
              Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 6  Num. 59
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                    ("Quid coniuratio est?")
 
 
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NORMAN OLSON
Member of Michigan Militia
Opening statement to Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism
June 15, 1995
 
 
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
 
The following statement will attempt to answer the question of 
the legitimacy and the need of the citizen militia.
 
Not only does the Constitution specifically allow the formation 
of a federal army, but also recognizes the inherent right of the 
people to form militias. Further, it recognizes that the citizen 
and his personal armament are the foundation of the militia. The 
arming of the militia is not left to the state but to the 
citizen. However, should the state choose to arm its citizen 
militia, it is free to do so: bearing in mind that the 
Constitution is not a document limiting the citizen, but rather 
limiting the power of government. But should the state fail to 
arm its citizen militia, the right of the people to keep and bear 
arms becomes the source of the guarantee that the state will not 
be found defenseless in the presence of a threat to its security.
 
It makes no sense whatsoever to look to the Constitution of the 
United States, or that of any state, for *permission* to form a 
citizen militia, since logically, the power to permit is also the 
power to deny. If brought to its logical conclusion in this case, 
government may deny the citizen the right to form a militia. If 
this were to happen, the state would assert itself as a principal 
of the contract, making the people the agents. Liberty, then, 
would depend on the state's grant of liberty. Such a concept is 
foreign to American thought.
 
While the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution 
recognizes the existence of a state militia and recognizes their 
necessity for securing a free state, and while it also recognizes 
that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be 
infringed, the Second Amendment is not the source of the right to 
form a militia, nor to keep and bear arms. Those rights existed 
in the states *prior* to the formation of the federal union. In 
fact, the right to form militia and to keep and bear arms exists 
from antiquity. The enumeration of those rights in the 
Constitution only underscores their natural occurence and 
importance.
 
According to the Tenth Amendment, ultimate power over the militia 
is not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution. 
Consequently, the power of the militia remains in the hands of 
the people. Again: the fundamental function of the militia in 
society remains *with* the people. Therefore, the Second 
Amendment recognizes that the militias' existence and the 
security of the state rests ultimately in the people who 
volunteer their persons to constitute the militia and their arms 
to supply its firepower.
 
The primary defense of the state rests *with* the citizen 
militia, bearing its own arms. Fundamentally, it is not the state 
that defends the people, but the people who defend the state.
 
The second line of defense of the state consists of a statutory 
organization known as the national guard. Whereas the national 
guard is solely the creation of statutory law, the militia 
derives its existence from the inherent, inalienable rights which 
existed *before* the Constitution and whose importance are such 
that they merit specific recognition in that document. While the 
national guard came into existence as the result of legislative 
activity, the militia existed *before* there *was* a nation or a 
constitutional form of government. The militia, consisting of 
people owning and bearing personal weapons, is the *very* 
*authority* out of which the United States Constitution grew! 
This point must be emphasized. Neither the citizens' militia nor 
the citizens' private arsenal can be an appropriate subject of 
federal regulation.
 
It was the armed militia of the American colonies whose own 
efforts ultimately led to the establishment of the United States 
of America. While some may say that the right to keep and bear 
arms is granted to Americans by the Constitution, just the 
opposite is true: the federal government itself is the child of 
the armed citizen. We the people are the parent of the child we 
call "government". You senators are part of the child that we the 
people gave life to. The increasing amount of federal 
encroachment into our lives indicates the need for parental 
corrective action: in short, the federal government needs a good 
spanking to make it behave.
 
One other important point needs to be made. Since the 
Constitution is the limiting document upon the government, the 
government cannot become greater than the granting power. *It* 
*is* *the* *servant*. That is, the servant cannot become greater 
than its master.
 
Therefore, should the chief executive or other branch of 
government, or all branches together, act to suspend the 
Constitution under a rule of martial law, all power granted *to* 
government would be cancelled and defer back to the granting 
power -- that is, the people.
 
And I'll conclude with this statement: Martial law shall not be 
possible in this country as long as the people recognize the Bill 
of Rights as inalienable.
 
My statement is not complete, however it *has* been made part of 
the Record for those who would like to review it. Thank you very 
much.
 
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