(As I read this article, a book title immediately came to mind – Restoring AMERICA One County at a Time – get it! – CL)
Richard Mack, a retired sheriff and current president of Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers (CSPOA),1 is hard at work, educating sheriffs around the country to get them up to speed on the Constitutional rights of U.S. citizens.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, I was
essentially clueless as to the importance of your local county sheriffs. I had
no idea how crucial they are. Today, I view them as some of the most important
elected officials we all have the opportunity to vote for. (Three states —
Alaska, Hawaii and Connecticut — do not have sheriffs, so their laws are enforced
by other officers such as marshals or deputy sheriffs.2)
In
this interview, Mack details the action steps you can take to make sure your
sheriff is safeguarding your Constitutional rights and protecting your civil
liberties against unlawful government overreach.
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Your
Sheriff Is the One Protecting Your Constitutional Rights
Ultimately,
your local sheriff is in charge of actually enforcing whatever rules and
regulations are laid down by state lawmakers, your city or county councils,3 and
executive orders from city mayors or governors. Contrary to what some people
think, mayors and governors don’t make laws — the state legislatures do that —
but they can influence city and state legislation as well as invoke executive
orders under certain circumstances.4
Sometimes
sheriffs and local and state police may be asked by their mayor or governor to
enforce an executive order. However, some sheriffs may refuse to do that, if
they believe the executive order is unconstitutional. For example, some
Michigan5 and Texas6 sheriffs informed their governors they won’t enforce mandatory
mask orders since they aren’t actual laws.
Knowing this, if you do not
have a good sheriff who knows the Constitution and adheres to it, you could end
up at the mercy of tyrannical government officials trying to create rules and
orders outside the powers of your elected legislative officials.
During this pandemic, we’ve
seen quite a few mayors and governors implementing pandemic response mandates
that violate the U.S. Constitution and infringe on civil liberties. The
counterbalance to such overreaches is the local county sheriff. As explained by
Mack:
“This
is a crucial time in American history, and we actually have a peaceful and
effective solution to it. The only thing that needs to happen is your local
officials, especially your sheriff, keep [their] oath of office.
That’s
the only thing he has to do in order to effectuate the philosophy you just
mentioned, and that is that the sheriff is here to protect your civil
liberties, your God given rights.
As
the founding fathers put it in the Declaration of Independence, ‘The laws of
nature are nature’s God.’ Either way, you don’t have to believe in God to
appreciate this or to be a part of it. You don’t, because these are the rights
you were born with.”
The
Brady Bill
Mack
is perhaps best known for suing the U.S. government over the Brady Bill, also
known as the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act,7 signed
into law by President Clinton in November 1993, which for the first time in
U.S. history conscripted county sheriffs to enforce federal law.
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“Cornell
University did the best review8 of
the case that I ever saw. If you want to look up the case, see Printz, Mac V.
U.S.9 It’s the most amazing 10th Amendment decision in the history
of our country. It is so powerful,” Mack says.
“Justice
[Antonin] Scalia wrote the decision, and it went 10 times further than I ever
dreamed. In fact, I never dreamed of even going to the Supreme Court. I thought
it would all be squashed and forgotten at the district level. But we went
through the district court. Six other sheriffs joined me in this lawsuit. All
of them won at the district court except the one in Texas.
I
don’t know how you lose a 10th Amendment, Second Amendment case in Texas.
People need to understand we sued on the 10th Amendment to protect the Second
Amendment, yes, but also to protect state sovereignty. This is the one thing
that really got to me the most.
I
understand we’re always going to have people believing in gun control. I do
not, because it’s against the Constitution. However, and I’m not a big gun guy
— I never even owned a gun until I was elected sheriff … But I am a freedom
guy. That’s all this was about.
And I said that the federal
government cannot tell any sheriff what to do. Not me, not the sheriff in
Bangor, Maine, or any sheriff across this country. They have no authority. They
have no jurisdiction to tell us what to do. And that is where we won.
It pushed the federal
government back, but nobody knows about this decision. It’s very hidden. Nobody
enforces it, and I’m trying to wake the country up to enforce (1) the
Constitution, and (2) this decision that just reinforced the Constitution and
the principle of Federalism.”
The
Constitution Protects Us From Our Best Intentions
Had it not been for Mack winning this
lawsuit, sheriffs would not have had the legal ability to stand up against
tyranny and protect Constitutional rights today. Hundreds of sheriffs have
refused to enforce the often ridiculous and biased mandates issued by mayors
and governors under the guise of protecting public health.
