Interesting essay . . .
From: chuck <at> chuckbaldwinlive.com(Chuck Baldwin) Date: Fri, Jun 10,
2011, 12:43pm To: robert-blau <at> webtv.net Subject: Why We Chose The
Flathead Valley Of Montana by Chuck Baldwin, June 9, 2011
Why We Chose The Flathead Valley Of Montana By Chuck Baldwin
June 9, 2011
Archived column:
http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?p=3662
Last weekend, we had people visit us here in the Flathead Valley of
Montana from at least eight states: Oregon, Washington, Arizona, New
Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. And since my family and
I moved here last October, people have moved here from at least a dozen
states. And many more are in the process of moving or trying to move.
As I was speaking with an out-of-State guest last Sunday, he asked me,
what was it that made you decide to move to Montana’s Flathead
Valley, as opposed to Idaho or some other State? Of course, that is a
very fair question. I will attempt to answer that question in
today’s column. As a Christian, I believe that “the
steps of a trusting man are ordered by the Lord.†So,
ultimately, I believe that the superintending hand of God guides and
directs those who put their trust in Him. Accordingly, I believe that
our move from Florida to Montana was directed by divine providence. What
follows are the reasons, factors, and philosophies that guided us to
this wonderful valley.
Cities
During the 18 months between the summer of 2008 and the end of 2009, I
traveled more than 60,000 miles to virtually every area of this vast
country. I traveled from coast to coast and border to border. I visited
huge cities and small villages. There were only a handful of states that
I did not visit during that span of time.
As I traveled the country, it became very obvious to me that not every
place shares the same love for and understanding of freedom. I quickly
discovered that Thomas Jefferson was right when he said that big cities
were the “bane†of freedom. And there are almost no
exceptions to the fact that the bigger the city is, the less freedom
there is. Furthermore, it is also an accurate observation that those
states that are dominated by big cities (which most states are) the more
difficult it is for freedom-loving people in those states to be able to
actually resist the juggernaut of oppression and socialism.
Chicago is why the people in Illinois are losing their liberties;
Baltimore is why the people in Maryland are losing their liberties;
Atlanta is why the people in Georgia are losing their liberties; St.
Louis and Kansas City are why the people in Missouri are losing their
liberties; Dallas and Houston are why the people in Texas are losing
their liberties; Los Angeles and San Francisco are why the people of
California are losing their liberties; Portland is why the people of
Oregon are losing their liberties; Seattle is why the people of
Washington State are losing their liberties; Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and
Orlando are why the people of Florida are losing their liberties;
Birmingham is why the people of Alabama are losing their liberties,
etc., etc.
In order for freedom to be defended, it will require a State, or group
of states, to draw a line in the sand against this assault against our
liberties, which, for the most part, is being orchestrated by
Washington, D.C., and its allies in the big cities. We deduced that
freedom-loving people in any State dominated by one (or a handful) of
major metropolitan areas are almost helpless to defend this globalist,
socialist juggernaut that is steamrolling the country.
This was a major reason that we selected Montana over Idaho (our second
choice). California liberals are leaving the land of fruits and nuts
like rats off a sinking ship. The economic conditions in California are
driving people to surrounding states in record numbers. And many of them
are flocking to the beautiful city of Boise. It’s very possible
that Boise will fast become another Portland or Seattle. If this
happens, the great freedom-loving State of Idaho will quickly go the way
of Oregon and Washington State.
The beauty of Montana is it has no major cities that dominate the State.
Missoula (home of the University of Montana) is the most liberal city in
the State. The population there is a little over 90,000. Billings is the
largest city in the State, and it is largely a Republican area. The
population there is just over 100,000. To give readers an idea of
Montana geographics: Montana is the fourth largest State in total land
area (behind Alaska, Texas, and California), but the total population of
the State is UNDER one million. Here’s another statistic to help
readers understand what I’m saying: we live just outside the
town of Kalispell. The population of Kalispell is around 20,000. And
Kalispell is the seventh LARGEST city in the State! Montana’s
lack of large metropolitan areas is a huge asset to the defense of
liberty, in our opinion.
People
As I traveled those 60,000-plus miles, I met a huge variety of people.
