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Constitutional Defense Of Your Family And Freedom - The Conclusion
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What have you learned this week? Are you willing to share the truth you’ve learned with others? Tune to hear the conclusion and some amazing takeaways we are sharing.
Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture. Thanks for joining us today on WallBuilders. We're doing Constitutional Defense this week, Constitutional Defense of your Family and Freedom. That means you're understanding intellectually, the right of self defense, you're understanding this very important concept found in the Second Amendment to our United States Constitution. But it's also found in the laws of nature, nature's God. This was not the Founding Fathers giving you the right of self defense. This was something they said God gave you. And government's job is to protect that right so that you can then protect yourself. And protect your family. Like the founders talked about, if you're robbed in your own home, it's your own fault or negligence. You'll hear that in this presentation. But we want to make sure that you get the intellectual training and the physical training. So join us at the Patriot Academy campus for a Constitutional Defense course. Tim Barton and I will be there on April 22, for the groundbreaking ceremony along with John Rich and Lauren Boebert, Congresswoman from Colorado and many others. We'd love for you to join us as well, April 22. That's the big day, the big kickoff there in Fredericksburg, Texas, on the Patriot Academy campus. And in the very next day will be our first, open to the public, course on Constitutional Defense at our campus. So the ranges are already going in, the buildings are already going up. All of that will be ready for you on April 22. And then April 23, the start of the course. Would love to have you there with us check it out at PatriotAcademy.com . Click on constitutional defense to get signed up. Let's jump right back in where we left off yesterday with constitutional defense of your family and freedom.
Austin Griesinger:Well, at Patriot Academy we have four rules are more like principles that we consider anytime we take policy, worldview, any law that we’re looking at, they get run through this list of principles. We call them the LIFT principles that stands for limited government, individual liberty, free enterprise, and timeless truths. Anytime we consider policy, we run them through that so that we make sure that we’re considering those things out of a place of facts and data, and not just emotion. My fellow students, and I really believe that if we begin to reapply those four principles, we can absolutely see a restoring of our constitutional republic form of government. I know what you might be thinking at this point. Why in the world with a 16-year-old, a 20-year-old or in my case, a 22-year-old take a week out of their summer to go to a state capitol building and play politics? In my case for six consecutive years, what would compel a young person like me to invest so much time and energy into something like this? Is it just because I’m some kind of political nerd? Yes, yes, I am a political nerd. That is true. But that’s not the point I’m trying to make. The point I’m trying to make is actually far more serious than that. You see, when I look around at my generation, at my peers, the majority of them, all I see is apathy. It’s this poisonous attitude of well, things are just so bad already, there’s nothing I personally can do. The culture is just so far out, there’s nothing I can do. Why should I even get involved. But at Patriot Academy, I get to be surrounded by leaders. And I’ve had the opportunity to help other young people like me abandon apathy, and embrace purpose. Guys, that’s the mission of Patriot Academy. And I have a quick video to show you guys that kind of outline that a little bit better.
Speaker:You know, I’m old enough to remember, Nikita Khrushchev, when he came to the UN one day, he pulled a shoe off and pounded a shoe on a table in front of him. And he said this,“We’ll take you as a nation without firing a shot because we’ll do it from within.
Rick Green:The challenges facing this current generation of Americans really are unique. I mean, throughout our history, we have faced attacks from within, we faced attacks from without but never before at the exact same time.
John F. Kennedy:The energy, the faith, the devotion, which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it- and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
Speaker:With everything that’s been happening in today’s world, we as Americans feel like our freedom is going away from us, like there is no hope for the future. But there is.
Rick Green:America is not only known for freedom, she’s known for enduring freedom. And every time that we faced a major crisis, a major struggle, we have become stronger as a result of that struggle.
Speaker:Freedom is not free. And freedom will not protect you. You and I must protect and preserve freedom and pass it on to the next generation.
Rick Green:The choice is ours. What will history say of the hour in which we were called to lead, in which you were called to lead? Will they say of our generation that on our watch, the torch of freedom was only dimly lit, or God forbid that it was extinguished? Will they say that we fumbled in passing the torch to the next generation?
