Author: Dennis Linthicum

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Lust for Power/Loss of Freedom

Oregon State Legislature sent this bulletin friday, November 21, 2023, by devadmin

I will not be in attendance for today’s Senate Floor Session.

Why not?

Because the power-hungry Senate Democrats are planning another heist of our lawful right to self-protection. Therefore, I will not participate by lending to the chamber’s member count for attaining quorum. If eleven Senators would stay off the floor and deny quorum, then our Oregon constitution would forbid the majority party from continuing down their partisan warpath.

At issue is a gun-control, lockup, and persecute bill known as, SB 554-Engrossed B version.

With careful reading, SB 554 exposes the heart of the hard-Left. The bill starts with a series of “Whereas” clauses that imply, in the broadest terms available, that tragic criminal events and horrendous accidents are caused by the presence of guns not people. By sweeping several anecdotal accusations and real stories into broad generalizations, the language of the bill herds everyday citizens into circumstances that will make owning a firearm in Oregon very difficult and financially burdensome.

Only the naive will think this a good thing.

Statistics inform our intellectual and cognitive faculties that good people are saved by firearms daily. After all, those seeking to rob, rape or steal from unarmed victims will never leave their weapons behind.

Interestingly, the first “Whereas” clause, refers to a sad and serious shooting that occurred at the Clackamas Town Center, in 2012. That was a long time ago and the Democrat supermajority didn’t finally stumble upon the solution. No, rather they are giddy with power and will destroy as many of our long-held constitutionally protected traditions and values as possible.

There is nothing in this bill that will stop a criminal from executing malevolent desires, whether in 2012 or 2021. A person with criminal intent can never serve as a proxy for how any other person might behave. There is no causal, or meaningful correlation that can offer predictive insight into the probabilities for a single criminal event.

Criminal activity cannot be tied to the availability of common-place tools. Kitchen knives are available everywhere. They are rarely, if ever, locked up and they are the weapon of choice for assaulting far more people in the US, than handguns. The rioters, antifa looters and “mostly peaceful” arsonists prefer more common melee weapons, like baseball bats, iron pipes, umbrellas, frozen water bottles, hand-held lasers, hairspray and Zippo-lighters. But the professional Left find these weapons non-threatening.

The focus with SB 554, is not just about guns, it is also about people, law-abiding people, people who live in rural areas and use their weapons regularly. That guns are useful tools, when used safely, matters not.

Concealed Handgun Licensed (CHL) holders have under-gone training and testing; their personal information and background check results are on file; their fingerprint records are also at the County Sheriff’s office; and these are the people the Democrats see as threats to the community?

There is an obvious agenda. The Democrats are not interested in stopping the purposeful billion-dollar destruction in downtown Portland due to lawlessness, arson and violence. Neither are they concerned about the destructive Covid lockdowns and the hundreds of million-dollar losses in our local municipalities, counties, and communities. As SB 554 illustrates, they have different goals in mind.

What is the goal?

Statism is the modern Utopian agenda. Both parties can fall prey to this Utopian ideal, because it is attractive. It relies on experts, not peons, and concentrates control, authority, and power into the hands of the powerful. For the Democrat super-majority, the real goal is not gun-control but control, absolute control. SB 554 is just another step up the ladder.

Democrats in both chambers have been watching Gov. Brown with a keen eye to see how dictatorial power is effectively used. They’ve learned their lessons well.

The first step is to keep the citizens at bay; don’t let them participate; don’t let them speak, keep them locked down. Then, step up the rhetorical war and feed a distorted picture of what is right, good and true. After a time, reach for the top of the ladder; reach for total power and total domination. Like we see with Gov. Brown’s weekly COVID fearmongering, when backed by fallacious authority, such as, Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and Oregon OSHA, the domination strategy is total. Author Leonard Peikoff, refers to this as a movement toward the, “almost metaphysical.”

Peikoff was analyzing the application of unlimited unreason imposed on prisoners during World War II and he notes that while prison camps were expected to wreck prisoners, that wasn’t the goal. The goal was to make omnipotent rulers.

Peikoff outlines these details in his book Ominous Parallels. He notes, metaphysical power is the inner-soul of statism which requires a god-like allegiance. Absolute obedience is needed to satisfy the wider demands of statism. No entity, or law, or constitutional protection, or church, or business, or school of any kind can be allowed to stand in the way of any of the ruler’s whims. For the state, even the most contradictory, benign, or casual dictates must be followed to the letter.

This can be seen in Oregon’s COVID-19 protocol, a trademark example of modern tyranny.

It all started easy enough. Just a small demand for some fawning compliance with some ridiculous mandates, which happen to defy every conceivable fact of nature, virology and epidemiology. After all, never in history have healthy populations been quarantined. Even the phrase, “lockdown”, comes from the prison industrial complex where prisoners are “locked down” until prison population compliance is achieved. But remember, the goal is not the publicly proclaimed goal – health, it is the more insidious goal – metaphysical control.

The statist seeks to quell independence and foster dependence. This is accomplished through education, media campaigns, billboards, and news sources, while censoring any opposing voices. There is no reason to question the absurdities of changing rules like, No-Mask, Must-Mask, Double-Mask, and No-Mask if vaccinated. There is no consistency because confusion offers control to the powerful.

Peikoff explains, once the state can coerce submission to utter senselessness, they have defeated sense. When they can require obeisance to absurdity, they have successfully refuted logic. As they garner acceptance for their lies, they successfully overthrow truth. And finally, when the people surrender their values, the state gets to either smash all value or inculcate an entirely new set of values.

Now, if you happen to think that I have driven myself off a metaphysical cliff, let’s look back at a key sentence in SB 554. It asserts that a, “violation constitutes per se negligence, and the presumption of negligence may not be over-come by a showing that the owner or possessor acted reasonably.” This phraseology in not just an obscure reference but occurs in four separate sections of this bill. In other words, this bill, by law, would turn reasonableness into negligence and destroy reason.

In closing, we must continue to fight against the current gross and overbearing regulatory mandates flowing from the legislative body and the Governor’s office. We must stand against the absurdities that are demanded daily. We must stand for the self-evident truth that we witness, the common-sense we utilize, and our own just pursuits and economic enterprises regardless of the crushing weight of the statist bureaucrats. To pursue justice without regard for the individual is statism and statism requires, “a certain kind of universe: a universe of non-fact, non-thing, non-identity,” which is a self-annihilating lust for power known as, Utopianism.

