Camp Constitution’s 1st Annual Family Camp
Camp Constitution held its first annual weekend family retreat at Camp Sentinel in Tuftonboro, NH https://www.campsentinel.org/ this past weekend- Friday September 30 to Sunday October 2.
After check-in and a wholesome meal, Rev. Craft led off with a class on America’s Godly Heritage, and I conducted a class on the 1st Amendment and our Christian flag lawsuit. We ended the day with evening campfire led Christian recording artist Ben Laine https://lnk.bio/BenLaine.
Saturday started with flag raising, and morning devotions. Mrs. Catherine White, veteran Camp Constitution instructor and founder of The Constitution Decoded http://www.constitutiondecoded.com/index.html led off with a class entitled “Constitution 101. Rev. Craft followed with a class exposing Critical Race Theory or as Rev. Craft correctly calls it “Crazy Racist Trash.” Professor Willie Soon, in his humorous style but erudite style, ended the morning program with his class on the corruption of science. After lunch, some attendees visited the Wright World War II Museum in nearby Wolfeboro, while others either went apple picking or enjoyed the many recreational opportunities available at Camp Sentinel.
Barbara from Harlem was not able to make it to camp, so I filled in for her Saturday evening conducting a class on Agenda 21. I was followed by Kimberly Boobyer, who, with her daughter Samantha, traveled from Naples, Florida to attend the weekend retreat. Kimberly’s class was “Restoring the Foundations of our Constitutional Republic” Saturday evening’s campfire was a special treat when recording artist Eric Brumley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j5h9cuNxFs joined Ben Laine.
Jessica Whitworth and my wife Maura, with help from Jessica’s daughters Willow and Isabella, ran the junior camp program where campers under eleven learned, among other things, how to fold the U.S. flag, write with a quill pen, learn about the U.S. Constitution, and the Founding of America.
We held a worship service on Sunday with Rev. Craft delivering an inspirational sermon from the Book of Daniel. Pastor William Levi of Operation Nehemiah followed him with a presentation on his experience living under Shariah law. https://www.operationsnehemiah.org/ After lunch, we packed up and went home ending a weekend of learning, fellowship, worship, friendship, and networking. Thanks to all who helped to make this event happen.
Our second annual weekend retreat will be held at the same venue Friday September 29 to Sunday October 1, 2023
(Pastor William Levi speaking at our retreat)
Constitutional Minute #5 The U.S. Census: Rule of Law or Rule of Man?
We Americans have forgotten the most important Principle of our Founding: The distinction between the “Rule of Law” and the “Rule of Men”.
What is the “Rule of Law”? The Rule of Law prevails when the civil authorities act in accordance with a body of Law which is established by a higher authority.
Now let us see what the Constitution says about the census.
Article I, Sec. 2, clause 3, provides that an enumeration of the people shall be taken every 10 years for the purposes of apportionment of (1) direct Taxes and (2) Representatives to the House.
To these ends, we gave the federal government authority to ask us only the number of persons living in our homes (and whether any of us are Indians). Read Article 1, Sec. 2, clause 3 and see.
Instead, they ask us our full name, telephone number, our sex, whether you own your home subject to a mortgage, whether you own it free and clear, whether you pay rent, or whether you live rent free, our age, date of birth, whether anyone in our home is of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin, etc., etc.
Housing programs? Planning decisions? Federal programs which differentiate between males & females? Social Security? Medicare? Other government programs for children, adults, childbearing women, or old people? What’s this? Can anybody point to where these are among the enumerated powers of Congress? No! These are powers which Congress has assumed…unlawfully.
So! Do you see? The federal government demands answers to questions which the Constitution does not permit them to ask, in order to administer programs which, the Constitution does not authorize them to administer; and then they threaten you with a fine if you don’t submit to their unconstitutional acts! That is the Rule of Men.
Under the Rule of Law – The Constitution – they may ask no more than the number of persons who reside in your home. That is all WE THE PEOPLE authorized them to ask.
