It may be that the biggest single problem confronting the liberty-minded is the existence of a large (and growing) American proletariat. There have always been poor people, of course. But the proletariat is distinct from people who are merely lower down on the economic totem pole – or down on their luck. 
I am just now finishing up a book about the Dust Bowl in the 1930s by Timothy Egan, The Worst Hard Time (see here). In it, you read of people who endured real poverty – as in, starvation poverty, living in a sod-walled, dirt-floored “dugout” in Oklahoma. No electricity – much less TeeVee (let alone a flat-screen TeeVee with Netflix streaming set up in front of a Rent-a-Center sofa in an air-conditioned Section 8 apartment with a refrigerator full of EBT-acquired food ). And of how reluctant – how ashamed – these people (most of them) were to even ask for government assistance. And when they did ask, in their utter desperation, all they wanted was enough help to keep them from literally dying – and to help them get back to work.
The gibs muh dat mentality so cancerously pervasive today was all-but-nonexistent then. People who could work but didn’t – and lived off those who did – were viewed as pariahs, as maggots. Even the most penniless sodbuster had moral standards rarely found today among the affluent middle classes. 1930s Americans had been raised to believe in a day’s work for a day’s pay – and viewed with suspicion and contempt people who didn’t work and yet still demanded a day’s pay.
Communism didn’t take root here then for that reason.
America, circa 1932, was still heady with the fumes of the late 18th century and its deeply entrenched notions of individual responsibility (the corollary of individual rights), thrift, delayed gratification – and self-reliance. Most people wanted to live by the sweat of their brows, not by the sweat of the brows of others. And the corollary of that was a similarly entrenched belief system which held that what you owned was yours – by dint of your hard work. The wealth envy and resentment so commonplace now was much less in evidence as recently as 80 years ago – a mere generation or two in the rearview mirror.
Today, socialism (that is, communism taking its time) is all around us. We are immersed in it.
Because we now have a proletariat. Millions who want what you have because you have it – and they don’t. And who will use any means available to take it from you.
These people cannot be reasoned with. They feel, they want – and they hate. Your quaint notions about property rights being the essential foundation of human rights are like the Latin scrolls of Cicero trampled underfoot by the hordes of the Germanic chieftan Odoacer as Rome slipped forever into that long good night. 
And when these modern-day hordes get a leader – a latter-day Odoacer or Lenin or Hitler – they will become as a swarm of locusts, destroying everything in their path. That old piece of parchment, you know the Constitution of the United States and most especially the Bill of Rights – may survive in some monkish reading room. But only as relics of a forgotten era, to be puzzled over by future scholars parsing the unfamiliar words, the odd language… . For a window into this future, visit YouTube sometime and watch an episode of the original Star Trek series titled The Omega Glory (see here).
Or watch this clip:
The American proletariat really worries me – more than any other single thing. Because it will require a police state to contain it – or it will become the state.
I suspect we are headed for one of two likely outcomes: A Latin American-style strong-arm government, in which the proletariat is kept in check (and chained) by extreme brutality. Think Juan Peron – or current Mexico.
Or, the proletariat will sweep away the current order and we end up with an American Soviet Union – or Cuba. Possibly even an American Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, where any vestige of having been a member of the middle class – such as possessing spectacles or being able to read – often lead to a ditch by the road. And a bullet in the back of one’s head. 
Think of the casual, gleeful violence of the flash mobs erupting across the land. They are not characterized by desperate people looking merely to grab a loaf of bread a la Jean Valjean. They are destroyers – vandals and looters, whose purpose is mayhem for its own sake.
For the moment they are disparate and disorganized. But it will only take a Che or a Vladimir Illych to corral and focus their hate. And when that day comes, it will not be reasoned arguments about the rights of the individual and the virtues of a civilized order that determine the outcome.
It will be violence, given in equal proportion to that received. And it will be horrible – regardless of the end result. If the old ideas about the sanctity of the individual somehow survive, they will only have done so at a tremendous cost, to be borne on the shoulders of us all.
God help us.
So when is it time to send the Praetorian Guard to rot in hell for dishonoring their oath to the Constitution? For without that oath, they are nothing more than Thugs with Guns…
Why don’t they sell Opel’s in the US?
Well, they’ve tried at least once (Cadillac Catera = Opel Omega). But Opel is GM’s European brand, and so its cars are targeted at the European market, which is different than the US market. Same with Holden – GM’s export operation in Australia, etc.
“The Wall Street banksters, for example, who used their monetary influence over the government to get the government to “bail them out … ”
After having been enabled to thusly position themselves through the fedgov’s repeal of Glass-Steagal!
What an elegant symbiosis.
As a ntualized U.S. citizen from Taiwan, I am so frightened to read this article, which is very prophetic in nature. Should Obama be elected for a 2nd term, I can assure you that he will become Burack Osama and that will be the end of U.S.A. The killing field of Cambodia is not far fetch as described in this article. Absolute gun control will be the first step. When the American population is totally disarmed, then snake tongued Obama will take the total control of our nation. Martial law will be imposed. We will live to see the slaughter unprecedented in the human history taking place in our beloved Country!!! Mao Zhe Tong solved his housing problems by gun downed those owned the masions and big houses. After that he just move the poor mean peasants in. The PROLETARIATS, those cruel, lazy Satans’ Cohort will inherite the good earth of U. S. A. Like Paul Pot of Cambodia, Obama will not hasitate to imprison or even execute those who have “more money than they need and disagree with his ploicies”, so that he can feed and make those so call brain dead proletiats happy and content!
All good citizens who love our freedom and our sacred Constitution, let us rise up to defeat the Obama and his cohorts in this year’s general elections and WIN our beloved America the beautiful back. God help America!!!
JW Huang, I have noticed in the past that naturalized Americans often have a greater appreciation and respect for their new Constitution than the native-born. Thank you for referring to it as “our sacred Constitution”.
Your predicted scenario in the event of an Obama reelection is plausible, though I’d like to think not inevitable. Your characterization of Obama as snake-tongued is perfect: He has shown repeatedly that he speaks with a forked tongue, saying anything to get 1)elected and 2)his policies enacted, and then deepsixing his original promises as though he had never spoken them. He is a liar.
He showed his colors by signing the NDAA. That tells you everything you need to know about Obama, and that is why I don’t dismiss your fearful prediction like I would have even under Bush. (I still had a lot to learn about Reality Land in those days.) The obscenely-named Patriot Act was the camel’s nose under the tent; by signing the NDAA, Obama demonstrated his readiness to invite the whole camel in.
But it is also true that the whole country is not comprised of Obama-lovin’ proles. He may not find it so easy. Martial law is a reasonable possibility; it may not even be that far away. But there are plenty of Americans who will then say, Okay, we’re not a nation of laws anymore? Then watch THIS.
I’m not sure anyone can predict what will happen in the future. This is a big country. No one appears to have an accurate handle — not really, despite plenty of punditry — on precisely which set of social/political governors will reign in the event of a breakdown. Sure, there will be plenty of ghetto-burners — there always are — and there will be a depressing number of police and National Guard to club people into submission and/or jail. But their numbers will be small and there will be many, many who will not sit on their hands, or be helpless.
You may not yet have learned an expression, from poetry, that native-born Americans use: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. I put it to you that hell hath no fury like the outrage of a traumatically awakened, otherwise intelligent, sheeple. And more and more people are waking up every day.
Even more to the point though, I don’t know that a Romney win will change the future that you speak of. I suspect he will be less overt in his role in the breakdown, partly because the proles are less enamored of him and partly because he’s too dumb to lie as gracefully and persuasively as Obama, and partly because of the GOP’s desire to hold its professed ideology as far distant from the Democrats as possible. (Although it is also possible that if things get bad enough, that latter will cease to be a priority.) But insofar as I entertain your terrible prediction, its fulfillment is equally feasible under Romney as Obama, because the forces that bring it about won’t have much to do with which man is in the Oval Office.
No matter who wins, the center — such as it is — will not hold for much longer. So I wouldn’t put too much hope in an Obama defeat.
And welcome to America. Your passion and love for your newly-adopted country is wonderful to see. You surely know that for much of its history, America was much more than it is now. I am not sanguine that we’ll ever get our mojo back, but I don’t believe I will ever give up hope that someday, somehow, maybe we will. We will need people like you if and when that day comes.
God help us indeed. I.e., spiritual revival is the only thing that can ultimately save this country.
“If there is no God, ***everything*** is permissible.”
Fyodor Dostoyevski (paraphrased)
This is an old (and interesting) question: Do people need god to behave decently? I’d refine it some more:
Clearly, there are (and have been) excellent people who expressed no particular religious belief. So, we know that some people do not require belief in god – or at least, belief in a specific god/religious code in order to choose not to commit murder, theft, and so on. These people base their decisions on empathy as well as practicality. No one wants to be the victim of violence – hence, a person with empathy will not wish such on others and try to avoid doing things that cause harm to others – no god required. The practical, everyday reason for being “good” is that if most people don’t play by the proverbial rules, civilization is impossible – so it’s in everyone’s mutual self-interest to behave decently.
But… there are millions (billions) of people who for one reason or another don’t think so much as react. They are on autopilot, so to speak. Such people probably do need an external guide of some sort to provide them with a moral compass – and that is the historic role of religion. One of its roles, anyhow.
Hypocrisy! You claim individual rights to property and wealth but then appeal to the collectivist “duty” of the poor (citing the work ethic of the Great Depressed in the 1930’s to provide for themselves and not parasite of the middle class).
Whilst i am not advocating middle class welfare, welfare for the genuinely poor is a different matter now than it was in the 30’s – because now there is the 1% of UBER-rich (1% being a hell of a lot of people – there used to be relative handful of UBER-rich – and they wer less rich – in other words the UBER-rich now have enough to provide reasonable support to the poor without even noticing a decline in their own standards – in the 30’s you appeal to, the work ethic of the poor was due to the realization that almost EVERYONE was doing it tough – but now when we all see the lifestyle of the rich and famous rubbed in our faces (eg Beyonce’s $500 million contract just to sit on her fat ass on X-factor) then no-one is inclined to wage-slavery any more. ITS THE RICH NOT THE POOR THAT ARE THE PARASITES – WRITE ABOUT THAT UNLESS YOU ARE A SHILL FOR THEM!
First there are “the rich” and “the wealthy”. Most of the rich can be best described as middle class people who have more. The wealthy on the other hand have the mechanisms of the state at their disposal. Oprah will never be ‘wealthy’ no matter how much money she has earned from her television endeavors. Why? No political power in the establishment.
To the wealthy that run this country, part of your “uber-rich”, welfare is a mechanism of their power and way to keep the middle class and mere rich from being a problem to them. A parasitical underclass ready to thrash the middle class if their free stuff is taken away is part of the control mechanism. The middle class wants laws and government largely because they are afraid of the underclass running a muck. Take away the welfare for the underclass without having a revolt against the middle class and that greatly diminishes the power of your uber-rich.