Speaker:Our generation are the ones that are going to change the world, that are going to fight for freedom, that are going to work together to give something to those coming after us.
Rick Green:Or will they say that on your watch, there was a rekindling of that sacred fire of liberty? Because your generation stood up and you’re reached out and you grab that torch of freedom, and together, we held it even higher, we made it burn even brighter than ever before.
John F. Kennedy:That’s the battle cry today. There’s a call to arms, a call to action, a call for this younger generation to do something great with their life.
Speaker:We are a part of something bigger in ourselves, and that’s what Patriots Academy show to me. And that fire burns bright and allows you to communicate to others and light a fire in them as well. I’ve seen in the last several years from the southern Texas to the north of Illinois, from New York City to California, a younger generation that has passion. And we can uphold that we can continue to be that beacon, that torch for the rest of the world. The light of freedom is true and hot and bright, and no forces can stop its spread.
Ronald Reagan:You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness.
Austin Griesinger:Now, if that video does not get your blood pumping, I honestly don’t know what well. Maybe you guys need to get back out there and throw some more lead downrange. Will that help? Because you guys are going to do plenty of that tomorrow. Now, the young people you saw on that video, they’re actually out making movies. They’re working in legislative bodies. They’re building businesses. And some of them are even serving in elected office. That’s right, I did say serving in elected office. Now, actually, interestingly enough, we have a few Patriot Academy students here. So when I talk about them and tell you that they’re at the capitol debating bills and stuff, we actually have some of the product here who are getting trained on the Second Amendment right alongside you guys. And we got Mike Noriega in the back from Arizona. PA, would you wave your hand real quick, Mike, Noah West, over here from Texas Patriot Academy, and Chase, not from Idaho Patriot Academy. That’s three of our academies right there. So they’re out here learning this stuff, just like you guys. Now, most people, most patriots when they see a video like that, their first thought is, wow, there is hope for the future. Their second thought is what can I do to help? Well, there’s two very simple things that you guys can do to help. And the first one is arguably the most important. Tell someone you know about Patriot Academy. I know while I’ve been up here talking, someone has come to mind who you know that would be perfect for a program like Patriot Academy. Give them some information. Send them to patrioacademy.com. Whether it’s a child or grandson or granddaughter or a neighbor, someone from your church, anyone you know between the ages of 16 and 25, send them to patrioacademy.com and get them to either Austin, Texas, or Boise or wherever is closest for them. The second thing you guys can do is be willing to give a little bit of your fortune to Patriot Academy, either by helping to pay for the tuition of that student you know who’s going to be coming to the academy, or by giving directly to Patriot Academy at patriotacademy.com. If you guys have any questions, Reagan who was up here speaking earlier, myself, Mr. Green, any one of us will be happy to answer your questions about how you can get involved with Patriot Academy. You see when the signers of the Declaration put their name underneath that final incredible line, where Thomas Jefferson wrote “For the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” We’re asking you guys to do tonight is to be willing to come alongside Patriot Academy and give just a little bit of your fortune to help the Academy keep having its impact on my generation. And I got one more thing and I’m going to close. Ronald Reagan once said, he said“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same.” See, when you guys go home after your two or four day class here at Front Sight, hopefully, you’ll be going home in condition yellow, no longer in condition white, and you will have an increased sense of awareness and you will be a sheep dog. I know for me personally, my father is a police officer in Grand Prairie, Texas. And so ever since I was at a very young age, I had been being raised to be that sheep dog. What we’re asking you guys to partner with Patriot Academy to do is to help continue training the sheep dogs of liberty in my generation. Thank you guys so much. And if you please welcome back, Mr. Green.
