Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project, and G. Gordon Liddy have something in common: They both believe in fighting back.
Gilchrist’s passion is for border security, and he has formed the Minuteman Project to bring citizen involvement into the breach left wide open by the failure of the Bush administration to close our porous border with Mexico. Liddy typically approaches fighting terrorism as a personal call to action, articulating the responsibility each American has to “tackle terrorism” within our business lives and our families.
Neither gentleman wants to leave all the firepower with the authorities, articulating clearly our Second Amendment rights to defend ourselves. Both are military war veterans (Liddy in Korea and Gilchrist in Vietnam) and, even though aging, their determination shows forth in a youthful resolve that defending America has always been our responsibility as citizens. Neither gentleman is comfortable leaving the defense of America up to the government.
In his new book, Fight Back: Tackling Terrorism, Liddy Style, the message is loud and clear:
“The Liddy approach is to FIGHT BACK, a strategy built on the core belief that what makes this country great is that individual Americans can and will act aggressively in defending themselves, their loved ones, and their way of life.”
Gilchrist is equally emphatic on why he created the Minuteman Project:
“Too many in Washington, from both political parties, have tried to ignore the crisis in illegal immigration. Law-abiding Americans are sick and tired of the flood of illegal immigrants coming across our borders. It affects our economy, our jobs, our health and education systems, and every hard-working tax-paying American. It is tantamount to modern-day slave trading.”
The Minuteman Memorial standing today in Concord, Mass., pays tribute to the “shot heard around the world” that was fired on April 19, 1776, when British troops were fired upon by local militia assembled on Lexington Green. The American Revolution did not depend upon a strong federal government at the ready to protect the Massachusetts colonists. What was needed to secure freedom in 1776 was individual citizens who took up arms and gathered together in their own defense.
Today Americans who ask what they can do to defend themselves are likely to be called “vigilantes,” seen as renegades acting outside the law. How is it possible that we have come so far from our original fighting spirit since 1776?
In 2006, we import approximately 1.75 million barrels of oil a day from Mexico. Does the Bush administration fail to secure our Southern border simply because we want the flow of Mexican oil to continue? Why is the Bush administration talking about “wood chips and switch grass” when there is ample oil to drill in Alaska and offshore?
Gilchrist has put out the call for Minuteman, realizing that the government we need to resist today may unfortunately be our own. When will America wake up to the reality that the problem today, not the solution, is continued dependence upon government? Liddy is right - Americans need to fight back.