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“One
of our best Constitutional sheriffs is Mike Carpinelli out of Lewis County, New
York, and he’s actually announced10 that
he’s going to run against [New York governor Andrew] Cuomo …
[Carpinelli]
is a really solid Constitutional conservative — somebody who actually believes
in freedom, who wants to put aside the socialist, communist takeover of our
states and our country, and who really believes in individual liberty.”
Another example is sheriff
Sharon Wehrly in Nye County, Nevada. She is a lifetime member of the CSPOA. Pam
Elliott in Edwards County, Texas, is also a Constitutional sheriff who has gone
through CSPOA’s training.
“Sheriffs
know that when they come to our training, it will change America,” Mack
says. “I’m going to tell everybody right now; communism and socialism
are the antithesis of individual liberty. They do not allow for property
rights.
They
do not allow for personal freedom. It’s all about the state mandating and
controlling everything, including your own property. You don’t have property
under those systems.
Scalia,
like I said, went a lot further than I ever thought he would. He said this:
‘But the Constitution protects us from our own best intentions.’ You would
think that quote right there would be enough to get everybody so excited about
this case that they would go to our website and buy the reviews of the case.
I
have this little pocket sized review, all the highlights, all the best parts of
the case, called ‘The Victory for State Sovereignty.’ You can get that at cspoa.org. You should be passing them out to everyone so that they wake up to
this.”
The
Constitution Protects Us From the Crisis of the Day
In
his court decision, Scalia also talked about how the Constitution protects us
from the crisis of the day. “It prevents the temptation to concentrate power in
one location as an expedient solution to the crisis of the day,” he said. And
the COVID-19 pandemic is just that, Mack says. It’s the crisis of the day.
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“How
many Americans die from obesity, heart disease and the effects of smoking?
About a million a year? Yet we don’t make cigarette smoking against the law.
Why don’t we make obesity against the law? It would be easy to put a little
computer chip in everybody or just have everybody keep their federal obesity
card.
When
you go to a Dairy Queen, they run it and go, ‘Whoops. You can’t have a Blizzard
today. You had one last week’ … I mean, aren’t they going to take care of us? …
Isn’t this the same thing as them trying to ‘protect us’ and make sure that
we’re all ‘safe’ by [telling us we must] stay … in our homes, social distance
and wear masks in public?
There’s
no freedom of choice in any of that … My message is to all peace officers
because we’ve already seen … where sheriffs and peace officers across the
country are saying, ‘I will not force people to do that.’
It
might be a good idea to wear a mask. I don’t know. But I do know that it has to
be up to the individual because liberty is based on the choices that the
individual makes, not that the government makes for us.
Even
now we have some cities in America, like Englewood, Colorado, that have
instituted a rule that if you’re not wearing a mask, it’s a $2,600 fine and a
year in jail.11 At the same time, we’re releasing tens of thousands of
convicted hardcore felons so, I guess, we can make room in our prisons for the
non-mask wearers.”
Americans
Jailed and Shot Over Unconstitutional Rules
Among
the most egregious overreaches we’ve seen during this pandemic is the case of a
supermarket security guard who shot a customer in the back for refusing to wear
a mask. He is now charged with murder.12 Many
of these mask mandates are in direct violation of the Constitution and
shouldn’t be enforced to begin with, let alone get killed over.
“This
is a question I ask on every program. Sheriff [Scott] Nichols in Franklin
County, Maine, told his governor, ‘We will not make our county a police state.
We will not conduct ourselves like Nazi soldiers. We will follow the
Constitution.’ He was refusing … social engineering orders …
The
question is, do you want the sheriff in Florida who arrested pastor Howard
Brown [for holding church services in violation of stay-at-home order], or do
you want the sheriff in Maine who said, ‘We won’t conduct ourselves like that?
We will still respect the rights of the people to make their own choices, even
if it’s uncomfortable for other people.’ Isn’t that what liberty is? …
You
would think we already made a law that freedom of religion would be the one
principle that we would all agree on, yet we’re arresting people in this
country, literally, just for going to church … This is so absurd.
So,
which sheriff do you want in your county? The one who will protect your
liberty, still educate you as to how you should be careful, but then respect
your right to choose for yourself?
I
also submit that he actually protects you from other governments trying to
arrest you. He protects you from that security guard. They’re not actually very
well trained. Sometimes cops aren’t either, and we need to understand
de-escalation, and that we don’t shoot somebody over a mask issue, which isn’t
even a law.
The
insanity just seems to get worse and worse every day, and I’m saying, let’s go
back to American ideals. Let’s go back to the Constitution. And we literally
train sheriffs and peace officers across this country to follow the
Constitution, and to do that you have to know and understand the Constitution,
especially the Bill of Rights.”