Rick Green:Good job, Austin. The last part is lives, fortunes, and sacred honor. This is where we have got to be willing to stand up and speak truth in a culture right now that in some ways doesn’t want to hear that. And oftentimes you might even be shouted down for speaking truth. But like the Founders, we’ve got to be willing to stand up and say, this is truth, it doesn’t change, and our nation desperately needs to know these things. So you got to dig deep, you got to get this information, and then you got to go out there and share it with your friends and family. You got to be like I said earlier of Paul Revere of today. Our nation is at the precipice, I firmly believe that. I think we have an opportunity right now to turn it to. I think God’s given us a window right now, sort of a chance to pivot if you will, and turn this thing back around. A lot of great things have been happening in the last few, really about 15 months, just kind of coincides with a couple of things, I don’t know. But anyway, a lot of great things are happening that I never thought would happen so quickly. So there’s some really good stuff happening. Let’s take advantage of the movement right now. Alright. A lot of your friends and neighbors want to study these things, want to come to Front Sight, you be a part of making that happen. Lives, fortunes, and sacred honor, they did it for us, they pass that torch of freedom to us, now it’s our turn. Let’s make sure we defend and protect it. And let’s make sure that that torch of freedom on our watch burns even brighter than ever before. God bless you guys. Thanks for coming tonight. Have a great time out at Front Sight tomorrow. Rick Green coming to you live from the Lone Star State of Texas. I’m really excited today because our family just got back from one of the coolest celebrations in the country, Paul Revere ride, the Battles of Lexington and Concord on the anniversary of the shot heard around the world. And that begs the question. Who fired that first shot?
Speaker:There's a lot of mystery around the question of I have a feeling that dad has some evidence. It's an opportunity to relive a special day. who shot first. Black powder, fire, explosions.
Rick Green:It feels like we have stepped back in time...
Speaker:Two of the greatest men our nation has ever known, right Watching a reenactment is really cool. But being a part of it is even that much cooler. here. That's why Paul Revere was coming to this house. The British had a price on their head. All the while you could hear the drums of the British fight is coming. We still had one looming unanswered question. Who fired for shot?
Brad Ackman:Welcome back to our roundtable for a wrap up of today's episode of constitutional defense. We obviously started the episode right here at Snipers Point. And we headed off to the front side classroom where Rick did some teaching. Now we're back for a couple of salient take home messages. However, before we do that, I have a take home message for you.
Rick Green:I'm ready.
Brad Ackman:Alright, are you?
Rick Green:Is it good?
Brad Ackman:No, it hurts.
Rick Green:I don't know, you just watched my teaching. And it might be a critique.
Brad Ackman:No, you're a good akereakerakerteacher. But I got to tell you, I think the star of That's pretty much what people say now is hey, we need a the show, isn't you. I think it's your kids. And at some point, you're going to have to man up and just turn the stage over to the kids. You know, you can drive them around if you need to. speaking engagement. We want a constitution class and, Rick, you can come only if you have to drive them. Otherwise, we'll just take the kids. Well, if you're the chauffeur, I understand you have to play a role. But we would love to have those guys back. And again, if you got to be the driver or maybe open up your wallet to fund their hotel.
Rick Green:They're old enough to drive now, but... they cost more than me too.
Brad Ackman:Your entire family is always welcome.
Rick Green:All right, well, we'll come. I'll come and do more firearms training. They'll do the teaching.
Brad Ackman:Perfect, that will work. Alright, but on a more serious note, what are the take home messages for our viewers from today's episode?
