How concerned should we be over a large military exercise taking place over several US states this summer? Is it a takeover by armed federal troops...or has that already happened?
How concerned should we be over a large military exercise taking place over several US states this summer? Is it a takeover by armed federal troops...or has that already happened?
How concerned should we be over a large military exercise taking place over several US states this summer? Is it a takeover by armed federal troops...or has that already happened?
Hello everybody and thank you for tuning in to the Ron Paul Liberty Report.
With me today is Daniel McAdams from the Institute for Peace and Prosperity.
Daniel, good to see you.
Today I want to talk a little bit about one of the issues that's big in the news, certainly in Texas, but actually nationally.
And that has to do with Jade Helm 15.
And we know that people have been talking about this for a good while, but all of a sudden it is everywhere because of the governor of Texas and what he did.
And that is what I'm fascinated with because why did he do this?
You know, it sounds like he's sort of sympathizing with people who have great concern about federal takeovers.
And we don't know what his personal position is, but at least legally, he's saying that he's going to send the guard in and sort of watch over what the feds will be doing this summer, you know, in this so-called training.
So have you given this any thought about the legality of this and the necessity for this?
Well, of course, you know, the federal government owns so much land in the United States that they're able to get away with something like this by saying they're going to operate on federal lands and on private lands where they have permission.
So it's, you know, it's such a vast amount of space.
But I think that from what I've seen, the government has done operations like this on U.S. soil before, but this is apparently one of the largest.
It will include members of all of the Armed Services Special Forces.
And I think that's probably what got people's attention.
Yeah, 1,200 special forces in the state.
And of course, some people think, well, this might be the beginning of a major, major takeover, which I don't.
I'm not quite there yet.
I don't believe that is.
I believe it's very important.
And I like what the governor is doing.
But one thing, my theory on why the governor is doing it is a good theory.
And it's a good reflection that the governor is a politician.
And all of a sudden, he's responding to the excitement up in the area, the people who will be exposed to these troops, which means that people's ideas and concerns can have an effect on what government officials do.
So if he's not there naturally and he wasn't out doing this for years and years and worrying about these kind of things, all of a sudden there's enough people concerned that he is responding.
I think that's a pretty healthy idea.
But the big question is, if they're not ready to have this as a military takeover, what are they doing?
Their argument, it's training.
Well, you know, there's a plausibility to this.
Maybe they're satisfied with all the controls they have already.
But, you know, last week we talked about the special forces being in 81 countries.
Maybe they want to expand it by 10.
You know, the Hawks are winning a lot of fights in Washington, and they're arguing the case more and more.
So I just wonder whether they think that they're so secure here, they don't have to worry, and they're thinking about outside to enhance the empire.
I think that could be a possibility.
Yeah, and I think, you know, the elites and the people who consider themselves elites love to mock people who are suspicious about this.
And of course, the papers will always show the most extreme example of a suspicious person to say, put everyone in that category.
You've got to be a kook like this person.
But, you know, I think it's probably pretty healthy that people are suspicious of the government.
They say that this is going to be a government takeover, the people that are on the extreme, but that's probably not what a government takeover would look like.
Do you think?
I mean, what would it look like?
I don't know.
I think we have a pretty good evidence of what it might look like.
I think we just have to look at current events.
I sense that the federal government has taken over.
You know, there was one time I threw out the term there's been a CIA coup.
It's a secret government.
We don't know what they do.
The Congress doesn't know what they do.
They rig elections.
They start wars.
And they have a lot of power.
Even now, 70, 80% of the American people believe that possibly, you know, the CIA was involved in the murder of Kennedy.
So the CIA is very powerful.
We have these special forces all over the world, and we don't know who's really in charge.
Who's the military?
The CIA.
They're the ones who direct the drones.
So they're very much involved.
And at home, the feds have taken over because they know everything about everybody.
And that's NASA.
They spy on everybody.
But generally, I keep thinking we worry about NASA and NSA, and we should.
But then again, I keep thinking maybe their ineptness will protect us.
