Tuesday, April 28, 2015

What Will Follow

     The riots in Baltimore are horrifying enough. But when you combine those savageries with this atrocity and this one, the aggregate becomes overwhelming.

     Life and property are not safe in the United States of America. Neither is any other “freedom” we once enjoyed.

     Ace suggests that a fission is coming:

The fascist SJWs, and their easy way with all corporations (such as GoFundMe), plus Saturday night spurred me to say aloud what I've thought to myself for years:

     It's time to begin seriously discussing secession.

     As the man says: the center cannot hold.

     No one actually seems happy in this national marriage.

     It's time to admit this and separate.

     If such a schism could be achieved peacefully, it would be best for all concerned. There’s just one little problem: the political elite would not sit still for it.


     I’ve written on too many occasions to bother backlinking to them that power is most attractive to those that love power above all other things, and that their lust for power naturally propels them to the top of such edifices. I’m not the first to make that point, of course; Friedrich Hayek got there well before me. But Hayek’s insight, when combined with a reflection on the nature of political power, yields a result more terrifying than any riot:

     He who lusts for power over others is inherently evil. I trust this requires no great argument in its justification. The evil man, once he has some degree of power, will use it to acquire more, for power is a drug that doesn’t sate. However, the enjoyment of power requires that it be used. For, as O’Brien said to Winston in 1984, to enjoy your power, you must be actually coercing your victim at the moment:
     ‘How does one man assert his power over another, Winston?’
     Winston thought. ‘By making him suffer,’ he said.
     ‘Exactly. By making him suffer. Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.’

     Political power – i.e., power over others – is relational in nature. Its wielder requires victims upon whom to exercise his power. If he has no victims, his power is illusory. But by extension, the magnitude of his power can be measured by the number of his victims.

     The political class of this country is no better than that of any other. It will employ every means at its disposal to keep all of its victims...and they dispose of quite a number of such means.


     Fission into two nations would also be opposed by those on the Left who appreciate that their fortunes are made possible by those of us who differ with them. Allow me to start from Robert A. Heinlein’s partition of “Makers, Takers, and Fakers.” Heinlein posited that there is no third category, and I concur.

     Makers produce goods and render services that maintain life, enable prosperity, and support a tolerable social order. Not all Makers produce tangible products. The humblest counter girl at a fast-food restaurant facilitates the provision of an objective good – food – to those who would purchase it. That gives her a claim on the title of Maker quite as valid as any farmhand or factory worker.

     Takers are persons unable or unwilling to produce or serve others. They’re sustained by the production of Makers; without Makers’ largesse, they would perish. Not all Takers are willfully so; there are millions of persons unable through no fault of their own to support themselves by productive effort. But the great majority of Takers are not of that blameless sort.

     Fakers are those who pose as Makers but who are quite as parasitical as the willful worst of the Takers. Politicians and their hangers-on are Fakers. As Sir Fred Hoyle wrote in The Black Cloud, we treat them as important because the newspapers say they are, whether explicitly or implicitly. Yet they’re as helpless to sustain their lives by productive effort as any Taker.

     The visible, vocal Leftist is a Faker. He’s overwhelmingly most common in the “communicative” fields: education, journalism, and entertainment. These fields are made possible by their opposites: those that produce the goods and services that actually sustain life. Universities, the least dubious of Faker institutions, may be necessary to a high society in some rarefied sense, but they are not sufficient. Without the legions of Makers that support them from “below,” they would perish...and most of their denizens are aware of it.

     In these United States, the Takers and Fakers have succeeded in fastening themselves onto the Makers through the exploitation of unearned guilt. They’ve multiplied and grown fat while the Makers have grown lean. Yet were the Makers to withdraw their support, they would perish in a body – and they know it.

     No schism that makes two nations where there was one would be worthwhile unless the Makers could leave the Takers and Fakers behind. But as I wrote in the previous segment such a separation would be opposed by all the force at the Fakers’ disposal. For them and their Taker constituents, it would be a matter of survival.


     Pleasant thoughts for a Tuesday morning in April, eh? But this is how it looks to me. If there is to be a separation, it will require us to pass through a revolution bloodier than any other in human history. Most of us are aware of that in some semiconscious way, which is why we continue to search for a non-violent solution.

     I desperately want to find such a solution. Others of my bent are equally passionate in their similar efforts. But our sincerity and yearning doesn’t guarantee that such a solution exists...and the longer we search, the less likely our success becomes, for time is running out.

     Thoughts?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.

Anonymous said...

My son turns 18 in 3 months. These questions weigh most heavily on my mind when I lie awake in the middle of the night or when I am on my knees before God. I was an EMT in High School and have served in the Army and seen combat.
I fear what the coming bloodshed will do to my family.

Ron Olson said...

"For them it's a matter of survival" And if we lose any more of our rights it's matter of our survival. Those in power cannot make us suffer more without bloodshed.


KG said...

Ron, for those in power there is always one more turn of the screw available and for the victims there is always one more turn of that screw to be endured.
It won't be decent people who fix this, it will be the ferals who finally collapse civilized norms and provoke open warfare, thus leaving free men and women no choice in the matter.

