Donald Trump's Policy on Terrorism (video)

I've made my first YouTube video and used it to examine Donald Trump's plan to combat terrorism, "whatever we need to do, even if we need to expand the laws". I discuss what that really means and the inevitable long-term implications. The video is 13:55 minutes long. Below, you'll find the main transcript.

Trump’s Foreign Policy

Today there was another horrible terrorist attack, this time in Brussels, Belgium. And as happens whenever such events occur, people start asking questions about security, how we can stay safe and prevent future attacks etc. And since Donald Trump is currently the top Republican candidate, he has been asked his views.

And so, I’d like to talk about the “Trump foreign policy”. Whenever I hear him talk about the need to reassess our foreign interventions, how going into Libya was a bad idea, and how bombing civilians tends to create more enemies – you know, that whole blowback concept – I get really excited.

I like it. It makes sense. There’s a lot of evidence to support those views. It’s a lot more of a Constitutional policy, more of a libertarian philosophy, and definitely more of a human-rights based philosophy.

But then, you have terrorist attacks. You have San Bernardino, you have the attacks in Paris and today in Brussels. And, of course, you ask “well, what do we do?” And Trump’s answer to that isn’t really libertarian. It isn’t really based on the idea of liberty or about protecting rights.

He talks about the need to be hard and be strong, and of course we do need to address these problems. But he goes on saying that he supports waterboarding, and that if we need to make the laws or expand them to do “whatever we need to do” in his words – that that’s fine.

It’s fine because the terrorists don’t use laws. ISIS doesn’t have laws, and we do, and we want to follow the law. So, we need to pass laws that gives us the authority to do things like waterboarding and capturing the families of terrorists, and all of this other stuff. Again, it’s whatever we need to do to be safe and win.

And of course the initial knee-jerk reaction is “Yes, yes! We need to do this!” We have been attack and we need to go and destroy our enemy.

But it’s also important to step back for a moment and think about what that actually means. We need to think about the consequences and the path that it leads us down.

Now nobody wants to be the first to break Godwin’s Law, but I’m about to – and I ask that you please stay with me here. You know, a prime, somewhat recent example of all of this is Nazi Germany.

The idea here was that Germany was under threat, they were under siege. Now, in their minds it was this “Great Jewish Conspiracy”, but it was also anarchists, Communism – and of course we in the West also opposed the Soviet Union – and so they were under threat by that. Eventually they had conflicts with France and the UK once Germany went into Poland.

So how do you deal with all of that? How do you deal with threats both external and domestically?

While there were some existing legal frameworks under which they could operate, but to make all of their actions and the ultimate goals of the Nazi regime palatable with the German people – who are now at war – they had to come up with other legal means and frameworks.

The problem was that they ended up being so broad in scope and in meaning, that ultimately it all turned into simply the words of Hitler were law. The words of Goering and Himmler were law. And of course all of this was done in the name of preserving the German Reich and protecting the people, and accomplishing the goals of the nation.

But what did that do? What did it lead to? 

You ended up with the Gestapo, you ended up with the T-4 euthanasia programs killing the disabled, going in and ransacking people’s homes, and searching for “terrorists” aka Jews, and homosexuals, and intellectuals, and Communists, and even people who were proud German patriots who simply disagreed with the Nazi Government.

And when you start talking about “doing everything we can”, when you talk about creating backdoors into encryption and allow the government to search anywhere and everywhere all in the name of safety. We have to remember, government is run by human beings, and human beings are corruptible, and we make mistakes; we fall victim to the prejudices we hold and the appeals of power and authority.

So unless you have openness and transparent checks and balances, and unless the people know what the government is doing had has the power to stop the government; if you don’t have those things government runs amok. And we’ve already seen this kind of secrecy and non-accountability with FISA Courts and literally thousands of abuses by the NSA.

Without such protections and an innate respect for liberty, you have what could have been legitimate revolutions in places like Cuba and elsewhere, all turn into nightmares for millions of people.

The Batista regime, even though they were backed by America, they weren’t pillars of democracy. It was corrupt and cruel and mean. Many people were arrested and tortured by this American-backed government in Cuba. So then you have Castro with his rag-tag team of, you know, 'Liberation Fighters', and things could have ended well.

But what happened?

They won. And now they have power. They were the oppressed, and unfortunately what happens many times is when the oppressed becomes the ones in power, the oppress the oppressors.

