Career Alternatives for Attorneys: Preventing Dictatorship?
Meet Stewart Rhodes. He graduated in 2004 from Yale Law School, where his paper, “Solving the Puzzle of Enemy Combatant Status,” won a prize for the best paper on the Bill of Rights. Before entering the law, he served as a U.S. Army paratrooper.
What’s Rhodes up to now? Many military men turned lawyers troop off to large law firms, where the discipline and diligence cultivated in the armed forces help them succeed. Others join the JAG Corps or work for defense contractors.
But Rhodes, who was a non-traditional student at YLS, has taken a non-traditional career path since graduating.
From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Depending on your perspective, the Oath Keepers are either strident defenders of liberty or dangerous peddlers of paranoia. In the age of town halls, talk radio and tea parties, middle ground of opinion is hard to find.Launched in March by Las Vegan Stewart Rhodes, Oath Keepers bills itself as a nonpartisan group of current and retired law enforcement and military personnel who vow to fulfill their oaths to the Constitution.
More specifically, the group’s members, which number in the thousands, pledge to disobey orders they deem unlawful, including directives to disarm the American people and to blockade American cities. By refusing the latter order, the Oath Keepers hope to prevent cities from becoming “giant concentration camps,” a scenario the 44-year-old Rhodes says he can envision happening in the coming years.
It’s a Cold War-era nightmare vision with a major twist: The occupying forces in this imagined future are American, not Soviet. “The whole point of Oath Keepers is to stop a dictatorship from ever happening here,” [said] Rhodes.
Dictatorship in the United States? American cities as “giant concentration camps”? Whatchoo talkin’ ‘bout, Stewart?
Stewart and the Oath Keepers seek to prevent the imposition of martial law in America. As Rhodes told the LVRJ:
“The whole point of Oath Keepers is to stop a dictatorship from ever happening here. My focus is on the guys with the guns, because they can’t do it without them. We say if the American people decide it’s time for a revolution, we’ll fight with you.”
How worried are the Oath Keepers about the prospect of dictatorship?
The group’s Web site, www.oathkeepers.org, features videos and testimonials in which supporters compare President Barack Obama’s America to Adolf Hitler’s Germany. They also liken Obama to England’s King George III during the American Revolution.One member, in a videotaped speech at an event in Washington, D.C., calls Obama “the domestic enemy the Constitution is talking about.”
It seems that Stewart Rhodes isn’t a fan of Obama (or, for that matter, former President George W. Bush):
Rhodes, a former firearms instructor, said he easily could have started Oath Keepers during the Bush administration, but his focus during those years was first on getting his law degree and then volunteering on the 2008 presidential campaign of Texas Congressman Ron Paul, a libertarian Republican in whose office Rhodes worked during the 1990s.What Rhodes terms “the rise of executive privilege” during the post-9/11 years of the Bush presidency will in his opinion only accelerate with Obama in office. What’s worse, he said, is that “gun-hating extremists” now control the White House.
Check out some components of the Oath Keepers’ oath, listed on their website:
1. We will NOT obey orders to disarm the American people.2. We will NOT obey orders to conduct warrantless searches of the American people.
3. We will NOT obey orders to detain American citizens as “unlawful enemy combatants” or to subject them to military tribunal.
There’s something for everyone here. Second Amendment supporters would surely like #1, civil libertarians would fall for #2, and liberals would approve of #3.
5. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty….
7. We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext.
Pacifists would support #5. As for #7, perhaps it’s a way of preventing a repeat of the detention camps for Japanese Americans.
You can read the complete oath, which has ten points, over here (or a more detailed, annotated version over here).
So, readers, what do you think of the Oath Keepers? Defenders of liberty, or a bunch of nuts?
Oath Keepers [official website]
Stewart Rhodes bio [OathKeepers.org]
READY TO REVOLT: Oath Keepers pledges to prevent dictatorship in United States [Las Vegas Review-Journal]
(88) Comments
Comments
Yale law students are too smart for their own good. That's why I went to Hofstra.
