By Susan Johnson

Copy Editor

We The People Foundation, an independent citizens group that wants to reclaim the U.S. government for its citizens, held an informational town hall discussion Sept. 24 at Veterans Memorial Hall in Rockford. The panel discussion continues:

Health care and cap & trade

Jonathan Cobb noted that two other topics before Congress are health care and cap and trade.

Bob Pfluger said:
As far as health care goes, Congress has no authority to make laws about that at all. They saw that they could regulate interstate commerce, but intrastate is in the state. We even have laws saying insurance companies in Illinois cannot sell policies to people in Wisconsin. They keep down interstate commerce. The whole health care bill is unconstitutional from its inception—it is just a matter of more control, and getting in line with Obama’s socialism. Yes, health care is good, but who’s going to pay for it? There’s no free lunch. Do you want to put our money in a pot and provide everybody with free health care? Not without tort reform first. Otherwise, we are taking money from one person and giving it to another, which is stealing.

Jonathan Cobb recalled that one lady at a town hall meeting had said health care was a
right.

Bob Pfluger’s response was:
Is driving down the street a right? No. Is praying in church a right? Yes. There are rights, and there are privileges.

He referred to President Lyndon Johnson’s
Great Society.

Pfluger explained,
Let’s raise up the poor man so he is just as important as the rich man. Of course, they are both important, but they are not equal. Some are more equal than others. Everybody has to work, but that doesn’t mean everyone is exactly the same as for class status. But when you make a Great Society where everyone is equal, that is leading to a socialistic, communist state. The Great Society was a great giveaway program—giving to one and taking it from another. Let’s start doing tort reform so the insurance companies can sell their policies anywhere. There would be competition, and the price would drop, including medications.

Purpose of the Continental Congress

Jonathan Cobb reiterated the organization’s goal.
We The People are planning to convene a Continental Congress after we have exercised the fifth right of petitioning the federal government. But they do not listen; we have petitioned for redress of grievances. We should have the same right to do what our founding fathers did. We will elect three delegates from each state and the District of Columbia [meeting in St. Charles, Ill. for two weeks, Nov. 9-22]. Scholars will come together and decide what to do with the government that does not pay attention. It is not to be confused with a Constitutional Convention, which is to amend the Constitution. Who knows  what type of damage could be done with the current administration and Congress? It is not a con-con. It is in the spirit of the 1774 Continental Congress.

He then introduced the Illinois state coordinator, Ragen Gillam.

Gillam, not a panel member, addressed the group briefly. She read statements from delegate nominees who were not able to attend the meeting: Geraldine Perry, author, certified natural health consultant and herbal specialist; Ralph Conner, mayor of Maywood, Ill., and legislation manager for The Heartland Institute, Chicago; Pastor Ron Teed from Village Church, Wheaton, Ill., author and owner/president of a sales and marketing firm; and Randy Barron, watch captain with American Commercial Lines, also affiliated with Inland Waterways Barge Transportation. Gillam mentioned that Perry had co-written a book, The Two Faces of Money, and gives presentations on natural health and money creation and the economy.

Rogene Hamilton gave an overview of the Continental Congress.
We The People was founded by Bob Schulz in 1979. For 15 years, he had been petitioning the government for redress of grievances. We have seven grievances identified that the government has refused to respond to. The original Continental Congress met simply to define their grievances with King George. This Congress is to address the petitions for redress, since our current Congress is out of control. There will be nine delegates going to Pheasant Run at St. Charles in November.

Problems with the jury system

Bob Pfluger said:
People have the right to nullify the law, but most people are rather docile, and the judge in court asks potential jurors, ‘Can you take the law as I give it and apply it to the facts in the case?’ This right was taken away from people by the Supreme Court. Our founding fathers defined tyranny as the centralization of power all in one body. The Supreme Court instituted tyranny when they took away the right of the jury to nullify the law. But there were judged cases in history where people refused to listen to the law and found the person innocent. We must not give the government any more money if they do not answer our petitions. Then, we would have to rally behind the person who is going to be charged with evasion of income tax and hand out pamphlets to everybody who goes into the courthouse, which shows the rights of the jurors to judge the law as well as the facts.

Nancy Brandt of Andover, Ill., was present in the audience. She said this right had not been taken away, but it is not taught in schools. She is affiliated with a group called SuperLiberty in the Quad Cities area, which distributes leaflets to people entering the Scott County [Iowa]  Courthouse, stating that they have the right to vote according to their conscience and to judge the law being applied to the case.

Some examples mentioned on their fact sheet:
Throughout history, reasoning jurors have refused to convict fellow citizens who were accused of breaking the law. They stopped the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, freed tax protesters during the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, refused to convict those who aided runaway slaves in violation of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, freed bootleggers charged during Prohibition 1920-30, and released Vietnam War objectors 1960-70.

This group works with the Fully Informed Jury Association. (See www.fija.org or SuperLiberty.com, or call 800-835-5879.)

Ray Swenson noted that according to the Illinois State Constitution, all people in the state are considered part of the militia. All of us citizens are armed with our votes.

Kurt Kallenbach said we need to eliminate fear among the people. We need to remember we are
god

with a little
g.

We do not employ the government; we create it and can abolish it, but not recognize it. The only way to do that is to educate people and let them know they are the authority. Also, we need to reward honesty or the truth. People get something for doing nothing. We have to quit deceiving ourselves and thinking we are part of the problem. We cannot expect other people to do things for us.

Bob Pfluger would try for a more peaceful solution to energize the truckers.
They are ready to go, ‘bang, bang, bang!’ Perhaps we could have another march and close down Washington. If Congress refuses to talk, then we could go to the militia,

he said.

Rick Wos said:
We are not advocating violence. That is not what the militia was about; it was for the protection of the people. That would be long down the road after we are ignored. I believe that a show of force will be enough to win. We should all start exchanging goods and services with gold and silver coins and start competing with the banks.

For more information about We The People Foundation, go to www.GiveMeLiberty.org.

From the October 28-November 3, 2009 issue