Most of us would probably
want a sheriff who will protect your civil liberties and personal freedoms. One
area where your local sheriff might end up playing a crucial role is if they
roll out forced vaccinations. Undoubtedly, that’s the next step in this
COVID-19 pandemic.
I
believe the orders to wear masks everywhere we go is a preliminary step in that
direction. Were rules or laws enacted saying you must get the COVID-19 vaccine or you’ll be barred from
various locations, your sheriff would be the one to either comply with such
orders or refuse to enforce them.
How Do You Get a Constitutional Sheriff
in Your County?
The question then becomes, how do you ensure your local sheriff
understands and protects your rights under the Constitution? You basically have
two options here. Either vote a Constitutional sheriff in, or educate the one
you have.
“We the people need to be
involved in that process. Remember, [Thomas] Jefferson said the price of
liberty is eternal vigilance. And that’s one place where we have failed in this
country,” Mack says. “We the people have trusted government
to take care of liberty. Big mistake.
We were told to never do that.
Never trust. I don’t care if it’s your brother that’s in office, never trust
anybody in government, including me. Check on me. Always be checking and see
what I’m doing, and your public officials should be making that very
transparent. This is what I believe. This is what I’m doing.”
Mack urges everyone to join the CSPOA —
The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association. Its purpose is to
create a partnership between the people, the sheriff and the local law
enforcement chiefs. I encourage you to join me in supporting this worthy
organization.
Next, you need to vet your
candidates. There are just under 3,100 sheriffs in the U.S., and as in all
other professions, some are better educated and informed than others. In the
case of sheriffs, it’s imperative that they understand, and vow to uphold, the
Constitution of the United States.
“Be friendly, be tactful, but you need to ask every sheriff
candidate running right now if he will be a Constitutional sheriff,” Mack
says. “You should be able to find that out with one quick phone call, or
you can look at their history …
They
need to hear from you, and they need to know you’re concerned about this issue.
It’s great that you go to them and say, ‘Sheriff, I’m a member of the CSPOA.
I’m on the Constitutional Sheriff’s Posse’ … If a sheriff hears from 10 of his
constituents, he’ll say hundreds of people are calling. They can’t ignore you …
Everybody
needs to be a member of the CSPOA. It’s the only one out there doing this, and
believe me, it’s a peaceful and effective solution that is working.”
Why
Join the CSPOA?
It’s important to realize the
CSPOA is the only organization of its kind and helps educate sheriffs all
around the country. Joining the CSPOA is really one of the most highly
leveraged investments you could make to secure your personal liberties.
If we get
just a third of the sheriffs to do this Constitutional training, we take back
American liberty tomorrow. We don’t have to wait for another piece of
legislation. We don’t have to wait for another election. We can do it now,
today.
Their funding comes from private
donations and membership fees, which are then used to train sheriffs. The
organization doesn’t even have any paid employees. But the sheriffs don’t flock
there by themselves (although some might). The only way the organization can
work is by getting citizens involved in the process.
“If
people want this solution, become a part of it. The success of this
organization is based on your involvement in it, how much time you spend on
this, how much money you put into this …
We
want you to have these books. They’re tools for liberty. We want you to be able
to take a copy of the Supreme Court decision to your sheriff candidate, to your
sheriff forum, and you’ve got to get going on that because some of these
primaries have already happened. You might only have two candidates left, a
Democrat and Republican. And you need to find out which one will be a
Constitutional sheriff.
I
get calls from these candidates all the time. In fact, yesterday I got another
one from Florida saying, ‘Will you endorse me?’ CSPOA does not endorse, but I
do. And you need to go [to them] and say, ‘Sheriff, have you heard of the
Constitutional Sheriffs Association?… Most of them have already heard about us.
Whether
they have or not, you need to ask them, ‘Will you be a Constitutional sheriff?
Will you protect me from being victimized by other government? Will you protect
me if I don’t wear a mask in public? Will you protect me if they come and knock
on my door and want to come into my home? Will you protect me and my choice to
take a vaccination or not?’ …
You
need dozens of people to make those calls … These sheriffs need to create their
own policies also, and we train in that. But we train sheriffs to do all this.
And we go as far as your donations and your membership fees take us. That’s
just the simple fact of it.”
Don’t All Sheriffs Already
Know Everything They Need to Know?
The training CSPOA offers is
crucial, as the traditional training sheriffs receive is fairly inadequate with
respect to the understanding and appreciation of their oath, which is to
protect and uphold Constitutional rights. Many get distracted or confused by
the belief or idea that they must enforce things that really are not within
their scope of duty.
