Letters December 26, 2002 
 

'Give me liberty, or give me death!'

Dear People of the Gunnison Valley: 

If I am spending the next six months in jail, I assure you it is not because of my recent conviction for failure to obtain a driver license etc., (i.e. failure to obtain permission to exercise and enjoy the freedom of personal liberty; failure to have my papers in order) but rather because of my sincere conviction, held together with America's founding fathers, that the foundation of the Gospel, Liberty and Justice are self-evident truths and pillars upon which Law and government rest. 

If I am imprisoned, may it but another voice indicting the adulterous whoredom - the treason - of American corporations, governments, religions, banks and attorneys who perpetuate, by fraud and concealment, the treacherous design of the international money changers against the American people. 

If I reside as a guest in the Sheriff's dungeon, it is not because of my non-compliance with legislative fiat but rather because my exercise of the most fundamental duty of American citizenship is being dishonored. I stand convicted, not unlike the charges issued by King George against America's founders for their "rebellion" against private, administrative statutes imposed under an unwarrantable jurisdiction foreign to the supreme Law of the Land. I stand convicted for testifying against high crimes and treason against the American people. I stand convicted because of belief in and allegiance to the King of Heaven and Earth. 

If I appear recalcitrant to "authority" because of my refusal to have my "papers" in order before exercising Liberty, it is not due to any contempt I may appear to have for government; but rather due to my contempt for totalitarianism - whether such be marketed by conservatives as fascist national socialism under the guise of "homeland security," or by liberals as Bolshevik-communist socialism. 

If it appears I have abandoned my paternal duty to my wife Karen, and my boys Jacob, Caleb, Stephen and Lucas, I assure you it is not because of irresponsibility, but rather because of my hope for a future with my posterity by faith and allegiance to my King, kingdom and fellow citizens, which constrains my active dissent against the present regime whose agenda it is to rob my posterity of Liberty and destroy those getting in the way. 

Does America's most fundamental law, the Declaration of Independence, not provide that we are each endowed by the Creator with certain, unalienable rights, among which is Liberty?; that government is established to secure Liberty rather than abridge it?; that governments govern "by consent of the governed?" 

American men are the sole repository of the sovereign power to abolish government whenever, not if-ever, government becomes destructive to Liberty. I am a man. 

Am I alone to deal with this problem? Who is standing with me? Should good men fail to act timely, without violence, Americans will lose the Declaration of Independence as their mandatory authority to secure freedom, and their wives and children will suffer. 

The time is at hand. I have withdrawn consent, thereby abolishing and throwing off a global enemy trading in the bodies and souls of men, women and children throughout the world. To this end, I have not, nor will I, condone violence to secure victory in pursuance of the end I seek, to proclaim "Liberty throughout the land" (Lev 25.10). May my imprisonment testify to the contempt by public servants of the principles they are entrusted to secure, and their treason against the American people. 

May the words of Patrick Henry spoken March 23, 1775 again move men to action: 

"They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come. 

"It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace - but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" 

David Justice 
Gunnison