Rick Green:Yeah, I mean, we’ve covered a lot of ground, but two major things that I hope people remember. Number one, that this right of self-defense that we talked about last night in the classroom, it comes from the laws of nature. This is not something that I give to you or you give to me. This is from the laws of nature and nature’s God. It’s so important to remember. That’s why last night I brought out some of these books, I brought more for us today. Look, I gave the quote from Zephaniah Swift, there’s the book where he actually gives us the quote. Last night I mentioned Tucker and the quote from him. We talked about James Wilson, John Adams, all of these guys said, it’s the law of nature, a first law of nature. And you think it’s just common sense, right. I could pass a law saying you can’t defend yourself, you’re still going to find a way to defend yourself and your family. That’s what the laws of nature are all about. Quick break, folks. We'll be right back. You're listening to WallBuilders. Have you noticed the vacuum of leadership in America? We’re looking around for leaders of principle to step up and too often, no one is there. God is raising up a generation of young leaders with a passion for impacting the world around them. They’re crying out for the mentorship and leadership training they need. Patriot Academy was created to meet that need. Patriot Academy graduates now serve in state capitals around America in the halls of Congress, in business, in the film industry, in the pulpit and every area of the culture. They’re leading effectively and impacting the world around them. Patriot Academy is now expanding across the nation and now’s your chance to experience this life changing week that trains champions to change the world. Visit patriotacademy.com for dates and locations. Our core program is still for young leaders 16 to 25 years old, but we also now have a citizen track for adults, so visit the website today to learn more. Help us fill the void of leadership in America join us in training champions to change the world at patriotacademy.com. Welcome back to WallBuilders. Thanks for staying with us. And now the conclusion of Constitutional Defense of your
Brad Ackman:So the question I have, I mean, I obviously I Family and Freedom. agree with you, I do believe that our right to self defense is... does come from the law of nature, it does come from God. Each one of us as an individual...
Rick Green:It's certainly what they said.
Brad Ackman:Certainly what they said and they're the founders, right. So we should certainly listen to them. But how pertinent is it today in today's world of legislation in, you know, the realpolitik, if you will, you know, in Washington, DC.
Rick Green:In a world of moral relativism, where anything goes, everything goes?
Brad Ackman:Exactly, you know, if I started making that argument, a lot of people's eyes would start rolling. And you know, they'd say, Come on, you know, let's deal with the real world.
Rick Green:Your question is how pertinent is it? It depends on how pertinent liberty is to you.
Brad Ackman:Right, exactly. It's and how do we make it pertinent? So right, so we're taking our responsibility seriously? How do we get the institute that back into today's society.
Rick Green:We have to explain that difference, right. It’s not about what are your personal beliefs or my personal beliefs. It’s about what works and what doesn’t work. And the best comparison is the French Revolution and the American Revolution. French Revolution said, well, it’s all about just Libertas. There is no God. There is no law of nature. It’s just liberty. And whoever’s in charge, makes the rules. What it lead to the guillotine, absolute chaos. French Revolution didn’t work. That’s why when Washington was given his farewell address, he’s watching the French Revolution take place. He said, you know, they tried to get what we had. The American Revolution said freedom and liberty comes from God comes to us, we the people, and we set up government for the purpose of protecting that law of nature, protecting those rights. And he said they wanted that. But what they did was they said, forget the laws of nature and nature’s God; it’s just whoever’s in charge controls. That changed everything. And they did not get the same result that we got. So he warned us in his farewell address, don’t ever do that. Don’t go down that road. I would even call it a pure libertarian belief that says, you don’t need the laws of nature and nature’s God. We just want freedom. And whatever you define freedom as you can have. That’s not what the Founders viewed in terms of freedom. So if you really want freedom to last, if you want liberty, you have to have morality. And the only way you get morality is to come back to the ideas of the laws of nature and nature’s God. So it changes the result of liberty depending on whether we reinstitute this idea. And speaking of instituting, I mean, that’s part of what they said the reason for government, the reason we institute government among us, right, governments are instituted among us. Why? Because we need it to protect these liberties, not take these liberties away. And certainly, not infringe on your right to defend. If your first law of nature is to be able to defend yourself, government’s job is to protect that right, not infringe upon and say you can’t carry here, you can’t carry you there. You can’t protect your family in this situation. You only have so many rounds in your magazine. Whatever different ways government tries to infringe on it, that’s the opposite of what government ought to be doing. It ought to be protecting your right to defend yourself.
Brad Ackman:So as today's society gets more agnostic, right, and farther away from the idea of laws of nature, laws of God, you know, how do we institute that back in?