At least some of the points are taking an oath not to behave unconstitutionally.
So, having been admitted as an attorney in New York and sworn the oath to support and uphold the Constitutions of the United States and New York, I would be forsworn if I didn't agree (at least on those points).
first
Every Yin needs it Yang.
Stewart Rhodes gets my approval for being attorney of the month. He has essentially foreseen the dangers of Commissar Obama's red tentacles reaching far across our land and into our private lives and wallets. These oath keepers seem like a patriotic bunch. Bravo Mr. Rhodes. Carry on.
Confused and delusional seems to describe it best.
Those who fire first at perceived wrongs are usually put into their place. Just remember who fired first at Fort Sumter.
"Defenders of liberty, or a bunch of nuts?"
Why do we have to choose? Both.
Anyone who believes there is a valid comparison between the United States of 2009 and Nazi Germany of 1939 is a few fries short of a Happy Meal.
3. We will NOT obey orders to detain American citizens as “unlawful enemy combatants” or to subject them to military tribunal.
I don't get it. Which U.S. citizens have been sent to Gitmo?
8: Well, he is a Paultard, so that's one factor.
He writes for publications called "S.W.A.T." and "The Warrior."
'Nuff said.
I think he's referring to any U.S. state in number 5, not foreign states, so while the pacifists might be happy, I don't think the isolationists' concerns are addressed. But anyway, this group sounds pretty nuts.
Does yale not screen applications
Did Yale's ad com think this guy was a Rhodes Rhodes?
44 year-old Yale Law '04 grad. I hate non-traditional students, they are always so weird.
-V15 Hiring Committee Member
"Anyone who believes there is a valid comparison between the United States of 2009 and Nazi Germany of 1939 is a few fries short of a Happy Meal."
On the other hand, people who beleive there is a valid comparison between the United States of 2000-2008 and Nazi Germany of 1939 are respected academics.
Vociferous comments from a slicked back hair looking Leon Trotsky on the right?
Yep, a nut.
This guy is an American hero. You can thank him later.
9: José Padilla was a citizen arrested in the United States, declared an enemy combatant and transferred to a military prison to face court martial.
PE is old fashioned and over the hill. And he supported Cy "soft on crime" Vance for Manhattan D.A. because Morgenthau pressured him. You can thank PE in part for the coming crime wave.
PE,
Do you think it is wise to start Sabathia in Game 4 on three days rest?
PE: I hope to enroll at a prestigious law school in the future. Can you pls differentiate among Y, H/S, C/C/N?
Thank you.
Sounds like this guy's seen Running Man one too many times.
I hope this guy kicks Mystal's ass.
yale law school graduates can do no wrong
"What happened to Buzzsaw?"
"He had to split."
He's seen Red Dawn too many times.
I actually joined this yesterday as a "citizen." You don't need to be current or former military or law enforcement. This has potential to be a formidable opposition force to the regime.
The poll results, which initially were almost 50 percent "strongly negative," are skewing much more positive all of a sudden.....
this dude graduated law school at 40? could he even get biglaw as a new ls grad at that age?
@ 29, biglaw @ yale --> safety measure
HTH
The poll is pretty funny - the totalitarian commie philosophy that is now in vogue after years of public education dominated by far left teacher's unions is the beginning of fulfilling the goals of these ideologues.
Actually acting in accordance with the constitution is repugnant to these types, freedom and the ability to defend it are totally secondary to the goals and control of the state, as long as the state is The Party.
can someone please explain why yale is such a big deal?
-LLM
Guys at my high school used to imagine they were Paul Revere all the time, it was no big deal.
31 - more thought, fewer buzzwords, pls.
Seems to potentially contradict this oath: "I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."
31 - so true, and so sad. Especially sad given that most of the people checking the "strongly negative" box are lawyers that are charged with treating the Bill of Rights as more than a sanitary napkin.