Think of all the money they spend and some guy in a bicycle that has wings and he decides I'm going to fly into the Capitol and I'm going to tell them.
And he does it and nobody notices him.
So I guess we all need a gyrocopter if we want to hide from NSA and they'll never find us.
You know, I think people are right to be afraid of armed federal agents.
But, you know, as you've always said, there already are thousands of armed federal agents.
They're called everything from the 100,000.
The regulatory system, the judicial system is so corrupt as far as I'm concerned.
When you look at how you get a David Petraeus and what kind of a penalty does he get, and what does Edward Snowden get?
He's a man without a country, and that's not justice.
There was one statement I've heard, and I'm getting to believe it's true.
You know, a federal prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich, and the odds of you beating a federal indictment are very, very slim.
So that worries me a whole lot.
The other thing is, is they've essentially won the fight about judicial supremacy.
Which laws are supreme, federal or state?
Most people, if you ask kids in high school or college if they even have an opinion, oh, the federal government is.
It's in the Constitution, the federal supremacy law.
But the supremacy law, from my understanding, says that when the federal government is given direct authority to do something, the states can't usurp it from the federal government, say, printing money, which is counterfeiting money.
But no, it's supreme.
But they're not supreme over the things that they haven't been given authority to.
And so many people now have been taught that anything that has not been expressly denied to the federal government, they're allowed to do.
So if this stuff isn't expressly denied to the federal government, oh, this is federal supremacy.
It's turned on its head.
Yeah, they turned it upside down.
So I think that there's a political contest going on here.
We have the feds who are extremely powerful, and they threaten.
And then the people who are really worried about this might think that tomorrow, you know, there's going to be martial law everyplace.
And we certainly saw an experience of that in Boston, you know, after the bombing.
And that's real.
But I'm not, I don't believe we're at that point right now.
I think the contest is between what already exists, which is the feds have taken over, and all of a sudden the people are waking up.
And I mentioned before about how the people's attitudes may have had an effect on Abbott to go in and say, hey, look, we have a national state guard, not a national guard, a state guard, that we're going to just be observers.
And we now are experiencing and seeing that people are sick of the feds.
There's nullification ideas going on.
The states are taking upon themselves to nullify state laws.
And so it is a contest, but I see it as much of a contest of ideas and ideology as much as anything else.
But we still have to worry about the possibilities because we've seen it.
We see it after hurricanes.
You know, FEMA comes in.
And don't you think something like this, seeing these armed, uniformed military people in the streets of your small town somewhere, that sort of desensitizes people and conditions them to the people?
And the more they see it.
See, the more they say, well, I guess they're taken care of.
It's sort of the attitude change that we were both very much aware of after 9-11.
Well, you've got to give up some of your freedoms.
We have to be safe.
And so within days, the Patriot Act gets passed.
Unfortunately, it looks like it's going to be extended for a lot longer time.
People keep thinking these things, so they do get desensitized.
But there is this philosophic contest going on on whether we want to have local government, individual liberty, and a very small federal government, or whether this trend is going to continue.
So where it ends, I don't know, but I do know that financially there's a limitation because locally we've seen this kind of thing happen when some governments move into certain cities.
Detroit is a good example, and take over the authority.
You can't do a single thing and everybody can be on welfare and everybody can be taken care of.
And a city goes bankrupt.
They probably will, and are getting some help elsewhere.
But all these systems are limited, I believe, both philosophically and financially.
The philosophy of limited government will have a bigger, better crack at this once nobody can afford it anymore.
So I think this is very good that the governor has done this.
I am not at the point where I think this is the first step, and six months from now, you're going to see martial law all around the country.
Media's Role in Manipulation00:00:37
And I sure hope I'm right on that.
But I certainly endorse the idea that the people are going to have to wake up.
And what are the odds of the media, the government manipulated media, are going to tell us about it?
So I think this is good.
I wish there were a way that a lot of pictures could be taken about what the training session looks like up there.
That's what the feds should do.
This is totally benign.
It's training.
You come in and take all the pictures you want and you can listen to our conversation.