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The Essential Task
Special for Western Rifle Shooters Association readers, 24 Jun 2011, graciously linked here.
As mentioned in the previous article, we are entering a new phase in the war for liberty. And, as mentioned previously, we have been trained to impotency, but this is a treatable condition. However, some, having totally misjudged the situation, are being driven to acts of desperation. It is imperative that each of us attempt to reach these people before they lash out. As our situation evolves, the desperate can transform themselves into the emboldened, and have a far more positive impact on the world we will be shaping. Beyond that, each of these people simply deserves better for their lives.
In that previous article, I encouraged everyone to read some Che and understand the parallel to our evolving situation. Fortunately, most of what you needed to learn for the purposes of this exercise is found in the first third of the book. Most of the rest, including the tactical work in that first third, more or less doesn't immediately apply to our Amerikan experience (but one day will as the collapse deepens) so you have time to catch up on that later. I encourage you to do so, as there are nuggets sprinkled throughout.
So, did you read at least the first few chapters? Good, because here's a pop quiz:
1. At the outset, the essential task of the guerrilla fighter is to:
a. ferret out infiltrators in his midst.
b. keep himself from being destroyed.
c. attack vigorously regardless of the cost.
d. become a martyr to inspire others.
2. True or False, an indispensable condition is full help from the people of the area, without which a guerrilla band will be captured and exterminated by the public force.
The answers will be provided and discussed in a moment. If you can't answer these questions with some level of confidence in your answers, go back and read or re-read your Che now. If you cheat and look ahead, you only cheat yourself and those who may one day depend on you. Ironically, Che was killed while violating his own principles, as reflected in the above questions extracted verbatim from his work.
Now, the point of reading Che in our modern experience isn't to inspire patriots to head off into the hills and start waging a Cuban-style war. This would be foolish, and completely inconsistent with the Gandhi phase in which we find ourselves. Modern conflict, particularly Fourth Generation Warfare (4GW), erupts along an entire spectrum of activity, from discussions over coffee (or blogs) all the way to genocide. The key is to select the appropriate level of conflict consistent with the evolving situation.
Generally, the more powerful established force gets to choose the level of conflict, and, armed with organs of propaganda you cannot hope to match, stage the backdrop against which your actions may be measured. Put differently, the populace has been trained to view escalation by the insurgents (including, in our modern lexicon, you Constitutionalists) as unconditionally bad. Our task, then, is to choose those activities (again, in our current, temporary context) which moves toward a defined end-state or intermediate (milestone) end-states in the proper order and at levels of conflict which we are manipulating to suit our purpose.
Now for our answers.
1 (b). At the outset, the essential task of the guerrilla fighter is to keep himself from being destroyed. The trains to the FEMA camps aren't yet running. So far, the level of official violence has been limited to killing individuals in their homes. Granted, this is horrific enough, but each patriot who survives a warrant search, a home invasion, a traffic stop, trumped-up domestic violence charges, or other hair-trigger encounter designed to goad you into reaction and thus justify your murder (or encourage your suicide), is one more patriot who can have an amplified impact later. Put differently, your time has not yet come.
2 (True). An indispensable condition for our movement is full help from the people of our state or nation, without which we will be captured and exterminated by the public forces. Che was killed in Bolivia because he totally misread the popular situation, and was turned in by the locals because his hijinks were getting in the way of their day. Agrarian reforms (think welfare, bailouts, subsidies, social security and retirement checks) in Bolivia totally changed the perspective of the locals. They were poor, and oppressed, but were more or less content that way as long as the boot didn't smash their faces personally. It boggles the patriot mind to think someone could think this way, but was true in Bolivia then, and is true in Amerika today.
