From the Florida Chapters of Veterans For Peace

After the parades, the flyovers, and the politicians’ glad-handing and speeches of Veterans Day 2008 are over, we veterans are left with a very important question to answer … the answer to which could indeed determine the survival of the very freedoms which we and those who came before us and after were willing to die for to protect. Those freedoms are secured for us in the U.S. Constitution, which we as former members of the military took an oath of enlistment or commission to “support and defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic”. It is by no means an oath of loyalty or allegiance to any political party or individual in our servant government, as history has taught us the dangers of such types of governance.

Our Constitution provides us with a republic where our sovereignty, ultimate political power, resides in we the people; a representative democracy where the rights of the minority are no less than those of the majority, and where no one individual is above the law. Since the events of September 11, 2001 our Constitution has been under attack and undermined by our representatives from both political parties in our federal government. They took and have violated the same oath to support and defend the Constitution that we took. We’ve seen the creation of “free speech zones” in violation of the 1st Amendment, warrantless electronic surveillance of American citizens in violation of the 4th Amendment, failure to provide due process rights in violation of both the 5th and 6th Amendments, infliction of cruel and unusual punishments in violation of the 8th Amendment, usurpation of powers granted exclusively to Congress in violation of Article I, Section 1, and the violation of Article VI, Paragraph 2, which states that all international treaties to which the United States is signatory to are the “Supreme Law of the Land” … to include the United Nations and Nuremberg charters and the Geneva Conventions.

On January 25, 2007, the national leadership of Veterans For Peace announced the commencement of “Operation Support and Defend” in response to the most serious and persistent attacks on our Constitution we as a nation have faced since its inception in September of 1787. Our efforts in Veterans For Peace, although valiant, have not been enough. Constitutional crimes continue to be committed and further unconstitutional legislation continues to be passed with bipartisan support. We need more than the 7,500 existing members of VFP to successfully defend our Constitution against these attacks. We need our fellow veterans in organizations such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, AMVETS and the many other veterans groups, along with unaffiliated veterans, to put aside any political or ideological differences we might have and come together in active defense of our Constitution. We need help in educating our fellow citizens through town hall meetings and presentations not only to students and other community groups, but to our fellow veterans as well. We need help in meeting with representatives from all levels of government to remind them of their own oaths of office to support and defend the Constitution. We need help in demanding accountability for those who have violated their oaths and the law.

So we ask you our fellow veterans, are you willing to recommit yourselves to the oath we all took to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic? If yes, will you stand united with us in Veterans For Peace in answering this most important call to action? In Florida, please contact the Central Florida chapter at (386) 788-2918. Outside of Florida, please contact our national office at (314) 725-6005.

-- Phil Restino