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Call In the Grand Jury

Oregon State Legislature sent this bulletin sunday, november 21, 2023, by devadmin

Recently, I joined with Sen. Kim Thatcher to file a formal Grand Jury Petition calling for an investigation into “willful misconduct” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC is our nation’s premiere public health agency and we allege that federal law, designed to protect the rights of American citizens, has been purposefully and strategically violated in order to manipulate COVID-19 data and statistics.

The formal request for a Grand Jury Investigation was brought forth on behalf of more than 62,200 Americans—including thousands of Oregonians—who signed a public petition gathered by Stand for Health Freedom.

Our joint petition for a federal grand jury investigation calls for multi-pronged investigations into both the CDC and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). We included eight exhibits and 20 additional evidentiary-material supplements which illustrate the clear need for formal investigations regarding willful misconduct.

In March 2020, according to a paper published in the journal Science, Public Health Policy, and The Law, the CDC abruptly changed how death certificates were recorded for only one type of death—COVID-19—and circumvented multiple federal laws to do so. This hyperinflation of death certificate reporting kicked off an avalanche of data degradation and destructive public health policies.

There are many co-mingled scientific, legal and public policy issues, that have contributed to the national COVID crises currently being bungled by the CDC. For example, Dr. Henry Ealy, and his team of researchers authored two peer reviewed papers that document explicit violations of the Information Quality Act and the Paperwork Reduction Act. (“COVID-19 Data Collection, Comorbidity & Federal Law: A Historical Retrospective” and “COVID-19: Restoring Public Trust During A Global Health Crisis.”) Ealy’s team identified significant instances of federal law violations by the CDC and acts of willful misconduct by the FDA. His findings were thoroughly vetted through nine attorneys and one judge as well as stringent peer-review process prior to being publicly released.

Our request, submitted one month ago, was addressed to the Honorable Scott E. Asphaug, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, stated:

“What we have learned is worthy of independent State and/or Special Federal Grand Jury Investigation from our vantage point as elected state policy makers. Pursuant to 18 U.S. Code § 3332 – Powers and Duties and the case law cited within the Formal Grand Jury Petition, we respectfully request that the petition and preliminary supportive documentation be presented to the members of the grand jury we are petitioning for immediate deliberation. Public trust in elected officials, the Oregon Health Authority, and our ability to lead the resilient people of Oregon through this crisis has been eroded to an all-time low. The peoples’ trust in their ability to participate in their own governance and be heard by their elected officials is perhaps the most essential element for a thriving free and healthy society.

As elected officials it is our sworn duty to uphold the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of Oregon, the tenets of Informed Consent, and honor our legal obligation to comply with 18 U.S. Code § 4 – Misprision of felony. We are fulfilling our duty by calling for a Special Federal Grand Jury Investigation, or at the very least an independent state district-led grand jury investigation convened by a judge, into the issues and evidentiary materials presented.”

The unprecedented deviations from the longstanding rules for managing seasonal viral outbreaks and wintertime Influenza-Like Illnesses (ILI) combined with numerous revelations concerning federal violations and data inaccuracies led us to this formal request. The American public deserves accountability from the CDC and FDA regarding COVID-19, especially, with the Biden administration’s latest mandatory vaccine requirements.

Twenty months after,  “two weeks to flatten the curve,” Americans deserve some answers.

  • Why did the CDC propagate rule changes without following IQA guidelines?
  • Why did the CDC change methods for completing Death Certificates (DC) ?
  • Why are “presumptive” cases counted as COVID-19?
  • Why are severe co-morbidities purposefully excluded on DCs?
  • Why has the CDC propagated rt-PCR tests without Ct guidelines?
  • How much economic harm has been forced on the public?
  • Why?

Stand for Health Freedom released this pre-recorded press briefing as an exclusive interview to avoid the same drastic censorship faced following a cyber attack during a national online event covering this topic earlier this year.

It’s not too late for you to add your name to the growing list of signatures calling for an investigation into the CDC and FDA. It’s more important than ever, on the heels of the White House calling for illegal, unnecessary and unethical medical mandates across the U.S. Join more than 62,200 Americans by signing the official online petition or text the word CDCdata to the number 50457 to create leverage with your voice to call for a formal investigation into violations of federal law that caused hyperinflation of counted COVID cases, hospitalizations, and recorded deaths. This willful misconduct by agencies charged with guarding public health paved the way for massive collateral damage and destruction in America and beyond.

Our aim is also to help replicate this grand jury effort as a template with leaders across other counties and states. We need to hold public health agencies accountable to ensure data integrity for national health policies is reliable and does not inflict greater harm than good on our nation.

If we don’t stand for rural Oregon Values and common-sense… No one will!

Regards,

Dennis Linthicum
Oregon State Senate – District 28

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Unimaginable

Oregon State Legislature sent this bulletin sunday, november 21, 2023, by devadmin

Gov. Brown’s vaccine and mask mandates are not about public health, Covid, or a reasoned public response to formidable health issues. Today, the issue has moved from health to control and Covid is the excuse with masks, testing, tracking, vaccines, and fear, as the tools.

As individuals we realize that informed consent rightly belongs to each of us, as individuals and parents. After all, our health, our children and the health of our children is our responsibility, not the government’s. This is why the choice of wearing a mask or receiving a vaccine belongs to the individual, not the public official.

If the above statements are true, then Governor Brown’s new vaccine requirements are pure over-reach. The latest mandates for teachers, volunteers, state employees in public safety, correctional, and health care settings along with ongoing school-opening decrees run contrary to a bulwark of laws establishing precedents for protecting an individual’s right of refusal and full, informed consent.

This should be the end of the discussion.

I shouldn’t have to point to the mountains of evidence regarding a causal relationship between masks and dangerous reductions in blood oxygenation (hypoxia) or elevations in blood C02 (hypercapnia). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a comprehensive study that underscores why mandating masks is a scientifically indefensible.

Additionally, it is unlawful to deny someone their job or education because they choose not to engage in an unapproved medical procedure. People have a right to receive, or refuse, medical care and one-size-fits-all medicine should never be mandated. In particular, 21 U.S. Code Sec.360bbb-3(e)(1)(A)(ii)(III), “authorization for medical products for use in emergencies,” exists to protect a patient’s right to simply say, “No.”

However, people will always make excuses for over-reach.

They will claim there is a danger to others and that allowing freedom for one individual will harm others. Yet, this is the same siren-song that created blanket-excuses justifying misguided population management decisions which litter world history.