BTW, it’s not the uber-rich that pay for welfare, it’s the middle class and the merely rich. That’s part of the game, to have the middle class pay for it all. They aren’t going to pay ever. That’s the perk of power.
If you want to point the underclass at those who control the policy groups and the think tanks and have their people throughout government have at it. But right now the underclass is aimed at the middle class and it is the middle class that will be at risk of being set ablaze and destroyed by lower classes when the ‘free’ stuff suddenly stops flowing.
When was the last time you saw a Rockfeller’s mansion burn in a riot? Middle class family’s business sure. But when was the last time your uber-rich lost their livelihood or a significant portion of their wealth in a street riot?
The rioters will be there to bring the middle class further under the control of the wealthy. It will expand the state’s control over everyday life for ‘safety’. Or maybe it will transform the state into something far worse. In either case the wealthy will remain in power or at least think they will and if it fails they’ll be long gone with just about everything including the Whitehorse silver before the pitchforks turn their way.
BTW, welfare for the poor and corporate welfare for the wealthy are based on the same twisted interpretation of the general welfare clause. Because they come from the same principle, you can’t get rid of just one or the other. If you keep one the other will come back.
I always find it entertaining, if somewhat disheartening when I read shallow commentary like Paul Byers’ piece above. He uses Beyonce as an example, but forgets that millions of “poor” people worldwide have purchased her music, videos and movies; all voluntarily of course. If this bothers you don’t watch the show or buy her media. Better yet, email all your friends and tell them to boycott the evil Beyonce once and for all if it makes you feel better. Millions of people have purchased Microsoft products when Linux is free for the taking as well as Open Office. Bill Gates, Beyonce, Lady Gaga and others like them were voted into their material wealth with the cash and credit of many (like Paul) who are now their detractors. Even working class stiffs get excoriated for having “too much” all because we acquired marketable skills and can sell them. I read a book some time back called “The Millionaire Next Door”. The people outlined in this book used the get rich slow scheme; work hard, be thrifty, buy used cars, a modest house and reinvest in your business building it over years. These are the very people that often work 14 to 16 hours a day building and running the small businesses that employ the proles (the ones that aren’t on the dole) who will first receive the wrath, torches and pitchforks of the proletariat. Once the smoke clears and the proletariat are standing in rubble and ashes, they still won’t understand why they can’t get a “good job”.
Apparently Paul Byers is unable to discern that Beyonce’s wealth is a lot different than say that of De Beers. Here’s a little history Paul: Cecil Rhodes with the assistance of the Rothschilds essentially monopolized world diamond production. Then Oppenheimer wrested control from Rhodes (with the assistance of J.P. Morgan) and continued the collusion and price fixing (an artificial scarcity to elevate prices); all the while maintaining a literal private army of mercenaries to “secure” the diamond fields. You don’t mess with people at this level or their estates. They employ combat hardened veterans that will not hesitate to shoot the prole “zombie hoards” coming over the walls. And frankly it won’t come to that, because these folks pull the strings of power that will have our own police and National Guard shooting proles long before their men have to. They will do this using the fruits of our labor taken through taxation, inflation and counterfeiting and not spend a penny of their own.
The “uber-wealthy” only number a few thousand worldwide (including their family members). They control all central banking, the economies of nations, foreign and domestic policy and most of the means of mass production. These are the people that have literally traded worthless paper, worldwide mind you, for the actual valuable commodities of gold and silver. That is the very definition of counterfeiting and fraud. If our system of “equal protection under the law” were true and working, Lloyd Blankfein, Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke and Timothy Geithner (to name but a few of the “uber-wealthy’s” sock puppets) would be in prison right now for perpetuating these crimes. If the unwashed masses ever do wake up, discover the scam and try to do something about it, the “uber-wealthy” (not the pop music stars, sports figures or small businessmen, but the real men behind the curtain) will throw the likes of Geithner, Bernanke and even Obama under the bus to save their own asses. And as BrentP pointed out, the “elite” will be enjoying fine wine and caviar in their dacha in the Ukraine or doing a little skiing on a private slope by their Swiss chalet while stores in Atlanta, Detroit and Philly burn.
Paul, anyone who takes something that doesn’t belong to them from someone else under the threat of violence is a thief and therefore a parasite, their social status notwithstanding. An eight foot long tape worm in your gut would be considered an “uber-wealthy” parasite compared to the “proletariat” of Plasmodium parasites that would cause you to have Malaria. Which is more likely to kill you Paul? The point of fact is that the poor in the 30’s had a work ethic and accepting charity carried a heavy social stigma and they did not want to be parasites. Now many people (like you apparently) have this mistaken impression that if someone else has more than you do, you are somehow entitled to part of it. Once enough parasites multiply in the body politic, wealth generation stops and the host (in this case our very engine of productivity) dies. I have actually considered quitting my “good job” and taking up an even more austere lifestyle (think Mother Earth News / Backwoods Home here) than I lead now, to reduce my taxes essentially to nothing, just so people like you can’t leech off of me. Because you sure as hell aren’t leeching off the likes of David Rockefeller, Warren Buffet or George Soros I assure you.
As I have explained to many people over the years, you have a right to a job; if you have a marketable skill and can find someone that will hire you. You have a right to healthcare, if you can find someone willing to provide it and you can pay for it. You have a right to an affordable house, if you have enough money to buy one and can cut a good deal for yourself on the open market. But the instant you start taking other people’s time, money or property under the coercive threat of violence (that’s what taxation, fiat money and inflation backed by law amount to Paul) to support “welfare” programs and other wealth redistribution schemes, you are stealing. It doesn’t matter whether you are “uber-wealthy” or one of the proles; theft is theft.
Boothe, that’s the finest, most accurate and comprehensive rant ever. Hard-core truth well-stated. Love it. Thank you sir!
I too have considered the austere lifestyle, so my money won’t be used to fun offshore globalist banksters, buy weapons to maim and kill innocent people, pay for research into deadly biological warfare…it’s my money and my skills that make it and I’m tired of have half of both squandered in service of acts I’m morally opposed to!
Thanks for the kind words Methyl. I’ve been home with the flu all week, so I had time to sit here and actually compose a response after the initial irritation of reading Paul’s bone-headed post had subsided. By then Eric and Brent had already piled on top of him and thumped him a bit, so I couldn’t resist giving him a good lecture to boot.
Anyway, I know exactly what you mean. I’ll make a comment to my wife from time to time that the government is taking my money and doing this or that with it. Her response is almost invariably “all you care about is money.” And I correct her every time with “No, they are doing things that I find morally reprehensible to other people with the fruits of my labor.” This is why the federal government was Constitutionally prohibited from imposing a capitation (or “head tax”) without apportionment, because one can effectively avoid imposts, excises, duties and tariffs if one has a mind to. Not so with the income tax though. I would encourage everyone to do as many cash and barter transactions as they can.
There is a well-known Jefferson quote that sums it up:
“To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of views he abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”
Indeed. I’d add to that, consequences.
Al this mayhem and hate being created at our expense will probably end up costing us again in the form of blowback. Bullies eventually get cold-cocked. It’s gonna happen to “US,” too someday. And of course, it won’t be any of the people directly responsible (probably). Just ordinary people in the wrong place at the wrong time….
I forgot to add–your analogy with Cecil Rhodes and ill-gotten wealth hit particularly close to home; I’m originally from South Africa where my family was partially butchered by the British during the Anglo-Boer war.
First use of concentration camps against civilians; they starved and diseased the women and children to bring the Boers to heel.
Disgusting little man, that Cecil Rhodes. The Rhodes Scholarship remains at the apex of globalist NWO-minion training; just look at its list of alumni! Rhodes’ own characterization of the perfect candidate was:
Sums up Clinton nicely, n’est-ce pas?
Here are two excellent articles on the topic–the first by one of my favorites, G. Edward Griffin:
G Edward Griffin
Target World Government
Paul,
The ALL CAPS is not acceptable here. It is childish.
Brent already dealt with your post, but I’ll add a few things:
“Rich” is not the problem. The use of state power to enrich (and impoverish) is.
No one who isn’t a collectivist – that is, a thug – ought to have any issue with the moral right of a person who earned his money as a result of free exchange to keep every cent of it. If I develop a new product or process; if I write a great novel that sells millions of copies – I have harmed no one in the process and enriched countless people as a result. No one is morally entitled to threaten me with violence in order to get me to hand over even $1 to “help” them – no matter how much I have and no matter how much someone else doesn’t have. Theft is theft.
Your problem, I suspect (and mine, too) is with the people who enrich themselves using the mechanisms of state (and crony capitalist) coercion. The Wall Street banksters, for example, who used their monetary influence over the government to get the government to “bail them out” (and decline to pursue them criminally).
That’s the problem.
Don’t fall into the wealth envy trap. It’s poisonous.
Your comment about the Khmer Rouge was a bit wrong. It was not actually a class genocide. At least at first it was a racial cleansing. Pol Pot hated Thais, Vietnamese, and non-Khmer Cambodians. These prototypical Asians with slanted eyes differed markedly from the Khmer who almost resemble Latins. The Asians also just so happened to be like the Asians in America – educated and relatively affluent. Like the Jews of Europe, they made an easy target for a toxic leader’s insane hatred.
The mentally retarded thug (aka, Proletariat) Democracy Parasites are now the voting majority in the USA…You really think you will ever live free without exterminating the parasites? The only hope for a civil society on Earth is personal secession and a willingness to eliminate anyone who claims to own you and your income.
Well done, Don. Wish I could have seen that exchange.
That’s what I’ve started doing: asking them questions. They’ll say some ubiquitous, meaningless statement like: the military is fighting for our freedoom around the world. So I ask: how? They’ll say: by fighting terrorism. I ask: how? who?
Right about here is when their train of thought starts to run out of track. These are the simple questions they’ve never asked themselves. They’re used to just holding their index finger in the air and shouting “we’re number one”. When I ask those questions it starts to become clear that their finger is actually in their ass and then when they pull it out, it stinks.
Yes. I’ve been wanting to insert a similar comment in here … I’ve begun doing the same sort of thing, when the opportunity arises (not often, yet). A sort of Socratic method of getting others to examine their own beliefs for validity. A way of dropping little seeds, rather than trying to overwhelm with a whole tree.
I think it is important to drop the seed and walk away, let it germinate on its own. People whose minds are somewhat open will respond much better to a provocative suggestion than to a lecture.
Wouldn’t you?
Agreed. Just address their specific comment by getting them to examine it themselves.