Monty said...

This reminds me of something that Frank Herbert wrote:

"All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible."



t said...

Secession. Millions moving to states will be less bloody than the alternative.

Anonymous said...

When Moral, decent people have had enough,Nothing,Not even forced acceptance of Homosexuality out of fear of persecution will be able to survive. There is a movement countering the decay of our Nation, It's gravitating towards Idaho, Eastern Washington Eastern Oregon, Montana,Wyoming...Secession is all that is left. It should be the goal.

Anonymous said...

Having read (and believed) the Bible many times. I have often wondered why the USA, being the big dog of history, is not mentioned in the book of Revelation when Israel our trusted ally is attacked by all their rag-head neighbors.

Why aren't we there to help? I have concluded the following: 1) We no longer exist as a nation 2) We are so conflicted (civil war) internally we can't help 3) We are politically against Israel--in which case God will drive a stake through our heart for treason to Himself

So maybe it's all three.

Secession is not the answer for us. Because shortly thereafter our liberal opponents would invite the Chinese and Russians to build bases up against our border--no doubt with a little Bear and Dragon coercive encouragement that they would fold under--remember Korea and Vietnam

No, we have to take the Castle and revise what it means to be a legal citizen with voting rights, e.a., property ownership, military/civil service, 3 generation history, oath of allegiance, children, etc.

And there must be an addition to the Constitution--call it: A STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL INTENT. Or some such. It would spell out exactly what the Founding Fathers desired/meant and have equal force of law. With amendments to correct the evils of government as we know them today.

With all immigrants of the last three administrations returning to their origins and a land in Africa carved out for all Blacks that want or should return to their Fathers place of origin. And our Black brothers there fully supported with job producing (actual factories, farms and trade schools) foreign aid. And an army/navy/air force defense structure. Maybe even a right of return to the USA with certain certifiable achievements that make them an asset to the economy.

And their should be trials for crimes against humanity and of course treason for survivors of the conflict that previously held public, banking, academic, or entertainment positions of influence or power.

And here's my favorite being a Christian: ALL religions would lose their tax exemptions and all protestant pastors would do military service/or have their gentiles certified as being of the male gender before they could be licensed to preach.

A constitutional convention would/will start a civil war; winner take all because separation is not possible are desirable. The prize is too great and the dangers too terrible.

Just being a dreamer.

See you in the streets.

ghostsniper said...

Anonymous @ 2:50pm, you're in favor of tyranny as long as it's your particular brand.

I'll have none of it. Ever.

Bobo #117 said...

When the going gets tough, the tough get going...
The smart left a long time ago...

(Written from the dreary Pacific coast of central America. Good luck up there)

JD said...

Splitting the country up is the answer. However, it will have to be done by the Right and it will have to be by force. Those in power and those who Take will not let go easily.

Jimmy the Saint said...

@t: "Secession. Millions moving to states will be less bloody than the alternative."

It might even be more bloody. Every new state will have to kill or forcibly relocate (i.e., commit genocide) on populations which are not loyal to the new regime.

Anonymous said...

I have to agree with Ghostsniper. Power corrupts and an absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely.
I am an American that believes that together we are a greater standard for good than segregated. Our founding fathers were not all nice men. There were power plays and those that lusted for power. The conditions or ratifying the constitution were in fact attempts to limit that thirst and pathway to power. Our Supreme court justices decided to make law instead of contain bad behavior.

If war comes between us nagain, there will be winners and losers. Perhaps it would be better if we held our current elected and appointed officials, and all the government employees accountable to the same laws that they pass and/or force upon the rest of us. If our leadership was held accountable for bad behavior, perhaps more people would hold themselves accountable too.

Paul Bonneau said...

I don't know if it's that power attracts evil people, or that even initially-decent people are corrupted by power. Probably both. In any case the results are the same, a boot on one's neck.

Why only split in two? I'd like to see 50 Americas. I will not be sad when Washington DC is sacked. It deserves the same fate as Carthage.

Anonymous said...

To Anon @ 28 APR 15/0945.

You are not alone.

I too am an Army vet. My own son turns 15 this year. I suspect we have tramped the same dirt at one point or another.

The question that has plagued me since I reached the conclusions laid out by the OP, is: "Quo Vadis?" Literally, "Where are you going?"

The conclusion that I reached, after much prayer and soul searching, is that I am expendable. Always have been, and I always knew it, if even on just a subconscious level. This is my land, and I will not be moved. And yes, I know what that probably means, in the end. And I'm okay with that. There are worse ways to go.

I'm expendable, but my son is not. Neither is my wife. Contingency plans have been made, as well as an alternative. We've been working on this for a very long time - since my son was born. Given enough time, God willing and the creek don't rise, he will be as prepared as I can make him.

If you've ever read the Strauss/Howe Generational Theory (and you really should), it will make sense of a great deal that is currently confusing. We - you, me, all of us - must prepare our sons as best we can. It will take more than courage to face what's coming...