Clearly things are happening today that no one could have imagined. Who could have imagined, in 2021, that …

  • Math would be considered racist, or,
  • The Declaration of Independence would not be a document of freedom, or,
  • Male and Female would be labeled as constructs for oppression, or,
  • Rioters who assault police were just ‘peaceful protestors,’ or,
  • Schools would no longer require student proficiency, or,
  • SARS-Cov-2, one of many coronaviruses, would be used as a political tool?

The fastest “vaccine approval” in US history is another unimagined anomaly. The CDC has moved into unchartered territory on a “licensed” vaccine designation for a different product known as, Comirnaty, which is currently unavailable.

The FDA decreed that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine would remain unlicensed under the EUA (Emergency Use Authorization) but could be used “interchangeably” (page 2, footnote 8) with the newly licensed Comirnaty product. As a side-note, the FDA pointed out that the Comirnaty vaccine and the existing, EUA Pfizer vaccine are “legally distinct.” Therefore, it appears that the Pfizer vaccine is still unapproved for licensure.

This slight-of-hand, that was once unimaginable is now our reality.

The biggest lie associated with the current COVID-19 fiasco is the notion that people can spread SARS-Cov-2 asymptomatically. This is not a modern scientific phrase for how a virus or bacterium might be transmitted. Rather, it is a wholly post-modern, irrational, emotionally based, and ideological construct for arranging public policy in alignment with totalitarian tendencies.

The secular state can use technology, along with its regulatory power and financial muscle to blanket the entire economy with oppressive rules that harm businesses, individuals, and their livelihoods. In so doing, the state reflexively spits upon our constitution and thus, our individual codified rights as expressed in our nation’s most relevant documents. State regulators and bureaucrats needlessly extend themselves into all dimensions of private life, which is done with religious zealotry in strict adherence to this post-modern ideology.

However, today, the data is in, and we know better. Thanks to clinical science, logic, quantitative analysis and the qualitative features associated with an enormous array of datum accumulated in the largest clinical study ever performed on planet Earth, researchers have determined that the spread of SARS-Cov-2 from asymptomatic carriers is essentially nil.

A clinical study with 9,898,828 enrolled participants concluded that only 0.00029% were in fact, asymptomatic carriers.

Yet, the mantra of “asymptomatic spread” continues. It is what allows police officers to tackle, handcuff and mask a woman walking her dog in the park, regardless of whether she was following the CDC’s recommendation for those suffering from respiratory illnesses such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or not. It is also what forces day-care workers to demand parents mask their children and stifle their three-year-old’s ability to understand facial expressions which constrains the development of their child’s non-verbal communication sensory skills.

Additionally, it is the background construct that forces high-school coaches to demand that students engaged in strenuous outdoor athletic activities compete wearing masks. This has led to numerous documented occurrences where students suffered dangerous reductions in blood oxygenation and unhealthy elevations in levels of carbon-dioxide. In Oregon, two young female athletes (Maggie Williams and Savannah Lay) suffered unconsciousness and collapse due wearing masks during competition.

The notion that a person, without symptoms, who is not sick, has no temperature, and has no other manifestations of COVID-19 must wear a mask to “protect others” is the lynchpin that holds all of these mandates together.

The above table contrasts two important studies, 1) Green Column with 10 million enrolled participants and, 2) Red Column with zero enrolled participants. The CDC used the data in Red Column to formulate their policy positions which have been strictly adhered to by Democrat Governors, but not by their Republican counterparts.

The US Projection Study used by the CDC for developing guidelines is without any credibility. First, it was not peer-reviewed. Second, it had no (zero) enrolled participants. Third, study researchers never engaged in any form of scientific or quantitative analysis. It is nothing more than a purely hypothetical and assumption-riddled mathematical model that has been used to implement tragic shutdowns all over the world.

The CDC’s conclusion that, “SARS-CoV-2 spread faster than SARS-CoV, and accumulating evidence showed that SARS-CoV-2, unlike SARS-CoV, is transmitted from persons without symptoms,” appears completely fabricated. Yet, this fallacious statement has been mindlessly parroted through the highest echelons of academia, government and media without any scientific evidence and is without any credibility.

Further, the research manuscript used by the CDC, admitted that “No statistical testing was conducted, so no prespecified level of significance was set.” To admit that the results lack quantitative precision and then pull a claim like, “59% of all transmissions were asymptomatic,” like the rabbit from the Magician’s Silk-Top-Hat is entirely dishonest and is the definition of “willful misconduct.”

The propaganda and sophistry used by the CDC is repugnant to every principle of sound policy, humanity, justice, and the natural rights of humankind. For OHA (Oregon Health Authority) or CDC to use this model to develop public health policy for COVID-19 invites misuse, promotes inaccurate policy assumptions, and leads to long-term public health distrust and peripheral damage.

Workforce and higher education admission vaccine requirements currently provide grace periods until October 18, 2021, for compliance. This provides a short timeframe to sort through the options.

Within the current Vaccine Requirement, there are two exemptions, first, a medical exemption and second, a religious exemption. Do not hesitate to utilize either of these two exemptions, as you have every right to justify your actions based upon your conditions and/or beliefs.

There are other options as you navigate the Governor’s blatant over-reach:

  1. Demand Full Informed Consent from your Employer
  2. Information: https://www.perk-group.com/right-to-refuse
  3. Stand for Health Freedom Action Center
  4. Children’s Health Defense Resources
  5. Graphics: https://www.perk-group.com/lockdowngraphics
  6. Legal Action
    1. The Freedom Foundation, a legal non-profit dedicated to preserving individual rights, is planning a lawsuit for Oregonians who are affected by this mandate. You can join the lawsuit and/or support it here: lp.freedomfoundation.com/covidmandates
    2. Employees for Informed Consent is an effort lead by lawyers to represent workers collectively in Oregon, Washington and Idaho: https://employeesforinformedconsent.com/
    3. Free Oregon is dedicated to restoring and protecting the civil rights of Oregonians granted by the United States Constitution. They are working in the media sphere and through grass roots activism to apply appropriate laws and political pressure. Join here
  7. Medical exemption
  8. Religious exemption

If we don’t stand for rural Oregon Values and common-sense… No one will!

