Volunteerism Can Be Thankless Exercise in Real Citzenship
July 1, 2005

by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor

Volunteerism is something most gun-rights activists understand. After all, the right to keep and bear arms has been defended at the state, national and local level for the past 50 to 60 years by volunteer activists. Unpaid volunteers are the muscle of local clubs, regional organizations, state associations and coalitions.

Sure, a few groups have been successful in their fund-raising and through grants to have a few paid staff members. But the real strength of the gun-rights movement comes from tens of thousands of volunteers, people who devote their own time and resources to a cause they believe in. These are the people who help candidates and vote, who turn out for public hearings, who write letters to the editor and public officials, who help educate other interested citizens, and do a thousand often thankless tasks necessary for the survival of a club or organization.

Perhaps this natural spirit of personal involvement and volunteerism in the gun rights movement is one reason why the Minuteman Project of volunteer border watchers has resonated so well among gunowners. Of course, much of the Minuteman support comes from the general public as well, people for whom the question of illegal immigration has become an issue of growing national concern.

Volunteer activists for whatever cause are people who are concerned enough about what someone else is trying to do to them or is not doing for them that they will step forward to devote their energy to stop the anti-gunners or, in the case of the Minutemen, to force the government to do what it should be doing.

Volunteerism PSAs
Now the government has usually been keen on volunteerism, since volunteers cost less money than professionals. In fact, some years ago the government even encouraged the National Advertising Council to create public service ads (PSA) for television, radio, newspapers and magazines that promote the spirit of volunteering. However, like Pandora and her box, the government isn’t always happy with the results. Washington wants you to volunteer only for the tasks of which the current government approves.

I’m not sure how many people who volunteered for the Minuteman Project even remember seeing a government-sponsored PSA urging volunteerism. But whether or not anyone does, the Minuteman volunteers certainly know by now that many in the government never meant volunteerism that interfered with government policies.

The Minutemen who lined areas of the border between Mexico and Arizona in April know by now that they have been criticized by the President, vilified as vigilantes and racists, and marginalized by much of the media.

Following their success in Arizona and the display of a welcome mat by the governor of California, the Minutemen are now headed for Texas, with about 100 leaders ready to start border activity in the Lone Star State, according to WorldNetDaily.com.

The Minuteman Project, the citizen border patrol that virtually stopped illegal crossings from Mexico in a highly trafficked 23-mile area of Arizona, is taking its activities to another popular spot for illegal entry to the US—the Lone Star State. Then there will be California and maybe New Mexico.

According to a statement from the organization, the first authorized Texas affiliate of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps was scheduled to begin training and recruiting for operations in mid-June in Goliad, TX, a city with historical links to the defense of the Alamo. The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps Inc. is a new national organization founded by Chris Simcox, co-founder of the original Minuteman Project in Arizona.

Though some Texas officials are wary of a Minuteman Project taking root on the border, the largest Border Patrol union in the nation declared its support for the citizen volunteer movement in Arizona.

Texas Governor
While some officials and organizations have been hostile to the Minutemen volunteers, Texas Gov. Rick Perry told a group of state senators that he will not interfere with a planned border watch along the Rio Grande River by citizens.

According to The Washington Times, while Perry said he is opposed to the idea of private citizens patrolling the border, he also made it clear that he would not interfere with their plans.

He said policy changes are necessary to change the situation of runaway illegal immigration along the southern US border.

The Texas governor urged the federal government to tighten border security. He said if that doesn’t happen soon, the government better prepare for more Minuteman vigils.

“The federal government can and must do more to close the border to illegal immigration,” Perry stated.

Minuteman organizer James T. Gilchrist, whose 850 volunteers shut down the flow of illegal aliens along a section of Arizona-Mexico border in April, has joined forces with another citizens group to help organize a new border vigil in California—beginning in August.

The Minuteman Project has reached an agreement with the Friends of the Border Patrol (FBP) to help promote a new “border watch” aimed at assisting Border Patrol agents in apprehending illegal aliens on the California border near San Diego.

FBP Chairman Andy Ramirez said more than 500 volunteers have signed up to patrol areas of the California-Mexico border in August, including former Border Patrol agents, retired police and military personnel and pilots. He said in early June that at least 2,000 more applications from volunteers nationwide are still being reviewed.

Ramirez, who formed FBP in August as a citizen’s advocacy group to support the Border Patrol, said that America “was built on the spirit of volunteerism” and that “citizens volunteering to defend our nation in time of war and crisis is a time-honored American tradition.”

“The job of the volunteers will be to watch the borders, avoid any physical encounter, monitor and observe, and contact the Border Patrol. That is the bottom line,” he said, putting the blame for the problem on President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox. “If President Bush would stop obstructing the Border Patrol and stop carrying out Fox’s immigration policies for the US, none of this would be necessary.”

Policy Failures
FBP’s vigil is being called to highlight the failure of Congress and the Bush Administration to secure America’s borders from illegal aliens and terrorists, Ramirez said.

Of course, there were reports from about a dozen Border Patrol agents in Arizona that they had been ordered not to arrest illegal aliens along the section of the Arizona border where protesters patrolled in April because an increase in apprehensions there would prove the effectiveness of Minuteman volunteers, but Border Patrol Chief David V. Aquilar denied that any station had blocked agents from making arrests.

Some in the media called the Minutemen volunteers “vigilantes,” and other names, while other said they were doing the dirty work that “the government won’t do.” There were those who tried to marginalize the Minutemen volunteers by saying that many of them were right wing crazies and “sorry-ass gun nuts,” but there were also uninvolved citizen beneficiaries of the Minuteman Arizona watch that thanked the volunteers in letters to the editor. Those who lived closest to the one section of Arizona-Mexico border were thankful that they were able to sleep most nights.

In spite of the fact that there is a pro-immigration faction in America that cannot see a difference between legal and illegal immigration, and that the American Civil Liberties Union and their volunteers were watching the watchers, there were no reports of illegal or hostile clashes. As the Arizona watch began, there were more reporters and photographers on hand then there were Minutemen at any one time. Still there were no newsworthy incidents.

Being a volunteer is not easy, neither is commitment to a cause. Those who have volunteered for the Second Amendment and been both vilified and thanked for their efforts can easily appreciate how the Minutemen feel, especially with a government that encourages volunteerism, but just not their kind.
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