Occupying America: We Shall Overcome

Occupying America: We Shall Overcome

(Third Edition) by Brother Paul J. Bern

Copyright 2012, 2015 by

Brother Paul J. Bern all rights reserved

Table of Contents

Chapter One

A Commentary On Modern Revolutions

Chapter Two

The Occupation Chronicles

Chapter Three

A Documentary of a Broken System

Chapter Four

Capitalist Implosion: The Warning Signs

Chapter Five

Class Warfare: The Attack of The Elites On The 99%

Chapter Six

Counterattack: The Second US Civil War

Chapter Seven

Ways to Replace a Broken System

Chapter Eight

The United States of America: Under New Management

Other books by Rev. Paul J. Bern:

http://www.pcmatl.org/#!books-and-donations/c17et

Chapter One:

A Commentary On Modern American Revolutions

The United States is a country that was founded through revolution, and throughout its history there have been instances of further revolution, with the most conspicuous being the American Civil War of 1861-1865. Revolution is a time-honored tradition that is upheld by all the American people in one way or another, to one degree or another. There is more than enough precedent in American history for revolutions, both peaceful and otherwise. The assassination of American presidents, the civil rights era of the 1950's and 1960's, the antiwar movement of the Vietnam era, and most recently the Occupy Movement that started on Wall Street, continuing to grow almost exponentially even as I write this, will remain in a growth mode throughout the winter of 2011-2012 as it prepares for its spring 2012 occupations, peaceful demonstrations, strikes and consumer boycotts that are bound to bloom forth. But for now, allow me to fill these first few pages of this book with some US history that is not being taught at all, or is being taught incorrectly, to give my readers a good historical perspective on peaceful revolution, civil disobedience and nonviolent insurrection. It is time for the truth to be told.

The United States exists in two forms. The original United States that was in operation until 1860 was a collection of sovereign Republics in the union. Under the original Constitution the States controlled the Federal Government; the Federal Government did not control the States and had very little authority. The original United States has been usurped by a separate and different UNITED STATES formed in 1871, which only controls the District of Columbia and its territories, and which is actually a corporation (the UNITED STATES CORPORATION) that acts as our current government. The United States Corporation operates under Corporate/Commercial/Public Law rather than Common/Private Law. The original Constitution was never removed; it has simply been dormant since 1871. It is still intact to this day. This fact was made clear by Supreme Court Justice Marshall Harlan (Downes v. Bidwell, 182, U.S. 244 1901) by giving the following dissenting opinion: Two national governments exist; one to be maintained under the Constitution, with all its restrictions; the other to be maintained by Congress outside and Independently of that Instrument.

The rewritten Constitution of the UNITED STATES CORPORATION bypasses the original Constitution for the United States of America, which explains why our Congressmen and Senators don't abide by it, and the President can write Executive Orders to do whatever he/she wants. They are following corporate laws that completely strip sovereigns of their God given unalienable rights. Corporate/Commercial/Public Law is not sovereign (private), as it is an agreement between two or more parties under contract. Common Law (which sovereigns operate under) is not Commercial Law; it is personal and private.

I will now present an abbreviated history of how we, the American workers who keep things running smoothly in our professional lives while holding things together in our personal lives as best as we can, wound up in the position in which we find ourselves, and how our country ended up this way.

[1] In 1788 (January 1), The United States was officially bankrupt. We still are.

[2] In 1790 (August 4), Article One of the U.S. Statutes at Large, pages 138-178, abolished the States of the Republic and created Federal Districts. In the same year, the former States of the Republic reorganized as Corporations and their legislatures wrote new State Constitutions, absent defined boundaries, which they presented to the people of each state for a vote...the new State Constitutions fraudulently made the people Citizens of the new Corporate States. A Citizen is also defined as a corporate fiction.

[3] In 1845, Congress passed legislation that would ultimately allow Common Law to be usurped by Admiralty Law (www.barefootsworld.net/admiralty.html). The yellow fringe placed at the bottom of court flags shows this is still true. Before 1845, Americans were considered sovereign individuals who governed themselves under Common Law.

[4] In 1861, President Lincoln declared a National Emergency and Martial Law, which gave the President unprecedented powers and removed it from the other branches. This has NEVER been reversed.

[5] In 1863, the Lieber Code was established taking away your property and your rights.

[6] From 1864-1867, Several Reconstruction Acts were passed forcing the states to ratify the 14th Amendment, which made everyone slaves.

[7] In 1865, the capital was moved to Washington, D.C., a separate country – not a part of the United States of America.

[8] In 1871, The United States became a Corporation with a new constitution and a new corporate government, and the original constitutional government was vacated to become dormant, but it was never terminated. The new constitution had to be ratified by the people according to the original constitution, but it never was. The whole process occurred behind closed doors. The people are the source of financing for this new government.

[9] In 1917, the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) was passed. This act was implemented to deal with the countries we were at war with during World War I. It gave the President and the Alien Property Custodian the right to seize the assets of the people included in this act and if they wanted to do business in this country they could apply for a license to do so. By 1921, the Federal Reserve Bank (the trustee for the Alien Property Custodian) held over $700,000,000 in trust. Understand that this trust was based on our assets, not theirs.