"We will NOT obey orders to disarm the American people."
Cool. Thanks.
Please leave the room if you think this will affect you.
Mystal is the Whole Hog.
Disarming the American people - what about ordering drug dealers or bank robbers to drop their wepaons?
15 wins for best comment
20: PE hasn't heard of him, he'd have them start Whitey Ford.
And no, they shouldn't start him -- they'll likely be up 3 - 0 and should rest him.
The stamp of approval from the PE character, with his over-the-top reactionary sensibility, is enough of a condemnation for me.
I hope an Oath Keeper is not a member of an FBI team investigating some crazy white-separatist movement or one of McVeigh's would-be successors. Disarming certain passport holding true-blue Americans of their guns, ammo, and bombs can be extremely patriotic.
15 FTW.
I don't get it: why would the government be giving these types of orders to these people in the first place?
President Obama, telecasting from the Death Star:
"Herb Neidermayer of Shaker Heights, Ohio, I hereby order you to disarm and detain the American people."
Ludicrous.
44 = ignorant
@9: Harold and Kumar were sent to Gitmo as US citizens.
Anyone who watches Glenn Beck on a daily basis knows that Obama is pursuing a secret plan to enslave the American people and install himself as our permanent supreme leader (and that he's a good antichrist candidate - I'm getting into my backyard bunker if he survives a serious head wound).
Carry on, faithful patriot!
I always think these people are insane until I go to the airport. Since I travel a lot, I just tune it out.
But some airport set-ups and TSA people are scarier than others. It's so bizarre with everyone stripping off clothes, belts, shoes, etc. It's not impossible to imagine this sort of "control" moving out from the airport into wider society.
I just always think about Ben Franklin - They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.
-Patrick Henry
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government.
-Declaration of Independence
What a crazy notion!
Nice quotes 49, but seriously, you think health care reform and bailout are what they were talking about? Give me a break, did you live under a rock until ten months ago?
um, wolverines!
50-
"Health care reform" and "bailout" are just Orwellian euphemisms for EXACTLY the kind of interventions into personal affairs and tyrannical predations that Paine and Jefferson were talking about.
Rather than a rock, you've been living under the jackboot of governmental oppression for so long you can't recognize it.
Exactly 48. The airport is conditioning for what is later to become the norm. And they need to take guns from people before they start asking you to strip down or walk through the X-Ray machine and show your papers on the way to work.
Hah, ok 50, whatever you say. Don't let me keep you from cleaning your AR15 and preparing for the coming invasion of the United Nations.
Can I choose "F: Crazier than guano"?
It should be "F: Crazier than bat guano."
Proof that even Yale can produce a bat shit crazy wingnut.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
Stewart-
Quit posting your bullshit quotes. Boring. Don't you have a dog fight or a car race to attend.
52, you're right, but they've been indoctrinated by the teacher's unions - centrally controlled education is the key to subjugating the populace. Control the language, control information, and you control everything.
The poor, naive kids on the left have been taught from very early on that big and controlling government is your friend and that individual freedom is actually a tool of oppression, and not to question authority except in certain very limited circumstances within a limited set of rules - ask permission to go to the bathroom, get up and eat lunch when the bell rings like a trained animal, let us control what you put in your own body, we're controlling you for your own good... and while some of us question it anyway, many fall prey to this brainwashing and never escape.
Right, cause the kids in the private schools are just running buckwild all day. Man, the wingnuts are coming out of the woodwork today.
61-
You're a moonbat.
"A government large enough to supply you with all your needs is large enough to take away everything you have."
A government of the people, by the people, for the people, large enough to supply you with all your needs will not want to take away everything you have because by definition it represents the people.
In addition, it will already have everything to begin with (although that's really only possible with a post-scarcity economy and that's a pipe dream at this point.)
Will the government actually want to take your student loan debts or your credit card debts? Will the government take your rusty beat up piece of shit '87 Datsun? I don't think so as much as the wingnuts and moonbats would think.
