Freedom Knocks: Armed WA Patriots Deliver a Message for Their State and the Nation

by Kit Lange | Feb 8, 2015 |

Mark Twain once wrote that the two most important days of your life are the day you’re born, and the day you figure out why. I remember reading that as a child, and not truly understanding it. Today, however, as I stood next to some of the bravest patriots I’ve had the pleasure to know, I understood his words at my very core.

Today 100 patriots, led by two state representatives, put the governor and the legislature of our state on notice by demanding a redress of grievances—armed and in person at the Capitol.

It was pouring rain outside, the kind of day that Washington State is famous for: cold, wet, and miserable. At 0900 we were standing on the steps with patriots who had driven almost all night to be there with us. As more and more people showed up, we saw familiar faces, their eyes resolute and their handshakes firm. We saw new faces as well, people who had been awakened in some way and chose to put their boots on the ground with us. It was good to see them there; there were rednecks and suits, tattooed and not, atheists and Christians, old and young, combat vets and civilians. Our differences didn’t matter. The Constitution united us.

The Capitol was closed; we stood in the atrium out of the rain and wind, chatting about things that matter as we waited for 10am to arrive. My friend Mike Vanderboegh, founder of the national 3% movement, spoke for a few short moments about both the importance of our conduct and the straight line that is drawn from the field at Lexington to today. The immortal words of Captain John Parker rang in our minds as Mike spoke of them—the words that all of the III% know by heart: Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.

Rep. Elizabeth Scott began to speak as the sounds of our flag snapping in the cold wind reached us across the courtyard.

“Ladies and gentlemen, fellow patriots,” she began. Gesturing to the doors of the Capitol, she smiled proudly. “Welcome to the People’s House!”

That is where we were, after all—a building that was created to house the functions of an elected government, which only derives its power by consent of the governed. The roughly 100 people standing on that atrium were representing a growing number of Washingtonians—and Americans—who have withdrawn their consent in the face of ever-increasing tyranny.

“Will you stand firm?” she asked us. “Will you be strong and courageous?” Our answer reverberated in the atrium like thunder.

Mike Vanderboegh re-took the podium then, speaking eloquently as always (video still processing as of 0140 hrs Sunday morning) about our history, about those who tried to take our Founders’ liberty…and about those who want to take ours today.

We engage in armed civil disobedience not to provoke violence but to prevent it. We are willing to risk being shot for OUR principles. The question is, what are our alleged leaders willing to risk to satisfy THEIR appetites for OUR liberty, OUR property, indeed, our very lives? That is the question that armed civil disobedience seeks to focus their attention on. This is not new in American history. From Capt. Parker at Lexington Green to the Battle of Athens, Tennessee in 1946, to the Deacons for Defense and Justice during the civil rights movement, armed civil disobedience has been resorted to by the citizenry when all other means of redress failed.

Will you submit? Or will you resist? he asked. Again, we answered. RESIST!

The last speaker was Rep. Matthew Shea, a combat veteran and strong liberty fighter in our legislature. He read a statement by Rep. Graham Hunt, another strong patriot, and then he got into the reason we were all there (video available Sunday morning).

We are here today because America is at a breaking point. We are tired of the many forms of tyranny we face, that we have been reduced to servants of a despotic government where we live paycheck to paycheck with almost no ability to fight back against the seizure of our property, the indoctrination of our children, or the attempt to take our arms. So today before all of America we make our grievances plain and ask you to judge the truth of our claims…

One by one, he went down the list of grievances, and as each one was read, the crowd murmured in extreme disapproval. How dare our government think they can control us? How dare they ignore the rights that we have as human beings? Shea then wrapped it all up in a neat little package for anyone who still, somehow, didn’t understand.

That’s what the constitution was supposed to prevent…every one of those things.

THE CONSTITUTION UNITES US. Those that oppose the Constitution, ignore the constitution, seek to erase the constitution by NEW interpretation DIVIDE US. Power is given by the people to protect freedom and liberty, not take it. In a Republic, unalienable rights cannot be taken away by majority vote or even 1 Speaker of the House.

God gave us those rights!

As he finished his speech a few minutes after 11am, Capitol staff unlocked the doors to the building. It was time to stop talking and start acting.

Rep. Shea and Rep. Scott led the crowd in through the doors, and we made our way up the stairs to the legislative viewing gallery, only to find it closed and locked. The legislature had literally barred the People of the State of Washington from their own gallery. Rep. Shea stepped aside and said he would “let The People take it from here.” A patriot stepped from the crowd and pounded on the door, once, twice, three times. Slow, forceful. The hallway was silent, and the doors did not open. He stepped back and another patriot stepped forward, pounding on the door three times. And another…and another…one by one, many of us stepped up to demand entry to the People’s gallery.

Out of nowhere, a little girl named Faith walked up to the door on her own. As her tiny fist pounded at the bottom of the door, her young voice rang out in the quiet hallway.

“Freedom knocks! Open up!” she called out, and her voice reminded us all of the incredible gravity of this situation, the weight on our shoulders. I thought of how this precious child would have to bleed for her own liberty if we fail, if we refuse to stand.

Faith stood at the door and demanded Freedom.

Stand now, or fight later.

I affixed the list of grievances to the door with some non-damaging adhesive, and pounded once on its corners. Led by the state reps, we came down the stairs to the Governor’s office. Several patriots pounded on the door, and I knelt to help Faith put another copy of the list up.

“Maybe the governor is at home,” Rep. Shea called out to the crowd. “Let’s go see.”

We came out of the Capitol building feeling indescribable; we were fulfilling a blood-bought debt. All the Founders ever asked of us was that we do our part, that we stand as they did. They asked that we guard our liberty, but if it ever became necessary, that we stand in the breach and say no more.

An unconstitutional law is no law at all.

As we marched to the gate of the governor’s mansion, the State Patrol trooper watched us approach from his security booth. We paused at the gate next to his door, and Rep. Shea and Rep. Scott stood in front of the crowd. As the trooper slowly opened the door, he was greeted heartily and respectfully by the two people who were truly acting as the Representatives of the People.

“Hello sir, We the People would like to speak to the Governor. Is he in?”

He wasn’t home; angry yet resolute armed patriots demanding in person that he uphold his oath is apparently not something he wanted to be present for. We offered the trooper a copy of the list of grievances, letting him know that We the People would like to present this list to the Governor of the State of Washington. He accepted the list and said he’d make sure the governor received it.

Meanwhile, back in the Capitol, someone was already taking down the list from the doors of the gallery and the governor’s office. What happened to the lists? We don’t know, but we’ll be sending a certified copy to Gov. Jay Inslee; we want to make sure he personally sees a copy.

After we delivered the lists, Rep. Matt Shea led us in prayer. As I listened to his words, standing among 100 men and women who I knew would stand the line until their last breath, I fought back tears. This is what our duty is. This is what we do. We stand—and fight, if we have to, to ensure liberty remains. Not for ourselves; brave and intrepid men already did that for you and I. Today we stood for the next generation, to prevent their bloodshed if we can, by pledging our own. We call for patriots among our countrymen to stand in their own state. It CAN be done. It MUST be done.

If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, so my child may have peace.

We will not comply.

FOR LIBERTY.