.  This is one of the main problems caused by consolidation: it tends towards centralizing all things, creating an environment of homogeneity and monopolization, instead of diversity and variety.  There is no wisdom, then, in committing such intra-State questions to the jurisdiction and judgment of courts appointed by and responsible only to one national government, and this cannot be emphasized too much.

The prospect of present loss or advantage has often tempted the governing party in the national government to swerve from good faith and justice, and this because of the consolidated nature of the beast; but those temptations can hardly exist in a Confederacy government, for there is no governing party to speak of, but merely a group of State delegates representing State interests, and consequently having little or no influence on the confederal government, the temptation will be fruitless, and good faith and justice be preserved.

If even the governing party in a national Congress should be disposed to resist such temptations, yet as such temptations may, and commonly do, result from circumstances peculiar to the nation, and may affect a great number of the inhabitants, the governing party may not always be able, if willing, to prevent the injustice meditated, or to punish the aggressors. Power under the United States Constitution has become so vastly great and centralized, as to make the national government essentially limitless, and therefore forces beyond the control of the governing party may stop any attempt at setting things right.  But the confederal government set up by the New Articles of Confederation, not being affected by local circumstances or interests—for the Confederacy is not beholden to the people, but to the States—will neither be induced nor empowered to commit the wrong themselves, (for the NAC fully constrains and limits confederal power), nor want power or inclination to prevent or punish its commission by others.  In fact, the New Articles of Confederation actually charges the confederal Congress to right such wrongs.

So far, therefore, as either designed or accidental violations of treaties and the laws of nations afford just causes of war, they are less to be apprehended under a tight confederal government than under a tight consolidated one, and in that respect the former most favors the safety of the people.

As to those just causes of war which proceed from direct and unlawful violence, it appears equally clear to me that one good confederal government affords vastly more security against dangers of that sort than can be derived from any other quarter.  The New Articles of Confederation, in particular, is a PLAN that allows for only justified, defensive warfare, reducing the chances of such conflicts almost to zero, while the United States Constitution, with its standing army, has been sent to many nations throughout the world, on policing and peacekeeping and regime changes and other missions, which have vastly increased our chances of international conflict and retaliation by others for our invasive, warlike maneuvers on foreign soil.

Such violences are more frequently caused by the passions and interests of a part than of the whole; and thus, when a governing party rules the national congress, being a small body controlling a standing army, this potentially puts the whole Union in jeopardy.   Some interests in government do not want peace, but war, and desire and are planning to use our standing military to create an American empire throughout the world.  Not a single war has yet been occasioned by aggressions of our united people, or even of the whole of the States; but there are several instances of hostilities having been provoked by the improper conduct of the national congress and its executive branch, the President of the United States, a de facto kingly office if ever there was, who, either unable or unwilling to restrain or punish offenses, have given occasion to the slaughter of many innocent inhabitants.

Because of the NAC’s requirement that “the armed forces shall only drive an invading force from the Confederacy land and sea borders, and there shall be no retaliation,” the neighborhood of Mexican and Canadian territories, bordering on some States and not on others, naturally confines the causes of quarrel more immediately to the borderers. Yet the New Articles of Confederation fully prohibit the bordering States from exciting war with these nations; and nothing can so effectually increase that danger as a national government, whose distance from the border and indifference to conflict, (for it does not affect them), will not be diminished by the passions for peace which actuate the parties immediately interested.  It might then be said that national governments which possess standing armies tend towards war, if they can benefit from it, while confederacies such as the NAC tend toward peace, because it provides no benefit to war, except to defend the land.

But not only fewer just causes of war will be given by the confederal government, but it will also be more in their power to accommodate and settle them amicably. They will be more temperate and cool, and in that respect, as well as in others, will be more in capacity to act advisedly than the national government, which often will require reparations or other retaliatory measures exacted of the losing party. The pride of nations, as well as of men, naturally disposes them to justify all their actions, and opposes their acknowledging, correcting, or repairing their errors and offenses. The confederal government, in such cases, will not be affected by this pride, but will proceed with moderation and candor to consider and decide on the means most proper to extricate them from the difficulties which threaten them.

Besides, it is well known that acknowledgments, explanations, and compensations are often accepted as satisfactory from a strong united confederacy, which would be rejected as unsatisfactory if offered by a nation or confederacy of little consideration or power.  The New Articles of Confederation will establish a tight and strong confederation, not the loose and weak confederation we had under the Articles of Confederation, therefore all nations will perceive us every bit as strong as they perceive us now, under the Constitution, but without the belligerent attitude.

In the year 1685, the state of Genoa having offended Louis XIV, endeavored to appease him. He demanded that they should send their Doge, or chief magistrate, accompanied by four of their senators, to France, to ask his pardon and receive his terms. They were obliged to submit to it for the sake of peace. Would he on any occasion either have demanded or have received the like humiliation from Spain, or Britain, or any other powerful nation?  To replace the Constitution with the NAC is to go from a position of antagonistic strength, to one of even greater, but peaceful strength.  We have nothing to fear in the transition.

A CONFEDERALIST

P.S.  A fellow patriot, of considerable wisdom, asks to also be heard:

There are but two modes by which men are connected in society, the one which operates on individuals, this always has been, and ought still to be called, national government; the other which binds States and governments together (not corporations, for there is no considerable nation on earth, despotic, monarchical, or republican, that does not contain many subordinate corporations with various constitutions) this last has heretofore been denominated a league or confederacy. The term federalists or confederalists is therefore properly applied to themselves, by the friends and supporters of the proposed New Articles of Confederation, while those who support the current national government continue to call it the Federal Government.  But I shall do no such thing.  Confederalists support a confederacy, and in particular, the new PLAN of the New Articles of Confederation, while those who support the national government under the United States Constitution will be called nationalists.  This correct use of language helps the cause of the NAC, serving to convince the masses.  They who support the Constitution are national men, and their opponents, or at least a great majority of them, are federal, in the only true and strict sense of the word, but I will use the terms confederal and national to distinguish the two.

Whether any form of national government is preferable for the Americans, to a league or confederacy, is a previous question we must first make up our minds upon….

That a national government has added to the dignity and increased the splendor of the United States abroad, can admit of no doubt: it is essentially requisite for both. That it has rendered government, and officers of government, more dignified at home is equally certain. That these objects are more suited to the manners, if not [the] genius and disposition of our people is, I fear, also true. That it is requisite in order to keep us at peace among ourselves, is doubtful. That it is necessary, to prevent foreigners from dividing us, or interfering in our government, I deny positively; and, after all, I have strong doubts whether all its advantages are not more specious than solid. We are vain, like other nations. We wish to make a noise in the world; and feel hurt that Europeans are not so attentive to America in peace, as they were to America in war. We are also, no doubt, desirous of cutting a figure in history. Should we not reflect, that quiet is happiness? That content and pomp are incompatible? I have either read or heard this truth, which the Americans should never forget: That the silence of historians is the surest record of the happiness of a people. The Swiss were for some four hundred years during the Old Swiss Confederacy the envy of mankind, and there is yet scarcely an history of their nation. What is history, but a disgusting and painful detail of the butcheries of conquerors, and the woeful calamities of the conquered? Many of us are proud, and are frequently disappointed that office confers neither respect or difference. No man of merit can ever be disgraced by office. A rogue in office may be feared in some governments — he will be respected in none. After all, what we call respect and difference only arise from contrast of situation, as most of our ideas come by comparison and relation. Where the people are free there can be no great contrast or distinction among honest citizens in or out of office. In proportion as the people lose their freedom, every gradation of distinction, between the Governors and governed obtains, until the former become masters, and the latter become slaves. In all governments virtue will command reverence. The divine Cato knew every Roman citizen by name, and never assumed any preeminence; yet Cato found, and his memory will find, respect and reverence in the bosoms of mankind, until this world returns into that nothing, from whence Omnipotence called it. That the people are not at present disposed for, and are actually incapable of, governments of simplicity and equal rights, I can no longer doubt. But whose fault is it? We make them bad, by bad governments, and then abuse and despise them for being so. Our people are capable of being made anything that human nature was or is capable of, if we would only have a little patience and give them good and wholesome institutions; but I see none such, except the New Articles of Confederation, and very little prospect of such, unless Americans can become convinced. Alas! I see nothing in my fellow-citizens, that will permit my still fostering the delusion, that they are now capable of sustaining the weight of SELF-GOVERNMENT: a burden to which Greek and Roman shoulders proved unequal. The honor of supporting the dignity of the human character, seems reserved to the hardy Helvetians alone. If the body of the people will not govern themselves, and govern themselves well too, the consequence is unavoidable — a FEW will, and must govern them. Then it is that government becomes truly a government by force only, where men relinquish part of their natural rights to secure the rest, instead of an union of will and force, to protect all their natural rights, which ought to be the foundation of every rightful social compact.

Whether national governments are unproductive of internal peace, is too certain to admit of undecided opinion. I only hazard a conjecture when I say, that our state disputes, in a confederacy, would be disputes of levity and passion, which would subside before injury. The people being free, government having no right to them, but they to government, they would separate and divide as interest or inclination prompted — as they did before this day, and always had done, during the Old Swiss Confederacy in Switzerland. In a national government, unless cautiously and fortunately administered, the disputes are the deep-rooted differences of interest, where part of the empire must be injured by the operation of general law; and then should the sword of government be once drawn (which Heaven avert) I fear it will not be sheathed, until we have waded through that series of desolation, which France, Spain, and the other great kingdoms of the world have suffered, in order to bring so many separate States into uniformity, of government and law; in which event the legislative power can only be entrusted to one man (as it is with them) who can have no local attachments, partial interests, or private views to gratify.  And we know, historically, that this has been the case with us, merely looking at that great American Civil War, or War Between the States, and rise in power of our Presidents, as de facto kings.