And they create new enemies and you have class struggle, and everything. And the revolution never dies! The revolution technically is still going on all of these decades later. Same thing in North Korea, the revolution continues! You had decades in China of these massive purges and rounding up people, and the Three Revolutions, and all of this terribleness and tens of millions of people thrown in jail and denied their rights – all because the government was trying to get at the actual enemy.

But then the enemies turned into not just the people who really were their enemies, but to the friends and families of the enemies. And then to the generations later on. “Well, your grandfather used to be a capitalist and so now we have to throw you in jail and destroy your family.” – And that is what happens.

And of course, that creates more discontent and more enemies.

And so it really bothers me to hear this type of rhetoric in American politics, in Western politics.

You can go after your enemy and defeat them without turning into your enemy.

When you do the things that terrorists do to fight terrorism, you become the terrorist!

You cannot defend the Constitution by tearing it up!

You cannot defend American freedoms by crushing them!

We fought the Nazis, and we won the war. And we put Nazi war criminals on trial. We fought the Japanese, and we won the war. And we put the criminals on trial. We’ve put domestic terrorists, like Timothy McVeigh on trial. It can be done.

If you follow the law, you follow the Constitution, you can still win.

Terrorism is frightening because it can pop up anywhere. But, I would argue, that’s what is more frightening in many ways is having Imperial Japan across one coast, and Nazi Germany overrunning all of Europe across the other coast.

Tens of millions of men under arms, guns pointed toward you. U-boats running the seas. I mean we had Nazi submarines right off of New York Harbor and in the Gulf. They even landed operatives on American shores with the purpose of blowing up dams and factories.

We had the Japanese sending explosive balloons over to set fire to the vast forests along the Pacific coast. And Japan was experimenting with chemical and biological weapons too. They could have easily set balloons over and taken out Seattle or Los Angeles.

These enemies were organized, had huge sums of money and infrastructure, and controlled millions of square miles of territory – and all of that was arrayed against us.

You know, at the very brink all you really had was the United States along with the UK which had barely managed to survive, and the Soviet Union which was being chopped into little bits and about to collapse. Not exactly a recipe for successes. And of course we weren’t exactly friends with Soviets. But we fought and persevered, basically, against half the planet when you look at terms of military strength and resources – and we won.

We won, largely, without turning our backs on our principles. And the time we did turn our backs – when we sent Japanese Americans to concentration camps, that effort damaged our national soul and didn’t do a damned thing to win the war.

Of course within that, what do we have today? We have a small group of people who have been incensed by decades of meddling and intervention by the West. Granted, today the motivation isn’t necessarily what we did in the past. The Genie is out, and its now largely terrorism for the sake of terror. But we still have to recognize when our actions contribute to radical motivation and think about long-term consequences.

The point is, there’s nothing wrong with following our Constitution and following the same principles that we had going into World War II.

No one thinks we were honestly friends with the Soviet Union. We were spying and them and they were spying on us. Heck, they knew about the Atomic Bomb before President Truman told them. And today, are we “besties” with Russia? No. But Russia has shown that they are willing to put skin in the game, to fight ISIS. So why are we talking about no-fly-zones and shooting down Russian planes?

You join with people who are willing to fight the same fight you are. That’s how you win. And then once you’ve defeated the immediate threat, you can deal with the other things.

But this insanity that we hear from pretty much everybody running for President, but especially Trump and even Ted Cruz – who has gone off the deep end with supporting military interventions around the world and promoting domestic spying programs – there is simply no reason why we can’t stick to our principles and still get the job done like have done time and time again.

And the last thing we need is someone in office who does not understand this.

The last thing we need is some basically guy pumped up on steroids going around half-cocked and yelling “we need to be strong, and I know people and I’m great at this, and we will be so strong, and we just have to do whatever we need to do because…yadda yadda yadda”.

That’s not what we need. Number one that isn’t a policy, and even if you could somehow craft it into a coherent policy and then take it to its logical conclusion – then we end up being an actual police state.

I know that phrase is used a lot, but we are nowhere near being the kind of ‘Big Brother, Mass Surveillance, If You Have Nothing to Hide Let Me In’ type of society we would become under the vision of people like Trump.

And it is time that libertarians, and actual lovers of Liberty – I don’t care if you’re a Democrat, or Republican, or even a freakin’ Socialist – it’s time that we ALL stand up against this madness.

If our leaders and those who are seeking to lead, if they won’t be the adult in the room the it’s up to us, we the people, to stand up and be the adult and take control of the situation. Because I, for one, am not willing to be led by the nose or otherwise forced into some kind of monstrous situation all in the name of security or patriotism.