Regards,

Dennis Linthicum
Oregon State Senate – District 28

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Talisman or Truth

Oregon State Legislature sent this bulletin Wednesday, november 21, 2023, by devadmin

The SARS-Cov-2 virus, unlike other seasonal flu viruses, is suffering from enormous media hype. It is the only global “super-killer” that never was. Hyped by government tyrants, public health aficionados, social and main-stream media outlets, as a “super killer”, fear is being used to control and manipulate populations across the globe.

Once freedom is surrendered to the ruling authorities it is rarely regained because there is always something else to regulate. Another rule, another safety measure, another regulation, another law, another license and another agency to enforce compliance. The terrible dynamic spilling from centralized control is one of unquenchable bureaucracy. John Adams, in a letter to his wife, Abigail Adams (July 7, 1775), writes,

“A Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.”

Václav Havel, the first president of the Czech Republic after the dissolution of communist Czechoslovakia, notes the same dynamic in his book,The Power of the Powerless, published illegally in Czechoslovakia (and Poland) in late 1978. Havel observes that most people, when living under a lie, know that they are living under a false construct but obey simply to avoid trouble. We can see this in our current environment, where masks dangle on wrists or from ears, like precious talisman or lucky charm. Today there is observable flippancy toward all of the former “requirements” about the constant sanitizing of shopping cart handles, countertops, and plexiglass barriers. No one minds because they know there is little danger from living a normal life.

Havel notes this too, “individuals need not believe all these mystifications, but they must behave as though they did, or they must at least tolerate them in silence, or get along well with those who work with them.”

Twenty months after, “two weeks to flatten the curve,” Americans deserve some answers. Stand for Health Freedom exists to answer those relevant issues, whether related to medical treatment, health, employment, or needed responses to unlawful attacks on your constitutional freedoms. An exciting in-person and online event, the COVID CON ‘21 SOLUTION SUMMIT, kicking off October 14 – 16 from the Church of Glad Tidings in Live Oak, California!

What’s also fantastic about this community-building, solution-oriented gathering is that all proceeds go directly towards funding unbiased science, public education and expert legal  action coordinated to fight for and protect freedom!

It’s not too late for you to add your name to the growing list of signatures calling for an investigation into the CDC and FDA. It’s more important than ever, on the heels of the White House calling for illegal, unnecessary and unethical medical mandates across the U.S. Join more than 62,200 Americans by signing the official online petition or text the word CDCdata to the number 50457 to create leverage with your voice to call for a formal investigation into violations of federal law that caused hyperinflation of counted COVID cases, hospitalizations, and recorded deaths.

Willful misconduct by federal agency pawns is destroying our economy and creating collateral damage across large swaths of our American landscape.

Lastly, I was recently a guest on, No Apologies with Becker on BEK News. . We discussed my Grand Jury Petition and the need to hold government agencies accountable. Dr. Rick Becker is a plastic surgeon, entrepreneur, and State Representative for District 7, No. Dakota. His cohost, Lori Hinz, is a well-known radio voice throughout North Dakota and together, they discuss all things about liberty-based living.

If we don’t stand for rural Oregon Values and common-sense… No one will!

Regards,

Dennis Linthicum
Oregon State Senate – District 28

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“Who are “They”?”

Oregon State Legislature sent this bulletin Sunday, October 24, 2023, by devadmin

Last weekend I spoke in Ashland, Oregon at a wonderful event with several hundred Oregon Federation of Republican Women. During my presentation, one person asked a fantastic question, “Who are ‘they’?” To provide context, I was not addressing the confusion about modern pronoun usage.

I had said, “They are unhinged!” Now this territory is part of my accustomed soapbox. I routinely write about so-called conspiracy theories and I often bash “them thar bad guys” referring to them as, “they and them.” At the time, I didn’t have a succinct answer and thought I could do better.

Today, I will try to answer, “Who are ‘they’ and what is our disagreement?”

In general, “they” are those opposed to Liberty. They are deep-state malcontents amassing power by stripping authority and wealth from the citizenry. They are typically elites and the super wealthy using their enormous influence to steer public policy toward their own enrichment. They sway public leaders and legislators to do their bidding by using emotional stories.

As I mentioned in my last newsletter, false assumptions, incorrect or mis-understood data and faulty reasoning will lead people down the wrong track. Concentrations of power, in public or private hands, based on faulty views or corrupt ideas have led to vast expansions in state power. This usurpation of power eventually alienates segments of society and culture.

This is why the song, “Rich Men North of Richmond” was such a success. Oliver Anthony says what we know to be true. He identifies inflation, the lack of accountability, the imprudent uses of taxpayer dollars and needlessly high taxation. Things that the folks in DC (and Salem) can’t seem to understand.

Those desiring more state power and control, statists, do so because the state is the single entity authorized to use force and coercion to get what it wants. Our government ends up elevating those who have neither wisdom, character, nor the right to be our guardians. These bureaucrats become the watchers, directors, chairs, commanders, regulators, accusers, fact-checkers, estimators, evaluators, censors and preachers over everyone else.

This constant and unrelenting pressure from a nameless bureaucracy creates dissent, tension and distrust, leading to an unstable environment. Governments exert their power to foster grievances, whether real or imagined, further fraying the fabric of society.

This instability can fester in race relations, educational disparities or shortages, and is easily seen in the economy. In Oregon, we can see market damage happening daily. We see it in prices and availability for housing, food, fuel, police protection, healthcare, and education. Most families, citizens and even foreign-born aliens, view themselves as incapable of solving these problems because they have been usurped by the state and are, therefore, beyond the reach of local and community control.

The enormity of the global COVID-19 fraud is a prime example.

It started with fear-mongering based upon entirely unrealistic estimates of worldwide death. There was gross data manipulation and re-writing of the rules. The instructions for your County Coroner’s completion of Death Certificates were altered only for COVID-19; formerly acceptable medical protocols were denied; proven pandemic policies were jettisoned.

The massive Leftwing media machine raced to show inflated death statistics changing by the hour. The CDC, NIH, CIA, FBI, and DOJ issued directives to promote centralized, universal healthcare models regardless of health, age, susceptibility or co-morbidities.

Small businesses were needlessly closed while those with influence, the big-box stores and online giants, were happily picking up the customers and, thereby, sweeping small-main-street businesses off the map. This destruction was orchestrated by shamelessly corrupt individuals around the world using the “color of law” to declare war on the non-compliant while amassing absolute authority.

The free-market is loathed by statists from both major parties, Democrats and Republicans. The recent vote for Jim Jordan as Speaker was controversial because he represented a credible threat to the exponential growth of the bloated bureaucracy. The bureaucracy which desires to both set the standard and enforce the standard. This is precisely why we see more than 3000 new bills being introduced during every Legislative long-session in Oregon.

