There is a peculiar fantasy on the authoritarian left – such as the
antifa, black bloc, and BAMN – that they are some kind of rebels. When really they
are the street enforcers of the political orthodoxy, like Mussolini’s
blackshirts.
So our civil disobedience will be much more difficult than theirs,
because we won’t get a pass from amenable authorities. But each personal
sacrifice will be another scalp taken in the moral level of war. We win not by
overpowering, but by provoking overreaction, and demonstrating the moral
illegitimacy of TPTB.
And that is a very hard pill to swallow. But we are not in the same
position as our ancestors, who had a clear bill of complaints to make against
the Crown. Our own hostile rulers are more clever and try to boil the frog
slowly. So until we have our Lexington & Concord
So the clearest and most peaceful way for us to win is by sheer volume.
If every man willing to shoot and kill for his country were also willing to
simply go to jail for his country, then there would be no jail beds left. Companies
would have to relax their standards to remain well-staffed. Mass action would
have mass effect.
So I'm talking about civil disobedience with the expectation of actual jail time for mere
disobedience, unlike the blackshirts, who can get away with actual hospitalizing violence. Understand that the contrast in consequences is part of what will
delegitimize TPTB and lead to their downfall; a serious and effective war with
no shots fired on our side.
From what I understand of history, a lot of successful uprisings began with a government overreaction. But people have to be willing to become martyrs - suffering some kind of clearly excessive punishment, if not necessarily death - for that to be effective.
ReplyDeleteThis works when the authority figure - politician, judge, policeman, employer, whoever - attempts to exercise moral authority he doesn't possess: commanding you to do evil, or to acquiesce in, if not indeed actively contribute to, your own and your family's ruin.
Always follow the authority trail. If it doesn't lead back to the People, then it's illegitimate.
ReplyDeleteSpoken like a true American!
ReplyDeleteSome concepts don't translate well. Down here, sovereignty, and the source of all worldly authority, is still the Queen in Parliament. We believe in popular election, but not in popular sovereignty.
But whether sovereignty resides in the People, or in the Queen in Parliament, doesn't matter for my main point, which is that the earthly sovereign still doesn't have the moral right to rule as it likes, or dispose of me and mine as it wishes; and it is still accountable to God for the use of such powers as it possesses.
In any case it's not Queen or People who are our enemies, but wicked men and women who presume to act in their name.
I do not know how to be other than as I am. And at the same time, I agree that the principle-agent problem is huge.
ReplyDelete