Waving a flag, chanting “USA, USA”, and towing the line with your head down is NOT patriotism!

Patriotism is standing up for what is right. Not just because it’s legal; making torture legal doesn’t make it right. Not just because the polls show most people support X, Y, and Z. But to stand up for what is right and to defend the founding principles of our country.

Because when we turn our backs on that, we are no longer Americans. There’s no more line that separates us from the barbarians at the gate. And I am going to everything I can to make sure that that line, stays. That there is a clear difference between us, and that this country, as a free republic, remains a free republic.

For this and many other reasons are why those of us in the Liberty Movement need to stand strong against this level of inhuman and unconstitutional policies. Simply being an “outsider” and “speaking your mind”, or damaging the establishment is not reason enough to hand over the keys to this country to a man – or any candidate for that matter – who so clearly does not understand what the Rule of Law and Liberty for All means.

The destruction of some group of Neo-Cons does not take precedence over my life and your life, nor the lives of innocent people everywhere.

So I ask you to please join with me and stand strong for Liberty.

If you’d like to know more about me and what I do, please check out my website at www.JacobBogle.com or connect with me on Facebook and Twitter @JacobBogle

---Jacob Bogle, 3/22/16

www.JacobBogle.com

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Gun Control

(Originally published on Dec. 19, 2012. Updated on Oct. 3, 2015 with new information)

On Dec. 14, 2012, a young gunman went to a school and killed 26 people, mostly children under the age of 8. And on Oct. 1, 2015, a man entered a community college and shot 19. Since 1776 there have been over 200 school shootings (including individual suicides at school); in 2013 there were 26, in 2014 there were 43, and by October 2015 there had been 19. Since 2013, 44% of those shootings involved more than one person. There have also been mass shootings at businesses, clubs, and elsewhere.

In times of crisis, people often look to government to fix the problem. They assume there was a failure in the law or that perhaps we have too much freedom and for our own sake we should pass further legislation to protect us from ourselves.

There is no doubt that evil and unhinged people exist in the world and that guns, particularly modern guns, allow those people to harm and kill greater numbers of innocent people than ever possible before. The anti-gun/pro-gun control lobbies point to countries with strict gun-control laws and even total bans on arms outright and then compares their crime rates with those in the United States as “proof” that gun-control is the only answer.


Guns, simply defined as a barrel that uses gunpowder to propel a projectile, have existed for over 1,000 years and like so many other inventions of man, have become a part of everyday life, at least until recently. A gun can be used for hunting, self-defense, war, target practice, to commit crimes, as collector items, and at times as the last defense of a people against a tyrannical government; a final guarantee of freedom.

Many say that guns generally have no place in modern society and that, for the West at least, the notion of needing them to fend off an evil government is…quaint, if not insane. Of course modern world history is replete with examples of a population needing arms to ward off and overthrow a repressive regime (Germany, Soviet Russia, China, North Korea, Cambodia, etc.) Clearly, the issue is complicated and emotionally charged.

For a moment, let us set aside the argument for guns as a last defense and focus on gun crimes as they relate to gun control.

It is true that strict gun control or bans, can limit the number of gun related crimes. However, if you look at the logic of criminality you will find that the law in and of itself means very little to criminals, after all, to commit a crime is by definition to ignore the law.

The UK has passed a number of laws, beginning in 1903, which have led to the near extinction of the modern firearm in the country, the main exceptions being antiques and incredibly strict hunting licenses. However, the people of the UK still maintain over 4 million firearms. In 2009 the number of gun deaths was 138. The number of homicides (by any method) was 724. So it’s easy to see that having a gun alone does not make for a violent populace and that non-gun related homicides far outweigh those committed with a gun. If we look at the broader trend in the UK, particularly in cities, gun crime is on the rise. In 2010 gun crimes in London were up 48%. And while the total number of gun crimes is down compared to when gun ownership was less restricted, it is evident that laws and restrictions largely apply to law abiding citizens --to those who wouldn't have committed any crime to begin with.

Criminals will always find ways around the law, they will find ways to commit their crimes and will fuel a black market. And unlike the US, the United Kingdom lacks a central constitution and there are no inherent rights to begin with, only things which, through law, have been deemed “not illegal.” Remember, the UK comes form a history of authoritarian monarchy, whose genocidal policies against the Scots and Irish still impact the region to this day.