That our national government has prevented the influence or danger of foreign intrigue, or secured us from invasion, is in my judgment directly the reverse of the truth. The only foreign, or at least evil foreign influence, has been obtained through corruption. Where the government is lodged in the body of the people, as in the Old Swiss Confederacy of Switzerland, they can never be corrupted; for no prince, or people, can have resources enough to corrupt the majority of a nation; and if they could, the play is not worth the candle. The facility of corruption is increased in proportion as power tends by representation or delegation, to a concentration in the hands of a few. . . .

As to any nation attacking a number of confederated independent republics … it is not to be expected, more especially as the wealth of the empire is there universally diffused, and will not be collected into any one overgrown, luxurious and effeminate capital to become a lure to the enterprising ambitious. That extensive empire is a misfortune to be deprecated, will not now be disputed. The balance of power has long engaged the attention of all the European world, in order to avoid the horrid evils of a general government. The same government pervading a vast extent of territory, terrifies the minds of individuals into meanness and submission. All human authority, however organized, must have confined limits, or insolence and oppression will prove the offspring of its grandeur, and the difficulty or rather impossibility of escape prevents resistance. Gibbon related that some Roman Knights who had offended government in Rome were taken up in Asia, in a very few days after. It was the extensive territory of the Roman republic that produced a Sylla, a Marius, a Caligula, a Nero, and an Elagabalus. In small independent States contiguous to each other, the people run away and leave despotism to reek its vengeance on itself; and thus it is that moderation becomes with them, the law of self-preservation. These and such reasons founded on the eternal and immutable nature of things have long caused and will continue to cause much difference of sentiment throughout our wide extensive territories. From our divided and dispersed situation, and from the natural moderation of the American character, it has hitherto proved a warfare of argument and reason.

ANOTHER CONFEDERALIST

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Thoughts on the One Mighty and Strong

First, what a mess of confusion this prophecy in Doctrine and Covenants section 85 has generated!

It is the duty of the Lord’s clerk, whom he has appointed, to keep a history, and a general church record of all things that transpire in Zion, and of all those who consecrate properties, and receive inheritances legally from the bishop; and also their manner of life, their faith, and works; and also of the apostates who apostatize after receiving their inheritances.

It is contrary to the will and commandment of God that those who receive not their inheritance by consecration, agreeable to his law, which he has given, that he may tithe his people, to prepare them against the day of vengeance and burning, should have their names enrolled with the people of God.

Neither is their genealogy to be kept, or to be had where it may be found on any of the records or history of the church.

Their names shall not be found, neither the names of the fathers, nor the names of the children written in the book of the law of God,

saith the Lord of Hosts.

Yea, thus saith the still small voice, which whispereth through and pierceth all things, and often times it maketh my bones to quake while it maketh manifest, saying:

And it shall come to pass that I, the Lord God, will send one mighty and strong, holding the scepter of power in his hand, clothed with light for a covering, whose mouth shall utter words, eternal words; while his bowels shall be a fountain of truth, to set in order the house of God, and to arrange by lot the inheritances of the saints whose names are found, and the names of their fathers, and of their children, enrolled in the book of the law of God; while that man, who was called of God and appointed, that putteth forth his hand to steady the ark of God, shall fall by the shaft of death, like as a tree that is smitten by the vivid shaft of lightning.

And all they who are not found written in the book of remembrance shall find none inheritance in that day, but they shall be cut asunder, and their portion shall be appointed them among unbelievers, where are wailing and gnashing of teeth.

These things I say not of myself; therefore, as the Lord speaketh, he will also fulfil.

And they who are of the High Priesthood, whose names are not found written in the book of the law, or that are found to have apostatized, or to have been cut off from the church, as well as the lesser priesthood, or the members, in that day shall not find an inheritance among the saints of the Most High; therefore, it shall be done unto them as unto the children of the priest, as will be found recorded in the second chapter and sixty-first and second verses of Ezra.

And here is Ezra 2:61-62.

And of the children of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Koz, the children of Barzillai; which took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name: these sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.

So, not too long ago, I was pondering on the Josephite prophecy, yet again, and I remembered that it said this guy would be great like unto Moses.  Now, my understanding is that the Josephite would be like all the prophets, and I was curious about Moses’ rod, and wondered whether he would have a rod like Moses did.  So, I looked up the prophecy, which said this:

And the Lord hath said:

I will raise up a Moses; and I will give power unto him in a rod; and I will give judgment unto him in writing. Yet I will not loose his tongue, that he shall speak much, for I will not make him mighty in speaking. But I will write unto him my law, by the finger of mine own hand; and I will make a spokesman for him.

And the Lord said unto me also:

I will raise up unto the fruit of thy loins; and I will make for him a spokesman. And I, behold, I will give unto him that he shall write the writing of the fruit of thy loins, unto the fruit of thy loins; and the spokesman of thy loins shall declare it.  (2 Nephi 3:17-18)

Again, my mind turned to that rod.  The rod is mentioned in connection with Moses but not with the Josephite.  But my mind would not let go of the thought that this guy was going to have a rod.  So, I checked the other scripture that mentions this same prophecy:

And the Lord sware unto Joseph that he would preserve his seed forever, saying,

I will raise up Moses, and a rod shall be in his hand, and he shall gather together my people, and he shall lead them as a flock, and he shall smite the waters of the Red Sea with his rod.

And he shall have judgment, and shall write the word of the Lord. And he shall not speak many words, for I will write unto him my law by the finger of mine own hand. And I will make a spokesman for him, and his name shall be called Aaron.

And it shall be done unto thee in the last days also, even as I have sworn.  (JST 50:34-36)

So, this scripture indicates a repeat scenario, even a double fulfillment.  To my mind it indicated that the Josephite is, indeed, going to have a rod.  Then I remembered that Oliver Cowdery had a divining rod.  Then my mind brought up the “one mighty and strong” scripture, which I will quote again:

And it shall come to pass that I, the Lord God, will send one mighty and strong, holding the scepter of power in his hand,

That scepter certainly could be considered a rod.  “Could this one mighty and strong be the very Josephite restorer I have been writing about on this blog,” I wondered?

And it shall come to pass that I, the Lord God, will send one mighty and strong, holding the scepter of power in his hand, clothed with light for a covering,

Now, I have written previously that this description of light for a covering reminded me of the angel Moroni, whose robe was a plasma discharging phenomenon, a robe literally made of light, meaning a discharging plasmoid.  Could this Josephite, a mere man, be endowed with such power that he could appear as an angel of light?  Was there scriptural precedence for men appearing as angels of light?  Yep.  Stephen, the Christian martyr of the Book of Acts, Moses in the mount, Abinadi the Nephite martyr, and the brothers Nephi and Lehi; the faces of all these men shone like the faces of angels, according to the scriptural accounts.

There are also the accounts of tongues of fire resting upon people and pillars of fire surrounding people.  All these plasma manifestations could be considered coverings of light.  It is not a stretch to think that this Josephite will be so endowed with power, so filled with the Holy Ghost, that such displays can and will attend his ministry, as if this man were an angel.

And it shall come to pass that I, the Lord God, will send one mighty and strong, holding the scepter of power in his hand, clothed with light for a covering, whose mouth shall utter words, eternal words; while his bowels shall be a fountain of truth, to set in order the house of God

How does one set things in order?  If there are several things, does not one say, “Okay, this goes first, and that goes second, while that one over there goes third?”  Could not setting in order, then, be considered numbering?  My understanding is that this Josephite will have the specific task of numbering the people of God, literally, setting them in order, as on a list.

…Their names shall not be found, neither the names of the fathers, nor the names of the children written in the book of the law of God,…

And it shall come to pass that I, the Lord God, will send one mighty and strong, holding the scepter of power in his hand, clothed with light for a covering, whose mouth shall utter words, eternal words; while his bowels shall be a fountain of truth, to set in order the house of God, and to arrange by lot the inheritances of the saints whose names are found, and the names of their fathers, and of their children, enrolled in the book of the law of God;

This Book of the Law of God, mentioned twice in the section, what did it refer to?  Was this the Book of Life, the record of heaven, according to the footnote reference suggestions?  Or was this some other book, a book yet to be written, or a book yet to be restored?  “This man is going to be like Moses,” my mind said.  Moses wrote 5 books and he also wrote a law, what we call the law of Moses.  Could this repeat Mosaic scenario be a full repeat, in which the Josephite writes a new law of God, even new books, or a restoration of some old books of law, or even both?  Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy: those are the five books of Moses.  The Josephite will certainly be leading an Exodus of the people back to Zion.  He will certainly Number the people.  The more I pondered, the more it seemed that this scripture was, indeed, speaking of the Josephite and that he would be following some kind of Mosaic pattern, doing the same things and going through the same progression as at the first with Moses.

…while that man, who was called of God and appointed, that putteth forth his hand to steady the ark of God, shall fall by the shaft of death, like as a tree that is smitten by the vivid shaft of lightning.

The man is going to have a Urim and Thummim.  Moses had a Urim and Thummim.  He’s going to have a rod, just like Moses did.  Moses also had the Ark of the Covenant.  I, and countless others, have always interpreted “ark of God” in this verse as being figurative, not literal.  But if he’s going to have a rod, a literal rod, by which he works miracles, just as Moses did, then why can’t this scripture be talking of the literal Ark of the Covenant?  After all, this guy is supposed to restore ALL THINGS.