“Look,
we’re not going to get every sheriff. We really hope to get about a third of
the nation’s sheriffs, that’s 1,000. If we get just a third of the sheriffs to
do this [Constitutional training], we take back American liberty tomorrow. We
don’t have to wait for another piece of legislation. We don’t have to wait for
another election. We can do it now, today,” Mack
says.
“And
so, folks, this is where you come in. The sheriff’s position is extremely vital
to all of this because he is elected by you. You’re the only boss. You’re the
sheriff’s only supervisor. He does not report to anyone else, except you, the
voters. And he needs to hear from you. If he never hears from you, he’s going
to do whatever he wants.”
What
Does It Mean to Take an Oath?
As explained by Mack, Article 6 in the Constitution requires federal
and state peace officers, including state officials, to swear an oath of
allegiance to the U.S. Constitution. This is important, because when they do,
liberty is protected at every level of government in all three branches.
All agents, on local, state
and federal levels, are supposed to be enforcing the principles in the
Constitution. Looking around today, it’s clear that many do not, and part of
the problem is that people do not understand what the oath they’re taking
actually means.
“How
can you take an oath and then not study and know and understand what that
means? If you take an oath to the Constitution, that presupposes that you know
the Constitution. And that’s where the training in law enforcement has failed
miserably.
The
police academies, ongoing certification training and all agencies in this
country do not train at all to understand what your oath means, how you keep
your oath, and what our role is in America as peace officers and sheriffs. What
our role truly is is in protecting liberty.
The
place we start is the Declaration of Independence because … most of us don’t
even know what form of government we have in America. How can we be a part of
protecting the liberties of America when we don’t even know what form of government
America has? So, we teach all that. We get rid of all the brainwashing, like
‘We’re a democracy.’ That’s brainwashing. That’s a lie.
If
you take an oath, how will you keep it? And then we go into the Bill of Rights.
I’m telling you, if our peace officers in this country understand that quote,
‘To secure these rights, governments are instituted among men,’ right from the
Declaration of Independence, we find what the proper role of government is, and
that is to secure God given rights, natural rights, our innate rights. That is
the job of every peace officer in this country.”
The Best Way to Reform Our Police Force
As noted by Mack, when you get sheriffs and police officers to
understand that upholding the Constitution is their actual role, that this is
their No. 1 job, the paradigm shifts from kicking in doors and arresting people
for not wearing a mask to being a defender of liberty and a guard of the
Constitution. It results in a mental paradigm shift.
“That
paradigm will make a huge shift and the beneficiary of that will be the
American people,” Mack says. “The best tool for any
situation in de-escalation is the Constitution of the United States of America.
If
[police officers] know and understand the Constitution and their role in
defending it, then I believe the problems with police brutality are going to
disappear in this country, at least diminish extremely …
Once
we understand the principles of freedom that we as peace officers swore an oath
to uphold and defend, our job is going to change immensely. If I can enforce
the law without beating people into compliance, which I did for 20 years, then
every peace officer can do the same.
Isn’t
it amazing the coincidence that I studied and became a convert to the oath of
office and the Constitution back when I was a rookie cop in 1983? When I found
out what all that was for, it changed how I viewed my job in law enforcement,
and it really took me from a by-the-numbers jerk to a by, for and of the people
peace officer and defender.
This
would’ve never happened to George Floyd if we had officers that truly were
converted to why we have peace officers in the first place. And when we
understand that my job is to protect liberty … [then] how we effectuate all
those arrests … will change America … Getting sheriffs and peace officers in
this country to go from the master to the servant is a huge process, and that’s
what we’re doing.”
Naturally, once a sheriff has been re-educated and is
committed to the principles of being a defender of the Constitution, then they
will typically train their entire police department, since the deputies are the
ones with boots on the ground, answering most of the calls.
Interestingly, Mack is now also working with a national
health freedom organization. His goal with that organization is to start
promoting health freedom and food freedom as well, using the Constitution as a
guide.
Sources
and References
- 1 CSPOA Website
- 2 National Sheriffs’ Association
- 3 MRSC January 15, 2020
- 4 National Governors Association
- 5 MLive Ju.y 13, 2020
- 6 Fox 6 NOW July 9, 2020
- 7 Congress.gov HR 1025, Brady
Handgun Control (PDF)
- 8 Cornell Law School Printz v
United States
- 9 Oyez.org Printz v. United States
- 10 WKTV.com June 10, 2020
- 11 New York Post July 9, 2020
- 12 Fox News July 9, 2020
Copyright
© Dr. Joseph Mercola