Imagine a World without The John Birch Society

Imagine a World without The John Birch Society
by JBS CEO Arthur Thompson

Imagine, if you will, a world without The John Birch Society.

Few people have ever thought about this except for the Insiders. They constantly hope and work for a world without the JBS.

JBS Founder Robert Welch

Let us give you a “baker’s dozen” of the ways that the world would be different if our founder Robert Welch had not imagined a world with The John Birch Society. We do so in order that you, our members and supporters, can have a better appreciation of what you are involved in and just how valuable you are to the liberty of not only the citizens of the United States, but also for liberty around the world.

One. Before the JBS, there were thousands of conservative organizations, large and small, all going every which way with very little success. And, they lacked any perspective of a conspiracy behind the various fingers on the hand working to squeeze the life out of American society and our Constitution. They simply looked at all manner of socialists as independent from one another, not noticing these various fingers all seemed to end up at the same place, at the same time, with the same goal in mind. We still have that problem today, but progress in an awareness that a conspiracy has to exist has taken root.

The polls we have seen in this regard, show that from one-quarter to one-third believe that a conspiracy exists, up from virtually no one believing so when the Society started. The very idea that the question would be asked demonstrates our influence. The role of the JBS in this change in the understanding of the American people has led to us being attacked over the years, calling us “conspiracy theorists,” “paranoid,” and a lot worse.

Two. Among the action projects we have initiated to educate Americans about certain dangers to their liberty and what needs to be done about it, none take a more important place than our “Get US out! Of the United Nations” campaign.

When the Society started this initiative, fully 80% of the people supported the UN. By the turn of the century, only about 30% of the people supported it. This was the result of millions of pieces of literature, scores of visual aids seen by hundreds of thousands, road signs, and several hundreds of speeches given by members of the Society on the UN.

Without the JBS, the UN would today have a great deal more control over local government through myriad causes such as sustainable development, local schools through UNESCO, and our military. It can be argued that this control more than likely would have been complete by this time.

Three. If the JBS had not started its campaign to “Support Your Local Police – and Keep Them Independent,” our police departments would already be run by communists ― at least in the bigger cities ― and federal control would already be a practical reality if not codified by law.

We will not spend the time documenting the problem we saw in the 1960s other than to say that the communists, coupled with the federal government, were intent on using any and all excuses to take control out of the hands of local citizens and place it either in the hands of civilian police review boards run by local radicals or into federal receivership.

Our “Support Your Local Police” slogan was so successful, that it was recognized by nearly every American.

Four. Without the JBS, sex education would now be a K-12 year course in all public schools. We stopped most of this program but some aspects lingered in the larger school districts.

We will not discuss the issue herein other than to say that you can teach an idiot what he needs to know about sex in 30 minutes. Why the need for a full curriculum? The answer is that it was, and is meant to be, a study in breaking down Judeo-Christian morality and a direct attack on the mental health of all children. The latter takes too long to go into other than to say that if you saturate children with sex education during their latency period, you are setting many of them up for serious psychological problems.

Five. Without the JBS, the Western Hemisphere would look like the European Union but it doesn’t as a result of our campaign against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). This scheme was launched by President George W. Bush to create a similar EU structure that would have led to the same problem that the citizens of Europe have today. The JBS was virtually alone in this effort. This defeat of a major Insider initiative led to a fallback position called the North American Union.

Six. Without the JBS, the countries of Canada, Mexico, and the United States would already be locked into a tripartite pact linking us together in all of the major aspects of our society leading to the structure of a new country, nicknamed the North American Union. The original timetable to have this in place by George W. Bush and the heads of state of the two other countries was 2010. Its official name was the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

The various entities to be integrated were to be environmental initiatives, banking, healthcare, and others. The police and armed forces were also to be integrated. Finally, there would be a common tariff with no borders between the three countries with the freedom of movement into each country by all North American “citizens.”

Members of the Society put millions of pieces of literature into the hands of opinion molders and others and showed hundreds of thousands of people videos on the subject, all prepared by the JBS, while JBS members gave speeches and guest appearances on the media before more hundreds of thousands.

While there were other organizations involved, the vast bulk of the campaign that was started by the JBS was done by our members.

Seven. Without the JBS, a new constitutional convention would have already taken place. While we owe a great debt to Eagle Forum in this regard, it is safe to say that without the JBS with its large network of members, the Con-Con would have been unstoppable.

The battle rages on in this regard, and if it had not been for the educational efforts and hands-on work of our members over the past four decades, the current effort to alter our Constitution through the use of Article V of the Constitution would have already happened.

The work that our members have done so far this year to stop it is built on the foundation of the years of work that had come before. Without the JBS, a Con-Con could go forward next year, or the next.

Eight. Without the influence and educational efforts of The John Birch Society, many other organizations would never have been formed or leaders produced. Some of these have been indirect, but there are several organizations of merit that were formed with the direct influence of our members. We will forego identifying these leaders except to say that their efforts have greatly expanded the message of the JBS to a second level of contacts.
Some of these leaders are seen regularly on national media when the same media would never give a leader of the JBS a moment of time.

Nine. Without the JBS, literally millions of people would never have seen the likes of “Overview of America,” “Dollars & $ense,” and a hundred other videos, either in audiences or on the Internet.

Ten. Without the JBS, The New American magazine would not exist. Frankly, it is nearly incalculable as to how many Americans have read a hardcopy of the magazine, but it must exceed five million of just the special issues we have produced in the last couple of decades. As to reprints from TNA, it is many millions more.