What's his position on vaginal hegemony?
64, you're joking, right? It's been a long time since this was a government by the people or for them.
I don't like knowing that people like this are just walking around, in public spaces, amongst all the normal people. They scare the fuck out of me.
66 -- when was it ever? I won't be as long as senators representing small slivers of the population can stand in the way of what the majority actually wants.
I have a couple of "oaths" this guy can keep.
I can't believe nobody's said it: The poor schmuck just needs to get laid!
So he's still a promise keeper at 44? Didn't they do a movie about that?
Government isn't by and for the people unless its run by the 2% fringe that's piling up AR16s for the coming race war.
Paul '12!
I don't think #5 is pacifism. I think its a reference to Little Rock - when Eisenhower sent in federal troops to integrate schools against calls of states' rights.
Didn't Lincoln pretty much settle the issue of "invad[ing] and subjugat[ing] any state that asserts its sovereignty"? I'm just sayin'...
ACCORDING to the results of the poll thus far, approximately 60% of ATL readers are the very type of power-hungry, liberal fascists that will lead this country to a dictatorship.
Yeah, I think #5 is a reference to Little Rock, too. And I grew up believing the government was all evil, too. Then, you know, you grow up.
In my case, I met a three year old with cancer, caused by an admitted polluter. I realized that guns might seem like a dramatic way to defend yourself, but I have never been mugged. On the other hand, I have had three family members die of cancers which are strongly linked to environmental pollution.
I don't really need protection from some hypothetical government invasion (of my own COUNTRY!?!) I need protection from companies who pollute the water supply.
And, of course, freaks who threaten children with violence in the name of "state's rights."
74,
Remember, these are the people who opposed the War of Northern Aggression, school integration, interracial marriage, civil rights, etc. Ron Paul made his political name as a publisher of crazy shit about the coming race war directed at these people.
I don't think they'll take Lincoln as legitimate precedent. Of course, the ironic part is that neoconfederates and similar nuts are most heavily concentrated in the parts of the south that were pro-North for economic reasons (i.e., the hill country).
It balances out, 67, since it scares the fuck out of me that paternalist nuts like yourself get to vote.
So ATL is not allowed to call a bunch of crazies a bunch of crazies?
77: The fact that the federal government has in the past used its overwhelming power for just ends does not warrant dismissing those who are concerned about current abuse of federal power.
It's going to be so great once the liberals have bred themselves out of existence.
Average IQ of "liberals"/"paternalists" > average IQ of these crazies. By far.
Has anyone ever driven through rural parts of this country? That's where you see Ron Paul signs everywhere.
Really though, when you think about it, is anyone going to actually care if the South secedes?
The reason these guys are seen as nuts is that they are using very shocking and out-of-the-mainstream language to combat the slowly creeping socialism of the past 80 years, thus they look like the radicals, when they are truer to the constitution than most of our politicians of this century.
"Will the government take your rusty beat up piece of shit '87 Datsun?"
Sorry, I own a sweet, late model BMW 5 series.
I guess, as a rule, lefties don't really have anything worth taking, hence all the glibness... The only way they can ever hope to get anything worthwhile is to try to take it from someone who earned it, with the jack-booted help of Big Brother.
The constitution is what I say it is. No matter what I say, I'm always right.
Another group of right-wing whack-jobs. Where were all these lovers of the Constitution when Bush II was putting most of the Bill of Rights in the shredder? Where were they when Ronnie Reagan was using the War on (Some) Drugs to do the same? Where were they when Bush Is SCOTUS was appointing Bush II POTUS? It's no coincidence that these creeps crawl out of the woodwork (a) when a non-white man gets elected president and (b) when Rush and Glen are inciting them.
87,
They were opposing Bush, dumbass. Ron Paul et al were against the War, Gitmo, and etc. Nobama and Clinton, incidentally, voted for increased wiretapping. Where was the condemnation from the Left?