Rick Green:We encourage them to think like Benjamin Franklin. Okay, Benjamin Franklin was no Christian. Alright. But he was not an atheist. He still believed there was a God. But he wasn’t a Christian. But he still said, he looked at the founding fathers and he even said right there at the Constitution convention, he said, guys, he said, look, how can we possibly form A nation without the Supreme Being, without the Father of lights illuminating our understanding? So even as someone that was really considered the least religious of all the Founding Fathers, he said, I’ve studied every government in the history of man and I’ve studied every religion. And I know that if we institute these Christian principles, the idea of the laws of nature, we’ll have a more free society. So even when you don’t necessarily believe in a particular religion, understand that according to the Founding Fathers, you need a religion to have morality, you need a morality to have liberty. So if liberty is your aim, if you want freedom, then you got to have that formula in place as a culture overall in order to get that result.
Brad Ackman:Let's get that into the legislature on both sides of the isle.
Rick Green:Yeah, no doubt, no doubt.
Brad Ackman:So Rick, this actually makes some sense. And my thought is that the people who are anti-gun, maybe they feel that innate sense that law of nature that comes from God for self-protection, and they want to get rid of the guns in order to feel more safe. We know that’s wrong. But what’s your thought on that?
Rick Green:No, I think you’re right. I mean, I think in their heart of hearts, they’re living out that DNA we were just talking about of wanting to protect themselves. And somewhere along the way, they bought the lie. It’s wrongheaded. We’re not saying it’s right. They bought the lie that if we have gun control, if I can take away your right to have a gun, somehow that’s going to make me safer. I mean, you even see the crazy quotes of oh, if there’s another gun in the equation, it’ll cause a problem rather than if there’s a good guy with a gun they could stop the bad guy with the gun. I mean, they just don’t understand the nature of evil. They don’t understand the fact that you’re not going to get rid of bad guys. There’s going to be bad guys at some point and good guys like us got to be there to defend even that person that thinks they want to get rid. So yeah, I think their motive might be good, but they just don’t understand the laws of nature.
Brad Ackman:You know, I think even the anti-gunners realize that when they pick up the phone and dial 911, they want somebody to show up, who has a gun with a gun. I mean, this is true from the American Revolution to right this second, the good guy with the gun is the solution to the bad guy with a gun. Even the anti-gunners realize that they just don’t want us to have the gun. They want access to it, or they want law enforcement or military and that’s it, which is folly. How do you keep the guns out of the hands of the bad guys?
Rick Green:That’s right. And even the leaders of that movement. I mean, you look at their protests in their rallies, the big speakers that come in, the celebrities from Hollywood, the congressman or whatnot, what are they surrounded by? Personal protection guys that have guns, people with guns, right. But to go to a rally, they tell us that the guns are the problem. I mean, it doesn’t make sense logically. But you can kind of understand a little bit where they’re coming from in their heart of hearts. But our job is to get good policy, even when people are wrong in the way they’re thinking. We have to defeat them politically in order to still protect our right to keep and bear arms in order to literally protect the very people that we had to defeat.
Brad Ackman:Well, and that thinking is the only way Joe Biden what you taught us last night in your lecture could say that the man with the AR-15 who saved lives… what’s his name?
Rick Green:Steven Willeford.
Brad Ackman:Steven Willeford shouldn’t have had that AR-15.
Rick Green:Right. The very weapon that stopped the crime, stopped the bad guy, and Joe Biden says he shouldn’t have been allowed to have that.
Brad Ackman:So he was willing to let more people die?
Rick Green:Which, if you follow the logic, now he wouldn’t say that. But we’re listening to what he’s saying. He said he shouldn’t have been allowed to have the AR, but the AR is what was used to stop the bad guy. So if he didn’t have the AR, what’s the next logical conclusion? Anyway, the logic isn’t there. But that’s why we’re doing this course, right. Because we’re taking the time to think logically like these guys did, and work for good policy so that we can continue to protect ourselves. And also, don’t forget we talked about some of those quotes last night, it’s not just to protect yourself against the bad guy in the instant, it’s also to protect yourself against a tyrannical government. Part of self-defense is making sure that we continue to have freedom, that government knows that there’s a whole lot of us good guys out there with guns, and therefore, they won’t pass laws that become more and more tyrannical. That’s what these guys said over and over again that the Second Amendment was actually about, to protect ourselves against a tyrannical government.