This is key. You must understand that the patriot movement, like Che in Bolivia, lacks any help, much less full help, of the people. As I have said many times, the police are not your enemy, they are merely one of many tools of that enemy. Most of your fellow citizens fall out on a spectrum of opinion from "the government can do no wrong", through "there are a few bad apples, but most cops / politicians / judges / bankers / bureaucrats, etc. are good", all the way to any number of blame the victim excuses. Even (or perhaps especially) the benign "I don't want to think about it" attitude indicates a lack of support. Note that most Tea Party lily-whites fall into one of these categories.
So, lacking popular support, armed action (or hopeful demonstrations of helplessness) now would be fruitless, and as we'll discuss in a bit, downright harmful to our future effort. No matter how skilled you are, eventually the bad guys win, because, currently, your fellow citizens will it so.
Restating Che, then, at the outset (meaning right now), the essential task of a patriot is to keep himself from being destroyed before we have a chance to prepare the battlefield.
Capture, as mentioned above, even for trumped-up charges, still isn't that bad (yet). The same mindless bureaucracy which is used to sweep up the malcontents can also be manipulated into vomiting them back onto the street. In the current phase, the trick is to avoid the extermination part, and that means not being goaded into being shot on sight. Note that even in prison, you can have an impact on the minds of your guards and other inmates. The best way to escape prison is to talk them into letting you out, which is a much easier task if you seem harmless to enough passerby.
If you are arrested today, is your family damaged? Yes. Are your employment prospects damaged? Yes. Are you out months or years of your life? Yes. But all of these things, and more, are true if you are killed, and we are going to need you later. Survive the encounter, and you will be around to have a high-impact influence on things later when the rules change. More on that in future articles, along with a discussion of desirable end-states and exercises designed to help put a face on our adversary.
So now, let's compare and contrast the actions of Joe Stack and Thomas Ball. As a reminder, in 2010 Joe Stack few a light plane into the IRS building in Austin. In 2011, Thomas Ball immolated himself on the steps of the Cheshire County, New Hampshire courthouse. Each of these men was pushed to the brink by a mindless, soulless bureaucracy. Both of their situations share common aspects, and it is helpful to compare these men, their actions, and the public reaction to each in the context of the liberty movement. We'll wrap up by describing some actions that each of us can take to help the hopeless to help themselves.
Stack and Ball both felt themselves victimized by an overreaching, soulless bureaucracy. The one was ensnared by the simplest of tax traps laid for the unwary, while the other had his family ripped apart as the Live Free or Die State forced his wife to turn against him. There is a practically unlimited number of paths that the wielders of the public nightstick can use to destroy our lives; these are but two.
Many of us have trod these paths ourselves. Many of us have felt the desperation that each of these men felt. While I cannot speak for the experiences of each of these men, those of us who have felt Leviathan's grip on our necks have likely shared the same feelings that each of these men felt when turning to their fellow man for help. There is no name for this experience, as it is a churn of conflicting doubts and fears, disillusionments and disappointments. This nameless horror is designed to isolate us, make us fearful and compliant. And on the vast majority, it works. For those of you who have shared this path with me, you know exactly what I mean before I even describe it. For the lily-whites of you, this description will ring hollow in your ears. No matter, your time, too, will come.
The original assault on our liberty, as was Joe Stack's audit and Thomas Ball's arrest and ordered restraint, pales in comparison to the reaction each of us receives from our family, our friends, our trusted associates. Those whom we admire and respect the most share, for the most part, the same opinions:
- You should have known better.
- It will all work out.
- Sometimes we need to be put in our place.
- You're making a mountain out of a molehill.
- Maybe you'll learn something from this.
and my personal favorite:
- You must have done more than you're telling.
In an instant, by design, we are all alone against the state. In a blinding flash, we see backs turned on us in every direction. No wonder that so many of us lash out at this moment. We are in the worst struggle of our lives, which, by design, requires months or years to consummate, must prove our innocence despite the propaganda to the contrary, and see that no one, no one at all, is on our side. All the rest may as well be the state itself, and in fact, they are. Because none of this would be possible without the tacit approval of the public at large, including those we love the most.
