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By Myrica Hawker
The book is about an incident in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in August 1992 that took the lives of Weaver's wife, Vicky, and 14-year-old son, Sam, a tragedy that Mack says was the result of big government. According to "Remembering Randy Weaver," an article by Wally Conger, a U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent hired Weaver in 1991 to illegally cut off the barrels of two shotguns. Weaver was arrested and asked for information about the Aryan Nation group he was affiliated with, which he refused to give. Weaver wouldn't go to court for the firearms charge. For 18 months, the U.S. Marshals Service watched the family's isolated mountain cabin. On Aug. 21, "Six trained government marksmen wearing ski masks and camouflage and armed with automatic weapons equipped with silencers, crept up on the Weaver cabin without warning or warrant and without identifying themselves." Striker, the family's dog, was shot first by these snipers, and then Sam and Vicky. The action was "inappropriate, out-of-line, a huge overreaction and perhaps even murder," Mack said. Mack said the book explains the situation and lets you decide for yourself. Mack read a quote from Weaver's lawyer, Gerry Spence, that is on the back of the book, a quote he believes expresses what the United States is currently facing. "When we have lived under a pernicious power long enough, no matter how oppressive, we grow so accustomed to the yoke that its removal seems frightening, even wrong," Spence said. What Rosa Parks did by refusing to move to the back of the bus is exactly what it will take today to fight a government that has overstepped its boundaries -- people willing to take a stand and not get in the back of the bus, Mack said. Mack is going to run for governor of Utah. Mack says Utah's government needs to first take back its land from the federal government, which owns 73 percent of the state. He said this violates its constitutional authority. The Legislature allowed President Clinton to create Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument without anyone doing anything about it other than Gov. Mike Leavitt getting a little mad, Mack said. Second, Mack wants to fulfill Ronald Reagan's goal that he failed to do -- get the federal Education Department abolished. America doesn't need the federal government running and controlling the curriculum in Utah, Mack said. "I want to be left alone and I want the same for you," Mack said. Mack addressed the situation of the Jensen family being ordered by the state to treat their son with chemotherapy. "I might disagree with Mr. and Mrs. Jensen. . . . But quite honestly, it's none of my damn business, and if it's none of my damn business, then it's none of government's either," Mack said. Mack disagrees with government placing itself in a position of forcing free citizens "to subject themselves to the opinion of government." Mack told a story of a time while on vacation in Hawaii that, while watching a beautiful sunset, he noticed a Japanese family carrying three relatives in wheelchairs to the water's edge so they could enjoy the beach. Mack was touched by their love and when it came time for this family to carry their relatives off the beach, he noticed the man and his son were struggling to carry the heavier woman. Mack offered to help, not because he wanted money or fanfare, but because he felt guilty not helping and he wanted to be caring like these people for a moment, Mack said. Mack asked himself if helping these people would have done as much for him or meant anything to the family if a government official had been there ordering him to help. "Charity must remain an individual choice or it's not charity, it's Big Brother," Mack said. Mack said that America has become a place where if we don't help, we will be put on the streets and lose our homes, cars, bank accounts and jobs. Americans are not able to just live by the golden rule and its cousin "live and let live," Mack said. Mack says if you invite government, or as he calls it "Big Brother," in to deal with one issue, it'll be involved in all areas. Mack said he doesn't drink, smoke or do drugs, but he also won't support a government that forces other people not to. Mack is asking for government to stay within its means, go back to the Constitution perameters and for its officials to keep their oaths -- an oath such as the one Olene Walker took Wednesday when being sworn in as governor to uphold, obey and defend the U.S. Constitution. "I will tell you this right now, I believe she lied. Olene Walker, I don't know you as a person, but I know you as a politician and I believe she will promote gun control. . . . I do believe that Olene Walker, and she's not alone, just about every politician in this state violates their oath because they swear to uphold and obey the United States Constitution. It doesn't take you five minutes to find out that the Second Amendment [guaranteeing gun ownership] is being violated," Mack said. Mack challenged audience members to look at today's key political issues, whether they be education, the environment or taxation, and ask what has been done by either the Republicans or the Democrats to make them better. Mack then asked, if we are going to live in America and if America is going to survive, do we think on its present course it will achieve the liberty and freedom outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution? From studying history, Mack said he would be very fearful of the answer to that question. Mack read a statement Weaver made in the book: "America can be revived. Yes, even through my bitterness and distrust I still believe in miracles."
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