Let’s take a look at another European country, Switzerland, which has the 3rd highest rate of gun ownership on the planet. In Switzerland they rely on a trained militia rather than a standing army to defend their borders and civilian gun ownership stands at 45.7%, which translates into 3.4 million guns. In 2010 there were 40 gun related homicides and 53 homicides in total, which is down approx. 40% since 1998. How is it that so many guns can exist and yet have so few gun related crimes? In fact, Switzerland has one of the lowest crimes rates in the world, all the while having the 3rd highest gun ownership rate and a relaxed drug policy.

The cry for greater government control is always greatest when there has been a tragedy. It is very unfortunate that people choose times of heartbreak to push for less liberty and ignore incredibly important factors: personal responsibility and morality, mental health, and broken communities.

I’d like to give you a comparison. Cars and roads are among the more highly regulated and controlled aspects of our society and yet more people die from car accidents than from guns. In fact, since 1980, there have been over 1.3 million deaths on government regulated roads, in government regulated cars, all operated by government regulated drivers. Where is the outcry in this? Where are the calls to ban mass murdering automobiles which can speedily careen into crowded places? As silly as that may sound, the analogy stands. For bit more context, more people die from poisoning each year (48,545) or drug overdoses (43,785) than they do from gun related deaths (of all sorts), which according to the CDC was 10.6 people per 100,000.

From the Pew Research Center, "Gun Homicide Rate Down 49% Since 1993 Peak"

And while the overall trend since 1981 has been fewer homicides as a result of gun violence, even after President Clinton signed the Federal Assault Weapons Ban in 1994 there were still dozens of school shootings resulting in 122 deaths and many other injuries before the law expired in 2004.

You see, gun ownership is not the problem, it never has been. The problem lies with a population disarmed, a population so afraid they would rather give up all control to a government then take the necessary steps to learn self-defense, and the problem lies with a country that has an appalling track record when it comes to helping those citizens with mental illness (those with diagnosed mental illnesses rarely go out killing people, but killing out of hatred or because the shooter feels discarded by society does intersect with mental health and the need for intervention is real).

There is an interesting meme on-line that states “Why are women taught how to prevent a rape instead of men being taught not to rape?” The same concept can be applied to guns and crimes in general. We live in a culture that glorifies death and violence. It is codified by our government with the killing of literally thousands of innocent civilians overseas, all as a matter of "foreign policy." It is blessed by popular media. It is encouraged by parents allowing 12 and 13 year olds to play games and watch movies filled with it. It is often over-looked and poorly punished. We see time and time again people convicted of killing and other horrible crimes getting only a handful of years in prison (or less).

Why not force government to end the double standard in their own actions? Why not force the courts to offer up severe and lasting punishment to those engaging in violent crimes? Why not recognize that many citizens suffer from mental illness and not be afraid to reach out and help them, instead of ignoring them until one out of a million explodes?

There is no single cause or reason among the perpetrators and no panacea to solve it all, but the major cause of it continuing is society's and our government's failure to understand that it's usually a combination of factors and that we must take a comprehensive look at it in order to help solve it. Jumping onto guns is nothing but a cop-out, an emotional reaction that does little to address the situation.

Looking at the legal issue

The 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution states “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

One segment of the gun-control lobby asserts that the 2nd Amendment applies only to militias (the military) and that private gun ownership is not covered. Even if we ignore the context in which the 2nd was written, there have been multiple court cases which emphatically refute that claim.
In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) the Supreme Court ruled:

(A)The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.
(B)The “militia” comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense.
(C) The response [of writing the 2nd] was to deny Congress power to abridge the ancient right of individuals to keep and bear arms.
And further, (D) does not limit the right to keep and bear arms to militia purposes.

The term “militia” means “It is undoubtedly true that all citizens capable of bearing arms constitute the reserved military force or reserve militia of the United States as well as of the States, and in view of this prerogative of the general government, as well as of its general powers, the States cannot, even laying the constitutional provision in question out of view, prohibit the people from keeping and bearing arms, so as to deprive the United States of their rightful resource for maintaining the public security, and disable the people from performing their duty to the general government.” This comes from the Supreme Court case Presser v. Illinois (1886).

Another argument is that the Founders could never have conceived of an automatic assault rifle and that the 2nd only applies to “muskets”, in other words, very basic, single shot weapons. One must then extend the logic to all parts of the Constitution, to wit, the First Amendment only applies to verbal speech and press using a printing press, the Fourth only protects from searches of a person’s physical home (making the NSA domestic spying program totally acceptable), and so on. That notion is, in a word, absurd. There is no doubt people use guns to commit crimes, however, if we look at all the numbers, around 50% of all gun deaths in the US are suicides (which is a crime). Outlawing suicide has had little effect it seems.