Concluding thoughts

Anyway, I found these thoughts interesting and thought that I would share them, as I had never made the connection between the Josephite and this mighty and strong person.  But my understanding of just how miraculously powerful this guy is going to be has grown significantly over time, as the Holy Ghost has manifested more information to me about him.  To give you an idea about what kind of “power levels” I’m talking about, consider Elijah and Elisha.  Elijah was this unbelievably powerful miracle worker and Elisha wanted something from him before Elijah high-tailed it out of there on a plasma horse and chariot, going up in a translated state on a whirlwind straight to heaven.  What did Elisha ask for?  A DOUBLE PORTION of the Spirit of God that was in Elijah.  Now, Elijah thought that was a hard thing to ask for, because he was so full of the Spirit, and to become twice as powerful as he was asking a lot, but he granted the wish if Elisha was able to see him taken up.  And Elisha saw and got the DOUBLE PORTION.

Now, the indication that I’m getting from the Spirit is that the Josephite won’t have a DOUBLE PORTION of Elijah’s Spirit endowment, but will have a whole lot more than that.  This is why his ministry is always associated with power and the baring of the arm of the Lord.  He’ll be drinking miracle beer, eating miracle breakfast cereal, having a miracle salad for lunch and so forth.  Miracles galore and almost exclusively.

One more thing before I publish this post.  After the sixth seal was opened, John the Revelator saw this:

And the heavens opened as a scroll is opened when it is rolled together; and every mountain, and island, was moved out of its place.  (JST Rev. 6:14)

Remember what I wrote in a previous post about an alteration of the geography being necessary to restore all things?  Well, as I pondered this scripture recently, the thought popped into my head that the earth was going to expand in order to accommodate the dead returning in the resurrection to re-possess the lands of their inheritance, in order that there would be room for all, and that God’s promise to them could be fulfilled.  I do not know whether this Josephite will be the one responsible for this task of preparing the earth for the Millennium after this fashion, but given the power levels he is going to be endowed with, it won’t surprise me, not one bit.

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Confederalist Paper #2 – One United Confederacy

Confederalist Paper #2

Making a Case for a New American Confederacy under the New Articles of Confederation (NAC)

One United Confederacy

To the People of all the States of Union:

WHEN the people of America reflect that they are now called upon to decide a question, which, in its consequences, must prove one of the most important that ever engaged their attention, the propriety of their taking a very comprehensive, as well as a very serious, view of it, will be evident.

Nothing is more sorrowful than the necessity of government, and it is equally sad, that whenever and however it is instituted, the people must, unfortunately, cede to it some of their natural rights in order to vest it with requisite powers. It is well worthy of consideration therefore, whether it would conduce more to the interest of the people of America that they should, to all general purposes, be one consolidated nation, under one centralized government, as presently constituted under the United States Constitution, or that they should be one consolidated confederacy under the proposed New Articles of Confederation, and give back to each State the same kind of powers which they have placed in the current national government.

It has until lately been a received and uncontradicted opinion that the prosperity of the people of America depended on their continuing firmly united, and the wishes, prayers, and efforts of our best and wisest citizens have been constantly directed to that object. But politicians now appear, who insist that this opinion is erroneous, and that instead of looking for safety and happiness in union, we ought to seek it in a division of the States into multiple and distinct confederacies or sovereignties, through secession. However extraordinary this new doctrine may appear, it nevertheless has its advocates; and certain characters who were much opposed to it formerly, are at present of the number. Whatever may be the arguments or inducements which have wrought this change in the sentiments and declarations of these gentlemen, it certainly would not be wise in the people at large to adopt these new political tenets without being fully convinced that they are founded in truth and sound policy.

It has often given me pleasure to observe that independent America was not composed of detached and distant territories, but that one connected, fertile, widespreading country was the portion of our western sons of liberty. Providence has in a particular manner blessed it with a variety of soils and productions, and watered it with innumerable streams, for the delight and accommodation of its inhabitants. A succession of navigable waters forms a kind of chain round its borders, as if to bind it together; while the most noble rivers in the world, running at convenient distances, present them with highways for the easy communication of friendly aids, and the mutual transportation and exchange of their various commodities.

With equal pleasure I have as often taken notice that Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people — a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs, and who, by their joint counsels, arms, and efforts, fighting side by side throughout a long and bloody Revolutionary war, have nobly established general liberty and independence.

This country and this people seem to have been made for each other, and it appears as if it was the design of Providence, that an inheritance so proper and convenient for a band of brethren, united to each other by the strongest ties, should never be split into a number of unsocial, jealous, and alien sovereignties.

Similar sentiments have hitherto prevailed among all orders and denominations of men among us. To all general purposes we have uniformly been one people each individual citizen everywhere enjoying the same rights, privileges, and protection. As a nation we have made peace and war; as a nation we have vanquished our common enemies; as a nation we have formed alliances, and made treaties, and entered into various compacts and conventions with foreign states.

A strong sense of the value and blessings of union induced the people, at a very early period, to institute a Confederacy under the Articles of Confederation to preserve and perpetuate it. They formed it almost as soon as they had a political existence; nay, at a time when their habitations were in flames, when many of their citizens were bleeding, and when the progress of hostility and desolation left little room for those calm and mature inquiries and reflections which must ever precede the formation of a wise and well-balanced government for a free people. It is not to be wondered at, that a government instituted in times so inauspicious, should on experiment be found greatly deficient and inadequate to the purpose it was intended to answer.

This intelligent people perceived and regretted these defects. Still continuing no less attached to union than enamored of liberty, they observed the danger which immediately threatened the former and more remotely the latter; and being pursuaded that ample security for both could only be found in a better formed Confederacy more wisely framed, they as with one voice, convened the convention at Philadelphia, to take that important subject under consideration.

This convention, composed of men who possessed the confidence of the people, and many of whom had become highly distinguished by their patriotism, virtue and wisdom, in times which tried the minds and hearts of men, undertook the arduous task, but failed to accomplish it. Instead, in the mild season of peace, with minds unoccupied by other subjects, they passed many months in cool, uninterrupted, and daily consultation and worked on the creation of a national government; and finally, without having been awed by power, or influenced by any passions except love for their country, they presented and recommended to the people the well-intentioned, but misguided United States Constitution produced by their joint and very unanimous councils.

Admit, for so is the fact, that the United States Constitution, which was at first only recommended, but then adopted by ratification, was later imposed by force during our Civil War, and also let it be admitted that the New Articles of Confederation, which would establish a completely voluntary and free Confederacy and correct the deficiency of the former Confederacy under the first set of Articles, are neither recommended to blind approbation, nor to blind reprobation; but to that sedate and candid consideration which the magnitude and importance of the subject demand, and which it certainly ought to receive. But this (as was remarked in the foregoing number of this paper) is more to be wished than expected, that it may be so considered and examined. Experience on a former occasion teaches us not to be too sanguine in such hopes. It is not yet forgotten that well-grounded apprehensions of imminent danger induced the people of America to form the memorable Congress of 1774. That body recommended certain measures to their constituents, and the event proved their wisdom; yet it is fresh in our memories how soon the press began to teem with pamphlets and weekly papers against those very measures. Not only many of the officers of government, who obeyed the dictates of personal interest, but others, from a mistaken estimate of consequences, or the undue influence of former attachments, or whose ambition aimed at objects which did not correspond with the public good, were indefatigable in their efforts to pursuade the people to reject the advice of that patriotic Congress. Many, indeed, were deceived and deluded, but the great majority of the people reasoned and decided judiciously; and happy they are in reflecting that they did so.

They considered that the Congress was composed of many wise and experienced men. That, being convened from different parts of the country, they brought with them and communicated to each other a variety of useful information. That, in the course of the time they passed together in inquiring into and discussing the true interests of their country, they must have acquired very accurate knowledge on that head. That they were individually interested in the public liberty and prosperity, and therefore that it was not less their inclination than their duty to recommend only such measures as, after the most mature deliberation, they really thought prudent and advisable.

These and similar considerations then induced the people to rely greatly on the judgment and integrity of that Congress; and they took their advice, notwithstanding the various arts and endeavors used to deter them from it. But if the people at large had reason to confide in the men of that Congress, few of whom had been fully tried or generally known, one might think that they have now greater reason to respect the judgment and advice of the present Congress of 2015, but alas!, such is not the case, for it is well known that some of the most distinguished members of this current Congress, are as corrupt a group of power-seeking men as can be found anywhere in the world, claiming to have patriotism and our best interests in mind, while growing old and fat on the stolen rights of our people, all the while using the acquired political information and accumulated knowledge and experience they gain in the national government to fatten their wallets and increase their own special interests.

