A Vine & Fig Tree Position Paper
Work in Progress
Vine & Fig Tree advocates Biblical Anarchism, which we call "Patriarchy."
The Freemen of Montana advocate many Biblical things, and offer many insightful critiques of the State. But they are not a Biblical nor an anarchist movement. This Position Paper explores the differences between the Biblical Patriarch and the "Patriot" of the Freemen movement. It will be seen that the Freemen embody true Americanism, and challenge "lukewarm" Americans, and that the majority of Americans would rather be slaves than have to endure the inconveniences of "eternal vigilance," which is said to be the price of liberty. Certainly most Americans are unwilling to endure the "inconveniences" imposed upon the Freemen by the government.
In a remote area of Montana, more than 100 FBI agents and other law enforcement personnel have surrounded and cut off an estimated 25 people blockaded within a 960-acre ranch.
The federal government says the Freemen of Montana are "armed and dangerous." But the Freemen of Montana have never shot anyone. They have never even been accused of any such crime.
In Los Angeles, meanwhile, thousands (estimates vary) of heavily armed gang members shoot people at will, deal drugs openly on street corners, stick up retail establishments, demand "protection" money from local merchants, steal cars, and generally participate in any number of illegal and sociopathic activities. They are not surrounded by an army of FBI agents.
When members of the Freeman are met in the streets of small towns in Montana, they are greeted with "Good morning" and "How ya'll doin'?" by fellow Montanans. When members of the Crips and the Bloods are encountered in urban areas across the nation, there is a feeling of uneasiness bordering on terror. Gangs are generally regarded as a fact of "modern life," like smog and AIDS; something disconcerting that happens to otherwise "good people."
Leaders of large gangs around the country were invited to meet with President Clinton, who offered a sympathetic ear to their complaints of a lack of job opportunities, poverty, and pervasive racism as excuses for their barbarous activities. Clinton then turned down various state militia members who sought "equal time" with the president to explain their points of view.
It is not the purpose of this Paper to explain why they government treats urban gangs so differently than rural "patriots." Nor is it our purpose to explain why the government benefits from the presence of urban terrorism. Outbreaks of gang violence are used by the government as examples of the "chaos," "lawlessness," and "anarchy" into which we would collapse if government were cut back or eliminated. At the same time the media reminds us of the danger of the "dangerous kooks" in Waco and Montana, and exhorts us to avoid their "anti-government extremism."
It is the purpose of this paper to show why the government acts so decisively and firmly against pro-Constitution groups like the Freemen. The Freemen threaten to expose the Government as the fraud and myth that it is. Yet the Freeman do not act in accord with Biblical Law, and thereby needlessly open themselves up to persecution by the Government.
It is the major contention of the Freemen that America's Monetary System is unconstitutional. Less frequently the Freemen note that our nation's money system is unBiblical. Rarely articulated is the fact that the "Federal Reserve System" is the single greatest source of spiritual and material oppression of the poor. The Prophets of the Bible identify our nation's money as "violent" and destructive of the poor.
Over the past generation, the government and its wealthy supporters have systematically robbed the lower classes of over $5 trillion. The methods by which this has been accomplished are explicitly prohibited in the Constitution, and in the Scriptures, which calls the practice an "abomination."
But the Freemen have gone beyond merely pointing out this evil. In their anger, they have engaged in precisely this abominable practice in an effort to call attention to the crimes of the government and to "get even."
According to published reports, the Freemen say they have millions (some say billions or even trillions) in the form of "perfected liens" which the federal government says they have illegally converted into cash and/or used to pay debts with what they call "Certified Bank Drafts" or "Certified Money Orders."
According to the Freemen, if the Federal Reserve can create money "out of thin air," so can they. They say they are creating commercial paper based on the aforementioned liens. And they say the liens are perfectly "legal" under anyone's system, theirs or Washington's. This is probably true, but it is not ethical under God's system.