Gun ownership is not only an “ancient right” but also the final protection of an individual and of the general population against all crimes, be they a robber or a tyrannical government. War is perhaps the most visible but oft ignored crime. It is estimated that wars have led to the deaths of upwards of 1 billion people over the course of human history. Wars are approved, funded and usually sought by governments. That is the great tragedy. Self-defense against crime is also often overlooked. In 1994 a Dept. of Justice study found that guns are involved in 1.5 million cases of self-defense each year. That is 1.5 million thefts, rapes, murders and other crimes prevented as a result of gun ownership.

We all look for answers and closure, but, when it comes to wanton violence the answer is, there are no satisfactory answers. And we should not be so quick to abandon or wish to curtail one of our most important and fundamental rights. Government has always used tragedy to grab power, it has used fear to usurp the Constitution, and all too often we have let them in the vain search for security. Let us look to ourselves and our culture first.

The peoples of industrialized Germany, Russia, Poland, and France, just to name a few, never thought that one day they would endure the full brunt of Nazi oppression. They never thought there would be the deaths of 40 million people, the loss of religious freedom, or the loss of all freedoms, at the hands of their own governments. They trusted their government for things which government is not meant to do. They handed up responsibility that they were imbued with from God - rights by the very nature of their existence - and in the end they paid dearly. The right to bear arms is the only reason why America exists, without which we would still be a colony.

I don’t have all the answers and I don’t pretend to think that we could have a perfect world if everyone owned a gun, but I do think we would be better prepared to handle these situations. Mass shootings often happen in gun-free zones where even the “security” guards are unarmed. And while I don’t have all the answers, I know the answer is not more control simply from looking at places like Detroit and Chicago which have tight gun regulations and also have an enormous amount of gun violence. Our ancestors took for themselves their inherent rights, which include the responsibilities that go with them, and our Founders wrote them into law, a law that can only be changed via new amendments.

Just like the Jews of Germany and the whole population of North Korea never thought they would endure what has transpired, we didn’t think the ultimate assault on our freedoms would ever occur. Government rarely grasps for total power in a single sweep, it happens (usually as a result of public outcry and a revocation of personal responsibility) bit by bit. In the past 12 years alone we have seen the near erasure of the 14th Amendment via the PATRIOT Act, military drones prowling the skies over America, attempts to control and censor the Internet with things like SOPA and CISPA, allowing the indefinite detention of citizens via the NDAA 2012, provide for the permanent and warrantless surveillance of every citizen through regulations involving the National Counterterrorism Center and much more.

Perhaps not today, maybe 20 or 30 years from now, we could easily be sitting and watching our government turn into something absolutely horrible. Why give them a willing public? Why be those silent dissenters of 1933? At first they asked for control of the press, then guns, then the mentally handicapped, then the disabled, then gays, then Jews and before it was over 60 million died as a result of Germany and Japan with over 40 million European refugees. How can we trust them with the power to regulate, so strongly, one of our most basic rights when the federal government has consistently shown itself to be untrustworthy, corrupt and power hungry? The folks in Washington DC are no more equipped, or wise, to govern us than any other citizen. If you yourself haven’t the wisdom to control the nation, then why give it to them?

This isn't an argument against any and all gun laws. Clearly those with violent criminal histories or documented severe mental disturbances should not have the ability to purchase or legally carry a gun. This is simply an attempt to show that when it comes to these types of tragedies, more control isn't an answer. Demanding that a class filled with children be left undefended or that thousands of university students shouldn't be allowed to exercise their inherent rights, this only results in millions being even more vulnerable to mass shootings. At the Oct. 1, 2015 shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, where thousands of students attend, there was only one security guard who was unarmed.

When we allow a government or some committee (federal, state, local) to make choices for all of us, if that choice is a bad one we all suffer. In this case the choice is literally between life and death. I trust myself to defend my rights and life far more than I trust a bloated and inept government. Why should I, why should we, allow them to force us into a position of relying on them for our own safety?

--Jacob Bogle, Originally published on Dec. 19, 2012. Updated on Oct. 3, 2015 and June 13, 2016.
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(I feel this is a very important issue and would like to add to the conversation. If you agree with this article please feel free to share it with others. Re-post, re-blog, send it to websites or friends, post it on Facebook etc. Just include a link back to this page.)