Came out of a grocery store once and there were two young college age girls outside handing out brochures for their “green” organization. I asked them if they believed in violence and asked if their organization condoned the use of violence is implementing their policies. They both immediately said “no way”.
I asked if their organization had lobbyists in Washington and if they received gov’t funds, they said “yes”. I asked if their lobbyists had succeeded in getting legislation introduced and/or passed, they said “yes”. In fact they were listed proudly in the borchure.
I asked them what would happen to someone who didn’t agree with their organization’s policies and violated the legislation their lobbyists had gotten passed. Silence!
I asked if they thought that since they had broken the law if they would be arrested and/or fined? They said: “I don’t know”. I asked if they thought that forcing people to adhere to their organization’s policies even if they didn’t agree with them was using violence. They just smiled.
I think I planted a seed there. Hard to tell. I’ll never know.
Don, I was in a check out line one time buying a chainsaw blade. I had the old worn out one with me and asked the girl behind the register if she had a trash can. She asked “Isn’t that recycleable?” I said “It sure is, at penny a pound. Here, you recylce it” and handed it to her. She looked at the greasy saw chain pinched between her thumb and forefinger then looked back at me. I saw the light come on in her eyes. Then she promptly dropped it in the trash. All those years of publik skule indoctrination undone in less than 30 seconds. Nothing like a practical demonstration to put things in perspective.
Hmmm.. I think it’s more than their finger up there!
I work with an otherwise intelligent dyed in the wool “Democrat” who now refuses to discuss or debate politics with me. His final statement was “I can’t talk to you, you’re too cynical.” I agreed, because after all I am cynical. But it’s cynicism born out of seeing the truth and recognizing the hypocrisy, dishonesty and rent seeking all around us especially in corporations and politics. We reached this point because I asked him questions like: “If there was a substantive difference between McCain and Obama, why did they both go back to D.C. to vote *Yes* for the bailout package?” The response was to the effect of “Well at least the Democrats say they’re trying to do something for the middle class. The Republicans want to give big businesses money to leave the country and take our jobs with them.” So I countered with “Do not listen to what they say, watch what they do. The banks, the automakers and AIG are all big businesses. The Democrats and Republicans both supported giving them bailout money. So what’s the difference again?” No response, so I followed up with “You’re a business man. The U.S. has a top corporate income tax rate of 35%; Ireland has a top rate of 11%. Where would you rather locate your corporate headquarters? Do you think if the U.S. lowered or did away with the income tax altogether, some jobs might come home?” I got a pissed off glare followed by the “you’re too cynical” blast. Don’t mess with the proles’ cognitive dissonance. 😉 However, I have heard from this dude’s own mouth some positive comments concerning Dr. Paul, so there is hope.
My father in law is like this. He’s smart – a PhD professor – but when I point out to him (as an example) that the polices of Obama are exactly what we would have expected to get under a third Chimp term – more war, more “too big to fail” giveaways to corporations and shyster “finance,” more (and worse) assaults on due process and the most basic civil liberties – etc. – and ask why he’s not upset, why he still supports Obama (he’s a liberal) and why he tolerates what he’d be ranting about to the moon if it were the Chimp doing the exact same things, I get: Blank Stare. Or, immediate change of subject. Or some throwaway remark designed to shut down the conversation.
He’s a great guy and we get along wonderfully. But there is no reaching him when it comes to political ethics. It’s as if he reverts to some lizard brain rote instinctive response: Liberals good… conservatives bad…. and Libertarians are just weird.
And that’s as far as it goes.
@Don–Oh man, I am sincerely ROFLMAO right now:
So true. This technique is saving me hours of aggravation now. it’s the jujitsu of argumentation; using their own ignorance to shine a flashlight on their ignorance. They can’t see the matrix until they illuminate it themselves.
I can only imagine the sickening feeling they must get…at least, the honest ones. Most of them are so invested in the system, they’ll go through ANY mental contortion to maintain their loyalty–because seeing reality is simply too painful to bear.
I don’t try 9/11 with the newbies anymore. They have to be at least partially awakened before that one; it’s the true Red Pill. I take whatever they throw out first, now; lately it’s been the dire threat of Iran and its big scary Mullahs and the (oh my!) Global Islamic Caliphate. That usually takes about four questions before all their Dinosaur Media ™ propaganda points are exhausted, and they shake their heads in confusion; “Oh–well then why are we about to start another war??”
Exactly. Welcome to reality, friend. Go forth, and sin no more.
The fear of the Islamobomb is a good one, but I’ve found many folks, even the ostensibly anti-war, are so steeped in militarist propaganda that they’re convinced that nothing short of 1,000 overseas basings of US troops will keep a nameless, faceless, unidentified enemy from sailing into New York Harbor and defiling the Statue of Liberty.
But you can’t go wrong with TSA. It’s something almost everyone accepts; even those with a little healthy scepticism of the government give me the eye-roll and a “who cares if it’ll save your life.”
I had this very discussion on Sunday. And I used your tactic of questions instead of statements.
Why should you be treated like an inmate being transported between penitentiaries before boarding your flight to Maui?
If it’s about keeping you safe from Islamic terrorism, perpetrated almost exclusively by under-50 Arab Muslim men, why does Granny have to drop trow?
If you’re a terrorist looking to inflict maximum damage, casualties and fear, what better option than to strap on a bomb vest and blow it up at the government-created logjam of hundreds of people waiting to take their shoes off and get molested by the otherwise-unemployable?
Is there anything on the other side of said logjam that makes a better weapon than a box knife?
Most of this I’ve picked up from hanging around this site. And it works great. You can almost see the sleepless night forming on their foreheads.
Only slightly off topic, but have y’all seen that show called “Doomsday Preppers”? I watched one episode last week and nearly died of laughter. Here’s what happened: this dude buys some land in a supposedly remote location. He then contracts with a specialist who installs underground survival bunkers that look like 50’s-era bomb shelters. These things are big and are shipped on flatbed trailers. Many of these bunkers are very swank and the owners pack them with the usual stuff (ramen, pork ‘n beans, Trojanenz, etc). So the guy they feature in this episode hasn’t got as far as stocking his shelves, but he does have a generator installed and all that entails. And then guess what happens? One night everything except the buried bunker itself gets stolen! I understood that the idea of survivalism was to conceal one’s presence from the marauding hordes, but the geniuses who buy these bunkers apparently don’t understand that large construction sites attract the attention of the locals. Hell, it could even be the builders themselves who come back and steal this stuff. In any case, it’s a big scam, IMO. Preppers have a tendency to satisfy their reptilian brain and ignore the utility of their cerebral one.
The promos for that show seem to indicate that it is a ‘look at these freaks’ sort of program. Wouldn’t consider anything on it to be applicable to more than those shown and maybe not even to them given the power of creative editing and reality shows often being anything but reality.
The political terrorists want to make survivalists out to be retarded rednecks so that the retarded TeeVee-watchers will mock them. That is why you see such laughable studpidity on their broadcasts.
Let them laugh. The “retarded rednecks” will be the ones who are prepared when the time comes….
Ridicule is the first level tool of the regime. Has been for a very long time. The entire system is based on gaming people socially.
Quite right BrentP; the desire for social conformity seems to be a default human setting. Add a little ridicule and peer pressure and most of the flock will go in whichever direction their handlers desire. When we first got off the bus at Lackland AFB for basic training, we were intentionally labeled “rainbows” by the PTB for our multicolored civilian clothes. Recruits that had already received their uniforms were encouraged to taunt us about this. Even as nonconformist as I was, I still felt the overwhelming desire to get my uniforms so I didn’t stand out. When you do get your uniforms there are no name tags or other insignia. We were just one big olive drab collective with the intent and purpose of putting us into the hive mindset. It works I assure you.
I know it works. I didn’t know other people thought like I did until about 2005ish. I didn’t know there was a whole community of this thought until about 2007.
I could have been rich if I had listened to my gut back in the 90s. But social pressure worked its magic. Alone in my views and not knowledgeable enough to understand what my gut told me was absolutely correct I wasn’t sure enough to do what I should have. (all in on gold) Mentioning gold then got me ridicule from everyone.
Then there is the instant reaction to situations which is from the childhood conditioning. What should have been done comes to me later.
No Kidding! Look at how the “Non-Christians” mocked Sarah Palin this last week on SNL and HBO. Obviously they still fear her, 4 years later. They surely didn’t fear their Stooge, John McCain. She stands for Freedom and he stands for Statists.
The reason why America was the way the Constitution defines it, was because of the Evangelical-Reformational consensus of the day. That Reformational perspective came from Switzerland via the Calvinist movement in France, the UK, and the Netherlands. That Gospel of the power of King Jesus allowed us to worship Him as the Lord of the civil and ecclesial order which allowed us to have a Republic in the churches (think Congregational and Presbyterian) and in the civil government arena. Their motto: No King and No Bishop resulting in a Republic of elected officials with strictly limited powers. Why must the civil and ecclesial governments be limited? Because humans are innately rebellious against God and self-aggrandizing when given power over others. Therefore in the Forefather’s view the “State” is to be non-existent. That was what they resisted in the War of Colonial Secession. On the other hand, civil government of elected peers with the sole duty to protect Life, Liberty, Property (and by extension a monogamous, heterosexual family and impartial justice) was founded. If you don’t believe me, read the Commentaries on British Common Law by Blackstone http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/blackstone.asp as a start. We were thoroughly Christian people then (even though often non-church attenders). How to restore America–return to that biblical faith as a start and then study what they studied.
I can’t deny the fact of America’s Christian antecedents, in particular its Protestant antecedents – with the emphasis on the individual and his god-given rights and the corollary of that – the moral limits of state authority over the individual.
I also accept (as I am sure Franklin did and am pretty confident Jefferson did) that many people require a kind of auto-pilot “template of good behavior” as provided by the structure of organized religion, without which they become nihilistic or worse.
So, even though I am not a believer (because I don’t accept anything on faith; that is, without real evidence, verifiable facts, etc.) I – like Franklin, like Jefferson – am willing to both acknowledge the practical good that religion does and even to go farther and admit that it may be essential to the health of a free society, so long as that society is composed mostly of average men.
Here, I suppose I find myself reluctantly in agreement with Hamilton – though I differ with him as to the means by which average men are to be “kept decent.”
Ideally, I’d like to see a society comprised of enlightened individuals who make conscious moral choices without need of an a autopilot “template of good behavior.”
But so far, that has yet to be achieved and until some way is found to weed out Clovers from the gene pool, I suppose religion is a necessary bulwark against barbarism and perhaps even essential to the sort of limited government republic this country used to have….
Mark, whether one believes in god or not makes no difference in the application of the principle of non-aggression. To wit: you can believe in the power of plastic garden gnomes but so long as you do not aggress against me or appoint someone to aggress against me on your behalf, we’ll all be just fine.