Source and links here: https://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/the-u-s-census-rule-of-law-or-rule-of-men/
wethepeoplehandbook@gmail.com
The Weekly Sam: The Federal Government Owns Too Much US Land By Samuel Blumenfeld
One of the ways the Federal Government can significantly cut its 13 trillion-dollar debt is
by selling some of 635 million acres of land it owns in the United States. Believe it or
not, Washington owns 3 out of every 10 acres of land in the country. Yet, the Obama
administration wants to buy more. It wants Congress to allocate $900 million in new
spending in 2012 to increase its ownership of U.S. land.
Indeed, when a nation is severely in debit, it ought to sell off some of its assets to balance
its books. There are many Americans, and foreigners too, who would gladly buy up some
of that government land which could then become productive property. According to
the Treasury’s Financial Management Service, the U.S. government at present owns
about $233 billion worth of highly saleable non-defense “property, plant, and
equipment,” which it ought to be selling instead of maintaining.
Niall Ferguson, the brilliant libertarian economist, writes in Newsweek (2/29/11):
“Washington could also sell its stakes in the Southeastern Power Administration and
related assets as well as the Tennessee Valley Authority’s electric-power assets. There’s
Amtrak (which runs at a loss) and the extensive hydroelectric empire of the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers.”
Besides, there is a huge backlog of projects on public lands which the Land and Water
Conservation Fund can’t pay for. Also, there is a multibillion-dollar maintenance
backlog which requires funding. So why is the government going to borrow money to
buy more property? It doesn’t make sense. But it only makes sense to socialists who
want the government to own everything, including its citizens. The aim of the socialists is
to abolish private property.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund, which was created in 1965, is funded by fees
charged to oil and gas companies for extracting resources from public lands. Since then
the fund has been used to buy more than 4.5 million acres, costing $6.1 billion. The last
thing the Federal Government should be doing is borrowing more money to buy more
land, which it can’t maintain.
George Washington, our first President, was deeply concerned with government debt.
He said: “No pecuniary consideration is more urgent, than the regular redemption and
discharge of the public debt.” But we have a government in Washington that has
accumulated 14 trillion dollars in debt, and thinks nothing of adding to it without the
blink of an eye. Obama seems to delight in the fact that the nation is near bankruptcy
and has offered no real plan to avoid a financial collapse.
And the reason for his lack of interest is that he is an Alinsky-trained radical
revolutionary who sees the bankruptcy of America as the surest way to destroy our
capitalist system. His behavior during the recent crisis which would have led to a
shutdown of the government is quite revealing. This fight over cuts in the 2011 budget
would have never taken place had the Democrats actually issued a budget when they
controlled both houses of Congress and the White House. The Wall Street Journal
commented a day before the settlement:
“Democrats were supposed to pass this budget last year but failed to do so. House
Republicans proceeded to cut $61 billion after two years of record spending, but Mr.
Obama says he’ll accept only $33 billion and most of that must come not from specific
programs but from ‘unobligated balances’ that might not be spent anyway. Republicans
now want $40 billion and cuts that are real. Inviting a shutdown sooner or later has
looked to be the White House strategy since Mr. Obama unveiled his own budget in
February that increased spending and dodged any serious budget reform. Our guess is
that Mr. Obama’s political advisers have concluded that the lesson from Bill Clinton’s
1995 shutdown is that presidents win such showdowns. If they don’t believe this, why
risk a shutdown over $7 billion and a few policy differences like funding for Planned
Parenthood?”
But Obama, in his magnanimity, came before the cameras a few hours before the
shutdown deadline and announced that an agreement had been reached and that the
government would continue to be open so that Americans could visit the Smithsonian,
the National Parks and museums, and that federal employee, including the military,
would continue to receive their checks without interruption. What a great president!
Only in America!
But what became clear during this crisis was that the liberals consider funding Planned
Parenthood more important than paying our soldiers. Why? Because
abortion-on-demand is the sacred cow of the Democratic Party.
Which means that any true defunding of such entities as Planned Parenthood will have to
wait until the conservatives capture both the Senate and the White House in the election
of 2012. And incidentally, Obama’s budget for 2012 is $3.7 trillion, with a $1.5 trillion
deficit!