And there is no doubt that there are freedom-loving people scattered all
over “the fruited plain.†But, that’s the
problem: they are SCATTERED. I found some wonderful freedom lovers in
South Carolina, New Hampshire, Eastern Tennessee (especially in the
Johnson City area), Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, Eastern
Washington State, Utah, and the Dakotas. That is not to say that there
are not thousands of freedom lovers in other states. There most
certainly are!
But I also observed that people who are dependent upon the federal
government are much more tolerant of the machinations of the federal
government. And if you live in an area that has a large population of
welfare-dependents or federal government-dependants, you are going to
find yourself pretty much alone when you attempt to “rally the
troops†against federal usurpation of power. (And, yes, we have
some of that problem here in Montana, too.)
But during my extensive travels, I had the opportunity to come speak in
Western Montana on several occasions. I spoke in the rural town of
Hamilton to a crowd of around 800 enthusiastic patriots. I spoke in
Missoula to several hundred. I spoke in Kalispell to a crowd of over 500
on a below-zero weeknight. When I first visited the Kalispell area, a
local State legislator put out one email to some friends and supporters
telling them I would be speaking to a small gathering outside of town.
His email was sent less than 24 hours from the time that I would be
speaking. In that short time, with only one email as publicity, there
were some 100 people in attendance to hear me speak--including several
pastors, businessmen, physicians, and State legislators and senators. I
spoke for an hour and we had Q & A for an hour. It was amazing!
I can tell you that I could take out a full-page ad in the newspaper and
spend thousands of dollars in advertising a similar event in the town
where I had lived in Florida for over 35 years, and if two-dozen people
showed up, it would be a miracle. That’s a difference in people!
My family and I believe that there are very traumatic, tumultuous days
ahead for our country. We wanted to be with like-minded patriots who
truly understand that there is a conspiracy at the highest levels of
government, business, and religion to sell America to the forces of
evil. We wanted to be around people who wouldn’t give us that
“deer-in-the-headlights†stare if we dared to question
the official story of 9/11, or act like they’re looking at a
Martian when we talk about the sinister military-industrial complex, or
the evilness of fighting perpetual foreign wars, or the
unconstitutionality of the Patriot Act, or the evilness of sending
trillions of dollars to foreign countries, or the ruination of our
country via deficit spending, or the wickedness of the Federal Reserve,
ad infinitum, ad nauseam. And while Montana has its share of liberals,
socialists, and environmentalist wackos, we have found more
freedom-minded people (on the whole) in the Flathead Valley of Montana
than anywhere else we’ve been.
I’ve been sold out and betrayed by these “good
Christians†who are more statists than they are Christians, who
love the government more than they love God, and who will assist the PTB
in putting principled freedomists in jail--or worse! I want to spend the
rest of my life among people who love freedom (and understand what that
means) and who are willing to fight and die to protect it! And I believe
I’ve found such people in the Flathead Valley of Montana. Come
visit Liberty Fellowship here in Kalispell one Sunday, and you will see
what I mean!
Watch us as we livestream our Sunday messages each Sunday afternoon at
2:30pm (MDT). Go to:
http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?page_id=17
Or to watch my archived video messages from Liberty Fellowship, go to:
http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?cat=16
Mountains and Location
As I said, we were very attracted to Eastern Tennessee, New Hampshire,
South Carolina, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and Arizona. But at the end
of the day, we believed these states lack some key ingredients necessary
to defending liberty. Arizona and Texas are on the southern border,
which presents huge problems all their own. Oklahoma might have the best
State legislators in the country right now, but the State is landlocked.
The same is true for Missouri. Who around them will come to their
assistance against federal encroachment?
As we analyzed the states (well, to be honest, we did not even consider
Massachusetts or California. Sorry. Any state that would deny us the
right to keep and bear arms was a State that we dismissed out-of-hand),
we quickly eliminated all states east of the Mississippi River for
geopolitical reasons: too many military installations, or too close to
the belly of the beast, or too flat, or too isolated from
“friendlies,†or too inhospitable to freedom principles,
etc. And it wasn’t long before we felt strongly attracted to the
mountain states of America’s great northwest: Alaska, Idaho,
Montana, the Dakotas, Wyoming, and Utah. Colorado was dismissed for the
same reason other states were dismissed: one huge metropolitan area
dominates the entire State.
During this time, I also did much searching of the scriptures relative
to the subject of mountains, and I was very impressed with all the
positive things God’s Word has to say about them. There is no
question that this search was as much spiritual as it was geopolitical,
or anything else! (I’ll let readers do their own research of the
scriptures, if they are of a mind to do so.)
