By Jennifer Rae Vliet
There are currently approximately 3,300 sheriffs in America.
Did you know that the sheriff is the top legal authority above the governor of his or her state? Not only does the sheriff rank above the governor but he or she also ranks above their state police, their state Commissioner, the military, the FBI, and the President. That is a pretty special badge to wear.
The sheriff’s top duty is to be the guardian of the Constitution and to stop the overreaching of the federal government. Additionally, they are to stop any criminality against its state’s people. The sheriff is a protected and constitutionally elected representative of the people.
There is a great example Krisanne presented a few years back of a sheriff who has done his job and has done it well by the people of the state of Indiana. His name is Brad Rogers who at the present time no longer is the sheriff (yet is running for commissioner) as he had termed out, but he took on the task of protecting Middlebury raw milk farm in Elkhart County, Indiana. The feds, specifically the FDA and the USDA were coming down on this organic co-op and raw dairy provider claiming their unpasteurized product was making people sick…that they were a harm to their community. Sounds similar to what has been happening to the Amish family business, The Miller Organic Farm in Pennsylvania which begs the question: Where is the sheriff in their county? Because as you will see, Sheriff Brad Rogers in his own county, implemented his power and jurisdiction and usurped the take down of a small business from federal governmental overreach. This very action makes him a great example of how We the People need to wake up and take the necessary steps toward taking back the power to protect our states, our people, our businesses, our land…and protect our liberties from the federal government! Just as our Founding Fathers intended for it to be…to have sovereign states!
Listen to this…Sheriff Rogers handled the overreach by sending a letter to the USDA telling them that if they enter his county again to serve any type of a warrant without going to him first with their concerns, that he will jail their agents for trespassing! YES, a sheriff can literally jail the feds…and for trespassing! Go back and read that again. Rogers proceeded with a press release, and he handled it. That stopped the 5-year plight of the feds against the Middlebury Farm and Co-op (in 2016), stopping them from getting their grubby tyrannical hands on a thriving small business that apparently is too much of a threat to their existence. Rogers humbly said that he is no hero and that he was, “just doing his job. He was doing his job because he knew what his job was. Knowing what your job duties are is important! If there are other sheriffs handling their states as such and we don’t know about it, it is most likely because the media absolutely does not want to cover something so POWERFUL that teaches how POWERFUL We the People can be.
The History of the Shire-Reeve
Let’s explore some history about the Shire-Reeve. The sheriff came into existence around the 9th century. This makes him the oldest continuing non-military, law enforcement entity in history. In England originally, land was divided geographically and referred to as shires. Each shire had a guardian which was called a reeve. The common folk selected the reeves to be somewhat of a leader and the kings saw their influence amongst the serfs and incorporated the Shire-Reeve into their governmental structure. This is how we get what we know today as the “sheriff”. As I walk you through history today as to what the sheriff would become, please note that the deliberate development of the sheriff was about protecting the common folk and about keeping the power of the royals to a controllable level by law and to establish that the royals would never be above the law. This created the checks and balance system that we unfortunately have forgotten about or abandoned in the present day.
So, dating back to 849 with King Alfred in power, the Shire-Reeve held their position of authority just under that of the King.
In 1014 it should be noted that this was when the monarchy started to face limitations and over time many Kings had come and gone…so we can fast forward to the year 1100 when the Charter of Liberties was established. This charter established principles of church and state and began to address the abuse of royal power. Simply put, this became the first written promise that the government will not be discriminatory, evil or oppressive.
A strong moment in history for the sheriff occurred in 1215 where King John was in power. The issue at hand was in regards to taxation. The real transformation of the sheriff went into effect at this time. This was when the Magna Carta was born.
In clause 61, it states that the sheriff is no longer a hireling of the government but now works for the people. This was a document that the King signed promising the right of the people to redress grievances. As an aside, in digging in to some history, it was not Jefferson who established the right to redress as some are being mistaught about in history classes these days…but continuing on with the Magna Carta…it was intentional in furthering the rights of the people that if no redress was given within 40 days after a representative brought such grievances to the King, your individual rights would be restored as well as your property (this is due process, folks). It states that the King may be “assailed upon and restrained to cease”. This is if the King does not make you whole, you have the liberty to forcefully cease and assail with support of the whole community and can confiscate everything of his…that includes even the Kings castle, the contents, their belongings and their families belongings.
This sticks until you are made whole and thus in turn, the Magna Carta deputizes the sheriff!
He therefore doesn’t work for the baron anymore; he becomes the baron and is connected directly to THE PEOPLE.
This transformation is the key that unlocks the door to the sheriff having the power to protect us from the government who would be acting like a criminal. Ding, ding, ding, insert our current government, who is allowing the invasion and putting up roadblocks and literal threats directed at the states who are attempting to protect its citizens and land.
In the Federalist Papers, specifically paper 51, we have the codification of the sheriff by James Madison. This distinguishes out the power of the sheriff as supreme, and independently so in his position AND as having the power to control government. This is crucial for We the People to hold dear. This is the checks and balances portion of our existence that establishes the protection of We the Peoples power. Have we forgotten this? Are we just not taught this in school? Krisanne Hall ~ “Kings know how to oppress…WE have to learn how to protect ourselves”.
Clearly our Founding Fathers saw the importance of keeping the sheriff as a prominent and influential part of the new America.
So, this should help you see the purity and significance in what the right kind of power and checks and balances can hold. It allows a place for us to live in peace, where there are boundaries and order and safety. Within those boundaries, you have a place where you know what to expect and what is expected of you and you can expect to live as a free people, a safe people, a thriving people.
The sheriff was and is empowered by ‘We the People‘ at the state and local level and is kept in check as he helps keep society in check. Most importantly, he is given the power to keep the federal government in check! The states created the federal government and therefore, the federal government is there to serve, if needed, the states. When (not if) the federal government has the tendency to overreach, the sheriff can step in and set things back to good so to speak and make things right again.
Think about this as it relates to the border fiasco in real time.
Where are our sheriffs?
As an aside, it cannot be stressed enough how we can empower our sheriffs, but we also have the ability to tear them down and allow the stripping of their power and influence. Look at Delaware, the perfect example. Joe Biden had done just that; he had reduced the sheriff to nothing in that state.
This all is to show you what we need to make right in our own counties and our own states…and who we need to hold accountable. We need to understand how important electing the right governor is and how crucial electing the right man and woman to serve as sheriff, is. We now understand how important it is that they know their job and have We the People encouraging them on to do the right thing. We need to get with our sheriffs if the governors especially are not following the Constitutions. How could it be that just within the last 50 years or so we have abandoned the checks and balances put in place for us that protects the power of We the People? All of this can be put back in order with education and action. To have the knowledge that we are the keeper of these truths we can be propelled with the confidence we need to make the changes we need to make.
We have a failed and corrupt system that needs to be made right. We have very few sheriffs that have taken a stand against this very system.
Who will stand up? The time is now.