Brad Ackman:Okay. So really, there are multiple levels that we’re trying to be active on here. One is to defeat the immediate threat, the bad guy with a gun. Politically, we also want to score big on protecting gun rights, not just for the gun toting Second Amendment-believing Front Sight, student type crowd, but also for the gun-grabbers, the anti-gunners, even for them. Because frankly, if they are successful, then everybody loses.
Rick Green:I mean, think about somebody serves the military, when they go and they’re willing to lay down their lives. They’re not laying down their lives for some Americans that might believe. A Republican doesn’t go lay down their life just for Republicans, a Democrat doesn’t go serve and lay down their lives. They’re doing it for all Americans. In the same way, what we’re fighting for are these constitutional principles so that all Americans can enjoy them. And even if they don’t exercise, for instance, what we’re doing here with our Second Amendment rights, we’re exercising it to protect them in all the other ways as well. So it’s really for all Americans. It’s exactly what you just said, the immediate threat, and the long term threat of a tyrannical government that would take over our freedoms.
Brad Ackman:Alright, Rick. So we’ve had lots of good banter. But let’s give the viewers, say, two solid take home messages.
Rick Green:Well, first one, like we said, it’s the laws of nature that gives you your right of self-defense. And the second one I hope they remember from today and from the teacher in the classroom is that it’s not just your job to be ready, like you said, for that immediate need to defend yourself, but also to politically protect those rights. So if you don’t like what’s happening in the country, if you don’t like what’s happening in your own state or your community, hey, you’re a citizen, it’s your job to step up and get involved. And that’s why we talked about that John Jay quote, and I’ll probably use this quote 100 times throughout our episodes, where he said that it’s the responsibility of every citizen to read and study the Constitution so that we’ll know our rights and be the better prepared to defend and assert them. That’s what we’re doing. We’re studying the Constitution. We’re not just reading it. We’re studying what do these guys say and think when they put the Constitution in place so that we’ll be able to recognize whenever someone is violating those rights, and then we can defend and assert those rights. So it’s all of our jobs. Let’s follow John Jay said, and we do that by studying the Constitution.
Brad Ackman:Alright, perfect. So let’s talk about the next episode. What do we have to look forward to?
Rick Green:Next episode, we’re actually going to go to Philadelphia, and I’m going to teach in the room where the Constitution was framed. So we’ll be taking people into the room and part of a class that we did, kind of like what we did in today’s episode in the Front Sight classroom, but this time, we’ll be in the very room where the Declaration and Constitution were framed. And I’ll be teaching on the “Seeds of Liberty”. So we’re going to lay the foundation. Before we actually get into the words of the Constitution, we’re going to talk about what was the philosophy behind it, what was the foundation that was laid? So we’ll spend a lot of time on the Declaration of Independence, and how the Founders said that’s the foundation kind of like the slab of the home, if you will, and then the Constitution itself is the actual home that our nation was built with. So we’ll talk about the “Seeds of Liberty”, lay that foundation, teach a little bit there and then we’ll come back here to Sniper’s Point.
Brad Ackman:Alright, gentlemen, thank you. That’s a wrap for today. And we look forward to seeing you right here for the next episode of Constitutional Defense.
Rick Green:Alright folks that was a five part series this week. So if you just tuned in today, and you missed the other days of the week, be sure and visit WallBuildersLive.com for the archive section, and get all five parts of today's presentation or come get it in person. Come join us on the Patriot Academy campus, be a part of the very first constitutional defense of your family and freedom course in person on the Patriot Academy campus. We've put over 5,000 people through this course at other facilities across the nation. Now we'll be doing it at our own facility and we'd love for you to be there for the groundbreaking on April 22nd. And then the first course on April 23rd. If you can't make it, still sign up and join us whatever week this year is good for you to come and visit us on site. The website, PatriotAcademy.com . Click on Constitutional Defense and you'll be able to get signed up. Hope you enjoyed this week. It's been a good education, intellectual ammunition, if you will, on this biblical right of self defense. You've been listening to WallBuilders.