The never-ending batches of new laws shows us the fanatical desire to tax, spend and regulate every private business operation. The collectivists control minimum wages, fair wages across every business, and every new-found personal identity. These geniuses set working hours, break times, healthcare and family leave requirements.

These laws continually provide taxpayer monies to subsidize well-heeled influencers and push others out of the market. Last week, the food giant Tyson Foods announced their commitment to building a more sustainable insect protein food production system to save the planet.

Where did this new demand for crunchy crickets come from? Did your family picnic turn into a hunt for yummy mealworms after the fried chicken tub was emptied?

No! There is no demand-side to the equation for black soldier flies, grasshoppers, mealworms or crickets. The only demand comes from the regulators who pretend to care more than the rest of us.

Hence, IP-3, which criminalizes animal farming practices is headed to main street.

Without stopping IP-3 gigantic agri-businesses will grow while the small Mom-and-Pop farms and cattle producers will simply dry up. Look at the small towns across Oregon, larger fast-food franchises are opening while the small diners and lunch-counters which once cluttered downtowns are boarded up with “Closed” signs fraying in the wind.

The business giants float ideas that require every transaction be tracked, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, registered, and authorized. If Mom-and-Pop can’t implement the rules they will be forced to close-up shop. Or, they may get admonished, punished, or sent along to one of Hillary Clinton’s proposed re-indoctrination centers to get their worldview fixed.

What is happening? Why do we continue down this path?

We have to get back to basics, local economies, and meritorious interpersonal relationships.

Our Nation, has been led to greatness by the Hand of Liberty. It was created from all the glory that free-speech, individual heroism, and hardworking humanity could offer. We must fight against our own willingness to forge the chains of our destruction and demand fiscal responsibility from Congress, then from our own state houses.

Our sights must be aimed at supporting Life, Liberty and our own just pursuits, not just the largess that citizens can pocket from the public treasury.

Private enterprise is essential. Otherwise, the socialists and statists will use their executive agency power to relentlessly steer us towards total control and regulation which will lead to our destruction and misery.

Finally, who are “they”?

They can only be identified by their fruits, not by their intentions. They can be identified by their unending efforts to subvert our liberties and the ideals which are so beautifully stated in the unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America and our US Constitution.

Therefore, we must stand firm and devote our lives and prosperity to removing them from power at every level of government.

Best Regards,

Dennis Linthicum
Oregon State Senate – District 28

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Assault Against Parents

Oregon State Legislature sent this bulletin Saturday, october 6, 2023, by devadmin

Ten days ago, I partnered with all of Oregon’s Republican and Independent State Senators to stop a handful of shocking bills that would undoubtably inflict harm on children and their parents. Our efforts to bring transparency, openness, and bi-partisan leadership back into the Senate chamber have been met with deep division and partisan reluctance. 

Oregon’s Senate, like most governing bodies, requires a certain number of members in attendance before transacting business. This is known as a quorum rule. Oregon’s Republican Senators are currently denying quorum in order to slow the majority party’s run-away agenda. 

Stopping the legislative process, due to a lack of quorum, is not “unconstitutional.” It is a tool, used throughout history to prevent the tyranny of the majority and protect the rights of the minority. It ought to be obvious to everyone that without this tool minority voices would be silenced.

My own reasons for denying quorum are well-thought-out and fundamentally sound. I am not violating my “constitutional duties”, rather I am exercising my fiduciary responsibilities to the best of my ability. 

Contrary to the Senate President, Majority Leader and social media pundits – there is no constitutional requirement for anyone to provide a quorum. Oregon’s newly minted Constitutional amendment, which was sponsored by Oregon’s stalwart public employee unions, specifies an additional qualification for holding office in the next term. The amendment makes no demands on today’s office-holders. Legislators are not required to succumb to political rhetoric or bombast. 

I will not bow my knee to the unlawful demands of today’s Democrat majority.

Our current impasse is due solely to Senate President Wagner’s (D-Lake Oswego) continued rejection of all reconciliation efforts by members who are denying quorum. Our minority parties’ demands are easy enough, 1) adhere to Oregon’s constitution; 2) follow Oregon’s Revised Statutes and Senate rules; and 3) fulfill the “bipartisan/open door” pledge made to Oregonians. 

Otherwise, as the news cycle races along, even liberal news outlets and social media pundits are looking for any loose threads that weaken the fabric of the Democrat party’s suffocating hold in Oregon. Shemia Fagan’s forced resignation, brought similar and potentially more illicit money scandals to the surface. Each flaming accusation about corruption, tampering, and potential money-laundering creates a foothold for others to scale the walls of power. Yet, the Senate President is holding fast to his extreme position.

Are Republican and Independent Senators (aka, “the Courageous 13”) willing to sacrifice their eligibility for their next term in office? 

The answer is easy – Yes.

The bills in question are poorly written and they were only advanced because of an allegiance to radical concepts promoted by far-left activists who thrive on bumper sticker slogans, not facts. The bills we have identified egregiously promote a regulatory boundary around healthcare without helping the truly needy. Primarily, these bill will needlessly harm parents and families, in all areas of Oregon and across all fifty states.

Do you recall the incident when the FBI put the “domestic terrorist” label on everyday concerned parents who attended their local school board meetings? These Moms and Dads got snagged via a circular chain of false accusations which were leveled by a DOJ request. The falsity of Attorney General Merrick Garland reasoning is abhorrent. By any standard, this was an intrusive, unconstitutional effort by government actors. It was the heavy hand of government interfering in free-speech rights and denying the right of citizens to petition their government for a redress of grievances. 

Today, Oregon Democrats apparently applaud these unseemly attacks against parental involvement by desiring to enshrine them into law.

HB 2002, 2003, and 2005 perfectly illustrate this problem of government intrusion into the lives of everyday citizens and parents, in particular.

While newspaper headlines claim, “Republicans walk on Abortion and Gun Bills”, this is not true. As I pointed out last week, a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy is legal at every step along the journey, from conception all the way through the 3rd trimester and up to the last minute of the pre-birth moment.

The Dobb’s decision from the Supreme Court has no impact on Oregon State law. HB 2002, does not improve reproductive healthcare rights except to place an unscientific and purely political statement into Oregon Law.