[10] In 1933, there was a second United States bankruptcy. In the first bankruptcy the United States collateralized all public lands. In the 1933 bankruptcy, the U.S. government collateralized the private lands of the people (a lien) – they borrowed money against our private lands. They were then mortgaged. That is why we pay property taxes.

[11] From a speech in Congress in The Bankruptcy of the United States Congressional Record, March 17, 1993, Vol. 33, page H-1303, Speaker Representative James Trafficant Jr. (Ohio) addressing the House states: "...It is an established fact that the United States Federal Government has been dissolved by the Emergency Banking Act, March 9, 1933, 48 Stat. 1, Public Law 89-719; declared by President Roosevelt, being bankrupt and insolvent. H.J.R. 192, 73rd Congress session June 5, 1933 - Joint Resolution To Suspend The Gold Standard and Abrogate The Gold Clause dissolved the Sovereign Authority of the United States and the official capacities of all United States Governmental Offices, Officers, and Departments and is further evidence that the United States Federal Government exists today in name only. Prior to 1913, most Americans owned clear, allodial title to property, free and clear of any liens of mortgages until the Federal Reserve Act (1913) Hypothecated all property within the Federal United States to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, in which the Trustees (stockholders) held legal title. The U.S. Citizen (tenant, franchisee) was registered as a beneficiary of the trust via his/her birth certificate. In 1933, the Federal United States hypothecated all of the present and future properties, assets, and labor of their subjects, the 14th Amendment U.S. Citizen to the Federal Reserve System. In return, the Federal Reserve System agreed to extend the federal United States Corporation all of the credit money substitute it needed... (L)ike any debtor, the Federal United States government had to assign collateral and security to their creditors as a condition of the loan. Since the Federal United States didn't have any assets, they assigned the private property of their economic slaves, the U.S. Citizens, as collateral against the federal debt. They also pledged the unincorporated federal territories, national parks, forests, birth certificates, and nonprofit organizations as collateral against the federal debt. All has already been transferred as payment to the international bankers. Unwittingly, America has returned to its pre-American Revolution feudal roots whereby all land is held by a sovereign and the common people had no rights to hold allodial title to property. Once again, We the People are the tenants and sharecroppers renting our own property from a Sovereign in the guise of the Federal Reserve Bank. We the People have exchanged one master for another."

[12] Finally, in 1944, Washington D.C. was deeded to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the Breton Woods Agreement. The IMF is made up of wealthy people that own most of the banking industries of the world. It is an organized group of bankers that have taken control of most governments of the world so the bankers run the world. Congress, the IRS, and the President work for the IMF. The IRS is not a U.S. government agency. It is an agency of the IMF.

As you can see, our country is not only in far worse shape than we thought; our country exists in name only, and the people running the US are all puppets, are all made men (and women) who don't work for us at all. They work for the IMF, the United Nations and the World Bank. It is no wonder that Congress' approval rating is down into single digits on a percentage basis, and it's obvious why the needs of the people aren't being met in 21st century America.

So what are these mysterious bankers doing with all the power they have seized? They are waging war throughout the world, much of it clandestine in nature, but there is a good bit of it on our TV's, the Internet and other media on a daily basis. War, warned one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, is the enemy of the people and it must be opposed at every turn.

James Madison’s Warning: The Enemies to Public Liberty

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes. And armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.

In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended. Its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force of the people. …the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war... and in the degeneracy of manners and morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

Now that I have outlined, even if only in very general terms, the background leading up to the loss of power and real legislative representation in Congress as well as the White House, it is easy to see how we have gotten to the point of extreme frustration with our government and exasperation with our political and economic systems as they currently are established. So, all this pent-up anger and loss of patience currently being experienced by the US middle and working classes has actually been building slowly since the mid-1800's, ebbing and flowing through the waves of time, rising slowly to the crescendo that has yet to play itself out, and in fact is nowhere near doing so.

Is there a date in recent history that this latest movement of the people can be traced to? Actually, there is. On August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired every member of the air traffic controllers union (PATCO) who'd defied his order to return to work and declared their union illegal. They had been on strike for just two days. It was a bold and brash move. No one had ever tried it. What made it even bolder was that PATCO was one of only three unions that had endorsed Reagan for president! It sent a shock wave through workers across the country. If he would do this to the people who were with him, what would he do to us? Allow me to present their response to us in brief, outline form:

The super-rich will make more, much much more, and the rest of us will scramble for the crumbs that are left.

Everyone must work! Mom, Dad, the teenagers in the house! Dad, you work a second job! Kids, here's your latch-key! Your parents might be home in time to put you to bed.

50 million of you must go without health insurance! And health insurance companies: you go ahead and decide who you want to help – or not.

Unions are evil! You will not belong to a union! You do not need an advocate! Shut up and get back to work! No, you can't leave now, we're not done. Your kids can make their own dinner.

You want to go to college? No problem – just sign here and be in hock to a bank for the next 20 years!

What's a raise? Get back to work and STFU!