Please visit the Sam Blumenfeld Archives: https://campconstitution.net/sam-blumenfeld-archive/
How the Christian Flag Made History in 2022: The Remarkable Story of “Shurtleff v Boston”
Camp Constitution’s legal team Liberty Counsel http://lc.org created this short video and what better day that September 26 to promote its viewing.
From the website of our friends at Christian Flag Project: https://christianflagproject.com/
The story goes that the Christian flag dates back to an impromptu speech given by a Charles C. Overton, a Sunday school administrator at Brighton Chapel in Brooklyn, New York, on September 26, 1897. Since the guest speaker didn’t show, Overton had to step in. While noticing the American flag near the podium, he started talking about flags and their symbolism. The concept was born when Overton proposed that Christians should have their own flag, and it continued to stay on his mind for years to come after the speech. Eventually, in 1907, Overton teamed up with Ralph Diffendorfer, an officer with the Methodist Missionary Movement, to help in creating the flag.
It’s interesting to note that the colors on the flag match those on the American flag. White represents purity and peace, blue indicates fidelity, and red stands for Christ’s blood sacrifice. The Christian flag is regularly displayed outside of buildings, churches, and in classrooms, but few realize its important history and significance dating back over a century.
The Weekly Sam: On Learning Greek
Many young Christian home schoolers have decided to learn Greek in order to be able to
read the New Testament in its original language. The problem of learning Greek, of
course, is that you are not only learning a different language, but also how to read a
different alphabet. So the first thing you have to do, is learn the Classical Greek
alphabet. Christians who have read Revelation are acquainted with the phrase uttered by
Jesus, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.” Alpha and Omega are the
first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.
There are twenty-four letters in the Classical Greek alphabet. Anyone who has been a
member of a sorority or fraternity will be acquainted with some of the letter names. Phi
Beta Kappa is a famous learned society. The alphabet names are as follows: alpha, beta,
gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, eta, theta, iota, kappa, lambda, mu, nu, ksi, omicron, pi, rho,
sigma, tau, upsilon, phi, cm, psi, omega. Memorize these letters names as your first step
in learning to read Greek. Then learn the letter symbols.
Note that the modern Greek alphabet is slightly different from the classical alphabet. For
example, in the modern version, beta is veta or vita; delta is thelta; zeta is zita; eta is ita;
theta is tmta; lambda is lamvtha; tau is taf.
By all means get a good Greek-English, English-Greek dictionary, plus some good
introductory books. You can get them new or used. On amazon.com I found a number
of good books: Homeric Greek: A Book/or Beginners by Clyde Pharr, $29.95; A GreekEnglish Lexicon 0/the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature by William
Arndt, $125.00. Get your public library to buy it! Do your own search not only on
amazon.com but on such excellent used book sources as BibliofInd, ABE books, etc.
Beginning Greek by Stephen W. Paine (New York: Oxford University Press, 1961) may
be worth having, although it teaches Greek at a university level. If possible, get hold of a
Greek primer, that is, a textbook that teaches Greek children to read Greek. The Greek
Consulate in Washington might be able to help you get one.
Also helpful in learning the Greek alphabet is to get hold of modern Greek newspapers
and magazines that use many words in Greek that are similar to words in English. Words
like salam~ avocado, classical, mechanic, music, theatre, film, story, astronomy,
archeology in Greek sound very much like their English counterparts but are written in
the Greek alphabet. Get a lined notebook and make lists of such words in both Greek and
English so that you can become familiar with the letters and their sounds.
Also, English and American proper names are often written in Greek to sound just like
their pronunciation in English. Tills enables you to see how a different alphabet can be
used to write English. You must also learn to write Greek, using their cursive system of
handwriting. At the beginning you can print the words. But if you are to become fluent,
you must learn the Greek writing system. A Greek primer that teaches writing will
probably have to be obtained from Greece.
The Internet provides a good deal of information about Greek magazines and
newspapers. Just type in “Greek newspapers” in your search engine, and you’ll get a
plethora of web sites to choose from. Incidentally, if you live in or near a city with a
large Greek-American community, you may be able to find Greek newspapers and
magazines. Or you might have dinner at a Greek restaurant and ask the owner how to get
hold of Greek newspapers and magazines. He may have some back issues, which he will
gladly let you have instead of throwing them in the trash.