HB 2002 is not primarily about reproductive health care or a woman’s right to choose.
Rather, it promotes the Biden administration’s blatant assertion that caring parents are “domestic terrorists.” HB 2002 strengthens this faulty worldview by painting parents as untrustworthy and all Dads as incestuous monsters. Within HB 2002 it becomes against the law to inform parents of any and all reproductive or gender altering care provided to their minor children. Why?
Why would the legislature deny a parent’s right to be fully informed about medical procedures that their child might be under-going? This is a bad idea and will endanger the health and safety of minor children while sowing discord between parents and their children.
Sen Golden (Ashland-D) claims, “youngsters will have serious qualified adult guidance through any of these procedures.” This begs the question, regardless of qualifications, how does some unrelated adult usurp a parent or legal guardian’s rightful place in the lineup for medical decision making? After all, these highly paid adults will simply go home while parents and their children will be forced to deal with the life-long consequences of this guidance.
Additionally, this new “law” would apply to every parent or guardian, in every circumstance, without any due process or judicial review. This amounts to a “color of law” declaration which grants the state a primordial custody interest in children and comprehensively denies that parents have any legitimate rights, obligations or concerns.
The language used in HB 2002 violates multiple facets of common-sense, legal precedent and tradition.  It tramples the deeply-held religious and cultural freedoms that were enshrined at the foundation of our constitutionally federated republic. 
Legal opinion also suggests that HB 2002 would result in the Legislature violating the property right of parents as expressed in ORS 109.030 (The rights and responsibilities of the parents …, are equal, and each parent is as fully entitled to the custody and control of the children …), not to mention creating conflicts with numerous other laws.
Is no one willing to question the motives for hiding medical information and facts from parents when a healthcare provider delivers gender-altering services or the termination of a pregnancy?
How did Mom and Dad become the new enemies of the state? 
When the medical services are less risky, why are parents allowed any voice? Why do we require parental consent with regard to dental work, eye-glasses or the delivery of a Tylenol tablet. 
What’s going on here?  
This is a run-away healthcare agenda. It will raid the public treasury for decades upon decades to fund services and industry profits while needlessly damaging families and potentially providing secrecy to sex-traffickers and abusers. 
This is child abuse top to bottom. 
This is but one example of why I am willing to stand my ground. Oregon can do better and to that end I will continue to deny quorum.
In conclusion, tyranny is born through the abandonment of legal, traditional, and historic norms for life and livelihood. 
The good news is, “Oregon’s Courageous 13” will not waver in our resolve!
We will not aid and abet the culture of corruption which has fully captured Salem. We will stand firm and let the truth ring loud and clear.
The family has historically been the primary and irreplaceable force for substantive human flourishing. HB 2002, is a flagrant, unwarranted and deliberate attack against children, their families and their parents’ Natural and Divine rights.
Stand with me to defend families, parents and their children!
Your support is vital for Oregon’s future!

If we don’t stand for rural Oregon Values and common-sense… No one will!

Regards,

Dennis Linthicum
Oregon State Senate – District 28

Posted on

Upcoming Battles

Oregon State Legislature sent this bulletin Wednesday, september 12, 2023, by devadmin

Here in Oregon, we find ourselves in the midst of an enormous culture war. It’s not unlike other parts of our nation where the far-left is propagating falsehood and purposefully misguiding public opinions. On an hourly basis mainstream media and mindless twitter-bots praise what is despicable and despise what is honorable. They punish noble, patriotic and virtuous sentiments while hurling despair and discouragement  around the local schoolyard like junkyard litter. They applaud falsehood and smother truth under indifference, hypocrisy, insult and brazen lies.

In the 2023 legislative session, eleven Republican and Independent Senators attempted to deny quorum and stop further business in the Senate chamber. Our actions were sound; our reasons were valid; our cause was just, and as I have said before, righteous. Our principles and purpose were and still are valid. Through the full-throttled stoppage of Senate business our goal was to prevent unconstitutional, disingenuous, risky and life-threatening legislative concepts.

Not unlike a workers’ strike, we denied quorum to elevate the voices of our oft ignored minority constituencies.

During the founding era, our nation was continually warned about the vigilance that would be required to keep our Republic whole.

In the past several newsletters I have written about the most egregious bills put forth in the 2023 Legislative session. Bills targeting children, parental rights, increasing access to taxpayer funded abortions and transgender care as well as the ever-increasing assaults on our 2nd Amendment rights. I supplied details with specifics about how parents, their children and all Oregon families and individuals would be harmed.

Here’s a list:

As my newsletters illustrate, Republicans and Independent Senators denied quorum to stop the State from:

  • becoming the authority over your children and your family’s decisions,
  • furthering unconstitutional anti-gun measures on law-abiding citizens,
  • increasing the healthcare costs for all Oregonians,
  • covering transgender and abortion on demand for all, including minors,
  • providing free abortion and gender-altering care to anyone, of any age, from any state,
  • eliminating the right of patients to seek justice following provider malpractice,
  • sterilizing untold numbers of innocent, confused and vulnerable children.

The Democrat party uses our own tax money against us and our children. The advancing power of the state is like the screw in a mechanical fitting. It is always turning, always gaining, always gripping, always penetrating, forever holding fast to what it gains and never letting go.

Friends, I believe the casualties and the price Oregonians pay will be high. But I am confident we will win this culture war if we continue to stand on our principles with unwavering fortitude. We must protect our children and never back down from working to restore our God-given rights to life, liberty and our own just pursuits.

Surrender is not an option.

The question before us is, how do we continue, where do we throw our weight, what battles should we fight?

First, I am currently involved with five other Republican Senators seeking remedy against the Secretary of States for her capricious ruling regarding Measure 113. Essentially her ruling is that the 36 county election officers would not be permitted to accept the filing for office from Senators falling under Measure 113.

Remember, Measure 113 allows the partisan Senate President, who is currently a Democrat, to declare an absence by any member “excused” or “unexcused”. This power was used in a capricious, vindictive and retaliatory fashion against Republicans in the 2023 legislative session.

At the end of 1776, Thomas Paine was sick at heart over the suffering and despair he saw after just six months of tragedy. Yet, he was also inspired by the undaunted resolution of others in leadership. His book The American Crisis, should continue to inspire us.

It begins:

“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”

I will follow Paine’s counsel with all of my might. I will continue to serve Oregonians to the best of my ability. I will continue to work towards a positive, prosperous and wholesome future for all Oregonians. I won’t give up and I won’t back down from the ongoing fight.