Greetings,
I fear the zombies much more than I fear the government. When the gravy train stops, they are going to become a terrible whirlwind that will strip everything in its path. They have been told that by being in the United States that they are “exceptional” and they “deserve” to have not only food and shelter provided free to them but a car, phone and entertainment.
Whoever arms these knuckleheads first will have a powerful army until there is nothing left to take.
My advice to anyone that is serious about bugging out would be to move yourself as far away from civilization as is possible and do so now. Better to do it now than be one minute too late.
As for myself, I’ve moved my family on to a sailboat. I can generate my own electricity, make my own water and I do not need hydrocarbons to move myself and my home around.
Not only that, my entire community is fairly self sufficient as boaters must be. We all have first aid kits, radios, power production, tools to harvest food from the ocean, maps and even radar. I can walk down my dock and find experts in solar and wind generation, shortwave radio operation or fishing.
You’ve got to find a community of like minded people and make the move NOW before it is too late.
The sailboat–an excellent bug-out plan! I’ve had that one on my radar for quite some time.
So NickelthroweR, do you live on it full-time, or make port and hang around for a few weeks/months here and there?
Please share. It’s always good to learn from other liberty-minded peoples’ experiences.
Intriguing solution, Nickel. I live in the Puget Sound area of WA and have thought about a sailboat just to get out on the water on the cheap, but this method of avoiding the starving masses never occured to me.
I’m curious about a couple things. Does this community of which you speak plan to sail together? How do you plan to deal with food provisioning for long-term periods at sea? Do you stockpile vitamin C tablets or some other solution for nutritional deficiencies?
Hey Nick,
That is an interesting bug-out option!
I read somewhere about a plan to build a free society out in the open ocean, in international waters.
In any event, I agree with the premise: Put as much real estate between yourself and the Horde as possible. We moved to rural SW Virgina; ideally, looking back, Idaho or Wyoming might have been a better choice. But still, where we are is infinitely better than where we were (Northern Virginia, about 15 miles from DC).
Deja vu, Sir. I teach a gov’t class, and tonight is the first session for a new one. I generally show the ‘e’de plebnista’ scene at the end of thhe Omega Glory,’ where Cpt. Kirk deciphers the Constitution for the Yangs, to my students by way of motivating them to believe that self-government is important. To me, it’s the most important subject in the curriculum. We have a scientist & engineer shortage, but our greatest shortfall is in the area of citizen-activists.
Star Trek comes in handy again! It’s a great cultural reference and so a valuable teaching tool. The earlier episodes especially often touched on important themes – Omega Glory being a case in point. Another, from the Next Gen series, is Samaritan Snare. Ever see that one?
Eric, feel free to delete this, I’ll understand… I just read some ‘rant words’ 🙂
The science and engineer shortage… I’ve been hearing this since before I started engineering school… back in the 1980s.
I know a lot more than I did in the 1980s and I look at this society and how it’s structured and I ask myself “who the f’ would want to be an engineer?” People think it’s just a problem with education or something… it’s not. There’s no rational reason to be an engineer in this society.
This society doesn’t value engineers. It thinks products come from magic. This society stopped valuing engineers some time around the moon landing in ’69. From then on it makes fun of people who learn.
Corporations don’t value engineers. To corporations we are human resources and fungible. It will just get someone from China or India or maybe just move the whole office there. GE didn’t come up the politically driven ‘rank and yank’ because it thought experienced engineers had value, it came up with it because they wanted to get rid of the high salaries and believed a fresh out was just as good as someone who had 20 years experience.
What does society value? What does it reward? Corporations reward people in finance, banking, trading, politics and other parasitical professions. People value athletes and other forms of entertainment. Where do people go to make a comfortable living? Government jobs.
There’s no shortage of engineers. There is simply a shortage of a reason to be one. It’s market forces. It’s work vs. reward. Why work hard at engineering when one can party his way through a business degree and then get a job at a wall street bank based on who he knows and contacts he’s made in fraternities and the like?
The world doesn’t want engineers. It sends that clear message. When the wealth engine stops because nobody makes stuff any more maybe it will. But until then that’s a job for someone else. It’s better to be a parasite than a host.
Well the Russians put a dog or chimp or sumptin in orbit. Our hedge-money was threatened.
Why not nationalize and mobilize all our eggheads and egg layers and get them to lay their eggs in a basket that our militarized engineers can put on the moon?
Don’t you want to engineer the next aeronuatic generation of door breaching assault weapons. They’ll blow open your front door from 20 miles overhead in space. Yeehaw!
We have to keep going to space, its what our leaders have told us we have always dreamed of, freedom be damned.
Today our best and brightest are whisked away to secret underground bunkers where they will launch eco-friendly rockets against our individual will that run on dunkin and solar flatulence.
It’s the fuuuuuuture.
Dunno about that Brent–I make a decent living as a software geek…yeah yeah, I know it’s not “engineering” in the formal sense yet, it’s still somewhat a craft.
But my cousins–not the useless trial-lawyer Obama-supporting one–make a very good living as competent engineers.
The “shortage” just makes us good ones more desirable.
Hiring software geeks is HARD–it takes us an average of ten interviews to fill a spot with someone who can do more than fog a mirror held to his mouth.
As the Amerikan dollar sinks to its intrinsic worth–the paper it’s printed on–those Chinese trinkets will become mighty dear, and lo and behold manufacturing will by needs return here.
After the Roman Empire fell, life actually improved markedly for former citizens.
It’s not about a comfortable living, it’s about reward/work ratios. Increase reward, decrease work. The tapeworm side of the economy has a much better ratio than the productive/host side of the economy for someone with the brains and drive to get through an engineering degree. With this condition we should not be surprised americans do not go for engineering degrees.
As to mirror foggers… What I call ‘good at school’ people. These people are good at institutional life. They are not skilled. They have no knack. Often cannot think. They could get any degree they wanted because they were good at school. But they can’t do anything but respond in ways the institutions reward.
BrentP, I am a scientist (biochemist) who has “been there, done that” in the corporate scientific world and in academia, also. You are spot-on concerning the “value” placed upon scientists and engineers. I worked at a Fortune 500 big pharma firm in N. Chicago, and quickly noticed that the scientists, techs and engineers – the people who invented the company’s products and thus paid its bills, were housed in the basements and out of way buildings. The folks with clout had all the corner offices, the lavish salaries, etc. – these were finance guys, MBAs, etc. – most of whom knew jack about science, design or engineering.
Scientists, engineers, and skilled craftsmen gave us the modern world, which repaid us by throwing us under the bus. I have often mused that perhaps all of us who make, invent, build and repair things should go on strike – perhaps then we’ll be missed.
Yep you got it. When I would tell people I sat somewhere with a view of a loading dock in discussions like this they would doubt I was telling them the truth about my education and career. No, at most companies engineers sit in some of the least desirable territory of the building. In a better company at the cubes will be nicer but you still won’t sit ‘up front’ near the valued people in finance, marketing, etc. And even when the indoors environment is decent the rumbling of trucks lets you know where you really sit (more than just physically).
If engineers were treated and compensated based on the effect they have on other people’s lives there would be no shortages. Imagine if the people who came up with the technology the masses take for granted got just a few percent of the gross the way a movie star or TV star does? The way a singer can? There wouldn’t be any shortage. People would stumble over each other to get the chance to make the next revolutionary device. But instead practically nothing of the benefit goes to the people who make technology happen. So there’s a shortage.
Engineers and scientists have to do what they do for the love of doing it most of the time. Because unless someone also has the skills to go through the government barriers he isn’t going to get the fruits of his creativity by going out on his own.
My ex Brother-in-Law left engineering over 10 years ago, when they sent his job to China. G E is the worst for off-shoring and controls a least one of the puppet strings in Washington.
http://fightingintheshade.blogspot.com/2006/03/true-california-horror-story.html
My above link failed. Try
“Some people are going to have to sacrifice their liberty in order for the rest of us to recover ours. It is a terrible prospect; it brings home what the rebels in colonial America were up against. The question is, which of us will step forward?”
Correct Eric. People have to realize that the situation is bigger than them. They have to realize that in order to fight for your freedom you have to love freedom more than you love yourself. You have to love the prospect of your children growing up in a free country more than you love yourself.
If you don’t then you will not act. And there in lies the problem: how many people have ever loved something more than they love themselves?
I wonder who was at the iHop with that girl. Because nobody cared about her more than they cared about themselves.
I saw the video of the old black lady being slammed to the ground by the female white cop and nobody helped her. I saw the one of the two make white cops picking the old black guy up out of his wheelchair and slamming him to the pavement cracking his skull open and nobody helped him.
Until we start being the change that we want, nothing will change.
Don your comment about loving freedom above self is spot on. But I think the time to fight for freedom is not now. The effort will only be wasted.
WW Rutland said above: “If you are armed and have a few weeks of food then most of them will be gone.”
I’ve said much the same thing on here many times before. If you can avoid the bank and the grocery store and are prepared to defend the homestead for a month or so you’ll be well-placed to secure liberty for your posterity. Our immediate future is dystopian, but it’s not a given that it will remain that way forever.
The producers are still out there. Many of the folks who comment here often are obviously capable of rebuilding society if we can just get the foot of the welfare/warfare state off of their necks and let them do their work.
The America we knew is dead and gone. We can’t get it back. We can try and rebuild it with the best portions and throw out what trial and error has shown to be the bad, but this cannot happen under the current status quo. The ubiquitous Clovers are the problem.
As Eric often asks, what to do with them? I may be cold and unfeeling but I don’t think these people can be reformed. They believe, they do not think. They are people of faith, not reason. History shows that such people will chose the sword over conversion. We need to let mother nature do her work when, as WW Rutland put it, the oil stops flowing. Their numbers will be culled by the law of the jungle.
Only after this has occured can we begin the work of restoring freedom. Our numbers will weigh far more heavily in the average, and people will be far more open to hearing our ideas.
I understand your argument but it’s also an excuse. There’s never a wrong time to do the right thing. If not now, then when? If not us then who?
There will be no neon sign from god alerting us to the right moment. I think when you cannot drive down the street without being charged and convicted of a non-existent crime, then the time has come. The time has come and gone! When you are incarcerated because your papers are not in order; when people are beaten for non-compliance then the time has come and gone.
Doesn’t take a genius to figure that out.
I’m just tired of shoveling shit against the tide, Don. I’m fresh off another “But the TSA keeps us safe and that Ron Paul just wants Iran to have the bomb and America to be weak” session while stuck in a car full of statists on I-90 at Snoqualmie Pass for over 2 hours, behind a 35-car wreck that happened because Western WA nitwits can’t handle a half inch of snow on the road, so I’m feeling a little despondent.