Once you have mastered the Greek alphabet, then you must learn the language and how
its words are pronounced. I found that my local public library has a half-dozen Greek
language programs with cassette tapes and books. Also, I’ve noticed several vendors at
home-school conventions that specialize in foreign language programs. They no doubt
have audio programs for Greek. Check them out.
Since tourism is very big in Greece, the Greek Tourist Bureau may be able to help you
find the materials you need. Again, the Greek Consulate in Washington is a good place
to start.
A link to the Sam Blumenfeld Archive where the above article and much more can be found: https://campconstitution.net/sam-blumenfeld-archive/
The Constitutional Minute #4 What a Concept!
Let’s have a short conversation about our understanding of the heart and soul of our Constitution as intended by the founders. It’s the concept of “Enumerated Powers”. Simply put it means if a power is not specifically given to the government in the Constitution, then it does not exist. So, what’s not written is equally important because everything not written fall to the States or the People, ……NOT to any branch of the federal government!
Congress is not authorized to pass ANY law on ANY subject just because a majority in Congress thinks the law is a good idea! Nor are they authorized to delegate that authority to another branch (like the Executive Branch) because the Constitution does not say they can. This is the essence of “enumerated” powers.
Instead, the areas in which Congress is authorized to act are strictly limited and defined (“enumerated”), mostly in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution.
Thus, Congress has NO LAWFUL AUTHORITY to bail out financial institutions, businesses, and homeowners who don’t pay their mortgages; NO LAWFUL AUTHORITY to take control of our health care; NO LAWFUL AUTHORITY to violate your personal privacy and search you at airports; NO LAWFUL AUTHORITY to take away your IRA’s and other retirement accounts, NO LAWFUL AUTHORITY to take your guns, NO LAWFUL AUTHORITY to pass laws respecting energy consumption or “emissions”, education, housing, minimum wage, etc., etc., etc.
Therefore, all laws which Congress has made on such topics are unconstitutional as outside the scope of the legislative powers WE delegated to Congress in OUR Constitution.
WE THE PEOPLE did not give such powers to Congress when we ordained and established the Constitution, created the Congress, and listed its 22 enumerated powers over the Country at large. And WE did not delegate those powers to Congress in any of the Amendments.
You ask, “How can Congress make all these laws if they are unconstitutional?”
Congress gets away with it because WE are ignorant of what our Constitution says; and WE have been indoctrinated into believing that Congress can do whatever they want!
Bob Hilliard
www.buildingblocksforliberty.org
Semi-fascism versus full-fascism by Paul Driessen
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The Weekly Sam: The Marlowe-Shakespeare Connection
While the late Sam Blumenfeld decidcated most of his adult life to warning the American people of the delebarate dumbing down of America and promoting intensive phonics, he long believed that Christopher Marlowe was the author of the plays of Shakespeare. While we at Camp Constitution don’t a position on the subject, we think Sam made a good case for it in his book:
http://blumenfeld.campconstitution.net/Books/Marlowe-Shakespeare%20Connection%20(editor).pdf
Constitution Day September 17, 2022 “A Republic If You Can Keep It.
Constitution Day September 17, 2022 “A Republic If You Can Keep It.
At the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention September 1787, Mrs. Elizabeth Powel, a friend of George and Martha Washington, asked Benjamin Franklin, the oldest delegate to the convention “Well Doctor what have we got a republic or a monarchy.” Dr. Franklin replied, “A republic if you can keep it.” How well have we done in keeping that republic. A glance at the current occupant of the White House as well as the majority of members of Congress leads me to conclude that we have done a poor job of it.
Is the U.S. Constitution an outdated relic?