Harvey Milk, You, LGBT's and the 21st Century

"If a bullet should enter my brain, let it destroy every closet door".-- Harvey Milk, 1930-78

I have been involved in politics since my early teens. I've been an adviser to a presidential campaign and volunteered for another. I helped an unknown reach 3rd place (out of 9) in Tennessee's last governors race, spending only a few thousand dollars where the others spent millions. Throughout the years I have traveled thousands of miles and met thousands of people.

From my experience two things became very clear. One, that America as a nation and as a Constitutional Republic made up of 50 sovereign States has a great deal of problems along with a great many strengths. The second thing I learned is that the American people have one major flaw- their inability to uphold the very foundations of our country.

At the start of the Revolutionary War only 12% of the population supported the idea of a free America. Today, it's questionable if a majority feels we should all have the exact same rights. As civil rights movements go, the struggle for equal rights for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people (LGBT) has been comparatively peaceful. Harvey Milk, however, is one example of those who fought peacefully but died at the hands of an individual, and society, that couldn't bare the thought of gays being afforded the same nation as their straight counterparts.

Throughout history being a homosexual was considered to be a perfectly fine lifestyle, in fact, for most of world history there wasn't even a term for homosexual. In Greece and Rome if you were a good citizen you had male lovers, and even today several indigenous tribes (Papua New Guinea, etc.) engage in homosexual activities to become a "man" in their society. It has only been in the past few hundred years that being LGBT became not only taboo but an affront to God, human nature, and something to be legislated.

It's fairly easy to belong to social websites or hang around similar people and think that the majority of our American family is truly fine with gays and lesbians. We elect a black president and swear that it's Fox News and the Church alone keeping LGBT persons suppressed. Sadly, the truth is far more sinister. Yes, there are mainstream media and religious groups who are opposed to LGBT equal rights, but the real problem comes down to you. The individual who only pretends to be "enlightened" yet who's heart hides a secret. A secret that allows you to embrace hypocrisy, bigotry and support a society that turns its head away and allows thousands of LGBT youths to commit suicide each year.

The "homosexual agenda" is not about having more rights, nor to have special treatment. The only thing that we as a group want is equal rights; the same ones you have.

As a Christian gay man it hurts me to know that the reality is that so many people who claim to be decent and good actually have a heart of a sickeningly ignorant nature. As an American citizen it disgusts me to know how many have no real understanding or respect for our founding, our history of struggle, or of the promise of freedom that America is supposed to embody.

From time to time I find myself looking at the world through rose colored glasses and have my hopes falsely raised; thinking that perhaps all we have gone through might have brought us victory. That feeling never lasts for long.

It's hard for me to really understand how a society with a population that is always screaming about human rights violations overseas, that preaches equality, that demands the rule of law (i.g the Constitution's declaration of inherent unalienable human rights) can be consumed with such hate, hypocrisy and self-centeredness as a majority.

The only way for this to stop is for those who support justice, understands the need for all of our civil rights and who wishes a better country for the future to rise up. To take injustice by the throat and remove it from our fair land. The only way for LGBT people to have a decent life, to not have to deal with the problems of vast intolerance and overwhelming obstacles is for everyone to make their voices heard.

No one wants to go through the trials of "coming out", but the only way to help future generations from having to endure such pain is for those who have not stood out, who have not been truthful with themselves or those around them to come out of the closet and breathe new breath into your lives. Men and women like Harvey Milk took that bullet to their heads so that you and I could stand tall and live openly and freely. We have all endured some level of discrimination and it is being perpetrated not by the "rabid right-wing" but by our silent acquiescence and with the quiet consent of those around you. Speak up, be your true self, and help make people understand (through discussion and example) that ignorance and silence are just as much of a threat to our liberties as it is to theirs; that we should no longer live afraid or hidden.

There are two great walls left in America; the wall that keeps Native Americans locked in their reservations and the wall that keeps LGBT individuals locked in their closet of fear, anger, hurt and solitude.

We live in the 300th millennium of modern human existence and in the greatest nation the world has ever seen. The time is now, not tomorrow, that all men and women are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

If society, if government would deny you the rights laid down at the beginning of creation then you must take them. Your life, your liberty and your happiness should not be held in the hands of government or strangers, it is in your hands. So go and make your voice heard not only for yourself but also for others in your country who have gone and those yet to come.


--Jacob Bogle
03/19/2009
Revised Edition 11/27/12