We the People Need to Become 'Freedom Fit'

Terror strikes our shores on Sept. 11, 2001.

The Patriot Act ensues, it will purportedly save us.

Banks and real estate melt down.

The Dodd-Frank Emergency Economic Stabilization Act will save us.

Healthcare prices spiral out of control. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will save us.

COVID-19?

Emergency powers are the answer. Climate? Let’s have a Green New Deal and all will be well. Do you see the formula? Problem-reaction-solution.

But there is a common denominator emergent from these milestones.

It's our freedoms.

The liberties granted by God, fought for by our forefathers and guaranteed by our Constitution are eroding at a stunning pace. The shredding of our beloved Bill of Rights erodes at breakneck, tearing speed.

Americans today are anxious.

Instinctively we know things are not right.

However, amidst a turbulent sea of crises, it's hard for most to articulate that the ship is drifting perilously towards the rocks. Americans are self-governed, or so the Founding documents say, but is this the case in 2022?

Benjamin Franklin warned us specifically about trading away our freedom for security: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

Freedom of speech, religion, press, bearing arms, privacy, illegal search and seizure, due process, a speedy trial, and more are all under fire and "for our own good."

So say (in so many words) Washington’s career bureaucrats and lifetime political elite.

In an effort to replace divine providence, an unholy trinity has formed over many decades made up of media elitists, bureaucrats, and professional politicians.

They have little use for self-governance or shared power. This axis demands control and quashes dissent. Groupthink demands consensus over the Constitution.

First Amendment, Second Amendment, Tenth Amendment — there is nothing off the table to a elected representative with the will to nudge or coerce the public through its triumvirate of power loudspeakers — aka the mainstream media.

The media promote the narrative; the politicians will evangelize concocted soundbites in their districts while dutiful bureaucrats zealously implement. Twitter cancels you.

CNN demonizes you.

Congress declares your speech hateful and misinformed.

Meanwhile, representatives remain silent on your First Amendment rights. Do we have a representative republic if our representatives sit silently or stand idly by because they fear rocking the boat?

Perhaps Elon Musk is on to something.

We are watching one administration destroy and debase our national interest by doubling down on absurd and inane proposals, executive orders, and actions of all kinds, including those to regulate everything from freedom of speech to firearms, to states’ rights.

The failure of leadership at the highest levels of our nation is cause for everyday Americans to make their presence known.

The fall of Kabul to the Taliban in the summer of 2021 and subsequent damage to America’s military might and national leadership brought me to this moment.

That single action brought to the forefront the long, slow usurpation of our Bill of Rights – and the almost 100 years of collective effort from the Washington, D.C. cabal to diminish and damage us from within.

There is no one coming to save us.

It's now upon us to save ourselves from a constitutional debacle and ultimate destruction.

It is time for "we the people" to make their voices heard. Make no mistake this will be hard. Then again, our Founders did not intend for liberty to be easy — it was up to each of us to exercise the liberty muscle to stay freedom fit.

It's time to act to honor our national heritage, duty and birthright of freedom and individual liberty. We must act on behalf of our children and grandchildren.

We must restore liberty.

Brig Gen (ret) Blaine Holt is a co-founder of Restore Liberty, former Deputy Representative to NATO, lifetime member on the Council on Foreign Relations and Newsmax Contributor. The views presented are those of the author and do not represent the views of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, or its components.