With the Bundy Ranch debacle, a group came out into national prominence that few had heard of before. A paramilitary group calling themselves a “militia” by the name of The Oath Keepers. They have been around since 2009; founded by Stewart Rhodes, who advertises himself as a former paratrooper and Yale Law School Graduate, who worked for Ron Paul.

Membership is said to be made up of former military and law enforcement. Now if you were ever in the military, law enforcement or any government position in the United States, a requirement of employment is swearing an Oath. The oath is to among other things “Uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic.” The mission statement of the “Oath Keepers” lists orders they “will NOT obey”, namely:

1. We will NOT obey orders to disarm the American people.

No one in government has ever proposed, nor are they likely to propose “disarming the American people”. First of all it would be impossible and they know it. There are laws in place that permit law enforcement taking weapons away from “prohibited possessors” which is a legal definition applying to those convicted of felony offenses or have current chronic mental health disorders. If these people prefer convicted felons and seriously mentally ill people (like themselves perhaps) to continue to have weapons, I would think the majority of Americans would oppose them.

2. We will NOT obey orders to conduct warrantless searches of the American people.

The 4th Amendment of the United States prohibits warrantless searches. So anyone in government ordering such a search is violating the Constitution. Under existing law, if anything is found incriminating under such a search, it is considered “fruit from the poisoned tree” and thus inadmissible in a Court of Law. A first year law student would get their client out based on that ruling. Further, since the Oath Keepers are former military and law enforcement, it is unlikely they would be ordered to search anyone, let alone without a search warrant. That order would most likely come from Stewart Rhodes, and I will discuss him later.

3. We will NOT obey orders to detain American citizens as “unlawful enemy combatants” or to subject them to military tribunal.

They would never be allowed to detain any American citizen as an unlawful enemy combatant or otherwise since again, they are former military and law enforcement. If they detain anyone for any reason, there is a law against it; it’s called “Unlawful detention” and/or “Kidnapping”. I’m glad they agree to obey the law of the land in that regard.

4. We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a “state of emergency” on a state.

As former military and law enforcement, again they are not in a position to be ordered to impose martial law; however, they feel empowered to usurp the legal authority of current and authorized legal representation of the Government in conducting their operations or presence. This is in fact illegal.

5. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty.

As former military and law enforcement, I’m not sure who other than Stewart Rhodes would order them to “invade and subjugate any state asserting its sovereignty”. That would be left to the lawful power of the Government of the United States to her military forces and command of local State Militias as established in the Constitution and Law and last demonstrated in 1860 when certain states illegally seceded from the Union. No, history is not with them on this.

6. We will NOT obey any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps.

Again, these are former military and law enforcement personnel and the very concept of anyone setting up concentration camps in the United States is laughable paranoia dreamt up by the “FEMA Camp” nuts who offer no proof, only stretched imaginations of such a thing existing. Kind of brings me back to the “seriously mentally ill” folks being prohibited possessors.

7. We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext.

See #6.

8. We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil against the American people to “keep the peace” or to “maintain control.”

I’ll repeat as I will with all these idiotic “will not obey” ramblings; these are former military and law enforcement, not in a position to get orders from anyone in a lawful capacity. We are the country who sends troops to other lands, not vice versa. It is more paranoid clap trap from the idiots who prey on the paranoia and stupidity of a small fringe segment of our population.

9. We will NOT obey any orders to confiscate the property of the American people, including food and other essential supplies.

Again since these are former military and law enforcement, they wouldn’t be ordered to confiscate anything from anybody. If they did, it would be known as theft. Punishable by arrest, trial and potential imprisonment. Further, as they did at Bundy Ranch, they are not in a position to demand law enforcement to surrender their weapons to them for confiscation. That is also under federal and state law. Who ordered them to make that demand I wonder?

10. We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances.

Finally and again, these are former military and law enforcement. The only orders they would get would be from themselves. I would remind them the key phrase “peaceably assemble” and point out when they show up with weapons, taking position to shoot and kill law enforcement and those they disagree with, they are not being “peaceable” they are being provocative and potentially violent. They are the ones who should and could be legally rounded up and prosecuted by current military and law enforcement for their actions at Bundy Ranch.

