Concerns over the existence of the FBI have been around since the very beginning of its institution in 1908. We have witnessed the FBI being used as a weapon against political foes by a corrupt DOJ. And we have witnessed past and present tragedies and atrocities against citizens, some incidents culminating to nothing more than a mass murder as in Waco, TX in 1993.
More recently, tragedy struck here in Tennessee with the killing of a Chester County man, Theodore Deschler. Mr. Deschler was a disabled veteran and seemingly unarmed when he was gunned down in his home in August by the FBI. As of now, we still do not have details of the incident, and the FBI’s response to the family has simply been that the “matter is under investigation.”
And this on the heels of 75-year-old Craig Robertson who was gunned down in Utah. Neighbors say that he was slow to get around and posed no reasonable threat to anyone. Yet, the FBI came knocking due to apparent threats he had made online against Joe Biden. Instead of interpreting these “threats” as simply the musings of a grumpy old man disenfranchised by his own government, the FBI chose to meet up with him at gunpoint.
Back to the recent incident in Tennessee with Mr. Deschler. A Tennessee state senator revealed that local authorities in Chester County had not even been notified by the FBI that they were engaging in these policing activities in their county. Let that sink in for a moment. Consider the local jurisdictional authorities of city police and county sheriff departments, and the state’s police power derived from the 10th Amendment. From where does a federal police force draw its authority to pierce the veil of state sovereignty and act against citizens, especially without the knowledge of any local authority?
Also, consider the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act signed by Bill Clinton in 1994. In 2022, the Biden DOJ chose to indict 11 pro-life activists for engaging in ministry activities surrounding a Mt. Juliet, TN abortion clinic (apparently for blocking access to the clinic). Paul Vaughn, a resident of Hickman County, was arrested by the FBI at gunpoint at home in front of his wife and children for allegedly violating the FACE Act.
Most notably concerning Mr. Vaughn’s case, no state laws were broken in Tennessee, and local law enforcement, or district attorney’s offices did not pursue criminal charges or suspect any violation of the law. So, you have a federal police force (the FBI) coming into the state to arrest a citizen for a violation of some federal act, again, with no action from local law enforcement. This is wholly unconstitutional, an egregious overreach of the federal government, and a complete and total usurpation of the protection of individual liberties secured in the same Constitution that is being abused by this agency.
How is this happening? Well, it should not be.
The courts have been abundantly clear on where states derive their police power, the 10th Amendment.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Now consider this for a moment. Why is it that the courts have opined that the origin of a state’s police power is found in the 10th Amendment? Well, it is because that power has not been expressly given to the federal government per the Constitution. Therefore, it is reserved to the states.
If we acknowledge this simple premise, then from where would the federal government derive its own power to now employ the FBI, a federal police force, to enforce federal law by the prosecution and arrests of state citizens?
You cannot have it both ways. Either states have a police power due to its absence in the federal government per the Constitution, or it does not. But like many other things, as we saw in 2020 (the year of the big lie), we continue to comply with and accept the arbitrary power of government. The Constitution cannot protect us from an arbitrary power that we as a people are unwilling to resist. The resistance to the usurpation of rights is the necessary foundation upon which any enforcement of constitutional authority begins. It always begins with the people.
The Constitution is an instrument by which the governed push back on illegitimate authority. It is not an instrument used by a government to limit itself. That is contrary to all of human nature and simply wishful thinking. We must get this.
The FBI has a long criminal record and a history of abuses against the People. In light of the recent string of attacks on citizens by this unconstitutional agency, it is past time for states to push back on this arbitrary power. And that pushback should begin right here in Tennessee.
From a larger perspective, we are at war with an agenda that is bent on destroying the sovereignty of the individual, the sovereignty of the states, and even the sovereignty of our Nation. There are many who believe that we should no longer have borders. We are moving towards a global currency and the surveillance state is ever-expanding.
All of these fights will require a firm resistance to this move towards totalitarianism. The necessity and duty to that resistance can be found in Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution of the State of Tennessee which reads…
That government being instituted for the common benefit, the doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power and oppression is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.
Unquestionably, the force being exerted by the FBI against citizens is indeed arbitrary as this federal policing authority simply exists nowhere in our US Constitution and is therefore wholly reserved to the states.
State governments in function are in part to be in a place of interposition between the federal government and the citizens under the jurisdiction of that state. When the threat comes to abrogating the rights of citizens by the use of some illegitimate and arbitrary power, the state must stand in the gap on the citizen’s behalf with force or the threat of force if necessary.
We therefore urge Governor Bill Lee, the Tennessee General Assembly, and sheriff departments in all 95 counties in Tennessee to take seriously the egregious acts committed in our state by the FBI and a corrupt US Department of Justice. It is time to act and meaningfully stand in opposition to these crimes committed against Tennesseans.