As summer closes, we confidently move forward. Diane and I send our Best Wishes for the fall season.

As you know lawsuits are not cheap and your help is vital to continue our pursuit of justice in this battle against tyranny.

Thank you for your steadfast support.

Best Regards,

Dennis Linthicum
Oregon State Senate – District 28

Posted on

What happened…?

Oregon State Legislature sent this bulletin Tuesday, June 20, 2023, by devadmin

Here in Oregon, we find ourselves in the midst of a truly heinous battle. 

Eleven Republican and Independent Senators united to deny quorum and stop further business in the Senate chamber. Our actions were sound; our reasons were valid; our cause was just, and if I dare say, righteous. Our principles and purpose were and still are valid. Our goal was to prevent unconstitutional, disingenuous, risky and life-threatening legislative concepts by stopping Senate business. Not unlike a workers’ strike, we denied quorum to make our voices heard.

Continuing in the language of a labor dispute, our strategy worked until scabs compromised our cause and broke the force of our strike. It only took one additional Republican to make the deal work for the Democrats and meet the quorum requirement needed for these horrific bills to pass.

Without some unifying purpose, what voice does any minority have? During the founding era, our nation was continually warned about the vigilance that would be required to keep our Republic whole. 

Over the past several weeks I have written newsletters about the most egregious bills attacking children, parental rights, increasing access to abortions and transgender care, and increasing assaults on our 2nd Amendment rights. I supply details with specifics about how parents, their children and all Oregon families and individuals would be harmed. Here’s a list:

What happened? Did Republicans get concessions? Were those concessions worth the price of having eleven Republican and Independent legislators barred from future office? One side answers, “Yes, they deserve it.” While the other claims, “Yes, the Democrats caved and victory is ours.”

The Oregon Capital Chronicle, tells us the story. Senate President Rob Wagner (D-Lake Oswego) is quoted as saying, “There really isn’t anything that is coming out of there that I’m really that disappointed with…”

The Senate Democrat chief negotiator, Kathleen Taylor (D-Southeast Portland), said, “If the Republicans had not returned this session, we faced the reality that no additional bills would have passed. They could have stayed away, blocking every single progressive priority: no reproductive health care rights, no gun control and no rights for the transgender community.”

Senator Taylor presents an accurate assessment while parroting the Democrat talking points. As my newsletters illustrate, Republicans and Independent Senators denied quorum to stop the State from:

  • becoming the authority over your children and your family’s decisions,
  • furthering unconstitutional anti-gun measures on law-abiding citizens,
  • increasing the healthcare costs for all Oregonians,
  • covering transgender and abortion on demand for all, including minors,
  • providing free abortion and gender-altering care to anyone, of any age, from any state,
  • eliminating the right of patients to seek justice following provider malpractice.

The progressive and leftist Democrat party is moving by system and design under the colorable pretext of safety, caring for children or elevating the oppressed. These are fine sentiments when corralled by fences of reason, appropriateness, evenhandedness, reasonableness, objectivity, and justice. But when our vocabulary is getting warped by blatantly false ideas we need to argue for truth.

The Democrat party uses our own tax money against us and our children. The advancing power of the state is like the screw in a mechanical fitting. It is always turning, always gaining, always gripping, always penetrating, forever holding fast to what it gains and never letting go.

Friends, this political battle may have been lost. I believe the casualties and the price Oregonians pay will be high. But I am confident we will win this culture war if we continue to stand on our principles with unwavering fortitude. We must protect our children and never back down from working to restore our God-given rights to life, liberty and our own just pursuits.

Surrender is not an option.

The question before us is, how do we continue, where do we throw our weight, what battles should we fight?

At the end of 1776, Thomas Paine was sick at heart over the suffering and despair he saw after just six months of tragedy. Yet, he was also inspired by the undaunted resolution of others in leadership. His book The American Crisis, should continue to inspire us. It begins:

“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”

I will follow Paine’s counsel with all of my might. I will continue to serve Oregonians to the best of my ability. I will continue to work towards a positive, prosperous and wholesome future for all Oregonians. I won’t give up and I won’t back down from the ongoing fight.

Thank you for your steadfast support. As we forge onward, Diane and I send our Best Wishes for a great Father’s Day!`

Best Regards,

Dennis Linthicum
Oregon State Senate – District 28

Posted on

What’s Lurking in the Legislature?

Oregon State Legislature sent this bulletin Wednesday, may 9, 2023, by devadmin

So, what’s up in Oregon?

Why have Oregon State Senators, from both Republican and Independent parties, chosen to deny quorum and stop legislative business.

Across all fifty states, legislative members have a fiduciary responsibility, by sworn affirmation or oath, to uphold their constitutional obligations.

Political pundits, mainstream sources and social media activists are good at repeating slogans, but as you know, little else. There is rarely a look at the details lurking in the shadows.

Oregon Senate President, Rob Wagner (D), has claimed an “open door” policy and pretends to “want robust debate” about policy issues. Yet, unfathomable volumes of recorded video from every floor session and committee hearing testifies clearly against this one-sided fantasy.

The Democrat majority has steadfastly refused to share accurate details about the numerous bills that have had no Republican input. The mainstream and social media talking-heads continue to carry water for the majority party and have continued to mischaracterize sincere issues that truly deserve “robust debate and discussion.”

For example, HB 2002, HB 2003, and HB 2005 are respectively being promoted as necessary to “save abortion”, “secure elections” and “prevent gun violence.”

These phrases simply peddle the popular twaddle while hiding the truth. These three examples, out of 3000 bills this session, are stepping stones in a divisive political misinformation agenda.  These bills codify party talking-points and bumper-sticker slogans.

The HB 2002 marketing template is a political strategy to scare women into thinking that those “church-going conservatives” want to strip away a women’s legal right to an abortion in Oregon.

A woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy is legal at every step along the journey, from conception to the last minute of the pre-birth moment. The Dobb’s decision from the Supreme Court has no impact on Oregon State law and HB 2002 does not add or subtract any additional rights for women.

What it does do is allow an individual of any age to receive an abortion, without parental notification. Yet, other adults, teachers, school nurses, neighbors, medical service providers or even a possible abuser or trafficker might know, assist, and conceal details regarding all of these medical procedures. 

Progressives are running wild with claims that this bill is about “reproductive health and women’s rights.”

The significant text, which gives but a toehold to their deceit is achieved by replacing the plain English phrase, [terminate the individual’s pregnancy] with the politically charged text, “exercise the individual’s reproductive health rights under section 3 of this 2023 Act.”

