The Way to Win.

Interview of G. Vance Smith

To preserve American independence and freedom, dogged determination must be combined with a sound strategy for victory. The John Birch Society provides both.

G. Vance Smith is chief executive officer of The John Birch Society. The JBS, founded in 1958 by Robert Welch, is a nationwide, membership-based organization working for the restoration of our national independence and the preservation of our constitution.

THE NEW AMERICAN: In the wake of the recent terrorist attack upon our nation, many Americans might find it difficult to believe that the United Nations represents an immediate threat to our liberties and our way of life. How would you respond to such opinions?

G. Vance Smith: There are two critically important facts about the September 11th attack that are being ignored almost entirely. The first is that it illustrates the immediate need for our country to focus upon defending our homeland -- and this will require that we disengage from UN-supervised "peacekeeping" missions and our other foreign entanglements and create a military devoted entirely to defending our nation. The second important fact is that the United Nations should be called "Terrorists 'R' Us." Scores of the nations represented in the UN are dictatorships that were brought to power through terrorism; just think of Communist Cuba, Vietnam, Cambodia, Zimbabwe, the current South African government, Namibia, Angola -- the list goes on and on. For decades the UN General Assembly has warmly welcomed terrorists like Yasser Arafat and Fidel Castro. In the weeks prior to the attack on our country Secretary-General Kofi Annan was in South Africa at a UN world conference on "racism" -- which was actually noth ing more than a pep rally for America's enemies.

TNA: When did The John Birch Society first focus its attention upon the UN threat?

GVS: From its very beginning, the Society focused upon the UN threat. In our founding meeting in 1958 Robert Welch warned of a conspiracy to "induce the gradual surrender of American sovereignty, piece by piece and step by step, to various international organizations -- of which the United Nations is the outstanding but far from the only example." This statement boldly contradicted the conventional thinking of the time, and it took courage and insight on the part of Mr. Welch to see and speak out about the subject back then.

The UN, according to Mr. Welch, was the primary focus of the efforts of internationalists -- that is, people in this country and elsewhere who support world government -- to subvert our national independence and build a "new world order." This insidious effort won a major victory in 1945 when Americans, tired of war and enchanted with the prospect of perpetual peace, allowed the Senate to ratify our membership in the UN. Mr. Welch warned that our involvement in the UN wouldn't bring peace; instead, it would mean the steady erosion of our sovereignty and our individual liberties. He also warned that our UN membership would mean continued involvement in foreign wars, which would undermine the respect and support our nation had enjoyed prior to World War II.

What Mr. Welch understood was that our nation's involvement in the UN is the very root of our most pressing problems. There are scores of conservative or traditionalist organizations that are dealing with single issues that are branches of the problem, whether it's gun control, abortion, education, taxation, or what have you. But while these good people are pruning away the branches, the roots are sinking in and getting stronger. If the UN succeeds in destroying our national sovereignty, we'll lose all the single-issue fights.

TNA: Can The John Birch Society point to any victories in the fight against the UN?

GVS: The Society began its Get US out! campaign in January 1962, but even before we inaugurated that formal effort we waged a successful battle against a campaign to turn Christmas into a festival of UN propaganda. In the late 1950s we learned of a well-orchestrated campaign by some very powerful interests to have major department store chains across the country substitute the United Nations insignia for conventional Christmas decorations in their display windows and throughout their Stores. Christmas is a time when we celebrate the birth of Christ, He who truly offers peace and justice to our wounded world -- and the UN's supporters were trying to convert that holy season into a celebration of humanistic "brotherhood" under the supposedly benevolent reign of the UN. But this blasphemous campaign was turned back within a year as a result of the effective efforts of Society members, who not only wrote dignified letters of protest to the management of targeted department stores, but also attracted the support o f others in this campaign.