The online articles on the TNA website reach over five million people each year. These are unique numbers, not repeat viewers.

The amount of information and valuable content enables the readers to carry the information into their daily lives and situations. It is not unusual for the information contained in the pages of TNA to have an impact on decisions made in Washington and local communities. The magazine also serves as a basis for the dissemination of educational tools for our members’ action projects.

Eleven. Without the JBS, FreedomProject Education, the educational arm of our American Opinion Foundation, would not exist. The significance of this is that FPE personnel in the last few months have been in over half of the states speaking on the latest threat to American education, Common Core, delivering over 200 speeches to live audiences, not counting over 60 radio appearances. Over three million have viewed, downloaded, or embedded FPE educational videos on not only Common Core, but the Constitution and the presidents.

We have no way of finding out how many people have actually seen these videos once they are embedded or downloaded. While it is probably not indicative of the numbers, we discovered that one site alone which embedded an FPE video had been viewed 58,000 times.

We can now say that thousands of people have been involved in the classes presented by FPE, both in student and adult venues. Enrollment in the K-12 classes is running at three times what it was at this time last year.

Twelve. Without the JBS, the entire conservative movement would probably have been co opted and diverted from effective action. The Article V fight is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to conservatives being misguided.

As an example: The solution is not to change the Constitution, it is to get everyone to adhere to the Constitution. Just as a balanced budget amendment is not a solution. The so-called budget does not include the spending for Social Security, Medicare, the Post Office, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae because these and more are considered off-budget. And, then, how can one even contemplate solving the federal budget deficit unless you factor in the Federal Reserve? You begin to see the problem of having a proper understanding of what is going on before you can have an effective solution ― yet none of the proponents of the Article V convention even discuss any of the aforementioned points.

There may not be total clarity by Americans as to the problems we face and their solutions, but without the JBS there would certainly be much less.

Thirteen. Finally, although we could continue on point by point, without the JBS perhaps you yourself may not have ever gotten involved. The work that you have done, and are doing, and will do into the future might not have existed.

Then look around you and determine what has been done by fellow members and what will be done in the future, simply because the JBS exists.

We are a long way away from victory. Yet we may be closer than we think. There are indications that there are large numbers of people, even members of Congress, who are beginning to get backbone.

The Conspiracy has a problem simultaneously moving forward interrelated parts of its agenda: If one or two parts are out of sync, it can delay all the rest of their plans. We believe that the successful campaign efforts of the Society on the United Nations and Support Your Local Police ultimately led to the facade of the death of communism. The Insiders had to slow down the communist program due to our education of the American people, who are the ultimate key to the success or failure of the global revolution.

The Conspiracy is very afraid of the American people. What we do as a country will have a bearing on the success or failure of the Insiders’ entire scheme. This makes the education of the American people so very vital. Not just education, but a level of understanding of what is wrong, who is behind it, and what is right and how to restore liberty as envisioned by our country’s Founders.

Educating and campaigns are the frosting on the cake. The cake itself is organization.

Children like the frosting. And, in this analogy, so does the average person. The frosting is everything most conservatives engage in or watch. It is the glitz of campaigns, marketing, and public relations. Lots of people can produce frosting. Few understand the need to build the tiers of cake that give it all substance and the basis for the frosting to even matter ― for the frosting is meant to aid in the appeal and flavor of the cake, not the other way around.

Yet most organizations are frosting without the cake.

Frosting is necessary in order to convince people that you are successful. The JBS has always been better at making the cake instead of icing it. And, the Insiders who control much of the media, academia, and other public venues have never allowed the JBS to play in their controlled field ― because they know to allow us access would help build the cake, and this they cannot tolerate.

The other problem with glitz is that it is expensive, and we would rather put our funding into things that matter in the long run: organization, in other words. And, we have proven over and over again that superior organization will defeat all the frosting glazed over an organization to make it look formidable whether it is conservative or doing the work of the Conspiracy.

And, that is why, more than anything, the other side attacks us.

2014 is a year of decision unlike any “off-year” election that we have seen in many generations. As such, it will be a year full of solutions presented by a myriad of political organizations and politicians. And all of them will be operating under the mantra of “get me/us elected and I/we will solve all of our problems.” It will also be the year of quick-fix “solutions,” such as an Article V Convention.

Can you imagine a weakened JBS because our members and supporters concentrate their money into political campaigns rather than education and the organization necessary to carry our mission forward? This condition would last long after the election year. The consequences could be catastrophic.

It is not simply the organization; it is our ability to do all we can to amass the wherewithal to effectively defeat the Con-Con and the current spate of foreign entanglements.

In light of this, we ask you to consider supporting The John Birch Society. Can you consider at this time a gift of $2,000 or $1,000 to carry our action projects forward? Small and large gifts will strengthen our opportunities to extend liberty to our heirs and to future generations. As always, we do not pretend to know your present giving situation, but we must ask.

Those sending in $200 or more will receive a signed copy of my new book, “International Merger by Foreign Entanglements.” It sounds dry ― but it isn’t. It is a good read and very quotable, even if I do say so myself! We are seeing people starting to order the book by the case for large distribution, and we are going into a second printing after being released for only one month. To receive this, please mention the book in the comment field when making your online donation.

Regardless of your decision, we want you to know that we appreciate each and every one of you and what you are doing to save our Constitutional Republic. Thank you!