People in this country are going to have to face the ugly specter of death from starvation before they’re ready to accept that liberty is more important than the boondoggles costing billions of dollars “for the children.” It’s become crystal clear to me.
“stuck in a car full of statists on I-90 at Snoqualmie Pass for over 2 hours”
Ha, er I mean, ugh, that does seem bad.
Your conclusion reminded me of an infamous Russian description of the moment when a citizen was kicked in the butt and told to go into the Gulag,… that’s when they figured “it” out, and not a moment sooner.
I think that’s where Don is coming from, so to say.
I see both points, eric’s and Don’s.
@clark–and that reminds me (yet again) of Solzhenitsyn’s “how we burned in the camps…” quote.
They just don’t get it, and it’s a waste of time trying to convince most of them.
Find the remnant. Find that one guy who’ll ask some questions. Spoon feed him; milk and bread at first. Don’t make my mistake and get too excited and dump the whole load on the first willing victim er um I mean, apprentice.
Remember the Milgram experiment’s reversal; it takes just 10% of people to say “No!”, and suddenly 2/3 of the rest grow a pair and turn on their masters.
And remember during the American revolution, 2/3 of people wanted nothing to do with it! In fact half of those were still British loyalists!
And TOG–those statists you were stuck with over Snoqualmie are to be pitied. Remember, you’re smarter than they are by definition (they’re statists, remember?). Toy with them.
I’ve stopped actively convincing; it’s a waste because they don’t think.
So FORCE them to think by asking questions. It’s all I do now and it’s amazingly effective, because you make them do all the work.
“The TSA keeps us safe? Wow. Tell me how!”
Rinse, repeat, ad nauseam. Keep forcing them to examine their precepts. Keep THEM on the defensive instead of sticking yourself out there. The semi-intelligent ones will start floundering pretty quickly when they realize they’ve got no rationale behind their “reasons”.
The idiots will relieve you of your burden by becoming loud and abusive, at which point you know they’re hopeless.
I saw a small bit by Prof. Robert Higgs saying just about the Whole of the population was in support of the Revolution, not just 3% as is commonly cited these days.
I think he was going to write a book about it.
He had some smattering of facts to back up what he wrote. I wish I could find the link to show and tell, as I think it makes a huge difference between now and then, for some People anyway.
Note to self: Spoon feed him; milk and bread at first. Don’t make my mistake and get too excited and dump the whole load on the first willing victim er um I mean, apprentice. – heh. Funny *and* true.
That is one possible outcome. Another one is, the feds will see that a critical mass of Americans are serious this time, and quit the BS for a minute.
America was a great physiocratic republic because it granted people homesteads with strict contractual obligations on part of the settlers. The 160 acre parcels in the East worked great.
The dustbowl arose because the bureaucrats refused to adjust to the reality of the Western Grasslands and grant greater than 160 acres for grazing purposes.
The settlers of this less productive land all used the Federally monopolized commons for grazing purposes. No one owned the pasture, the land itself, so every sheep and cattle owner tried to graze as much as they could before it was all used up.
There is an amount of land that could be granted to cattle and sheep owners that could result in a return to great American Physiocracy of land owners.
There is enough work for everyone as a natural resource baron if we were each to demonstrate our ability to sign and honor a homesteading contract that gives reasonable assurance of the privately held land being just as viable for our posterity.
If we would merely reopen the frontier until such time as the Feds controlled only retain 5% of the US, mainly the military and strategic land, we would see a great new wave of prosperity.
Maybe monkeys can learn to let go of their booty, and free themselves and us from the monkey trap pot.
Wonderful writing as always, Eric. However, two comments:
1. You give the Depression-era generation way too much credit. They elected FDR four times for exactly the reasons you attribute to the “proletariat.” Had they not done that, the New Deal may not have come to pass.
2. If we do become the Soviet Union (more than we are now), it will not last long. The only reason that the USSR lasted as long as it did was because the USA propped it up for decades. There is no capitalist sugar daddy out there for us if we slip down that road. Expect it to fail within a few years, just as the USSR had failed by 1921 before the west stepped in to help.
It has always been my position that the USA will go down just as the USSR did, and for all of the same reasons, despite our different rhetoric. However, the collapse will be a good thing, just as it was in Russia. Although Russia is far from perfect, it is much better than it was 1917-1991.
Russia is much better since giving up the Empire. Their entire official economy is the same size as the New York City Metro economy, but the unofficial economy is several times larger than that and a tremendous force for good in the world.
Statistically they are a dead heat in any kind of intelligence and aptitude tests. Both are a full standard deviation below the Swiss and Israelis, and are more like supermobs than superpowers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTs0CZTe3FI
Meanwhile at Ivan Petrs Autos…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTs0CZTe3FI
Skip to the reveal at the end showing the driver has only a wrench and no steering wheel.
Thanks, Tom – and, agreed.
Apologies for an lack of clarity. I was trying to establish a baseline for a comparison in order to make a point. I should have qualified that point.
Then as now, distortions in the economy and fabric of life are created by authoritarianism – and then come the authoritarian “solutions.”
Point taken – thanks for making it!
To pursue the Odoacer/Fall of Rome analogy, the future of the American people (proletariat) may be more peaceful than many of us are prone to imagine.
The impoverishment of the middle and working classes, within the confines of the police state, may, in time, lead to the creation of what you might call the New American Peasantry: people, mostly young, who lack financial and intellectual capital, who, as we define the term today, will be permanently unemployable and lack what we call “opportunity.” With great tracts of land owned and controlled by the multinational corps(e) (think the late Roman latifundia), masses of future Americans may eke out their living as squatters on abandoned land. The state will, by then, have gone broke at all levels. (Remember that local government can be much more expensive and oppressive than federal or national government). There will likely be tribal leaders (would-be warlords) in place of formerly organized government, their murderous ambitions kept in check by the ubiquitous police/military presence.
A number of far-seeing young people, sensing this kind of future, are beginning to learn survival skills — permaculture gardening, food preservation, how to procure the materials with which to make clothing, how to build shelters from available materials, how to live communally in a way that will embrace the coming poverty as creatively as possible. The 1984 scenario is probably an accurate indication of future American urban life, less so in rural areas. Ironically, the ability of a central authority to divide and rule constituencies by race, gender and other forms of collective identity — the key to its current domination and control — may diminish as the “proles” of the future begin to find these categories ever more meaningless.
While the future American people may be pacified and powerless, they may also be left alone to sink or swim. A solar panel, at this point, may be a better long-term investment than a gun.
esquimaux wrote, “A solar panel, at this point, may be a better long-term investment than a gun.”
I wouldn’t say that. But the idea is like this one:
QUIETLY, QUIETLY, THE REVOLUTION ARRIVES
http://wendymcelroy.com/news.php?extend.4546
Solar panels and mini hydroelectric equipment are useful but expensive items which are extremely vulnerable to the rage of marauding bands of proles. They must be defended by all available means including guns.
Editor’s note: added “http://” to the url. -dom
I have a family of beavers constructing a dam for me at this very moment. At first I thought they were a nuisance but now I’m thinking of ways of using the standing water they create. Hadn’t thought about hydroelectric. Maybe I can power a 60w lightbulb with a carefully placed turbine LOL.
Beavers are delicious, too….
Serious?
Over at Danica Patrick Autos, the topic of the day is beaver as well…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-o8TDAElIw&
This reminds me of a tangentially related, and currently highly trending topic:
Sexy girl with tiny beaver
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgfWuzN_NJw
The masses will only live a few weeks if the oil stops flowing -no food, no beer, no water, no drugs.
If you are armed and have a few weeks of food then most of them will be gone.
This is a typical bullshit article by Republicans. To Republicans socialism means somebody else is getting government money but you aren’t. If Republicans are getting government money, then somehow it isn’t socialism. Welfare and socialism to Republicans means poor people with dirty children sitting on the porch of a shanty getting free food and money. If banks get billions, defense companies get billions, or energy companies get billions in subsidies, somehow this is not socialism or welfare. If one government give away is bad, then it all is bad. That is why Ron Paul is getting a better message out than all of the rest of the clowns put together. The two-party system served up to us with two equally bought and sold candidates has failed us.
Loren,
Er… what?
If you’ve read the article – if you’ve read my other articles – you know I am opposed to all forms of redistributionist politics. I’m as far from being a Republican as I am from being a Democrat. I’m a defender of liberty. That means, I oppose both fascism and socialism. And all other forms of authoritarianism.
Where did you get the idea that I oppose some forms of government redistribution but still favor the redistribution that benefits me? (Which would be none. I don’t want – and don’t take – any government “help.”)
I’m no Tea Party critic of “welfare” but ardent defender of “my” Social Security…
Did you even read the article?
That would be too hard. Better to read a few lines, make it jibe with your preconceived assumptions and mouth off! It’s the American way. Great article, btw. My first stop here.
Thanks, RF – and welcome!
Correct…The feeble-minded psychopaths make stuff up in their own head as they try to comprehend what others have written. They will do this as you try to have a conversation with them as well. This is due to a lifetime of Prussian/Dewey/Thorndike public school indoctrination and TeeVee along with pop-culture stupidities that destroy critical thinking facilities. Clovers/Proles are just mentally retarded and bratty/neurotic parasites.
Welcome aboard Loren Hunt,
I enjoy the fiery conviction with which you write, and I hope you’ll continue to be a part of this small digital asylum and gulag of incurable libertarians.
It does appear that Eric, if he has any political swag preference whatsoever; which he may not, has a preference of the Ron Paul Swag variety.
I invite you to read Eric’s December 2011 article: Ron Paul, the only republican who isn’t a shitbag shill fake TV commentator voiced new world order fembot…
http://epautos.com/2011/12/17/the-only-republican-who-isnt-a-shitbag-shill/
Thanks again, Loren, for choosing EPAUTOS for your b-logging needs.
Tor
I respect what you say, Eric. What toasts my butt is the fact the money taken from me through taxes is spent to help subsidize the military establishments of Europe. The recipients of that subsidy can then spend the savings to help finance vast socialist enterprises like free health care and education.
Everything you say about American proles can be transposed onto Europeans and they can finance their proletariat in part through the generous defense allocation Congress parcels out each year in order to help defend them from … who exactly?
In short, Ron Paul is right! Bring our troops home! Spend that money on the American economy!
Hi Baj,
Absolutely. You’ll hear, for example, advocates of Obamacare point to the wondrous government heaf cayuh systems of Europe, failing to notice that these countries enjoy massive American taxpayers subsidies, enabling them to pretend they can “afford” such a thing. That of course leaves aside the moral/ethical questions – which are critical if we’re going to stomp this thing. The utilitarian arguments – how much more “efficient” such a system is, etc. – are typical GOP-type loser arguments.