Combat veterans have described this experience as being worse than combat. At least in combat, you get to kill the enemy. In combat, if you die you might at least be regarded as a hero, even if you died stupidly.
But in this most personal of wars, you are the enemy itself. Nothing you do to save yourself will ever be regarded as anything but evil and destructive. The only "honorable" path out, according to those you admire, trust and love, the lily-whites in your life, is to cower and submit.
Contrast the reactions of the liberty community to Joe Stack and Thomas Ball. Stack kills others, and the liberty movement at all levels backpedals furiously, disowning him as evil and unjustified. Kill yourself harmlessly, as did Thomas Ball, and we are the recipients of prayers and sympathy. So what message are we sending to our desperate brothers?
If you haven't lived this experience personally, you cannot possibly understand the depth and intensity of this nameless, deliberate horror. Nor can you describe it in such a way to make the virgins truly understand it.
It is no wonder, then, while enduring the stress of awaiting trial while hopelessly alone, even the strongest and most virtuous men lose their families, lose their jobs, lose everything of value to them. And in their loss, justify to everyone who turned their backs that they were correct and righteous to do so. It is no wonder that some lash out, killing others and themselves.
It is a system designed to destroy the strongest of us especially, for the curs will simply whimper and lick the hand like good little slaves.
But, while this nameless horror is far worse than the original assault on our liberty, it, as with many hardships, is capable of making us stronger, if it doesn't kill us first. There is a better way. There is a way to fight back smarter.
Most of you know, or will know, someone who is hurting and desperate, someone who is fighting the struggle of their lives; someone who is completely alone in a sea of people who simply do not care. What will you do to help this person survive his struggle, and then join us in the fight ahead, a common fight against his enemies as well as our own? There are many things which you can do, things which have true value to this person, and are not simply meaningless platitudes.
1. Let him know that you understand his struggle. That you understand that society has abandoned him. That those whom he admires and loves the most cannot, and will not, understand, because to do so would destroy their world view, and this is something that most refuse to do. Share your own personal experiences, and let him know that you are willing to help him through to the other side, if he is willing.
2. Help him understand that his struggle is temporary, and in a temporary context. Help him understand the vision for the future; that eventually the tyrants will feed on enough victims that a tipping point will be reached where we all can take substantive action, carving a new world for ourselves from the carcass of the old. Help him understand that his time will come, but to see that day he must survive the present.
3. Offer substantive assistance, rather than meaningless prayers. To tell someone in this struggle that you will pray for him is to admit that you don't truly understand, but wish to be regarded as virtuous for mouthing an empty platitude. In short, you insultingly demand that he, in the midst of his struggle, thank you for doing nothing at all. If this offends you, then count your blessings, my lily-white friend, for you have not yet suffered enough to know how foolish are your words to those in genuine misery.
4. Let him know that his struggle is valuable, and that he will emerge stronger regardless of the outcome, even if imprisoned. The fact that he is suffering so much today represents a deliberate attempt to destroy the strong, which means that he is a threat which the tyrants fear. Help him feed from this energy and become emboldened.
5. Tell him that you aren't offering empty sympathy or helping him wallow in self-pity, but that you expect your assistance to be repaid by him becoming stronger, and joining you in the future fight against our common enemies. In short, tell him that he must buck up, and become a warrior, not a victim.
6. Help him understand that today, in our temporary context, warriors must hide inside a Gandhi suit to survive to the real battle ahead. Our virtues, and even our yearning for freedom, have been turned into weapons to be used against us. It is this, most of all, to which he will react the most angrily, and is the source of his worst inner torment, But, to survive his agony he must understand that our enemies, including those he previously thought were his friends, do not deserve our truth or integrity. His previous lily-whiteness, his belief in universal goodness, truth and justice, blinded him to the reality of his fight and the nearly universal complacent evil of his fellow man. Coach him instead to lie, to deceive, to feign submission and compliance, not as weakness, but as a weapon against our enemies. Help him stitch that Gandhi suit and learn to wear it well, so well that the most alert enemy would not recognize even the angel of death in their midst.