According to the federal government, the Freemen are guilty of "paper terrorism." What they do is file liens against government officials they say are not carrying out their duties in accordance with the Constitution. The scenario has the Freemen issuing "notices of grievance" against persons or businesses and giving the person/business 30 days to answer. The commercial liens are often for hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. The amount of damages sought is a matter of caprice of the "injured party." They are registered under Form UCC-1 with the respective secretaries of state.
If there is no answer, a "default judgment" is declared for whatever sum was asked for in the lien. That then becomes the basis for the issuance of the commercial paper/Certified Bank Drafts/Certified Money Orders.
Sometimes, these liens have prevented the liened party from getting credit or selling their homes. It's the way the IRS works, according to lectures given by LeRoy Schweitzer, currently jailed on various charges, including fraud, and subjected to physical torture, according to his daughter who has been permitted to visit him.
To the embarrassment of the federal government-and some state governments-the bank drafts issued by the Freemen have been accepted for such things as back taxes and penalties an court- ordered child support.
The Freemen say the "commercial paper" they produce is legal tender. In several recorded instances, the IRS has accepted Certified Bank Drafts as payment of taxes and even sent refunds. The federal government admits - or complains - that thousands of these Freemen-generated bank drafts are in circulation as loan collateral or as payment of debts, public and private. A number of banks have accepted them, apparently despite a warning from the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency.
Adding to the woes of the bureaucrats, the "financial instruments" produced by the Freemen have been sold to "foreign entities" and are even rumored to be in the portfolios of Third World countries. These foreign entities use to documents as backing for ventures in the United States, including security for loans.
Purchased for about one-tenth their face value, these Certified Bank Drafts or Certified Money Orders are traded just like other negotiable securities. As explained by the Freemen in one of their "educational seminars," the money orders are collateralized by commercial liens placed against companies and individuals.
Schweitzer says that he and his associates have figured out the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) and are using it the same way the "de facto government" does.
The Freemen are in fact doing exactly what the government does. Their money has at least as much backing as Federal Reserve Notes, according to the Freeman. You are likely carrying Federal Reserve Notes in your wallet or purse at this very moment.
The bottom line is that the Federal Government has failed to prove that bank drafts based on liens are not legal financial instruments. It has also failed to prove that the liens are illegal. Because the State is a myth (that is, because the protection of State-created "property-rights" through a monopoly of violence is an immoral fiction), most agents and officers of the State cannot say why debt monetized by the Federal Reserve is legitimate, while debt monetized by the Freemen is not. The Freemen expose the ignorance of the IRS, banks, and other entities of the State.
That's why the federal government considers them dangerous, according to Schweitzer; not because they may own guns and not because they are a threat to the community. What makes them so threatening to the State is that they are explaining to others what they - and the government - are doing. And it is their seminars - not their guns - which make the Freemen so "dangerous" to the Government.
They're a threat to the Federal Reserve System.
The Freemen movement is an "outright assault on the very basis of American constitutional democracy," according to the most powerful special interest pressure group in Washington, the ADL. This message is repeated in all the major media.
People who attend Freemen Seminars, says ADL chief Abe Foxman, "get lessons in anti-Semitism and racism and they're being trained to deny the legitimacy of our democratically established government."
But as the Spotlight Newspaper notes, "The Freemen, however, and those who have attended their seminars, strongly deny any racist or anti-Semitic content to their lectures or teachings, and say that their principles can and should be employed by every citizen of the country, regardless of race or religion."
Spotlight is often identified by the mainstream media as an "anti-Semitic" publication.
As to the Federal Reserve System being "democratically established," it should be noted that its origins were cloaked in secrecy, and its approval rooted in public deception.[1]
It remains to be seen, however, whether the creation of such "commercial paper" should be practiced by anyone, regardless of race or creed. The remainder of this Paper attempts to show that the system is evil, root and branch, and that there are other ways to deal with an unBiblical, unconstitutional government.
ADD DEBT PAPER HERENote Spiritual Oppression of Poor. Middle class and Fed encourages debt, discourages "Protestant Work Ethic," future orientation.
ADD USURY PAPER
1. See Griffiths, Creature of Jekyll Island.
January 28, 1998