PS: Have you noticed that the typical Brit still has terrible teeth (from what I’ve seen, at least). Wonder why…
Despite American military subsidies to Europe, even those supposedly “efficient” welfare states are all still on a trajectory to national bankruptcy. Unlike American intellectuals, the European elites cannot argue that military spending and bloated corporate executive compensation are interfering with social “justice.” Even if the PIIGS walk away from their debts to the banksters and abandon the Euro, they will still have no means to fully fund all the promised cradle to grave welfare goodies for their gullible populations.
This is not only a PIIGS problem. The Nordic and Eastern European countries are in the same sinking boat, just on a higher deck. Even with third world immigration, Europe doesn’t have sufficient workers paying taxes to support all those in retirement or on disability. The Ponzi based welfare state along with fiat money is an unsustainable model. Both are visibly failing and are doomed.
Unfortunately the attitudes and life styles of hundreds of millions of Europeans have been shaped by the unrealistic expectation of being cared for by the state at what they believe is someone else’s expense. They are unprepared for self sufficiency. There will be much short term suffering when the welfare state once again lands on the trash heap of history.
At least the U.S. has massive fat in the military budget to cut to finance the transition away from the welfare state. However, short of a Ron Paul presidency, this is unlikely to happen. During America’s coming brushup with economic reality, we here are more likely to see forced labor gulags for the unemployed and disorderly, euthanasia for the unproductive elderly and rationed healthcare and food for the “lucky” rest. Just as dissidents are today placed on no fly lists, in the coming dystopian future, they will be placed on no fuel, food, pension and healthcare lists. Such is the fate of childlike societies which expect to be made safe and taken care of by others.
That about sums it up, Meta – I couldn’t have said it better… unfortunately!
While I do appreciate your commentary Meta, keep in mind that there is the possibility before the realization dystopia that there will be an enormous technological breakthrough in AI or nanotechnology that could obviate the need for excess energy expenditure to produce a good.
This happy technological future is dubbed “the Singularity” by Ray Kurzweil. In his scenario, a solar panel could provide enough energy to power nanobots that could create a new bench for you out of a random block of wood. Of course, his Singulariy scenario also allows for the possibility of a super-intelligent AI becoming Skynet….
I am skeptical about prospects for the Singularity’s realization, but it at least provides me some hopeful reconciliation.
The Brits (and many other culture’s including ours) have terribly crooked teeth as a result of eating the 3 “white poisons”, namely white flour, white rice and white sugar. The loss of the cultural and wholesome foods which were often fermented and unprocessed (milk, cheese, breads, grains) had been replaced by the the aforementioned non-foods (also referred to as “dead foods”). The result of this change created a physical (not genetic) change that left offspring with a smaller jaw and deformed teeth with not enough room for them! Consequently, crowding of teeth, deformation of the mandible (lower jaw) and maxilla (upper jaw) as well as massive tooth decay was the result. For more information, read “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration” by Dr. Weston Price, or go to “The Weston Price Foundation”….Also, you can go here >“Sally Fallon DVD Part 1 “NOURISHING TRADITIONAL DIETS”” — Watch the first 10 minutes of the latest DVD, Part 1 of 3: “NOURISHING TRADIT…
The link didn’t seem to copy – go to; Youtube, Sally Fallon “Nourishing Traditional Diets” part 1
has humanity morphed in less than 100 years? i dont think so. the problem is government and it’s incentives. we just kick the ball where the goal is. ‘free lunch’ mentality comes by incremental changes, a bit at a time. see ‘losing ground’ by charles murray.
you are right however about the moral hazard of a large, totally dependent section becoming politicized. flash mobs at polling stations. it’s going to take real hard times, like in the dustbowls, to unlearn all this stuff.
abandon ship
As a Libertarian, I’d like to believe everyone is reachable via an appeal to reason. But as a realist (or a cynic – or a cynical realist) I accept that a great many people are unreasonable. Whether as a consequence of low intelligence, amorality or effective conditioning – it ultimately doesn’t matter. The bottom line is there’s no reasoning with some people. So the question becomes: How do we (liberty minded people) deal with them? The founders tried, using the Constitution to expressly limit what the government could do to the individual – irrespective of what the Mob wanted. It did not work. Or at least, it only worked for a relatively short time. We need to figure out a better way. And the only way I can come up with is to sift out the Clovers somehow. Even in a society that begins Clover-free, I expect Clovers would crop up. How to deal with them then? Etc.
I think Walt Kowalsky(Clint Eastwood) has some pointers here on dealing with clovers you meet in daily life, have as neighbors, and have in your own family.
The one caveat is Walt’s blatant possession of a poorly secured Gran Torino in this type of Detroit Neighborhood is in itself a cloverian act.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtk7U-9bUJQ
It also shows the resilience of some Hmongs who were once at the wrong place during the killing of 4 million Vietnamese for profit by the International Soviet and American Heavy Industries Knitting Circle.
Tor, I liked that Eastwood character right up until he claims that “not paying your taxes is the same as stealin’.” After that it was all downhill.
True.
Also, threatening the use of a firearm, or pulling it out and waving it around is a violation of the letter and the spirit of our natural right and duty to bear arms when appropriate and feasible on an individual level.
Warner Brothers is part of the captured capitalist Borg Machine, so maybe it’s just another trivial stimulus to my limbic system.
Nassim Taleb: There is a way to treat everyone in the same manner, while pleasing the righteous and upsetting the wicked.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_PtXh3ostM
I think this website accomplish this and it is a long term goal for how I would prefer to interact socially.
Tor, have you heard about Taleb’s upcoming book, Antifragility? From this interview it sounds like it’s gonna be mind-blowing. I encourage everyone to listen to this.
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2012/01/taleb_on_antifr.html
Eric,
We deal with the Clovers by legalizing and de-stigmatizing secession at all levels of social interaction. The flip side of secession: exclusion. If you can’t close the doors, gate, or border to the Clovers then you aren’t seceding from anything. People won’t like it. They will complain about your elitism/racism/sexism/classism whatever, but I think this is what real liberty looks like.
Read Hoppe’s Democracy: The God that Failed, if you haven’t already.
The proletariat does not become an existential threat to civilization until its rage has been mobilized and directed by intellectuals. A disorganized mob, itself producing very little of value, will quickly expend its energy in an orgy of violence, looting and destruction. Once having destroyed the productive society within its immediate reach, and being unfit to support itself, a mob will then perish.
It’s the intellectuals who provide the collectivist political and social philosophy which animates the proletariat while keeping it under control and on a leash. Popular history tends to dismiss dictators as lunatics and dumb thugs who somehow stumble into power. Lenin, Mussolini, Stalin, Hitler and Mao were all shrewd intellectuals who knew how to use ideas to harness the envy of the masses to destroy the leaders’ enemies. At the same time these rabble rousers induced the masses to love their servitude. This is no small feat.
Perhaps an unemployed liberal arts major from the OWS movement with a $150k school tuition debt will become America’s Mussolini.
Yup.
That’s what I fear- and expect.
An American Mussolini – or worse.
Obama IS the Amerikan Mussolini.
Did you happen to see the disgusting and retarded proletarian-parasite filth that showed up for its inauguration?
I was in Prague in 1991.
You really have no idea just how disgusting the scumbag Proles are. Amerikans are becoming these little violent State/Obama-loving terrorists…Retarded/Infantile and violent (thanks to public school and TeeVee) as you have never seen before in any inner city Amerika.
And when these violent, entitlement-minded thugs get cut off… when the EBT stops flowing… when Wal Mart’s doors are closed and the TeeVee doesn’t work anymore….
But Eric, They will be too fat and lazy to walk anywhere after the gas pumps run dry. They won’t even have the strength to get to the nearest 7-11 to loot, much less the nearest suburb. 🙂
Then they become Cops….
AKA, Legal Criminals.
Then you have no choice but to kill them before they kill you. Prague was really that bad.
In political poker, I recommend the Prague Gambit.
If we don’t like what we see on November 6th, us tax creators hunker down and start waiting for a new constitutional revival. No more pulling the plow for the Donkeys or the Elephants.
Once we force them to shut down the free EBT cheese, geezer bonus, and section motel 8 permanent holiday concrete inns, we batten down everything worth a nickel and leave unguarded the property of the state thugs and bureaucrats.
We can’t beat Saul Alinsky, let’s join him in tactic, but not spirit. The zombie quest for free stuff can be aimed at the shiny vehicles and governmental mausoleum stockpiles of confiscated loot.
Am I wrong in thinking the state gets picked clean of our old shit faster than they can take our new shit, once we discontinue to freely offer it in quarter?
Prague has been marked to the market of reality, and might begin to grow anew. A little pruning doesn’t kill the tree of liberty.
I maybe a clueless blowhard, but from my madman cave, it seems better to force them to gobsmack proles with their own bully sticks and pay for riot damaged vehicles out of their own pocket.
Classic political strategy: give the people what they want, get them dependent on it, then threaten to take it away.
The revolution is already coming to Central and South America. The American created gangs like Mala Salvatrucha 13 are already the defacto government in many villages. The violent prison complex is a perfect incubator for the type of madmen capable of overthrowing any civilization – American or otherwise.
In the Middle East, the highly technological AlQaeda are known as Al-CIA-da.
Through UN Agenda 21, the outcome will be the prohibition of living independently. This last 16% remnant of self-sufficient rural Americans will be forced into some kind of urban setting.
It’ll be a huge transition, learning about the evils of jaywalking, and the importance of punching young women in the face, throwing them to the ground, tasering them, pulling their hair, beating them with clubs, and stomping and kneeling on them to better protect and serve them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FxxYj1ruYDA
Whoops, it’s mara. I’m a little famished. Maybe it’s time for some more Hunger Games. Maybe some Persian? Who doesn’t enjoy some good all american war game feasting. I’m sure our military machinery is vastly different than the one that killed Neda Agha Soltan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76W-0GVjNEc&feature=player_detailpage
America would never burn alive and shoot families in their own homes in places like Waco and on the streets and then put out a bunch of false propaganda that supposedly justifies the savagery.
I grew up not far from where the incident in this video happened, and I’ve seen some of these near-200 lb. “ladies” beat people to a pulp. I’ve always found it somewhat difficult to judge this one. Bring out some of the WTO riot videos, those ones are a lot easier to condemn!
Some folks say the OWS movement is a good sign that the American youth is waking up and wising to the depradations of the state.
I say the OWS movement is an ominous sign that the American youth is growing impatient with the pace at which the state is making things “equal.”
That’s where you’re going to find your modern-day star spangled Che or Ilych. The government of the United States will never be replaced by a government that manages to hold together the same territory within the same borders. But God help you if you’re living within one of our various Peoples’ Republics like SF, NY, LA, hell practically the entire Northeast and Left Coast. You’ll find there’s a whole other meaning to the phrase “red state.”