7. Help him understand that those who turned their backs today may be in his shoes tomorrow, and that he should be willing to forgive their abandonment. And that he should help them as he has been helped, fan the embers of their newly emerging understanding, and welcome them to our fight.
So what can you do to help him? Practically anything, and everything within your power. Use your God-given skills, talents and abilities in imaginative ways, but get involved in his life and actually help where you can, and admit where you can't. Sometimes even the smallest kindnesses and considerations can strengthen us. Here are but a few examples:
Separated from his family? Have your kids tell his kids at school, "your Dad says he loves you and your Mom very much", or whatever other uplifting message he wishes to send as the exiled leader of his family. Stressed out and not taking care of his yard (which could lead to an escalating subdivision conflict)? Come over and help him cut his grass or stack his woodpile. Business faltering? Offer to help with tending the shop, help with his taxes, or talk to customers while his anger is festering. Invite his kids to play with yours so that he and his wife can talk about necessary things in private. He needs a place to stay when his entire livelihood was seized? You have a sofa, and can help him look for a rental. Or a job. The list is limitless.
Then, organize a "fire-team" of like-minded patriots to do the same, or help in their own unique ways. But never once let the "prayer" word out to him in the context of his struggle, for in the depth of his misery that was the banner, the password, of the weak and unwilling, the lily-whites who abandoned him in his hour of need. God gave us talents and abilities, minds and bodies, specifically so we didn't have to whine to Him about our needs, or those of our suffering brothers, or to impress others with our righteousness. If you must pray, pray instead privately for wisdom on how you personally can help His children, even those who don't share your particular faith, in our common fight against the evil of the smirking state.
And if he offers to pay for any of this, as good people often will, don't refuse payment, as good people often do, but instead gently remind him that his repayment will be to help you help others in the future. Demonstrate by example that by having his back today, you are worthy of his having yours in the fight ahead. Once he is strong and his crisis has passed, stay involved so that each of you might continue to strengthen each other, your force now doubled. Then go out and double it again. And again, and again, until we, the motley ragged band of us, are unstoppable, yet unseen and unseeable.
So, expanding on Che's admonition, in our current Gandhi phase, the essential task of the patriot for today is to keep himself, and his desperate brothers, from getting destroyed. This means getting involved personally and giving of yourself, not your empty prayers, when the hopeless and distressed need you most.
This, too, is a front in our Fourth Generation War.
In that previous article, I promised you "can-dos" from here on out. Previously, the list was:
1. Understand that the police are not your enemy, but they will never be your friend. Instead, they are merely a tool which can be used to achieve the end-state, if you are willing to learn how.
2. Stop shedding tears when certain things happen to bad people. Harden yourself to this.
3. Learn that a successful patriot movement requires popular support. Without that, the most successful revolutionary in our hemisphere of the past century got himself killed. Even the experts forget to apply the fundamentals.
In the future, we will address the apparent paradox in that last statement to learn how to apply Che's second fundamental lesson from the Cuban Revolution, that of manufacturing popular support where it doesn't exist organically. I think from this article you have a hint of where this is headed.
So, here's the next item on the list:
4. Seek out the hopeless and the desperate, the victims of the state and correctness, then offer them, not hollow prayers or helpless sympathy, but instead give of yourself, your God-given talents and your skills, your vision of this evolving war. Give them a path to the future, give them purpose, direction and motivation; help them out of their personal struggle today, so that they may join us in the fight tomorrow.
This, as are the previous, is something that any of us, regardless of his station or his own personal struggle, can do. Simply help others of us you find discarded along the way so that one day we may, leaderless, fight together.
In your darkest hour you are not alone. And we will need all of us, each of us, in the days ahead. We have not yet seen the whites of their eyes but that day will come.