These Ten “Will Not Commandments” denote paranoia and conspiracy theory thinking common among Libertarians, John Birchers, Tea Party and other right wing fringe groups who do it simply for more for publicity to gain the support and admiration of the most gullible among us in America.   Again, the membership of the Oath Keepers at best is a few “former” military and law enforcement officials, not current. If they were current then they have some explaining to do to their chain of command.

This group would like ordinary Americans to think that they are a militia movement in the spirit of our founding and their oath to the writings and spirit of the founders and our Constitution. Well a few things they leave out in their propaganda.

First of all, the militias of the time of our founding were well regulated and answered to the Government. They were established by State government and answered to elected or appointed personnel from those states and later the government of the United States.

Under the Militia act of 1792 and subsequent acts, any state militia, (the only legal militias allowed to exist) could and were called upon by the Government of the United States for the defense of that Government. The best example of that is the Whiskey Rebellion and later, the War of 1812.

Today, these militias go by another name, The National Guard. Any group calling themselves a militia that doesn’t legally adhere to the elected government of the State or Federal Government is in fact only an armed mob of malcontents who present a clear and present danger to public order.

Yale Law School graduate Stewart Rhodes, who encourages military and law enforcement to not follow the lawful orders of their chain of command (leaving them in a precarious legal bind to say the least) has issues with established protocol and rule of law and official conduct. He was admonished by the State Bar of Arizona (a conservative red state mind you) for practicing without a license in 2012. He lied in Court, made false and misleading representation and was fined. You would think a Yale Ivy League Attorney would exhibit a better sense of ethical behavior in Court.

One of Rhodes commanders is former Arizona Sheriff Richard Mack. Mack was the one at Bundy Ranch on tape saying how they were going to place women on the front lines so they can get film of them being shot by BLM authorities. This “honorable and brave” member of the Oath Keepers militia is a former Sheriff from Arizona, a conservative red state. He ran for Congress and was soundly defeated by the conservatives who saw him as too fringe and too crazy to be trusted, even in Congress.

The Oath Keepers do not represent the spirit of 1776, the founders or the Constitution of the United States or any individual state for that matter. They are a “militia” upon themselves only with no allegiance to any elected government. They answer to only themselves. They are armed, paranoid and dangerous. They are becoming more noted by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group for good reason. They hate and are willing to kill for their hate of anything that is not them.

We are a Constitutional Representative Republic under the umbrella of democracy. We elect our officials to hold government office and work on our behalf. Those who are in State houses and Washington DC are there because the people either voted them in, or allowed them to be voted in. They are the legal representation of our government and Constitution until such time as they are voted out of office legally or by the only means permitted by our Constitution. They can be voted out or impeached. In State government they can be recalled by popular vote. Guns aren’t needed nor are they asked for by peace loving and Constitution loving Americans.

To declare war on the elected members of our government, bypassing the provisions established in the constitution and law to deal with those that may cause harm, is to declare war on the people of the United States.

The Oath Keepers, by being armed and threatening law enforcement are a clear and present danger to the public order and safety of the people of the United States. They are seditionists and once shots are fired, they are treasonous deserving of full retaliatory response from the United States Military.

Good luck with that Stewart Rhodes and Richard Mack, the women won’t protect you from a hell fire missile if you really want to take it that far.

The Oath Keepers are former military and law enforcement. The code of military conduct does not permit an active duty soldier to wear the uniform of another military organization and swear allegiance to that organization, which is a Court Martial offense.

Further, just because they are former US military and law enforcement doesn’t mean they are patriotic and should be listened to. After all, Benedict Arnold was a war hero and look what he did because his ego was bruised by the events around him.

The Oath Keepers are just angry, paranoid and delusional nuts who like to play with their guns and come off like some movie war hero defending the country. They in fact place this nation and her people in real peril because they do not recognize the government the majority of the voting public have place in office.

If they don’t like it, run for office, don’t go running for your guns. That childish, dangerous and un American.