It is worthy of remark that not only the first, but every succeeding Congress, have invariably joined with the people in thinking that the prosperity of America depended on its Union. To preserve and perpetuate it was the great object of the people in forming both the convention that produced the decentralized and free Articles of Confederation and the convention that produced that grotesquely centralized national government document known as the United States Constitution, and it is also the great object of the new plan, the New Articles of Confederation, which all men of wisdom are advising the people of the several States to adopt. With what propriety, therefore, or for what good purposes, are attempts at this particular period made by some men to depreciate the importance of the Union? Or why is it suggested that three or four confederacies would be better than one? I am persuaded in my own mind that the people have always thought right on this subject, and that their universal and uniform attachment to the cause of the Union rests on great and weighty reasons, which I shall endeavor to develop and explain in some ensuing papers. On the one hand, they who promote the Union through the continuance of the national government are striving to force the people to give up what is left of their remaining freedoms, liberties and rights, and do so to keep themselves glutting on the labors of the people.  They make the claim that we should be a Union under the Constitution simply for the sake of Union, as if Union alone was the object.  But do we want to be a Union of slaves or a Union of freemen?  So, Union for the sake of Union is not the end goal.  It must be a free, unforced, voluntary Union, such as is had under the NAC plan.  On the other hand, they who promote the idea of substituting a number of distinct confederacies in the room of the NAC plan of one free Confederacy, seem to know that there efforts are not as popular as the NAC plan and will only end up diluting the promotion of both the NAC plan and any other Confederacy plan, and thus they seem clearly to foresee that the rejection of the NAC would secure forever the continuance of the slave Union under the Constitution.  In other words, both parties are apparently working from opposite ends and ideologies, yet secretly have the same end goal in mind: the elimination of any chance at a free Union under the NAC and the perpetual establishment of an American Union under a totalitarian state.  That certainly would be the case if the NAC plan does not pass, and I sincerely wish that it may be as clearly foreseen by every good citizen, that if ever the time arrives that the voice of the people buries the efforts to promote and install the NAC, America will have reason to exclaim, in the words of the poet: “FAREWELL! A LONG FAREWELL TO ALL MY POTENTIAL GREATNESS.”

A CONFEDERALIST

P.S.  My illustrious compatriot desires to dictate an appendage, to which I have consented:

The continuance of this United States government under the Constitution will not meliorate our own particular system. I beg leave to consider the circumstances of the Union antecedent to the meeting of the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia. We were told of phantoms and ideal dangers to lead us into Constitutional measures which have been, in my opinion, the ruin of our country. If the existence of those dangers has not been historically proved, if there has been no apprehension of wars, if there has been no rumors of wars, it will place the subject in a different light, and plainly evince to the world that there really was no reason for adopting the Constitutional measures which we apprehended to be ruinous and destructive. When this state [Virginia] proposed that the general (confederal) government should be improved, Massachusetts was just recovered from a rebellion which had brought the republic to the brink of destruction, from a rebellion which was crushed by that federal government which was then so much contemned and abhorred.

A vote of that August body for fifteen hundred men, aided by the exertions of the state, silenced all opposition, and shortly restored the public tranquility. Massachusetts was satisfied that these internal commotions were so happily settled, and was unwilling to risk any similar distresses by theoretic experiments. Were the Eastern States willing to enter into the Constitutional measure? Were they willing to accede to the proposal of Virginia? In what manner was it received? Connecticut revolted at the idea. The Eastern States, sir, were unwilling to recommend a meeting of a Constitutional convention. They were well aware of the dangers of revolutions and changes. Why was every effort used, and such uncommon pains taken, to bring it about? This would have been unnecessary, had it been approved of by the people. Was Pennsylvania disposed for the reception of that Constitutional project of reformation?

No, sir. She was even unwilling to amend her revenue laws, so as to make the five per centum operative. She was satisfied with things as they were, in their Confederacy state under the Articles of Confederation. There was no complaint, that ever I heard of, from any other part of the Union, except Virginia. This being the case among ourselves, what dangers were there to be apprehended from foreign nations? It will be easily shown that dangers from that quarter were absolutely imaginary. Was not France friendly? Unequivocally so. She was devising new regulations of commerce for our advantage. Did she harass us with applications for her money? Was it likely that France would quarrel with us? Was it not reasonable to suppose that she would be more desirous than ever to cling, after losing the Dutch republic, to her best ally? How were the Dutch? We owed them money, it is true; and were they not willing that we should owe them more? Mr. [John] Adams applied to them for a new loan to the poor, despised Confederation. They readily granted it. The Dutch have a fellow-feeling for us. They were in the same situation with ourselves.

I believe that the money which the Dutch borrowed of Henry IV was not ever paid. How did they pass Queen Elizabeth’s loan? At a very considerable discount. They took advantage of the weakness and necessities of James I, and made their own terms with that contemptible monarch. Loans from nations are not like loans from private men. Nations lend money, and grant assistance, to one another, from views of national interest — France was willing to pluck the fairest feather out of the British crown. This was her object in aiding us. She would not quarrel with us on pecuniary considerations. Congress considered it in this point of view; for when a proposition was made to make it a debt of private persons, it was rejected without hesitation. That respectable body wisely considered, that, while we remained their debtors in so considerable a degree, they would not be inattentive to our interest.

With respect to Spain, she was friendly in a high degree. I wish to know by whose interposition was the treaty with Morocco made. Was it not by that of the king of Spain? Several predatory nations disturbed us, on going into the Mediterranean. The influence of Charles III at the Barbary court, and four thousand pounds, procured as good a treaty with Morocco as could be expected. But I acknowledge it was not of any consequence, since the Algerines and people of Tunis did not enter into similar measures. We had nothing to fear from Spain; and, were she ever hostile, she could never be formidable to this country. Her strength was so scattered, that she never could be dangerous to us either in peace or war. As to Portugal, we had a treaty with her, which might have been very advantageous, though it had not yet been ratified.

The domestic debt was diminished by considerable sales of western lands to Cutler, Sergeant, and Company; to Simms; and to Royal, Flint, and Company. The board of treasury was authorized to sell in Europe, or any where else, the residue of those lands.

An act of Congress was passed, to adjust the public debts between the individual states and the United States.

Was our trade in a despicable situation? I shall say nothing of what did not come under my own historical observation. In that Congress, sixteen vessels had had sea letters in the East India trade, and two hundred vessels entered and cleared out, in the French West India Islands, in one year.

I must confess that public credit had suffered, and that our public creditors had been ill used. This was owing to a fault at the head-quarters — to Congress themselves — in not selling the western lands at an earlier period. If requisitions had not been complied with, it must have been owing to Congress, who might have put the unpopular debts on the back lands. Commutation was abhorrent to New England ideas. Speculation was abhorrent to the Eastern States. Those inconveniences had resulted from the bad policy of Congress.

I list all of this historical data which we had under the original Articles of Confederation to show that we were not as bad off under that document as was made to be seen and it surely was much better than under the United States Constitution.  But the New Articles of Confederation (NAC) is orders of magnitude better than both and should be enacted right away.

There are certain modes of governing the people which will succeed. There are others which will not. The idea of consolidation was, and still should be, abhorrent to the people of this country. How were the sentiments of the people before the meeting of the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia? They had only one object in view. Their ideas reached no farther than to give the general (confederal) government the five per centum impost, and the regulation of trade. When it was agitated in Congress, in a committee of the whole, this was all that was asked, or was deemed necessary. Since that period, their views have extended much farther. Horrors have been greatly magnified since the rising of the Constitutional Convention.

We were told by the honorable gentleman (Governor Randolph) that we should have wars and rumors of wars, that every calamity was to attend us, and that we should be ruined and disunited forever, unless we adopted the United States Constitution. Pennsylvania and Maryland were to fall upon us from the north, like the Goths and Vandals of old; the Algerines, whose flat-sided vessels never came farther than Madeira, were to fill the Chesapeake with mighty fleets, and to attack us on our front; the Indians were to invade us with numerous armies on our rear, in order to convert our cleared lands into hunting- grounds; and the Carolinians, from the south, (mounted on alligators, I presume,) were to come and destroy our cornfields, and eat up our little children! These, sir, were the mighty dangers which awaited us if we rejected dangers which were merely imaginary, and ludicrous in the extreme! Were we to be destroyed by Maryland and Pennsylvania? What would democratic states make war for, and how long since have they imbibed a hostile spirit?

But the generality were to attack us. Would they attack us after violating their faith in the first Union? Would they not violate their faith if they did not take us into their confederacy? Had they not agreed, by the old Confederation, that the Union should be perpetual, and that no alteration should take place without the consent of Congress, and the confirmation of the legislatures of every state? I cannot think that there is such depravity in mankind as that, after violating public faith so flagrantly, they should make war upon us, also, for not following their example.

The large states had divided the back lands among themselves, and had given as much as they thought proper to the generality. For the fear of disunion, we were told that we ought to take measures which we otherwise should not. Disunion was impossible. The Eastern States held the fisheries, which were their cornfields, by a hair. They had a dispute with the British government about their limits that lasted a long time. Was not a general and strong government necessary for their interest? If ever nations had inducements to peace, the Eastern States certainly had. New York and Pennsylvania anxiously looked forward for the fur trade. How could they obtain it but by union? Could the western posts be got or retained without union? How were the little states inclined? They were not likely to disunite. Their weakness would prevent them from quarreling. Little men were seldom fond of quarreling among giants. was there not a strong inducement to union, while the British were on one side and the Spaniards on the other? Thank Heaven, we had a Carthage of our own I . . .

But what would I do on the present occasion to remedy the existing defects of the former Confederation and the current Constitution? There are two opinions prevailing in the world — the one, that mankind can only be governed by force; the other, that they are capable of freedom and a good government. Under a supposition that mankind can govern themselves, I would recommend that the proposed New Articles of Confederation be adopted.  Remove from Congress the regulation of commerce. Infuse new strength and spirit into the state governments; for, when the component parts are strong, it will give energy to the government, although it be otherwise weak….

Get rid of all the public debts and start clean slated.  Aid the foreign interest by loans.  Keep on so till the American character be marked with some certain, NAC-peculiar features. The settlement of new countries on our western frontiers has already occurred and we have become able to deal with the continual migration of people from Europe and from everywhere else.  Now that these obstacles have been removed, we can with greater prospect of success, devise changes, in the form of the NAC plan. We are not too young to know what we are fit for.  Now is the exact and proper time to make new experiments in government, by returning to a Confederacy under the NAC.  We ought to consider, as Montesquieu says, whether the construction of the government be suitable to the genius and disposition of the people, as well as a variety of other circumstances.

