Is Our Country Worth Dying For?

By Mike Palmer

If “enemies foreign,” like North Kore­ans, came for your guns, you would probably shoot to stop them. But what if “enemies domestic” came for your guns? Would you shoot? Or, better stated, is it worth dying for your coun­try? (Because that’s what will happen to you.) I have decided that, given the state of my fellow countrymen, my an­swer is “No.”

When Hurricane Irma hit the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Governor there signed an order “authorizing” the seizure of arms. Ironically, his stated goal in disarming the people was to maintain the “safety of the people.” Un­der his order, the V.I. National Guard could conceivably go door-to-door de­manding citizens’ firearms.

The order was issued despite the fact that, just ten years earlier, a similar or­der, also signed by an official (a mayor), similarly during a hurricane (Katrina), resulted in an illegal gun grab—and a permanent U.S. District Court ban against further gun grabs following New Orleans’ unconstitutional actions.

The Virgin Islands action lit up social media with talk about what good citi­zens should do. Some, like moderate NRA-types, said fight the order in court—the government’s battlefield. How wise is that? Others said fight in the field instead, another questionable choice—fight hordes of soldiers simply following orders. I wonder, maybe fight the one giving the orders?

Now, years ago it finally occurred to me that the Second Amendment wasn’t about hunting, or fundamentally about defending yourself and family, though both these matter. From time immemo­rial everyone knew you had a right to defend yourself. No, the Second Amendment was about keeping the public armed so they could fight against their own government—with a chance of winning—if it became tyran­nical. Ironically, leftists understand this implicitly. It’s why they’re so deter­mined to disarm us, so no one can re­sist their tyrannical goals.

Since governments eventually be­come tyrannical, at some point in time the people have to shoot to stop the tyrants. Jefferson argued this should happen every 20 years. In King George’s day juries were nullifying the King when their countrymen were caught. But today?

The Virgin Islands hurricane-justi­fied gun ban fleshes this out. Armed agents show up at your house de­manding your guns. Clearly they’re vi­olating the Constitution and the oath they swore. You tell them you have a Second Amendment right. They draw down on you. You shoot first. That’s what occurred with a Branch Davidian at Waco.

What will happen to you if you sur­vive the firestorm?

First, you’ll be demonized by govern­ment and compliant media lapdogs. Even if you live-streamed the event, there will be conflicting records and controversy over what really happened. Few will know the truth, your motives, and the spin will be dizzying.

Government will label you an ob­sessed, mentally unstable, gun nut—a coward—who took law into his own hands. Of course, law was being broken in government’s hands, a point the me­dia will never make plain, if at all. Even your NRA buddies may parrot the offi­cial position—you should have let them take your guns and gone to court later—if you survived the armed looters and starvation.

Even if you could present your side—that you were defending your country—no judge who gets the case will instruct your jury that the Second Amendment was meant to stop tyrants. Read that line again, it’s key, and true. Jurors educated in govern­ment schools won’t know this on their own either. And if your peers who do know let on they know, or know about jury nullification, they won’t be empaneled. You’re not in a court of jus­tice. You’re in the government’s court of law and precedent.

We’ll be with you in spirit—but you’ll be by yourself. And you’ll be executed. As a bad guy. Even though you fought admirably for your country. Maybe, in the best scenario, your case will touch off public riots and start a movement. But I haven’t seen that happen after the Bundy persecutions.

So look, not enough people care about or even know the Constitution today. Many who think they know it have it backwards. No government offi­cial is executed, let alone imprisoned or fired for violating the Constitution. Or even for committing murder “under color of law.” So what’s the point of de­fending the Constitution with your life?

Now, if I thought that ten percent of my countrymen cared, and might nul­lify a judge, I might be willing to sacri­fice. Or if I thought there was a ten per­cent chance that President Trump might pardon citizens who defended the Constitution, I might sacrifice. But President Trump has already indicated that, although he favors the Second Amendment, he’s on the side of cops. Nor has he forged ahead with pro-rights gun bills that are righteous and needed. If actions speak louder than words, then he doesn’t appear to under­stand, as far as I can tell, what the Sec­ond Amendment is really about.

So I’m sorry to say that today, from what I’ve seen, my country—or more correctly, my countrymen—are not worth dying for. They don’t know their rights. They wouldn’t die for me. And too many who know their rights have ceded the battle. Sad to say, I fear it’s over. So now this is the question that remains: Is it time to take a cue from those who left Nazi Germany and leave this increasingly socialistic country…while we still can?

Mike Palmer, a Christian evangelist who has seen his share of abuse by government agents, has tried to defend the Constitution in government courts.

Editor’s note: Is there anything we can do to preserve freedom and save the greatest nation the planet has ever known, or is the author correct, it’s too late? If you were going to cut and run, where would you go?