It is interesting to read the literature and policy proposals published by the UN and its supporters during the 1950s and early 1960s. Books like World Peace Through World Law [1958], classified U.S. Government studies like A World Effectively Controlled by the United Nations [1962], and official U.S. State Department proposals like Freedom From War and Blueprint for the Peace Race [1961 and 1962, respectively] all made it clear that the internationalists expected to be able to railroad our nation into world government within a relatively short period of time. And they might have succeeded were it not for the efforts of the JBS to inform the public of the danger and mobilize effective resistance.

What we're describing here is a conspiracy to create a world government. The most effective weapon against a conspiracy is exposure, and the JBS exposed these subversive designs to the public -- through our books, magazines, and other literature, as well as through lectures, films, and most importantly through the work of volunteer chapters across the nation. I do not say this to boast, but rather to underscore the importance of what we are doing. Without The John Birch Society, there would have been no organized resistance to the United Nations; without such resistance, we likely would be living under a one-world dictatorship already.

TNA: You mentioned that the Society's campaign to get the U.S. out of the UN began in 1962. What's distinctive about this new campaign?

GYS: The environment in which we're working has changed in significant ways. There are new opportunities, and new challenges -- and the Society is equipped with some valuable tools that we haven't had before.

The most important new opportunity is the "American Sovereignty Restoration Act," which was first presented by Representative Ron Paul (R-Texas) in 1997. It earned the support of 54 members of the House that year and has been reintroduced in each new Congress. There's a long way to go, obviously, but this is still very encouraging in light of the fact that this bill is the first serious legislative effort to emancipate our nation from the UN. We believe that this represents the value of our long-term efforts to educate and mobilize the public.

Another opportunity, ironically, is provided by the brazenness of the globalists in pursuing their designs. The danger that Mr. Welch foresaw several decades ago is now right before our eyes. When good Americans see the dangers they are ready for leadership. So this presents us with not only the opportunity, but also the necessity, to escalate our campaign.

The foundation of our new campaign is the new book The United Nations Exposed by William F. Jasper, which is the definitive, detailed indictment of the UN and its designs. The most valuable contribution of Jasper's book is a key point that many less informed UN critics consistently miss: The UN is not a foreign power that seeks to conquer our nation from outside, but rather a vehicle being used by home-grown globalists to seize power. Jasper's book also exposes the ways in which the globalists create the illusion of "consensus" - that is, public support - for their designs. Once he takes the time to study Jasper's book, the honest reader will not only be entirely convinced of the UN's evil designs, but he will understand the various deceptions being used by internationalists to achieve those goals.

Tire United Nations Exposed is the major weapon in our campaign, but our arsenal includes numerous other educational and publicity weapons as well.

TNA: We've seen a new set of bumper stickers and billboards for the campaign. Is it realistic to think that mere slogans can defeat the threat you've described?

GVS: If all we had at our disposal were mere slogans -- or, for that matter, only literature and videos -- we couldn't hope to make a difference. Some have suggested that all conservatives need to do is disseminate good literature, or maintain websites, or even set up television networks, in order to win our battles. This assumes that we can somehow win by being mere "hearers of the word" -- passive consumers, rather than active citizens.

Too many Americans, once they become aware of the dangers to our nation, look for quick, easy, effortless solutions. Often those solutions take the form of Washington, D.C.-based organizations who send out direct-mail pitches promising that they will solve our problems for us if we will just send them a few dollars every month. The John Birch Society doesn't operate that way, and we never will.

The JBS does have a national headquarters -- in Wisconsin, part of "fly-over America," rather than in Washington -- and we maintain a full-time field staff. We do produce high-quality educational materials as well. But the true strength of our organization resides in our volunteer leaders and members who understand that our battles must be fought in each congressional district. The key to victory is to attack the enemy at his weakest point. The internationalists are weakest where we are the strongest, and that's at the congressional district level. Congress can literally kill the UN by shutting down its access to taxpayer funds. To bring this about, we must have a national effort, focused in each congressional district, to restore constitutional integrity to the House of Representatives. The John Birch Society's national staff provides the tools, the leadership, and the organization to help Americans win the battle for freedom and independence within their own congressional districts. That is our plan for vi ctor