ANOTHER CONFEDERALIST

Brought to you by CINAC [pronounced Ki-NACK] – The Coalition for the Installation of the New Articles of Confederation

Complete List of Articles authored by LDS Anarchist

The USC Sucks, etcetera: Part 13 of an Open Debate—The NAC’s Article XIII (The Rules of the League)

Altering the pact

Article XIII. Section 1.  Every State shall abide by the determination of the united States in congress assembled, on all questions which by this confederation are submitted to them. And the Articles of this confederation shall be inviolably observed by every State, and the union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them, unless such alteration be agreed to by the voice of the citizens of the several States, for as it was the voice of the citizens of the several States that ordained these articles as the league pact for the States of this Confederacy, neither the several State legislatures and governors, nor the united States in Congress assembled, shall have power to alter these articles in any way, for such power and authority is reserved solely to the citizens of the several States, who shall wield it by their voice at whatsoever time they see fit.

Once the New Articles of Confederation (NAC) have been installed as the Supreme Law of the land, those who have been deposed of their positions of power in the former national government, and those who were seeking such positions, will unite in an effort to amend or alter the NAC to either bring the Confederacy back to a national government or otherwise to consolidate power into a singular head which can act as a king or as a president exercising kingly authority over men.  These men will prefer to alter or amend the NAC by a Congressional vote or by a vote of the State legislatures, because both Congress and the State legislatures are smaller groups of people than the general populace, and it is easier to bribe with money or promises of power, benefit and gain the 540 or so members of Congress, or the State legislatures, than the entire population.  The NAC anticipates an immediate push for amendment or alteration by these people, but puts this right squarely in the hands of the people of the States, making it impossible for it to be corrupted through closed-door deals.  Thus, conspiring men will have to convince more than half of the American people that altering the NAC is in their best interest.  The chances of that happening are slim to none.

It is possible to transfer an already captured bird from a smaller bird cage to a larger one or from a larger bird cage to a smaller one, for the captured bird is already accustomed to being in a cage and, being confined, can be fairly easily corralled into the new more confining, or less confining, cage.  In like manner, it is possible to cause a people living under an oppressive government to accept the alteration of the government into a more oppressive, or less oppressive, form, for the people are already accustomed to living under an oppressive government, and more oppression or less oppression are just degrees of what they are already used to.  In other words, the situation hasn’t drastically changed, thus the behavior of the people won’t drastically change, either.  But when you free the bird entirely from the cage, allowing it to fly off into the wild blue yonder, you’ve drastically altered conditions and no amount of coaxing will get the bird back in a cage.  Once out, it’s gone.  Similarly, if a people go from an oppressive government to a free government, it is next to impossible to get them to choose of their own free will to go back into oppression.  Once they’ve been acclimated to freedom, the only way to get them back under your thumb is through force of arms.

The NAC establishes a free government, not merely a less oppressive one than the former national government.  For this reason the push to alter the NAC must come almost immediately after its passage, before the population has time to acclimate to the new free environment.  I suppose the threat of war, through an exterior invasion, will be used as a fearmongering tool to try to cause the people to alter the NAC so that a president and standing army can be allowed, perhaps under the false guise of a “temporary measure.”  Whatever the strategy, these efforts to alter must come soon after the installment of the NAC.  If they wait too long, the people will never be able to be tricked into giving up their freedom and liberties again.

This section, then, is a safeguard against the re-establishment of tyranny and oppression in America.

The rules of the club

Article XIII.

Section 2.  All of the fifty States of the previous union, which was formed under the United States Constitution, are invited to enter this league by sending authorized delegates to the gathering at Liberty Bell at the day and time which has been appointed to sign them, and such signing will enter them; but if any of these fifty States neglect to send delegates at that time, yet desire to be admitted into the league afterward, they shall be admitted by the voice of the citizens of their States, first, by the voice of Congress, second, and upon them sending authorized delegates to sign the pact, third, all within a year’s time.

Section 3.  Apart from the fifty States which were united under the United States Constitution, no foreign State or nation shall be admitted into this league, except by the voice of the citizens of the several States, and the voice of Congress, and the voice of the citizens of said foreign State or nation, all within a year’s time; and if the voice of all these is for admittance, the foreign State or nation shall send authorized delegates to sign the pact before the year’s time has expired, and thus shall be admitted; but no foreign State or nation shall be admitted that has a king over men, or that exerts kingly authority over them, or that in any way violates these articles.

Section 4.  No State shall be removed from this Confederacy, except by the voice of Congress and the voice of the citizens of the several States, all within a year’s time. Any State which has been removed from this league shall be considered a foreign State and treated as such; and if the removed State requests re-admittance, the third section of this article shall apply.

The Confederacy established by the NAC is a free league, of free States.  Any State can voluntarily enter the league, and voluntarily exit it, whenever they want.  Peaceful provisions are provided to that end, making a repeat of the Civil War, or War Between the States, highly unlikely.  However, owing that the league is to be of free States, oppressive ones that exercise kingly authority over their people, and also monarchies, are banned from it.  This Confederacy is not to be patterned after the United Nations, allowing all sorts of oppressive regimes in, but an exclusive club of free governments.  If any nation does not make the grade, they are barred from entering.  If any member State turns oppressive, they can be kicked out.  The NAC does not play favorites and no State is indispensable.

Installing the NAC

Once America has decided to install the NAC, the only text that needs to be altered are the dates listed in the Preamble and Conclusion,

Preamble

Whereas the Delegates of Fifty of the United States of America in Congress assembled at Liberty Bell, Independence National Historical Park, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, did on the fifteenth day of November in the Year of our Lord Two Thousand Fifteen, and in the Two Hundred Thirty-Ninth Year of the Independence of America, agree to certain new articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the sovereign, free and independent States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ohio, Nebraska, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii, and West Virginia, in the words following, viz:

New articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ohio, Nebraska, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii, and West Virginia.

Conclusion

In Witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands in Congress. Done at Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania the ninth day of July in the Year of our Lord two thousand Sixteen, and in the two hundred Fortieth Year of the independence of America.

and also the listing of the States, according to which States choose to enter the pact.  Everything else can and should remain untouched, just as it is written now.  This allows for very easy installation, as whatever date chosen only needs to be one that occurs after the election and on a day and time that the Liberty Bell park is open to the public.

Peaceful government transitions codified

Article XIII. Section 5.  Recognizing that the Confederacy derives its powers from its constituent States, and that each State derives its Powers from its people, should the citizens of any of the member States of this Confederacy decide, by their voice, with or without the approval of their State government officials, to abolish the government of their State, or to remove their State from the Confederacy, or to revert their State to the previous form of government as a British Colony, or to alter their republican form of State government into some other form, this Confederacy shall acknowledge their decision as legitimate, valid, effective, final and binding, and shall consider them and their lands as no longer residing within the jurisdictional bounds of, and no longer part of, the Confederacy; and should they choose removal from the Confederacy, they shall be viewed as a free and independent State; and should they choose anarchism, they shall be viewed as a free and independent people and Territory; and should they choose to revert to British rule, they shall be viewed as part of Great Britain; and should they choose some other form of government, they shall be viewed as a foreign entity and nation.

The NAC includes the right to peacefully abolish, revert and replace, which is essentially the same text of the proposed amendment attached to the NAC, which amendment will allow the NAC to be installed.  As good a law as the NAC is, being far superior to the United States Constitution, or any other man-made law found throughout the world, this does not preclude the future existence of something even better, of ever greater wisdom, therefore the NAC provides for this contingency, too.

Final Conclusion of the 13 Parts

These thirteen essays adequately show the superiority of the New Articles of Confederation to the United States Constitution, demonstrating to America that the Constitution is not the be-all and end-all of laws.  It certainly served its purposes for more than 200 years, and as far as man-made laws go, it was one of the most innovative, and far ahead of its time.  But it is an old man and it is time to put it to rest.  Nevertheless, the principles in the Constitution, which were not man-made, namely, the Bill of Rights, are carried over into the new plan (the NAC), for these were inspired of God, and must not be set aside.  And they have been expanded in the NAC, as if in an unabridged form.  Also, a few of the Constitutional innovations have been retained in the NAC.  But, other than that, the NAC is a new tool for a new millennium, to combat and eradicate a new group of tyrants and tyrannies, the march of which the Constitution has been unable to stop or even slow down.  But that is okay, because now there is the NAC, and it is fully armed and ready to deal with the current and future environments of tyranny.  So, let’s let go of the Constitution and replace it with the NAC.  Let’s let the NAC do its tyranny-destroying thing.  As it is unwise to enter a gunfight armed with only a knife, why should we fight the tyranny and oppression of today with a 200+ year law that the enemy has already figured out how to by-pass and corrupt?  That route only leads to defeat, slavery and totalitarianism.  The NAC offers an alternative future, one of victory, freedom and the destruction of tyranny.  It does so by offering a proper tool, one meet for the task at hand, even a modern tool for a modern problem, which, strangely enough, is really a set of exceedingly ancient principles, far older than the Constitution.  So the NAC is new only in the sense that we have never seen its like before, but in reality it is an older, extremely strong, street-wise man, who has been around the block more times than we can count, and the Constitution is the relatively new kid who is getting beat up by the neighborhood bullies.  The NAC man has returned from his lengthy walkabout and now sees and targets the bullies.  He’s ready and poised to kick some major bully butt.  Do we put forth our hand to hold the NAC back and say, “No.  Let the bullies continue to destroy the little kid.”  Of course not.  We pull up a chair, grab a bag of popcorn, and watch the action fly, cheering as the bullies get their comeuppance.