That’s all folks.

That’s the extent of changes with regard to adult women.

However, when it comes to children the floodgates are wide open. First, HB 2002 removes all age limits on reproductive healthcare. Current law contains the phrase, “[who is 15 years of age]” which would get removed.

Here is another sample:

Specifically, this “may not disclose to the minor’s parent” requirement applies to all children and every conceivable reproductive medical procedure. Even counsel admitted, during committee testimony, this would apply to a 10-year-old child.
Do you know any 10-year-old children capable of providing an “authorized disclosure notice” to the medical staff?
This “notice” is a requirement for parental notification. In other words, without this notice, Mom and Dad are kept in the dark, purposefully.
What if a child wants Mom and Dad’s love, care, and support? How does a 10-year-old communicate that when the force of law demands every medical provider, “not disclose” information about services or medications?
Additionally, what legal standing would that document bring during any claim of medical malpractice, wrongful death, or other unforeseen harm to a child stemming from negligence, carelessness, wrongful acts, anaphylactic shock or inappropriate action taken by people who are state authorized, non-parental actors?
Why would the state of Oregon empower abusers, traffickers, or any other nameless, unaccountable player over and above a parent?
Due process and judicial review are important safeguards for parents, families and children. Why does HB 2002 omit these safeguards?
The handful of questions and examples illustrate the malfeasance or negligence of counsel and the ideological bent of the majority party. They represent only a small portion of the 48 pages of this legislative handy-work which is anti-family, anti-parent, anti-business, pro-administrative state, and which promotes healthcare tyranny.
I believe knowledge is power. In HB 2002 we see planks in the pathway to political tyranny as the state strips rights from parents and their children.  
Stay tuned as I expose more political malfeasance lurking within the trans-humanist movement, anti-gun efforts, electioneering fraud and the lawlessness that is swallowing Oregon.
Help defend families, parents and their children!
Children are the keystone to Oregon’s Future!

If we don’t stand for rural Oregon Values and common-sense… No one will!

Regards,

Dennis Linthicum
Oregon State Senate – District 28

Posted on

To Delude and Deceive

Oregon State Legislature sent this bulletin Wednesday, july 5, 2022, by devadmin

The violence and riotous uprisings over the US Supreme Court’s most recent opinions illustrates a troubling misunderstanding with regard to constitutional precedence, lawful authority and freedom. Our U.S. Constitution exists to limit power. It does not exist in order to organize the usurpation, or concentration, of power. The Constitution exists to distribute power; it does not exist to accumulate or consolidate power. Self-government of the respective States and their supremacy over the Federal government is the Rubicon of Jeffersonian republicanism.

The recent DOBBS v. JACKSON WOMEN’S HEALTH ORGANIZATION, Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) opinion, is a perfect example of returning to local control under Federalism. The opinion clarifies,

“Our decision returns the issue of abortion to [state] legislative bodies, and it allows women on both sides of the abortion issue to seek to affect the legislative process by influencing public opinion, lobbying legislators, voting, and running for office.”

This fits nicely with the Jeffersonian view, “It is not by the consolidation, or concentration, of powers, but by their distribution, that good government is effected.”

Yet, the Democrat majority, in Oregon and other states, found themselves whipping up frenzied outrage at the SCOTUS opinion. This move is uncannily similar to the days of 1776, when a British observer in London wrote,

“Ministerial Hacks were immediately set to work to fabricate Lies (and publish them in the Newspaper) to delude and deceive the Electors; that little or no Opposition might be made to the Tools of Government. By these low Artifices and ministerial Lies, the People of England were lulled into a State of Supineness, and even made to lend a helping Hand to complete their OWN RUIN.”

To illustrate let me present several examples of Oregon Democrats trying to stoke and fuel outrage. Shown below are several contradictory statements, starting with an outrageous claim followed by a more accurate statement. No doubt this style was used in the hopes that people won’t read past the headline or first paragraph. Each pair of these samples come from separate Democrat Press Releases, (emphasis added.)

So, which is it? Does this SCOTUS opinion strip power from Oregon, or not? Was the violence during the recent Night of Rage appropriate? Is this outrage about women’s reproductive health, or something else – like a bigger culture war? Can the leftist-Democrats or any post-modern supreme court justices even define the word ‘woman’?

What values will be imparted to our children and grandchildren if our warranted fear of the “cancel culture mob” and their violent reactions force Oregonians, who still cherish traditional Judeo/Christian values, to be bullied into silence, or self-censorship?

Electoral integrity is paramount because our federal constitution leaves most decisions in the hands of the people and their local state governments. The SCOTUS opinion stresses that local citizens should, “seek to affect the legislative process by influencing public opinion, lobbying legislators, voting, and running for office.” Each of us has a right to direct our own futures at the local level.

Per the Bill of Rights, or the first ten amendments to the Constitution, we read:

•    Amendment No. 9  –  The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

•    Amendment No. 10  –  The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

We should not focus on federal rule, brute force, or even, majority rule, other than with regard to a restraint on government. We ought to think about our freedom, our lives, our liberty and each of us seeking our own just pursuits. This is the stunningly clear focus of our founding document – “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.”

Our constitutional perspective ought to be about the preservation of our human and inalienable rights as codified in the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights. Period.

In a draft for the Kentucky Resolutions (1798), Jefferson wrote,

“It would be a dangerous delusion were a confidence in the men of our choice to silence our fears for the safety of our rights… Confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism. …
“Our Constitution has accordingly fixed the limits to which, and no further, our confidence may go… In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.”

Unfortunately, Oregonians have been living under a legislative body that has a distorted vision of what the rule of law is supposed to be. In their zeal to control they have pushed our state further into an anti-science, irrational and illogical world of fake-issues and fake news.

Americans have inherited a birthright. This is why we celebrate Independence Day (not the “4th of July”). We have the right to live in freedom and to establish a moral order that protects the unborn and minorities while judiciously adhering to our longstanding constitutional order. We can do this by working “to affect the legislative process by influencing public opinion, lobbying legislators, voting, and running for office.”

We must stand firm in using our long history of traditional wisdom and moral values to restore order, prevent societal decay and, “secure the Blessings of Liberty for ourselves and our Posterity.”

If we don’t stand for rural Oregon Values and common-sense… No one will!

Regards,

Dennis Linthicum
Oregon State Senate – District 28