It is time for Tennessee to stand against the threat of a weaponized federal police force, the FBI.
Concerns over the existence of the FBI have been around since the very beginning of its institution in 1908. We have witnessed the FBI being used as a weapon against political foes by a corrupt DOJ. And we have witnessed past and present tragedies and atrocities against citizens, some incidents culminating to nothing more than a mass murder as in Waco, TX in 1993.
More recently, tragedy struck here in Tennessee with the killing of a Chester County man, Theodore Deschler. Mr. Deschler was a disabled veteran and seemingly unarmed when he was gunned down in his home in August by the FBI. As of now, we still do not have details of the incident, and the FBI’s response to the family has simply been that the “matter is under investigation.”
And this on the heels of 75-year-old Craig Robertson who was gunned down in Utah. Neighbors say that he was slow to get around and posed no reasonable threat to anyone. Yet, the FBI came knocking due to apparent threats he had made online against Joe Biden. Instead of interpreting these “threats” as simply the musings of a grumpy old man disenfranchised by his own government, the FBI chose to meet up with him at gunpoint.
Back to the recent incident in Tennessee with Mr. Deschler. A Tennessee state senator revealed that local authorities in Chester County had not even been notified by the FBI that they were engaging in these policing activities in their county. Let that sink in for a moment. Consider the local jurisdictional authorities of city police and county sheriff departments, and the state’s police power derived from the 10th Amendment. From where does a federal police force draw its authority to pierce the veil of state sovereignty and act against citizens, especially without the knowledge of any local authority?
Also, consider the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act signed by Bill Clinton in 1994. In 2022, the Biden DOJ chose to indict 11 pro-life activists for engaging in ministry activities surrounding a Mt. Juliet, TN abortion clinic (apparently for blocking access to the clinic). Paul Vaughn, a resident of Hickman County, was arrested by the FBI at gunpoint at home in front of his wife and children for allegedly violating the FACE Act.
Most notably concerning Mr. Vaughn’s case, no state laws were broken in Tennessee, and local law enforcement, or district attorney’s offices did not pursue criminal charges or suspect any violation of the law. So, you have a federal police force (the FBI) coming into the state to arrest a citizen for a violation of some federal act, again, with no action from local law enforcement. This is wholly unconstitutional, an egregious overreach of the federal government, and a complete and total usurpation of the protection of individual liberties secured in the same Constitution that is being abused by this agency.
How is this happening? Well, it should not be.
The courts have been abundantly clear on where states derive their police power, the 10th Amendment.
Now consider this for a moment. Why is it that the courts have opined that the origin of a state’s police power is found in the 10th Amendment? Well, it is because that power has not been expressly given to the federal government per the Constitution. Therefore, it is reserved to the states.
If we acknowledge this simple premise, then from where would the federal government derive its own power to now employ the FBI, a federal police force, to enforce federal law by the prosecution and arrests of state citizens?
You cannot have it both ways. Either states have a police power due to its absence in the federal government per the Constitution, or it does not. But like many other things, as we saw in 2020 (the year of the big lie), we continue to comply with and accept the arbitrary power of government. The Constitution cannot protect us from an arbitrary power that we as a people are unwilling to resist. The resistance to the usurpation of rights is the necessary foundation upon which any enforcement of constitutional authority begins. It always begins with the people.
The Constitution is an instrument by which the governed push back on illegitimate authority. It is not an instrument used by a government to limit itself. That is contrary to all of human nature and simply wishful thinking. We must get this.
The FBI has a long criminal record and a history of abuses against the People. In light of the recent string of attacks on citizens by this unconstitutional agency, it is past time for states to push back on this arbitrary power. And that pushback should begin right here in Tennessee.
From a larger perspective, we are at war with an agenda that is bent on destroying the sovereignty of the individual, the sovereignty of the states, and even the sovereignty of our Nation. There are many who believe that we should no longer have borders. We are moving towards a global currency and the surveillance state is ever-expanding.
All of these fights will require a firm resistance to this move towards totalitarianism. The necessity and duty to that resistance can be found in Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution of the State of Tennessee which reads…
Unquestionably, the force being exerted by the FBI against citizens is indeed arbitrary as this federal policing authority simply exists nowhere in our US Constitution and is therefore wholly reserved to the states.
State governments in function are in part to be in a place of interposition between the federal government and the citizens under the jurisdiction of that state. When the threat comes to abrogating the rights of citizens by the use of some illegitimate and arbitrary power, the state must stand in the gap on the citizen’s behalf with force or the threat of force if necessary.
We therefore urge Governor Bill Lee, the Tennessee General Assembly, and sheriff departments in all 95 counties in Tennessee to take seriously the egregious acts committed in our state by the FBI and a corrupt US Department of Justice. It is time to act and meaningfully stand in opposition to these crimes committed against Tennesseans.
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Gary Humble
Gary Humble