Feel free to disagree on any point mentioned in this post. Bring your strongest reasons against the NAC and let’s have an open debate. And for those who like the NAC and want to install it as the Supreme Law of the land, here is my advice and prediction (and also see this comment, and this comment and this comment) :

A continual strategy of debate will install the NAC in this country and I challenge anyone to prove me wrong. I say that Americans will jump at the chance to debate the NAC and to show that the Constitution is better, but, according to the rules of the debate, they will have to read the NAC first, and once read, they will be hard pressed to defend the Constitution. Thus, everyone who hears, or watches, or reads, or participates in, a NAC debate, will become convinced that the NAC is what this country needs.

To read the other parts of this series, click any of these links:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,

Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10,

Part 11, Part 12, Part 13.

Also see: The New Articles of Confederation (NAC) and The Right to Abolish, Revert and Replace Amendment.

Complete List of Articles authored by LDS Anarchist

The USC Sucks, etcetera: Part 12 of an Open Debate—The NAC’s Article XII (Citizenship & Immigration)

State citizenship restored

Before the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (USC), there was only one form of citizen: a State citizen, meaning a citizen of one of the States.  Citizenship, back then, was a States matter and did not pertain to the national government, each individual State setting its own standards for citizenship.  The 14th Amendment changed that, creating a new form of national citizen, beholden to and empowered by the national government, known as a United States citizen.  Over time, all State citizenship has been swallowed up by national citizenship, so that Americans no longer claim to be, or think of themselves, as citizens of any particular State, but as citizens of the whole nation.  When an American tries to assert the former form of citizenship, which was a superior form, they are often labeled as crackpots.

Under the New Articles of Confederation (NAC), there is no national government, therefore there can be no national citizenship.  The NAC reverts to the former form, putting all citizenship matters back into the hands of the States.  Thus, there is no such thing as a Confederate citizen, or a citizen of the Confederacy, under the NAC, only citizens of a particular State of the Confederacy.  The inferior form of United States citizen is abolished and only the superior form of State citizen remains.  The NAC does this because the inferior “United States citizenship” confers only revocable privileges, whereas the superior State citizenship confers rights, privileges and also, perhaps, even duties and responsibilities.  As the NAC is like an unabridged Bill of Rights, the restoration of citizen rights is part of its objective, therefore the concept of a national citizen must be done away, replaced by the former form of State citizen.

Four types and two categories of citizens

The NAC provides for four types of State citizenship and two State citizenship categories: jus soli, jus sanguinis via manus, jus matrimonii via manus, and jus polis.  The first two fall into the natural-born category, while the last two fall into the naturalized category.  The NAC details only part of the rights of citizens, even that part that deals in federal matters, and it distinguishes between the two categories, one being a superior form of citizenship (natural-born), possessing greater rights, privileges, duties and responsibilities, and the other being inferior (naturalized), possessing lesser rights, etc.  Exactly what all these rights, privileges, duties and responsibilities are, for each of the four types of citizens, is not given by the NAC, for these are State matters, each State making such determinations for its particular citizens.  This restores yet another right, even a State right, for it is the right of each State to “set in order” its own citizens.  It is not right for one State to dictate to another State what its citizens can or cannot do, yet under the USC, this is exactly what happens by having the national government destroy all State citizenship rights and then dictate citizenship terms to all the people of the several States, making them, in essence, serfs, and not citizens.

Jus soli

Article XII. Section 1.  A person born within the jurisdictional boundaries of any State of this Confederacy shall be a natural-born citizen of the State in which he or she was born.

It does not matter whether one or both of your parents are citizens or residents of any State or not, if you are born within the confines of the Confederacy, we claim you as ours.  Thus, the NAC welcomes and provides for so-called “anchor babies.”  What it does not provide for, though, is free education, free medical services, free food or free anything else.  Having a child born here does not make it easier to support the child, nor easier for the parents to become residents or citizens.  All it does is confer American, natural-born citizenship upon the child.  In other words, this is a jurisdictional issue which confers a right, or a claim to a right.  If you have a child born on our land, that child becomes our citizen.  This is jus soli, the right of the soil.

Jus sanguinis via manus

The right of blood (jus sanguinis) is conferred via the jurisdiction of manus:

Article XII. Section 1.  Men who are natural-born citizens of any State shall have power to confer natural-born citizenship upon any of their children who are born abroad while living with their father, by issuing a writ of citizenship, which writ shall be certified by the State of which the father is a citizen, which certified writ shall be binding and valid in the eyes of the law.

The jurisdiction of manus has concrete bounds, thus, the NAC specifies, “while living with their father.”  In effect, this is merely jus soli applied to the jurisdictional boundaries of a natural-born, American man’s household.  It does not matter that the man’s household is located in another part of the world, outside of the boundaries of the States of the American Confederacy.  He, as a natural-born citizen of one of the American States, becomes an agent of the State, through the application of his manus in the conferral of citizenship, as if his house and lands were upon American lands, even though located abroad.  As he himself possesses natural-born citizenship, he has what it takes to confer the same.  The application of his manus, then, empowers him to make the conferral.

Manus is not mentioned in this section, because it does not need to be.  The NAC previously declared:

Article III. Section 2.  …every man alone shall bear rule in his own house; …every man shall have power to set his house in order, having his children and house in subjection to him alone with all gravity, even as unto a king, according to the bounds and conditions of his law, …that every man shall set in order his family…

Having children in subjection to their father alone is another way of saying they are “in his power.”  In other words, this section declares that a man’s manus extends to his children.  Manus being a kingly power, every father has power to confer citizenship, but not necessarily authority to do so.  The NAC, then, authorizes American fathers, not American mothers, for only the fathers have power (manus) to confer, the children being in his power alone.

Seed and soil

The NAC takes the ancient view of man as seed sower and of woman as soil; and when a man sows his seed in soil, the seed is still his. Ownership of the seed does not transfer to the soil, neither when it is sown, nor when some of that seed germinates in the soil and grows into a plant (a child); the plant life came from the seed, not the soil, therefore all children belong to men. This revives the ancient concept of “children of men” and does away with the modern misconception that soil can own the plants that grow in it (“children of women.”) The seed and soil are again separated and distinguished by the NAC, and the plants growing in the land are said to come from and belong to the parent seed, not the parent soil.  The NAC, then, restores male reproductive rights, putting all children back into the father’s power (his manus,) as it was anciently.

Additionally, the restoration of manus revives the concept of a valid claim upon any foreign seed that is sown in soil possessed (owned) by him. Manus puts the soil in the sower’s power, so that he not only has claim on his seed, but also on the soil. Both, then, become his, making him, essentially, a landowner.  Just as a man who owns a piece of land has a valid claim upon all of the plants growing in it, being able to claim them as his own possession, so the husband of a wife, married with manus, has claim on all germinated seed that she bares. She is in his power, thus he “owns” the land and has exclusive right to sow his seed in her. But should foreign seed be sown in her, he, as the landowner, has first claim on that seed, also, and it becomes his child should it germinate and grow into a plant. The foreign seed sower loses all claim to his seed because he sowed in someone else’s land.

Jus soli is based upon this very concept, that if you produce a plant (have a child) on our land, then that child is our citizen. We claim the seed which is sown here, by citizens and foreigners alike.  As American land is owned by Americans, the children born upon that land are likewise Americans, or have claim to being Americans.  In like manner, as a manus-married woman is in her husband’s power (the feminine soil is his,) the children she bares have a claim to his citizenship status.  The NAC authorizes a man to use his power (manus) to confer natural-born citizenship upon his children, born by his manus-married wife (who is the soil in his power,) while living with their father abroad, because these children have a valid claim upon his natural-born citizenship status.  Likewise, the manus-married wife also has a valid claim upon his citizenship status, but as she is not born into this citizenship claim, she cannot receive natural-born citizenship, but must be naturalized by her husband’s decree.

These are all very ancient understandings codified and restored by the NAC, through the restoration of manus.

Jus matrimonii via manus

Article XII. Section 2.  Men who are natural-born citizens of any State, that marry wives by right, with manus, shall have power to confer naturalized citizenship upon their wives, provided a wife first passes an English proficiency test and enters into a covenant to obey, honor and sustain the laws of the State of which her husband is a resident, both of which shall be administered by the State of which her husband is a resident; and such men shall naturalize their wives by issuing a writ of citizenship, which writ shall be certified by the State of which her husband is a resident, which certified writ shall be binding and valid in the eyes of the law.

Again the power of manus is used by the NAC to confer citizenship, this time upon a wife.  None of these things, though, are automatic.  The man has power to confer citizenship upon his children born abroad while living with him, and also upon his wife, but it is his prerogative whether to do so or not.  As a father-king with manus, he has judicial power and authority, therefore, he alone must judge whether it is in the best interest of all parties (including the interests of his State) to confer State citizenship upon those of his house.  He is not constrained by the NAC in any way to do so.