Critics and detractors of the United States Constitution believe that it is an outdate relic of our agrarian past which may have served us well 200 years ago but needs to be replaced. Back in the mid-1990s, I was a guest on the Al Diamon Show- a talk show in Portland, Maine. Mr. Diamon, and the vast majority of his audience did not share my worldview to say the least. I had a very interesting conversation with one of his college age callers. This young man told me, in no uncertain terms, that the U.S. Constitution was outdated, and should be replaced. I asked him if it was written in 1848, would it also be an outdated relic. He replied in the affirmative and I told him that the Communist Manifesto was written in 1848 but oddly we never hear people on the Left demand that it be repudiated. I then asked him if he believed that the 1st Amendment-the one that protects the right of free speech, the press, and the right to peaceable to assemble among other things be abolished. He said that he wasn’t in favor of its repeal. I followed up with asking him about the 4th Amendment that protects us against unlawful search and seizure, the 5th that protects an accused from self-incrimination the 6th that guarantees us a speedy trial judged by impartial jury and the 8th that protects us from being drawn and quartered. He didn’t think that these amendments be repealed either. This caller, like too many American like him are victims of a clique-potentially a dangerous one, that if enough Americans believe, could lead to the end of the liberties we take for granted.
I contend that the U.S Constitution which granted few, defined and specific powers to the United States Government is just as relevant today than when it was first ratified. As King Solomon said, “There is nothing new under the sun.” While we went from horse and buggy to the space age and the quill pen and the broadside to Twitter and Facebook, human nature stays the same. Our Founders were learned men who knew history and understood man’s sin nature. This is why they gave us a constitutional that granted limited powers to the U.S. Government.
The U.S. Constitution has a preamble, seven articles and 27 amendments.
Article 1 established the legislative branch, qualifications for office of members of Congress, and grants certain powers including the power to borrow money and declare war.
Article 2 concerns the executive branch which grants very few powers and duties to the president. Being “the most powerful man in the free world” is not one of the duties granted to the president. Nowhere in Article 2 do we read that the president is the most powerful man in the free world.
Article 3 concerns the judicial branch which established “one supreme Court” and gave Congress the power to regulate it. The Supreme Court may be the highest court in the United States, but it is not the highest law of the land.
Article 4 concerns the states. Article 4, Section 4, guarantees every state a “Republican Form of Government and shall protect them against Invasion. Today, it is the official policy of the U.S. Government to aid and abet invasion.
Article 5 concerns the amending process which a made difficult for good reason.
Article 6 makes “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof…. shall be the supreme Law of the Land.”
Article 7 calls for the ratification of nine state before the Constitution will be established. New Hampshire was the 9th state to ratify the Constitution on June 2, 1788, making it the law of the land.
The Constitution has 27 amendments but one-the 21st canceled out another-the 18th. The first ten, known as the Bill of Rights were ratified on December 1791. The 27th Amendment, which concerns Congressional pay raises, would have been part of the original Bill of Rights but wasn’t ratified until 1992.
Keeping this republic begins with us. As is my habit, I am offering free pocket copies. If interested in one, Email me at campconstitution1@gmail.com
What to learn more about this incredible document? Why not attend our weekend retreat which runs from Friday September 30 to Sunday October 2 at Camp Sentinel in Tuftonboro
Constitutional Minute: Are we a democracy? NO!! Absolutely not!
Misconceptions
Let’s clear a common misconception which we have been led to believe in the past.
Are we a democracy? NO!! Absolutely not!
But this is propagated daily in the media by reporters and politicians.
Just listen to the daily news! Nary has a day gone by when we are not bombarded in the media about our “democracy”.
A democracy can be compared to two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.” Yes, you get to vote, but that’s little consolation to the sheep! Our founders did everything in their power to keep us from being a democracy and they said so in the Federalist Paper #10 (Madison) and in personal journals.
Source here: https://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/category/basic-concepts/
We are a Republic. A Republic is “a state in which the exercise of the sovereign power is lodged in representatives elected by the people…” (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary ). A “constitutional republic” is a state in which the representatives (and other officials) are limited and restricted by a constitution. This country was established as a constitutional republic.
“Federal” refers to the form of our government: An alliance of States with close cultural and economic ties associated together in a “federation” with a national government to which is delegated supremacy over the States only in specifically defined areas. All other powers are left to the States or the People!
James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 45 (9th paragraph):
The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those that are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people….
Read the above again slowly and weep for your country!! Our federal government was never intended to regulate energy, health, labor, education, transportation, agriculture, housing, etc., etc. Those were the powers “reserved to the several States”.
Bob Hilliard