I have often wondered what would have happened had we all just stopped flying, period, back on August 5, 1981. What if all the unions had said to Reagan, Give those controllers their jobs back or we're shutting the country down!? You know what would have happened. The corporate elite and their boy Reagan would have buckled. But we didn't do it. And so, bit by bit, piece by piece, in the ensuing 30+ years, those in power have destroyed the middle class of our country and, in turn, have wrecked the future for our young people. Wages have remained stagnant for 35 years. Take a look at the statistics and you can see that every decline we're now suffering with had its beginning in 1981. It all began on this day, 30 years ago. One of the darkest days in American history. And we let it happen to us. Yes, they had the money, and the media and the cops. But we had 200 million of us. Ever wonder what it would look like if 200 million got truly upset and wanted their country, their life, their job, their weekend, their time with their kids back?

Have we all just given up? What are we waiting for? When is enough, enough? The middle class dream will not just magically reappear. Wall Street's plan is clear: America is to be a nation of Haves and Have Nothings. Is that OK for you? Why not use today to pause and think about the little steps you can take to turn this around in your neighborhood, at your workplace, in your school? Is there any better day to start than today?

We are going to have to turn the TV and the computer and the video games off and get out in the streets. As I see it, the American people have been trying to effect change in our country, its governmental policies domestically and abroad, and the direction of overall US leadership for a very long time now. The problem is that we have been trying to do this through the system as it was originally designed, working within it, only to find out that the system is apparently broken, since it no longer serves the American people as it was originally intended. However, upon closer examination of our dilemma, we find that it's not so much a broken system as it is a subverted and abusive system that is directed at the very people it was originally intended to protect. It is a political and economic system that has been turned inside out in order to serve an elite few at the expense of the remainder of the population. And, when all else fails and the times become desperate, measures of equal or greater desperation become necessary in order to reassert the people's ownership over our country. We simply can't afford to wait around and see what happens next anymore.

The current state of affairs in America is untenable. The government that the American people put into power has turned its back on us all. Both major political parties are sustained by corporate dollars for their political campaigns and by out and out bribery. As I see it, there are five fundamental ills that are destroying the United States that must be addressed. These are:

[1] Unpopular wars in the Middle East, North Africa and in the Horn of Africa, some that have been waged by the President without consulting Congress, which is the law of the land, as spelled out in Section 1, Article 8 of the U.S. Constitution.

[2.] Laws which were imposed on the American people that usurp the Bill of Rights and therefore limit our civil liberties. These include the Patriot Acts (in all forms), The Military Commissions Act, The new FISA Laws and other draconian laws and Presidential Directives including one that authorizes the assassination of American citizens under orders from the President. This is clearly illegal, even for the president.

[3.] America's budget, which contains the repayment of bail-outs to certain entities in the financial world to pull this nation out of a recession caused by the very same entities that caused the 2008 financial crisis. We have yet to see any charges brought by this government of wrongdoing by any individuals that committed this massive fraud.

[4.] The continuing practice of allowing the Federal Reserve to conduct this nation's monetary policies in violation of Section 1, Article 8 of the U.S. Constitution. This private banking cartel charges interest for every dollar printed in this nation. Our currency starts as debt and continued borrowing from the Federal Reserve will only put this nation further into debt. We are throwing good money after bad. Our most logical course of action, then, is to nationalize the Federal Reserve. In so doing, our so-called national debt would be declared null and void.

[5.] Finally, social programs that were paid into by the American people during their working years should not be offered up to trim the national debt. Taxing corporations and those individuals that make an inordinate amount of money, stopping these continuing wars that we have been involved in since 1991, and cutting foreign aid along with the dissolution of the Fed, will be enough to balance the budget.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men 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. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. --- Thomas Jefferson (the Declaration of Independence)

Evidently we have entered into a situation where the above passage from The Declaration of Independence applies. Unless this government is willing to come to terms and look for other ways out of this financial crisis such as stopping these wars of aggression and holding corporations to the same standard it holds its citizens insofar as taxation, I believe that the government is not looking out for the welfare of the people. We have a right to act accordingly.

In order to understand what the Occupy Movement is fighting for, it should be acknowledged that we must regain things that we have lost or are losing to the top 1%. What I mean is the massive loss of middle and working class jobs overseas through outsourcing, the decimation of entire professions through the importation of foreign workers on H1B visas that are basically unfair to US workers, the systematic confiscation of US worker's wealth through foreclosure, the gutting and enforced neutralization of pension plans, and by putting medical care and higher education financially out of reach for all but a select few. But that's not how it used to be. Once there was a solid American middle class who could afford to buy houses, cars, and furniture, and who had no problem keeping enough food on the dinner table. It all goes back to a set of values inspired by president Franklin Roosevelt and his New Deal of the 1930's and reiterated by Rev. Dr. King, Jr. during the civil rights era, something that needs to be repeated today if America is to thrive in the 21st century.

Henry Ford once said, We are beginning to understand that our money is not created by the federal government, but by banks. It is well enough that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning. America is beginning to understand, and the Occupy Wall Street and the 99% Movements look like the beginning of the revolution.

Interest now composes 40 percent of the cost of everything we buy. We don't see it on the sales slips, but interest is exacted at every stage