Truth, Freedom, Prosperity: Committees of Safety

Click here to visit the official Committees of Safety page.

Coming on the heels of our national petition drive, July 4th, we will have clout when networking with our state legislators. They expect over 6,000 state legislators, aids, etc. to be attending. We need to be here! We have reserved a booth at this event (The booth for the week is $1775, and are happily accepting donations to help cover the costs). Walter Reddy will be there for the week, networking with the state legislators. Dr. Edwin Vieira is working on coming, while Committees of Safety are working on having him address the state legislators at the main event. (We need to also cover hotel, travel, food & registration fees). The Pennsylvania Committees of Safety volunteers will help man our booth and network with the state legislators.

Please chip in $5, $10, $50, whatever you can afford now so we can make this happen. Anyone who donates $500 or more is invited to dinner with Edwin Vieira.

"Today as a nation we are experiencing tremendous change and uncertainty. Now, more than ever, state legislatures and leaders are challenged to provide solutions and strategic vision for America. The NCSL Legislative Summit in Philadelphia is the only place where state lawmakers, legislative staff and national policy experts from across the country converge to share ideas, best practices and strategies. It’s essential for the best minds and strongest leaders to come together to debate solutions to the challenges facing states. Attend the Summit and be part of the genius."

The original Committees of Safety were composed of actual members of the States’ legislatures- generally, recognized activists and other leaders within the States- who were appointed to the Committees by the legislatures, to serve as the legislatures’ agents and advisors, and to carry on the legislatures’ work during recesses. The Committees were never independent of the legislatures, and never carried out any plans that were not approved by the legislatures.

The chief concern of the Committees was the safety of the public: “to put the territory under their supervision in a state of defense and maintain it there effectively”. [Agnes Hunt, The Provincial Committees of Safety of the American Revolution (Cleveland, Ohio: Western Reserve University, 1904), at 161.] The Committees also tried to fit their plans and activities into a broader pattern suitable for the States as a whole, by frequent communications among themselves.
Overall, [t]hese men gave their time and strength willingly to the cause and worked untiringly for the defense of their province. Often no pay was given them, often they were obliged to take depreciated paper.

It was no easy task that the Committees undertook. They were obliged to overcome the inertia that attends the starting of any movement; to contend against incredulity, fear, and discouragement until they could make results justify their acts. The Committees placed [defense of public] on an effective basis, and the state government merely continued the work it had begun. [Hunt, at 156]

Although modern Committees of Safety are not groups specifically commissioned by their State legislatures, they are performing a function equivalent to, and as important as, those of the original Committees of Safety : namely, advising State legislators on constitutionally correct manner in which to structure "security of a free State” . Moreover, at this time, the Committees of Safety are the only groups performing such a function inside or outside of any State’s legislatures.

The Committees of Safety is a national organization. We are composed of Americans from all walks of life who volunteer at the local community level - neighborhood, town, city, county, and State - who exercise their constitutional rights of association, speech, and petition through non-partisan, non-violent, public education and legislation and legislative activism for the purpose of restoring a "constitutional system of security and defense" in their own States what the Constitution declares as “necessary to the security of a free State” throughout the United States . To this end, the Committees of Safety will :

1.*Organize activists and concerned citizens to attend our town, county and State Committee of Safety meetings;

2.*Build a coalition of others within our community including our State representatives and State senators to attend our meetings and become members of the Committees of Safety;

3.*Form sub-committees to work on the most pressing security issues for the State ( for ex.1. Security of our money, 2. Security and preparedness for natural or man made disasters and 3. Security of our vote count, etc.)

4.*Circulate petitions in our communities, that call for a "Constitutional system of security and defense for a free State" ( those signing should indicate if they will also volunteer in some capacity when the bill is enacted)

5.*Propose - and where possible actually draft - model legislation.

All of this to be accomplished one State at a time, restoring the system of community defense crucial to a “Republican Form of Government” in each State through the efforts of the people themselves - true “government of the People, by the People, and for the People”.

Dr. Edwin Vieira on Alex Jones 2/09