Fears

     Many fear. Few are entirely aware of why.

     Three things determine all human action:

• Desires,
• Fears,
• Beliefs.

     These are the motivators. They and they alone animate all our decisions and subsequent actions. They are pre-logical: that is, they form the bedrock of human existence from which reasoning of any sort must begin.

     But the motivators themselves proceed from a still deeper source: our perception of objective reality, which C. S. Lewis called the Tao:

     The Chinese also speak of a great thing (the greatest thing) called the Tao. It is the reality beyond all predicates, the abyss that was before the Creator Himself. It is Nature, it is the Way, the Road. It is the Way in which the universe goes on, the Way in which things everlastingly emerge, stilly and tranquilly, into space and time. It is also the Way which every man should tread in imitation of that cosmic and supercosmic progression, conforming all activities to that great exemplar. 'In ritual', say the Analects, 'it is harmony with Nature that is prized.' The ancient Jews likewise praise the Law as being 'true'.
     This conception in all its forms, Platonic, Aristotelian, Stoic, Christian, and Oriental alike, I shall henceforth refer to for brevity simply as 'the Tao'.

     But if the Tao comprises all of objective reality, then it contains more than just what we seek, enjoy, and strive to preserve. What we fear emerges from the Tao, as well. For objective reality is not benevolently disposed toward Man in all its forms and aspects. One of its variable, not-always-benevolent aspects is Man himself.

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     These days, there is much to fear. Usurpers have captured the federal government of these United States. Their intentions, as far as we can know them, amount to shredding the Constitution de facto and ruling by force alone. Naked power lust undergirds everything they do and have done. Anyone who dares to criticize them is their blood enemy, whom they will destroy if they can.

     But there is this as well: they fear us:

     In the days leading up to the Biden inaugural, the nation’s capital has been turned into an occupied military zone like Baghdad. Armed troops authorized to use lethal force are manning checkpoints to enter and leave downtown Washington, D.C. Green Zone and Red Zone perimeters have been established. Several bridges into the city from neighboring Virginia are scheduled to be closed next week for the inaugural.

     Quoth William Jacobson:

     You don’t need 25,000 armed National Guard troops to protect an inauguration, and you certainly don’t need that and more to protect a mostly virtual inauguration.

     Garrisoning the city in advance of a “mostly virtual inauguration” certainly seems like a fear-driven action. But fear of what?

     There are some possibilities. One is that this is a deliberate overreaction as a show of force to deter anyone even thinking about causing a problem. In a rational world, given the Capitol Hill riot, that would be an obvious explanation.

     But this massive military show of force smacks of protecting against a threat that has not yet been disclosed publicly. They seem to be planning against a military mutiny. That’s how it feels.

     Festung Washington, indeed.

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     When your nation’s capital is transformed from a relatively ordinary urban zone to a walled, fortified citadel, you no longer live in anything resembling a representative republic. We may justifiably fear what they have in mind – and history speaks eloquently of what tyrants do with the power they seize. This garrisoning of Washington screams that the Usurpers fear the very people they claim the authority to rule.

     We can use that.

     Keeping the Usurpers in a state of fear might help to impede their plans. Festung Washington, though established to exclude us, can also be used to confine them. After all, they and their bureaucrats can’t go everywhere surrounded by a military guard. There simply aren’t enough soldiers to do so. American patriots are ubiquitous – and we constitute a soldiery of our own.

     So we must keep the Usurpers in fear. We must repeat mercilessly that we know the 2020 election was stolen. We must publicize the evidence of their crimes at every opportunity. We must emphasize that we intend to resist their ukases.

We must make every Usurper fear to leave Festung Washington.

     It might have repercussions, especially for those most vocal in the effort. But the game is now about who fears whom, and to what degree. If we can master our fears, we can exploit theirs.

     The Roman imperial army was greatly feared by those whose lands the Empire colonized. Their motto, whether or not it was spoken openly, was Oderint dum metuant: “Let them hate us, as long as they fear us.” They made sure of it, by reliable methods.

     American patriots should not care that the Usurpers hate us. That they should hate us who oppose them and want to see them cast down is only natural; you might say it’s embedded in the Tao. But hatred by itself is impotent. We should care that they fear us – and we should stoke their fears by the most reliable methods.

     Give it some thought.