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Originally Posted by Sarge
All the more important to nurture the concept of individual freedom in their minds BEFORE the event, rather than after.
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And one of the ironies of this whole thing is the notion that the way to "nurture the concept of individual freedom" is to get people to (drum roll here)
join a group.
If an individual soldier refuses to obey an order he or she believes to be unlawful, that's a matter of conscience, of individual freedom, if you will; and it can be done honorably, as a matter of civil disobedience in which the individual accepts the legal consequences of doing so. The case of Ehren Watada, who refused an order to deploy to Iraq because he believed the war there to be illegal, is an instructive example of this. (And given the Oath Keepers' #5, "We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty," they should also be refusing to serve there, it seems to me.)
But when a group of soldiers refuses to obey orders and decides to resist instead, that's, well,
mutiny, which is not remotely the same as civil disobedience.
So... when I looked at their website, they completely lost me with this:
"If you, the American people, are forced to once again fight for your liberty in another American Revolution, you will not be alone. We will stand with you."
Do I have this right? There are NO conditions attached to the above statement, are there? These folks -- whose whole point, ostensibly, is that they're
explicitly sworn to uphold the Constitution "against all enemies, foreign and domestic" -- are saying that they'd support an attempt to overthrow the Government. The, um, Constitutionally mandated, duly elected Government.
They can't have it both ways. This goes well beyond reminding those who serve that they swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. Combined with the fearmongering which TG rightly points out, it's not a pretty picture, no matter how they try to dress it up in ersatz patriotism.
And perhaps S.W.A.T. magazine ought to reconsider its endorsement...