The kids are also learning valuable dining etiquette. In the big city IHOP, forks are placed on the left tines down, and faces are hit on the right side whenever you speak out loud and forget that your freedom is only to do what they tell you, for your own good.
There you go. That’s American mentality. Look at how many people are standing there watching the police abuse and not doing a thing. Why wouldn’t the cops abuse people like that? The people have given their consent.
It’s more important to them to be the first to upload the video to YouTube. It’s a sickening mental illness.
Most people in this country have decided to just lie down and die. Just about all the rest have decided to pick their corpses, if not make them into corpses so they can be picked over.
Then there’s us. I wonder how many of us there are? Not enough I fear.
THAT gets me every time. There was a video of a cop throwing an old woman onto asphalt, with a bunch of young people standing around shooting video on their sail fawns.
Not one took any action, not even to yell “Stop!”
I don’t think I could contain myself in that situation. I’d be absolutely compelled to defend a helpless person against a monstrous thug.
How many of us are there? More and more. There is a great awakening; I just don’t know if it’s fast enough to matter.
In the IHOP case, it looks like just one cop; two or three men could easily have overpowered him. Just one person standing up and yelling at him to stop could have created a chain reaction. Just like in Milgram’s follow-up experiment, in which 10% of the subjects balked and refused to administer more shocks, one person confronting the pig might have inspired six others around him to action.
When does the damn break?
The problem is that while in the moment the numbers may work but later people will be hunted down one by one and the group, being transitory will not be around to defend the individuals from the cops, who organized. It’s how tyranny works over and over and over again.
Some people are going to have to sacrifice their liberty in order for the rest of us to recover ours. It is a terrible prospect; it brings home what the rebels in colonial America were up against. The question is, which of us will step forward?
I wish I could track down this interview but I lost it. It was with the former head of the Soviet secret police, after the collapse of the USSR. To paraphrase, he said that citizens at the time did not realize two crucial facts: 1. There was only a dozen or so agents running the entire brutal operation; and 2. Violent retaliation against just one or two of those dozen agents would have brought down the entire thing. In other words, the security state was extremely fragile and very easily overthrown, but no one had the courage to push it.
The state is a wonderful thing, ain’t it?
The western states between the Mississippi River and Caifornia (east of the Continental Divide) will be the safest. It’s the where the food’s grown, as well as the ‘whitest’ area.
The “whitest” areas? Its for that reason that it will NOT be the safest! Its for rhat reason that whites are fleeing this country for the brown countries in Central and South America. Your karma has finally caught up with you and now you dont want to stick around to reap what you have sown.
Eric, how can you and–thus far–all of the commentors on this page be so insensitive and obtuse regarding the present hard times?
Why, in yesterday’s Columbus Dogpatch, there was an article about the extreme suffering and victimization of students in the government schools whose lunch money accounts were in arrears. Through no fault of the students, mind you. Really, through no one’s fault at all. I mean, it is really too much to ask the parents of students to remember to pay for school lunches when there are so many other bills–cable, cell, Rent-a-Center, etc.–to remember and pay, right? And to expect parents to take valuable time out to apply for “free” lunches from the feds would be downright cruel, wouldn’t it?
Meanwhile, the students not paid up were given either cheese sandwiches or PB on crackers. In the words of one student’s grandmother: “Because she owed them lunch money, she got cheese and bread, and I think that’s horrific” (emphasis understandably added by me).
No doubt about it. That cheese and bread thing is right up there on the horrific scale with soldiers who go house to house and shoot women and children in their beds. It’s good to know that average Americans have not lost their perspective and sense of justice.
Now, aren’t you all ashamed of yourselves for thinking otherwise?
Do you have a link to that article? Please post it.
Here it is, fellow Columbus resident. Read it and feel the righteous, sympathetic outrage swell within you.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/03/11/its-pb-and-crackers-if-parents-dont-pay.html
I have another spin. It’ll be like “idiocracy” where the proles are all dumb and just want porn and nachos. There will be occasional riots when those suppies are disrupted, but the, for the most part, the proles will be just slowly impovershied by fiat currency. At some point the folks who pay for all this will be the ones revolting. The response to that will be very harsh. Cant have the payers not pay. What comes next will either be revolt or compliance. Not sure what though.
Eric, It’s hard for me to see poor American society ever rising up to do anything except to reach for another beer. If the proles instead would get up from time to time to read a book or do research on history or political theory then I might worry. In the old days, even poor people used to read things and learn, but as it stands America’s poor and disaffected are way too dumb and way too drunk on hyper-caffeinated beverages to be much more than a problem to themselves and their immediate family and neighbors. Sure, they can burn down their own ‘hood but that’s about as far as it will go (plenty of examples of that kind of thing). And yes, the state can use that localized violence to clamp down on everyone everywhere, but will they take over the state? Never. They just don’t know anything.
Wait until the EBT cards stop working….
True enough, for the underclass (and those who aspire to join it).
The problem is not they, it is the Middle Class whose members are steeped in the mythology of American Exceptionalism, parts of which you hyperlinked in the body of your column.
Who is always at the most risk of any particular danger? Those who consider it impossible. Americans are among the most docile of all domesticated farm animals because they believe the myths of American History (we’re the “freest,” our system is “different,” etc.).
When the unsustainable debt boom turns bust, and the actual poverty of our times is recognized, it will be likely to see the public embrace the Man on the White Horse (dictator). Given the infatuation with the ethics of Sparta now, I think it will be a military dictator.
When the student is ready the teacher will appear.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs5bnVoZK4Q&feature=related
Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.
The modern analog:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65KZIqay4E
I would like to point out, by the time of Odeacer the principles of Cicero such as they were, had been ignored for years by dozen of emperors and many Romans felt their new uneducated and straightforward Germanic overlords were better and an improvement over the sinister murderous bureaucratic military industrial complex nightmare of Rome.
Heathroi, if I may quote you and translate: I would like to point out, by the time of *Obama* the principles of *Jefferson* such as they were, had been ignored for years by dozen of *presidents* and many *Americans* felt their new uneducated and straightforward *Corporate* overlords were better and an improvement over the sinister murderous bureaucratic military industrial complex nightmare of *Washington D.C.* There…that’s a little clearer.
maybe history doesn’t repeat but it does rhyme.
Good comparison. Thanks
RE: The Worst Hard Time. Ugh. I couldn’t get through it, just too depressing.
But you missed one of the most important parts of the lesson. That is, they were given land at highly discounted rates by the railroads. The railroads got it through a crooked deal with the Federal Government. They didn’t have the knowledge needed to farm in an arid climate because they were just handed the land. When Eastern European farming techniques didn’t work (just like Western European style farming doesn’t work in the northeast US), they just left and moved to California, leaving the area to rot.
If growth had been more natural farming techniques could have evolved to take into account drought years. Instead there was a massive land grab, facilitated by the Federal gov to drive out the natives (who already knew that agriculture didn’t work there).
Good point, Eric – absolutely right!
For those who can, or care to, go get your Concealed Carry permits NOW.
Already done…
I wrestled with this for a long time. As a matter or principle no free man ought to be obliged to obtain a permission slip to possess arms, concealed or otherwise. But as a practical matter, it’s a necessary thing.
I drive a lot – so I get stopped a lot. And you don’t want to be stopped with a gun in your possession without the permit. Felony bust – possibly worse (as in, ending up shot).
Of course, if they decide next year (after Obama’s re-selection) that we must turn in our permission slips and our guns… well….
While ostensibly you can still “carry”, do so with your REGISTERED weapon…Whether you should run the risk of keeping unregistered firearms is your decision alone. Normally I don’t advocate breaking the law, but neither do I advocate meekly submitting and letting it break us…
There’s nothing wrong with unregistered weapons, Douglas. Most western states and many others allow people to buy guns privately, person to person – these weapons may not be registered, but they’re not illegal, and there are millions of firearms sold or traded privately.
Now if the weapon you have was stolen, yes, you will lose it, but that’s a small price to pay for privacy, and the maintenance of a right.
only a few nazified eastern states, and the Republik of Kalifornia, require the registration of newly acquired handguns. Since interstate transfer of handguns MUST go through a FFL dealer, they’ve pretty well gotcha, unless you’ve a close and trusted friend who can supply a unit made before the registration requirement came into effect. NEVER solicit such a transfer, however, as the federal level penalties are extreme, not to mention the state’s dim view and consequences. I live in a state that has NO gun registry requirements, nor any restrictions in face to face private sales within the state. I have made a point of obtaining a number of items about which the state and federal governments know nothing. If hard times come and I am forced to liquidate, the “known” ones will go first. Considering means and places of long-term storage, discretely packaged so as to reduce chance of discovery is another item on my agenda. History shows that, in the run-up to the American War for Independence, as the nasty ol Brits came round nicking the colonials’ personal arms, the downtrodden would often hand over a rusty, useless old piece and say something akin to “it was Grandad’s, he used to hunt with it but since he passed on it just sat about. I’ve no idea whether it even fires, but here it is, and welcome.” Nary a word was uttered concerning the family’s REAL tools, carefully secured elsewhere. It was those arms, secured against British confiscation, that carried awsy the ensuing war, of which the Brits were supremely confident of victory. Imagine their shame and anger at Yorktown……
This is a top-drawer suggestion, Tionico… thanks for posting!
I live in il…I have no gun rights…thanks chicago
Correction – you have no human rights! This is a crucial point. There is no such thing as “gun rights” – or “property rights”- as such. There are only human rights, including the right to self-defense and the right to keep the fruits of your labor.
Rick r, Eric is quite correct. Our rights at the founding of this nation were considered to be Creator Endowed or Natural Rights. More simply put, we possess our rights due to our own existence. A key right is to be able to defend one’s person from attack. Since we don’t come equipped with claws, fangs or horns, by extension this right includes possessing whatever means we see fit to use to do so. One fear some of the framers had when the Bill of Rights was being written was that later on, it would be interpreted as a restrictive document. They’re belief was that our rights, being anything you can do that does not involuntarily cost someone else something, are virtually unlimited. Unfortunately, as you are experiencing, our would-be slave owners in government don’t see it that way. We are being managed like a herd of livestock and you don’t want your meat and wool being able to shoot at the farm hands.
My suggestion to you Rick is move out of the People’s Republic of Illinois to a state that respects your rights as soon as you are able. If enough people pack up and leave, the dwindling tax coffers will send the PTB the message. The folks that prefer living on “Honest” Abe’s plantation (named Illinois) over having their own Liberty probably just need to stay there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5ut6yPrObw&feature=related
Battle of Athens Tenn, 1946 – the returning WWII veterans literally fought back against the corrupt political machine that had taken control of the city!
eric on March 15, 2012 at 9:52 am
“Correction – you have no human rights!”
Ahem…
Naughty boy, Eric: you inadvertently played the State’s game.