Jus polis

Article XII. Section 3.  Three natural-born upstanding citizens of no small reputation, who are residents of the same city, town, village or municipality as a resident foreigner, who are well acquainted with the foreigner and can attest to the good character of the same, shall have power to petition for citizenship in his or her behalf, and put his or her name down on an election ballot of that city, town, village or municipality, so that the citizens thereof may give their voice for or against granting citizenship to said foreigner; and should the voice come in favor, the resident foreigner shall be empowered to take an English proficiency test, administered by his or her State of residence, and when the test has been passed, the foreigner shall have power to enter into a covenant, administered by the same State, to obey, honor and sustain the laws of said State, to be numbered as a naturalized citizen of said State, to renounce allegiance to the foreigner’s country of origin, to keep the peace and support the cause of liberty in the land, and to call him or herself an American; and after these ceremonies, said State shall issue a certificate of naturalized citizenship to the foreigner, which shall be valid and binding in the eyes of the law.

Jus polis is not a real term.  I made it up.  I combined the Latin jus with the Greek polis, to come up with a concept of “right of the city (or citizens.”)  Essentially, this is the right of the citizens of a city to confer naturalized citizenship upon a city resident.  Our word for citizen actually comes from the word city:

Middle English citizein, from Anglo-French citezein, alteration of citeien, from cité city

First Known Use: 14th century

Once again the NAC takes us back to an ancient time, even to the Greek city-states, using ancient forms to confer citizenship.

The effect of these three citizenship sections

It is my understanding and belief that the NAC will cause a mass exodus from all countries to America.  These sections will allow all those who come here to quite easily become American citizens and thus to fully participate in our American way of life, either by birth, by manus, or by election.  Many people in the world will alter their affairs accordingly, so that they can take full advantage of these new American citizenship laws.  The end result is that America’s numbers are going to swell, not with illegal immigration, but with legal immigration and legal residency.  American men will have their options increased considerably, taking wives and residency here in America, or abroad.  It won’t matter much, as their wives and children can all be given citizenship and thus obtain the full benefits offered by American society.

In particular, foreign-bride manus marriage will sky-rocket, for foreign women will opt enter into it, that they can become fully Americanized by their husbands, which will nullify the current decline.  In other words, the historic practice of American men to take foreign brides because of their more submissive cultural conditioning, compared to feminist American women who refuse to submit to a man’s authority, has all but evaporated, due to these same foreign women coming to America, learning of these “womanus” laws, becoming feminist-ized, and then divorcing and destroying their families and marriages to their American men, through the corrupt “womanus” laws and courts.  All the cultural conditioning in the world cannot control the nature of women in a “womanus” environment.  But manus will change that condition, due to the ever present danger of manus divorce, which potentially leaves a woman who wants out with absolutely nothing—no resources, no children (for they are “children of men”) and no masculine protection—which potential condition the female of our species simply cannot deal with, causing her to submit in order to retain these benefits.  In other words, the “damsel in distress” foreigner will remain a “damsel in distress” in manus marriage, and submit to her husband, cutting down divorce statistics almost entirely and almost overnight.

The effect of these foreign bride marriages with manus will likewise cause a change among American women, who, feeling left out, will alter their ways and turn from their fighting feminist ways, choosing to enter into manus marriage, too, for being married in manus will be seen as better than not being married, at all.  This will cause American men to see the world as their oyster, for all the world’s females will want to be married to an American man and will revert to their submissive state, completely undoing all these years of feminist conditioning.  In other words, the War Between The Sexes, initiated by the feminists and conspirators, will suddenly come to an end, caused by the women of our nation, and all other nations, surrendering.

Genetic biodiversity, then, will explode in this country.  When you take the women of all nations and bring them together into one nation, and marry them to the men of that nation, something magical happens.  No other nation on the earth will be like America.  We call ourselves the melting pot, but we haven’t seen nothing, yet.  The NAC will cause a genetic upgrade in Americans that they simply will not be expecting, thinking that the NAC is merely a political law and will not affect them genetically.

This genetic explosion, on the marriage front, will be matched on the foreign resident front, as men come here from other countries, become citizens by election, and take American wives.  The current practice of illegal immigrants coming here to have babies, the so-called anchor babies, to obtain benefits or to make an easier transition to citizenship, will end.  People will come here legally for the freedoms and liberties and opportunities America offers, to become citizens and residents, to work and prosper in the land, to improve their lives and the lives of their children, and contribute to the great American society, not to suckle the government teats, for their will be no more governments teats from which to suckle.  The NAC gets rid of the national teats and gives Americans the nullification power to get rid of all those State teats, effectively taking away the carrots.

Not only will American society, on American soil, change dynamically before everyone’s very eyes, as if the hand of God were suddenly starting to bless them in ways they had never imagined, but also Americans will alter world societies, as American men and women take their children to other countries, acting as a sort of leavening for the entire world, spreading around the spirit of freedom that is found here, abroad.  This will be infectious and all will take immediate notice.

In short, these and other sections of the NAC will vastly alter American and world conditions.

Passports, yes, but not required

Article XII. Section 4.  Congress shall issue a certificate to any natural-born or naturalized citizen of any State, who requests it, which shall certify that the same is a United States citizen, and which shall state the name and resident address of the citizen, and bear the signature of the citizen, and the seal of the united States in Congress assembled, which shall be a shackled and chained hand whose bonds are being broken apart by a pair of hands wielding a hammer and a chisel, or some other seal image, which Congress shall have power to determine, by law, but such certificates shall not bear the bearer’s image, nor any other information about the bearer, save the name and address and signature of the same; and such certificates shall request to all to whom it may concern to permit the bearer to pass through international borders without delay or hindrance and, in case of need, to give all lawful aid and protection.  No natural-born or naturalized citizen of any State shall be required to bear such certificates, or any other identifying documents or effects, to leave the jurisdictional boundaries of these United States, nor to enter them.

Notice, in particular, the seal description: “and the seal of the united States in Congress assembled, which shall be a shackled and chained hand whose bonds are being broken apart by a pair of hands wielding a hammer and a chisel,” which seal image is in keeping with the general theme of liberty that permeates the NAC.  This section, obviously, is aimed at the conspirators, who wish to have everyone biometrically scanned and implanted and chipped and documented, like a bunch of cattle.

Congress to control passage of people; States, passage of goods

Article XII. Section 5.  The united States in Congress assembled shall have power to prohibit all non-citizens, who are not also the people of any of the States, from entering through the international land and sea borders of the Confederacy, and through all the air travel points of entry, for any reason whatsoever, excepting only race, culture, skin color, sex, age, disability, religion, creed, and physical characteristics. Any and all such prohibitions shall be enforceable by the watchmen established by Congress at the international borders, according to law.

Article XII. Section 6.  Any State that has one or more international points of entry, or an international land or sea border, shall have power to restrict, according to law, imported goods brought through such entry points and borders, by any person, excepting personal weapons.

Notice, again, that although the States can restrict goods, they can’t restrict personal weapons.  These passages are going to weaponize America and cause nightmares in the conspirators.  Notice, also, that Congress is restricted from controlling commerce.  The “commerce clause” of the USC has opened up the floodgates of big, intrusive government, drowning the American people in a sea of regulations and restrictions.  That won’t happen again under the NAC.  Commerce control goes back to the States, thank you very much; and Congress, you just get to control the passage of people at our borders.  The effect of these sections will be enormous, as the American economy will lurch forward like a charging bull finally released from its bonds.

Conclusion

Citizenship and immigration are, understandably, important to all Americans, many of whom are from foreign countries, or whose ancestors are from foreign countries.  It is to be expected that Article XII of the NAC will be a major talking point.  It is also expected that virtually all Americans will recognize the superiority and wisdom of the NAC’s immigration and citizenship policy in comparison to the national government policy under the USC, which has created a breeding ground for illegal immigration activity.  Also, the stifling of the economy, had under the USC, will cease under the NAC.  All of this continues to show that on every front, the NAC keeps coming out the winner.

Feel free to disagree on any point mentioned in this post. Bring your strongest reasons against the NAC and let’s have an open debate. And for those who like the NAC and want to install it as the Supreme Law of the land, here is my advice and prediction (and also see this comment, and this comment and this comment) :

A continual strategy of debate will install the NAC in this country and I challenge anyone to prove me wrong. I say that Americans will jump at the chance to debate the NAC and to show that the Constitution is better, but, according to the rules of the debate, they will have to read the NAC first, and once read, they will be hard pressed to defend the Constitution. Thus, everyone who hears, or watches, or reads, or participates in, a NAC debate, will become convinced that the NAC is what this country needs.

To read the other parts of this series, click any of these links:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,

Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10,

Part 11, Part 12, Part 13.

Also see: The New Articles of Confederation (NAC) and The Right to Abolish, Revert and Replace Amendment.

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Confederalist Paper #1 – Introduction

Confederalist Paper #1

Making a Case for a New American Confederacy under the New Articles of Confederation (NAC)

Introduction

To the People of all the States of Union:

AFTER an unequivocal experience of the inefficacy of the subsisting national government, you are called upon to deliberate on New Articles of Confederation (NAC) for the United States of America. The subject speaks its own importance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of the UNION, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world. It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force. If there be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind.

This idea will add the inducements of philanthropy to those of patriotism, to heighten the solicitude which all considerate and good men must feel for the event. Happy will it be if our choice should be directed by a judicious estimate of our true interests, unperplexed and unbiased by considerations not connected with the public good. But this is a thing more ardently to be wished than seriously to be expected. The plan offered to our deliberations affects too many particular interests, innovates upon too many local institutions, not to involve in its discussion a variety of objects foreign to its merits, and of views, passions and prejudices little favorable to the discovery of truth.

Among the most formidable of the obstacles which the New Articles of Confederation will have to encounter may readily be distinguished the obvious interest of a certain class of men in every State to resist all changes which may hazard a diminution of the power, emolument, and consequence of the offices they hold under the State and National establishments; and the perverted ambition of another class of men, who will either hope to aggrandize themselves by the confusions of their country, or will flatter themselves with fairer prospects of elevation from the continuation of the forced union of the empire under one national government than from its voluntary union into one confederacy.