Weather
We determined that the cold weather climate of Montana was an asset, not
a liability! Why? Because it keeps out undesirables: people who are
comfort-oriented and not liberty-oriented! Let the “beautiful
people†go to California or Hawaii or Florida. People who live
in the mountains live here for reasons other than weather and personal
comfort. And when what’s coming actually comes, we will need
rugged people who mean business, not people who are looking for a
sunroom!
Firearms
As I mentioned above, we refuse to live in any State that does not
recognize and respect our right as free men and women to keep and bear
arms. I am convinced that, humanly speaking, the only reason there is a
modicum of liberty left in these States United is the presence of nearly
100 million firearms held in the private possession of the American
people. As such, any State to which we would relocate had to be firearm
friendly.
Montana just might be the most gun friendly State in the entire country.
Consider: the average home in Montana has 27 firearms in it. 27!
Compared to most places, the crime rate in this State is extremely low.
And a major reason for the peace and tranquility of this State is the
fact that the vast majority of Montanans are armed and prepared to use
those arms in their own defense.
Even most Democrats in Montana stand steadfast in the right of the
people to keep and bear arms. Example: it was the two Democrat US
Senators from Montana that, in essence, killed newly elected President
Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder’s attempt to
resurrect the Clinton “assault weapons†ban. During the
US Supreme Court Heller case deliberations, it was a Democrat Montana
State administration that wrote a letter to the court and to the Obama
administration warning them that when Montana joined the Union in 1889,
it did so under the agreement that the federal government recognized the
right of individuals to keep and bear arms, and that if now the federal
government was refusing to recognize the right of the people to keep and
bear arms, the State of Montana would consider its contract with the
federal government (i.e., its entrance into the Union) to be null and
void!
In addition, open carry is lawful throughout the State of Montana.
That’s how deeply the citizens of Montana regard the right to
armed self-defense. Plus, Montana is in the middle of a region of states
that regard the Second Amendment just as dearly.
When push comes to shove (and it will), to be among people who are
willing to fight and die to preserve their right of self-defense was a
major factor as our family deliberated relocation.
Conclusion
I don’t think I have to convince many readers that America
cannot continue on the same path it’s on forever. There is a day
of reckoning coming, and everybody who has half a brain knows it! And
another thing, more and more of us are waking up to is the fact that
neither major party in Washington, D.C., is going to fix it. At this
point, I don’t think it can be fixed in Washington! The only
hope for freedom’s survival is stalwart, independent, courageous
people defending liberty one State at a time. And we (my family and I)
believe that the mountain states are the last best hope for freedom in
North America. And now you know a few of the reasons why we chose
Montana.
I recommend that you read these two recent news items, as you
contemplate your (and our country’s) future:
From the London Guardian:
http://tinyurl.com/3lmr4gh
From James Carville:
http://tinyurl.com/6gkozo2
I further recommend that readers who are contemplating relocation check
out the information provided by Joel Skousen and James Wesley, Rawles.
These gentlemen have some tremendous research material available on this
subject.
Skousen’s web site:
http://www.joelskousen.com/
Rawles’ web site:
http://www.survivalblog.com/
Let me hasten to say that I completely understand that not every
freedom-minded patriot would feel inclined to relocate to the mountain
states, or anywhere else! Nor should they. God is bigger than any one
State or region, and He will doubtless lead His children in different
ways, to different areas, and to different works. Neither am I
suggesting that those of us who relocate to the mountain states are any
more spiritual or any more patriotic than those who do not. I do not
believe that in any shape, form, or fashion! I am simply sharing with my
readers how God led us.
But I will also add that there is no question in my mind that God is
bringing a remnant to Montana. I see it up close and personal every day!
The gathering of eagles has begun! What it all means is yet to be seen.
From the bottom of my heart, I am as excited as a kid in a candy store
just to be part of it--all the betrayals and trials associated with this
move notwithstanding!
P.S. For the month of June, I am making three of my most popular video
messages available at a special package price: “How To Resist
The Conspiracy,†“What Can The Righteous Do?,â€
and “Seeds of Christian Persecution Growing in the U.S.â€
During the month of June, these three video messages on DVD may be
purchased for the price of two DVDs. That’s like buying two and
getting one free. To take advantage of this special offer, go to:
http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?p=3468
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© Chuck Baldwin
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