March Against Drones, September 11, 2013

This is the content of the speech I delivered during the March Against Drones in Phoenix, AZ on September, 11th:

I’d like to begin by referencing the Preamble to the Constitution:

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

At the time of the writing of the Constitution, the founders had a disdain for standing armies. Article One Section 8 states that one of the goals of Congress should be “To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years.”

Since that time, and particularly since the passage of the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, the United States has maintained and built up a morbid leviathan of suffering and of death – the war machine that we have today and have had for decades. Today, with Federal Reserve Monopoly money, the military accounts for over half of our spending, annually. Of the top 10 highest spending military powers, the United States is #1, and we outspend the other 9 combined by a fair margin. That is one monster army!

Leaving no decision to conscience, it uses this monster at every opportunity, usually to secure or increase it’s own power and control, and doing so in no regard for the misery and destruction it creates or the sovereignty it destroys to have its way. It always works the same. Destabilize a country or region, magnify and fan both sides of the internal conflict, then, steamroll right in, occupy and install a puppet regime. Mass murder in the name of spreading “Freedom”. If this is the United States’ idea of freedom, then we should want no part in it.  Mass murder is not acceptable.

2006 saw continuing involvement in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, the formation of a new government in Iraq and ended with the execution of Saddam Hussein. In Pakistan alone, in 3 drone strikes in 2006, including one attack on a madrassa (which is boogeyman-speak for “school”), 118 people were killed, including 75 children and 24 adult civilians. Mass murdered by a remote controlled airplane.

We stand here today to promote awareness of and voice our disgust in the latest, most favored instrument of death. The weapon of mass destruction known as the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, or as we call them, DRONES. This WMD is 2% effective at eliminating targets, and 98% effective in inflicting collateral damage. To date, many thousands of civilians have been slaughtered, including women and children in this way. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time and didn’t even know what hit them. And our political leaders praise, and our military and policing authorities covet this horrific and inherently evil tool. DRONES are weapons of mass destruction, and the United States is guilty of their manufacture and use.

And when adapted for civilian use, UAV technology is invasive and disproportionately empowers the state while gratuitously eroding the rights and privacy of individuals. We the People do not need the unblinking eyes of the state hovering over us and our homes. We do not need that kind of security. Go home big brother. We’ll be fine on our own.

When I think about the Preamble to the Constitution, two questions come to mind.

In what way do we increase domestic tranquility with Drones?  Constant surveillance is the destruction of the First and Fourth Amendments!  Do you really have free speech if you are always being watched?  Do you really have privacy at all in a surveillance state?

And in what way are we providing for Common Defense with armed drones when the United States has only used them in other sovereign lands that they wish to control?  This does not meet the definition of “defense” – not in any dictionary.

Thank you for standing with me on this day of remembrance, September 11th, 2013, and standing against the use of drones.  It only takes one man to change the world.  We have many here today who just want him to stop!  Thank you!