It is not, however, my design to dwell upon observations of this nature. I am well aware that it would be disingenuous to resolve indiscriminately the opposition of any set of men (merely because their situations might subject them to suspicion) into interested or ambitious views. Candor will oblige us to admit that even such men may be actuated by upright intentions; and it cannot be doubted that much of the opposition which has made its appearance, or may hereafter make its appearance, will spring from sources, blameless at least, if not respectable–the honest errors of minds led astray by preconceived jealousies and fears. So numerous indeed and so powerful are the causes which serve to give a false bias to the judgment, that we, upon many occasions, see wise and good men on the wrong as well as on the right side of questions of the first magnitude to society. This circumstance, if duly attended to, would furnish a lesson of moderation to those who are ever so much persuaded of their being in the right in any controversy. And a further reason for caution, in this respect, might be drawn from the reflection that we are not always sure that those who advocate the truth are influenced by purer principles than their antagonists. Ambition, avarice, personal animosity, party opposition, and many other motives not more laudable than these, are apt to operate as well upon those who support as those who oppose the right side of a question. Were there not even these inducements to moderation, nothing could be more ill-judged than that intolerant spirit which has, at all times, characterized political parties. For in politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution.

And yet, however just these sentiments will be allowed to be, we have already sufficient indications that it will happen in this as in all former cases of great national discussion. A torrent of angry and malignant passions will be let loose. To judge from the conduct of the opposite parties, we shall be led to conclude that they will mutually hope to evince the justness of their opinions, and to increase the number of their converts by the loudness of their declamations and the bitterness of their invectives.  A fanatical zeal for the energy and efficiency of centralized government is often the offspring of a temper fond of despotic power and hostile to the principles of liberty.  A scrupulous jealousy of danger to the rights of the people, which is more commonly the enlightenment of the head than of the heart, will be represented as mere pretense and artifice, the stale bait for popularity at the expense of the public good.  It will be forgotten, on the one hand, that jealousy is the usual concomitant of love, and that the noble enthusiasm of liberty is apt to be accompanied by a healthy dose of practical distrust.  On the other hand, it will be equally forgotten that the vigor of decentralized government is essential to the security of liberty; that, in the contemplation of a sound and well-informed judgment, their interest can never be separated; and that a dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of centralized government than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the rights of the people.  History will teach us that the former has been found a much more certain road to the introduction of despotism than the latter, and that of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people, for stronger government; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.

In the course of the preceding observations, I have had an eye, my fellow-citizens, to putting you upon your guard against all attempts, from whatever quarter, to influence your decision in a matter of the utmost moment to your welfare, by any impressions other than those which may result from the evidence of truth. You will, no doubt, at the same time, have collected from the general scope of them, that they proceed from a source not unfriendly to the New Articles of Confederation. Yes, my countrymen, I own to you that, after having given it an attentive consideration, I am clearly of opinion it is your interest to adopt it. I am convinced that this is the safest course for your liberty, your dignity, and your happiness. I affect not reserves which I do not feel. I will not amuse you with an appearance of deliberation when I have decided. I frankly acknowledge to you my convictions, and I will freely lay before you the reasons on which they are founded. The consciousness of good intentions disdains ambiguity. I shall not, however, multiply professions on this head. My motives must remain in the depository of my own breast. My arguments will be open to all, and may be judged of by all. They shall at least be offered in a spirit which will not disgrace the cause of truth.

I propose, in a series of papers, to discuss the following interesting particulars: — The utility of the UNION to your political prosperity — The insufficiency of the present Constitution to preserve the liberties of that Union — The necessity of a government at least equally energetic with the one proposed, to the attainment of this object — The conformity of the proposed New Articles of Confederation to the true principles of confederal government — Its analogy to your own state constitution — and lastly, The additional security which its adoption will afford to the preservation of that species of government, to liberty, and to property.

In the progress of this discussion I shall endeavor to give a satisfactory answer to all the objections which shall have made their appearance, that may seem to have any claim to your attention.

It may perhaps be thought superfluous to offer arguments to prove the utility of the UNION, a point, no doubt, deeply engraved on the hearts of the great body of the people in every State, and one, which it may be imagined, has no adversaries. But the fact is, that we already hear it whispered in the private circles of those who oppose the New Articles of Confederation, that the fifty States are of too great extent for any general system, and that we must of necessity resort to secession and to separate confederacies or national governments of distinct portions of the whole. This doctrine will, in all probability, be gradually propagated, till it has votaries enough to countenance an open avowal of it. For nothing can be more evident, to those who are able to take an enlarged view of the subject, than the alternative of an adoption of the New Articles of Confederation or a dismemberment of the Union. It will therefore be of use to begin by examining the advantages of that Union, the certain evils, and the probable dangers, to which every State will be exposed from its dissolution. This shall accordingly constitute the subject of my next address.

A CONFEDERALIST

P.S.  I am including the words of a distinguished colleague of mine from Massachusetts who is as equally opposed to the continuation of the U.S. Constitution and in favor of adopting the New Articles of Confederation as I am:

I am pleased to see a spirit of inquiry burst the band of constraint upon the subject of the New Articles of Confederation (NAC) and the United States Constitution (USC), which was a PLAN ENACTED for consolidating the governments of the United States. If either is suitable to the GENIUS and HABITS of the citizens of these states, it will bear the strictest scrutiny. The PEOPLE are the grand inquest who have a RIGHT to judge of their merits.

The hideous daemon of Aristocracy has hitherto had so much influence as to bar the channels of investigation, preclude the people from inquiry and extinguish every spark of liberal information of the qualities of the U.S. Constitution. At length the luminary of intelligence begins to beam its effulgent rays upon this important production; the deceptive mists cast before the eyes of the people by the delusive machinations of its INTERESTED advocates begins to dissipate, as darkness flies before the burning taper; and I dare venture to predict, that in spite of those mercenary declaimers, the U.S. Constitution will have a candid and complete examination.

Those furious zealots who are for continuing to cram it down the throats of the people, without allowing them either time or opportunity to scan or weigh it in the balance of their understandings, in comparison to the New Articles of Confederation, bear the same marks in their features as those who have been long wishing to erect an aristocracy in this State of Massachusetts. Their menacing cry is for a RIGID government, it matters little to them of what kind, provided it answers THAT description. As the New Articles of Confederation now offered diametrically opposes their wishes, and is the most dissonant to their views of any they can hope for, they come boldly forward and DEMAND its denunciation.

They brand with infamy every man who is not as determined and zealous in favor of the U.S. Constitution as themselves. They cry aloud the USC must be swallowed or none at all, thinking thereby to preclude any replacement; they are afraid of having it abated of its present RIGID aspect. They have also strived to overawe or seduce printers to stifle and obstruct a free discussion of the NAC, and have endeavored to further reduce the memory of the people by its concealment from their view, hastening their forgetfulness, before the people can duty reflect upon its properties. In order to deceive them, they incessantly declare that none can discover any defect in the present national system except bankrupts who wish no government.  But many of these voices are from officers of the present government who fear to lose a part of their power. These zealous partisans may injure their own cause, and endanger the public tranquility by impeding a proper inquiry; the people may suspect the WHOLE CONSTITUTION to be a dangerous system, from such COVERED and DESIGNING schemes to continue to enforce it upon them.

Compulsive or treacherous measures to perpetuate any government whatever, will always excite jealousy among a free people: better remain single and alone, than blindly adopt whatever a few individuals shall demand, be they ever so wise. I had rather be a free citizen of the small republic of Massachusetts, than an oppressed subject of the great American empire. Let all act understandingly or not at all. If we can confederate upon terms that wilt secure to us our liberties, it is an object highly desirable, because of its additional security to the whole. If the U.S. Constitution has proved such an one, I hope it will remain established, but if it has endangered our liberties as it stands, let it be replaced by the NAC; in order to which it must and ought to be open to inspection and free inquiry.

The inundation of abuse that has been thrown out upon the heads of those who have had any doubts of the Constitution’s universal good qualities, have been so redundant, that it may not be improper to scan the characters of its most strenuous advocates. It will first be allowed that many undesigning citizens may wish its permanence from the best motives, but these are modest and silent, when compared to the greater number, who endeavor to suppress all attempts for investigation. These violent partisans are for having the people gulp down the gilded pill blindfolded, whole, and without any qualification whatever.

These consist generally, of the NOBLE order of Cincinnatus, holders of public securities, men of great wealth and expectations of public office, Bankers and Lawyers: these with their train of dependents form the Aristocratick combination. The Lawyers in particular, keep up an incessant declamation for its permanence; like greedy gudgeons they long to satiate their voracious stomachs with the golden bait. The numerous tribunals that have been erected by the U.S. Constitutional PLAN of consolidated empire, have found employment for ten thousand times their former numbers under the previous system; these are the LOAVES AND FISHES for which they hunger. They have found it suited to THEIR HABITS, if not to the HABITS OF THE PEOPLE. There may be reasons for having but few of them in any Convention of the States, lest THEIR OWN INTEREST should be too strongly considered. The time draws near for the choice of governmental systems. I hope my fellow-citizens will look well to the Supreme Law of their preference, and remember the Old Patriots of 1775; they never led them astray, nor need they fear to follow their example on this momentous occasion.

ANOTHER CONFEDERALIST

Brought to you by CINAC [pronounced Ki-NACK] – The Coalition for the Installation of the New Articles of Confederation

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