Kelly Meggs
Editor’s Note: We are honored to feature a significant essay written by Kelly Meggs, the former Florida leader of the Oath Keepers, who is currently serving a lengthy sentence in federal prison as a J6er. His story is told in our February 12, 2024 issue — “America’s Political Prisoners: One J6er’s Story.”
This essay, which has been edited for style and clarity, provides an intimate and heartfelt perspective of a true patriot who has been at the forefront of a national tragedy — one that has impacted the lives of countless individuals across the country, and one that he is forced to live daily. His unique retrospection is shaped by personal experience and profound empathy, and he brings to light truths often lost in the midst of today’s convoluted and confusing narrative.
This piece, written on July 4, is a tribute to resilience, compassion, and the indomitable spirit that made our nation great. It is a reminder of the wisdom of our Founding Fathers in establishing a constitutional republic. Drawing on the insights gleaned from his own challenging experiences, Kelly defends their foresight with a passion that often marks the aftermath of such tragedies as the one he knows so intimately.
We believe that this essay will resonate deeply with our readers. It serves as a poignant reminder of the goal for which we all pray and strive: “that freedom shall not perish.” As you read through this powerful narrative, we encourage you to reflect on the broader implications of Kelly’s enduring spirit of true patriotism.
We are grateful to Kelly for his courage and willingness to share this personal journey with us. His insights provide an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the fundamentals of good government and the enduring hope that emerges from even the darkest of times. We hope his thoughts inspire you.
On the holiday that virtually started it all [Independence Day], I sit here imprisoned for my right to peacefully protest.
The Fourth of July is our day to celebrate the Declaration of Independence, signed as a letter of defiance to the Crown back in England. It has always been my favorite holiday, not only due to the combined use of alcoholic beverages and fireworks, but because to me it always represented what it meant to be an American and our willingness to stand up as the bastion of hope against empires of evil around the world. Our Forefathers were willing to sacrifice everything they had to stand up and fight for our independence, knowing it would lead to absolute ridicule, torture, and even death for many of the signers of the Declaration. They stood strong; they stood proud and signed their names.
This was a powerful first step, but the new Nation nearly failed just a few short years later.
Our original Articles of Confederation were not working quite as the signers had hoped. We were destined to become a failed nation just as many of those before us. However, their acknowledgment of this initial failure is what gave us the greatest document the world has ever seen.
Kelly Meggs (Kelly Meggs)
Our Founding Fathers met at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, when our real independence as individuals was declared. Delegates produced the U.S. Constitution. Properly followed, it could actually create the only nation to last forever.
It is the Constitution that still holds strong today. We have seen it in action recently in many decisions only made possible by the constitutionally dictated separation of powers. The single biggest protection in our founding document was this separation that was originally argued by Federalists and Anti-Federalists. Ultimately this concept is often overlooked by average Americans in their everyday lives. But to me, in the past few years, it has become obvious that this was the single biggest failsafe installed in the Constitution. In Federalist 78, Alexander Hamilton wrote that we needed “to guard the rights of individuals from … serious oppressions” and that “it is our responsibility to firmly and flexibly resist any effort by the legislature to seize judicial power for itself.”
This is the key to our Republic and its continued success.
I have personally experienced the attack from hijacked legislative and executive branches, and have even been the victim of corruption in the judicial branch. Thankfully, although the lower-level courts appear to have been corrupted politically, the appellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court have stepped in and lived up to what the Founders planned more than 200 years ago.
Overturning the Chevron deference case, thus restricting bureaucratic agencies from manipulating the law, and the Fischer case, correcting a clear error in the decision by corrupted lower courts that had used U.S. law improperly against J6ers, has shown how this system was designed not to fail.
The recent presidential immunity case was a victory for the former president, but it will be seen in the future how this decision plays out. The term “be careful what you wish for” plays repeatedly in my head.
Never have two weeks shown how powerful our Constitution is, and even more importantly, the above-mentioned safeguard of the separation of powers.
We all need to take time and fully understand the separation of powers and how crucial it is that it be strictly maintained in order to keep our government in check.
Today it is easy to pull for your president to stack the Supreme Court and to hope the justices all vote along party lines when big decisions are to be made. But we all need to clearly understand that party lines on many occasions over the years have gone beyond constitutional boundaries.
We need judges on all levels who do not have political bias. Even the slightest hint of political motivation needs to be weeded out instantly. These judges need to be honorable, as their title once implied. I don’t think I can honestly use that term after what I have seen in the last few years. None of these cases should have been before the Supreme Court. Why were they? That’s the question the media isn’t asking.
In order to survive, our country depends on the separation of powers more than any other provision of the U.S. Constitution.
So every time we enjoy our freedoms and celebrate our nation’s independence, we need to stop just for a moment, hold up a favorite beverage, and salute those men who not only dared to stand up against the Crown, but also had the foresight to build a system of government that, if followed, would allow our country to survive longer than even they could have imagined.