The fact that the State does not RESPECT your (or Rick R’s) rights does not mean that the rights cease to exist.
If the State doe not respect or protect a right, that does not void the right itself. Likewise, if the State actively tamples on a right, the right continues to exist – but it is violated.
Think what it means otherwise: you have the right not to be raped. If through some unfortunate circumstance you are then raped, you STILL have the right not to be raped… and the rapist ought to be punished in a way that compensates you for the infringement on your rights. He didn’t extinguish your right not to be raped – he VIOLATED it.
Likewise, the requirement to register firearms and/or get a licence does not EXTINGUISH the right to bear arms (made CRYSTAL clear in the 2nd Amendment: it is not even SLIGHTLY open to being ‘parsed’ away by robed State-paid charlatans)… but it violates it, and those who impose and enforce that violation of rights ought to be punished.
You are correct, sir!
And further, it is very important to be crystal clear when we talk about our rights – and how our rights have been violated.
Thanks again for the clarification!
Why do we want to turn a right into a privilege? I hear this argument all the time,and I understand the implications of
not complying with the man. But at what point do you quit graveling to the Powers that be? This was a great article Eric!
The answer is that Even if we had Ron Paul in office and a majority of libertarians in the rest of the branches we have
such a Benefit corrupted Majority in this country(especially with conservatives)That they would revolt (LIke Israel)in 6 months if they
had to live in a constitutional Principles
Thanks, Dirk!
My position on this stuff is – pick your battles. I agree that it’s an affront to our liberties to be required to possess a permission slip to possess a handgun – and to be threatened with handguns for such things as not “buckling up for safety.” But is it prudent to go to Defcon 1 over these things? Not for me – not yet, anyhow. The time may come – is probably coming. But for now, I’m trying (and hoping) to fight the battle of ideas before it becomes impossible to do so peacefully – and other options become the only possibility.
Eric, I have thought about this decision for a while too. It is fairly easy in my state to get a CC Permit. It shouldn’t be required, or course, but, like you said, that’s a battle I may not want to pick right now. However, just in practicality, you know you’re on some kind of list that can’t be erased once you apply. That’s my main reason for not getting the CCP yet. (no, we don’t have registered guns here – yes I have done the instant, “non-record-keeping” *cough* BullS__t *cough* on a gun or two, but not on most.)
Here is something you should think about. In my state, we may get the constitutional carry (such as Alaska, Wyoming, Vermont, and Arizona have) sometime soon. That is making me think about waiting; I don’t know where you live Eric, but there are about 10 states in which abiding by the Constitution is being considered.
I’m in VA – which is pretty good with regard to gun rights, in that it is a shall issue state for CC and open carry is lawful. One of the main reasons I got the CC was to be able to carry in national parks within my state – which would otherwise be a felony, without a CC. I will not go into the woods without my .45 – and anyone who does is whistling past the graveyard, in my opinion. But now I don’t have to sweat some Clover I pass on a trail noticing my holster and squealing to a ranger about the “gunman” they passed ….
It is interesting to note, that as in the rise of the NAZI in Germany there was never a “Defcon 1” moment. I suspect there will not be one this time either. It will continue as it has, slow and steady with just shudders and shakes until you look around and realize you are forced to kill those dirty Jews (or some other bunch) or you will lose your family! Do you think the Germans were so evil? Wait until you see what we become. There is only one way to ward this nearly inevitable outcome off. Find a line in the sand and draw it. If it is crossed the you must have the gut to do what the real definition of RIGHTS is: Fight and die, or Fight and conquer! No line, no rights.
Unless you live in a state where concealed carrying is licensed (not permitted) and it’s a low level misdemeanor for carrying without the license….
The crime of carrying a concealed weapon was reduced to a misdemeanor several years ago here (NC). I was carrying when it was still a Felony.
As far as those flash mobs go, they’re all the same color. This hasn’t changed in 50 years, since my dad and his fellow townspeople met Civil Rights marchers from Greensboro, with Rifles and Shotguns, and told them to go home! Now, look what they have spawned! A generation of parasites.
“A generation of parasites” That is the first time I’ve heard it put that way. Sounds right on the money.
A free man doesn’t need a permit to defend himself.
“A free man doesn’t need a permit to defend himself.”
No doubt, however; many say a married man is not a free man.
What You Love Will Be Used Against You
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/snyder9.html
Also,… we are surrounded.
I can’t help but think, leaving the country is the best option, especially after reading eric’s article above.
I’m vacillating on this decision too. On the one hand, I recognize there are freer places–many of them. Their *theoretical* protections–bill of rights etc–may not be as strong as ours, but their de facto state of freedom is far superior. Banks in Chile, for instance, would be mortified to ask the questions banks here ask routinely to open an account…and that’s a small example.
What frightens me most here is that they’ve brainwashed the sheeple so thoroughly that they participate in the tyranny willingly. “See something, Say something” is just a symptom of that disease. “It’s just policy” is the new “following orders”; in freer countries, there’s still resistance.
And yet–America more than most has a cultural memory of resistance, and liberty. Will it resurface and save us?
And if you do escape–the NWO will eventually arrive wherever you go. This time, the game is global; they’re taking down America first both as repayment of a grudge, and as a psy-op to demoralize freedom fighters around the world. But they’ll get to you, eventually, no matter where you go.
It’s an ancient plan, and it’s never worked; the NWO world government will fail. It will just be damned unpleasant in the meantime.
Question is–where will it be less unpleasant?
Well, if a Person decides to stay put:
How To Become An American Extremist In Style!
http://www.alt-market.com/articles/621-how-to-become-an-american-extremist-in-style
“But they’ll get to you, eventually, no matter where you go.”
I’m not so sure of that, but for sure they will if one stays put:
http://www.strike-the-root.com/all-my-heroes-died-broke-broken-not-beaten
That cultural memory has been erased. Those that fought in 1776 were not couch potatoes. They did not have malls, cell phones, or bling-bling. They were self-made people, battle hardened not only from other conflicts but from daily life. They knew what it meant to take responsibility for your life daily! They fought for their rights. To be one to expect someone to do it for you labeled you crazy. Now it’s the norm.
It will take complete economic collapse for these people to get off their asses.
@clark:
Excellent articles, both! Thank you clark. I read Strike The Root regularly; it’s chock-full o’ goodness.
And yes–we’re extremists. I too embrace the label, because shying from it would tempt me to moderate my speech…and these times call for immoderate speech, shouted loudly and often!
Little gov’t impact in Costa Rica. Been here 3 months. Now heading to Nicaragua which is cheap, and like America in the ’50s. Even less gov’t impact. No guns but no need. The people are humble and gracious. I am retired and love it in central america. Mango season now and the beaches are breath taking. 67 and enjoying retirement. Drove my ’96 Honda Civic here and move from place to place. Nice lifestyle if you like it.
“What frightens me most here is that they’ve brainwashed the sheeple so thoroughly that they participate in the tyranny willingly.” That’s so frighteningly true, meth.
I’m stuck here for at least another 3-4 years, but am actively researching places to go. Costa Rica, where hank has gone, and the Philippines are in the mix, along with a couple of other places. A major consideration, as Weisshaupt suggests, is where you will be least impacted by the fall of the world as we know it.
Leaving the country is unlikey to help. When this goes down, the world will suffer, and American’s in other countires will be hated, if not simply hunted down for sport. If you go, you better do your best to be seen as one of them.
With America gone, you can expect China and other superpowers to consolidate their control. Austrialia, NZ and the pacific ( and probably west coast America) will fall under Chinese influence. Islam will most likely sweep over Europe, and a new Caliphate will be established, though its hard to predict how Russia will play into that. Africa will again be colonialized to provide food for the new empires. No where is safe, nor likely to remain as it is now.
When the men of Gondor fall, the shadow will move to consume all else.
I think you’re right about that – though Russia seems to be showing signs of recovery and may serve as a counterbalance. Not necessarily for liberty – but at least, for some semblance of civilization. The Chinese, too, ay surprise us. I expect the average Chinese is much less enamored of Mao now than then…
Weisshaupt (strange name–you know the founder of the Illuminati in 1776 was Adam Weishaupt?)….
Don’t fall for the “scary global Islamic Caliphate” meme. It’s yet another fear-promotion from the Elites, and it’s largely crap; especially when you consider who’s REALLY establishing a hegemonic one-world rule…hint, it ain’t the Middle East.
Love your phrase: When the men of Gondor fall, the shadow will move to consume all else.
SO true, and I’m convinced it is intentional. Yet, I still have some hope for Americans. I know Don thinks the spirit of resistance is dead here, but I still see a spark of it. When the good ol’ boys TV gets turned off and they have to fend for themselves, there will be a few of us around to answer their questions.
And wooo-eee, will there be hell to pay by the Elites when the people get wise!
Under no circumstances get a carry permit for a firearms. These will be used in the future to round up “illegal” weapons. If possible buy used from a trusted source. Get weapons and ammo tell no one.
George,
I sympathize with the sentiment and agree with you in principle. But in practice, this is bad advice. I’ve had to deal with traffic stops twice recently – and had I not possessed a CHP, I’d have been arrested and charged with a felony – because both times I had a handgun in my possession. At minimum, I’d be facing thousands of dollars in legal bills – and what is the cost of being a convicted felon?
Now, if they outlaw CHPs – and possession of firearms generally – then I agree a line has been crossed and we have no choice but to act appropriately.
But for now, I think the real risk of a felony bust outweighs the abstract possibility that CHP rosters might be used at some future date to round up gun owners.
Just my 50 –
Sorry, but god ain’t gonna do nutin for you. Do it yourself, Dumbass. Don’t be dependent on nofucking body.
Religion – that is, what one believes about a creator (or the absence of one) and what, if anything, this being wants from us – is entirely a matter of personal conjecture. It is by definition beyond the realm of facts, of provable assertions. Hence, my attitude is, believe whatever makes you feel better. Just don’t insist you “know” – much less try to tell others they don’t know.
The truth is – none of us does.
It’s arrogant and demented in equal measure to assert otherwise.
For now, do your best to be decent, productive and so not part of the problem.
Thank God, in Missouri our ccw law allows those who are not “permitted” to conceal are allowed to carry a loaded firearm in the vehicle unconcealed.
Yes, this is right and you better believe it. Its whats coming
if you let obama have another 4 yrs. He is not starting to tax you until next year and wants to wait until after election
so you ( the nimble minded) will not see it comming until its toooooo late. Please for your sake, do not vote for obama this
election. Bush got 700 billion out of your retirement and now
obama wants 787 Billion out of you next year at up to 8.2 % of
your retirement money. Wake up…
Get your ammo now to defend your family. its comming.
DO NOT BE SLEEPING.
We are on the slippery slope NOW and sliding fast.