Jeff White
New member
The various threads on revolution and frustration with the "High Road" position at TFL has gotten me thinking.
I'd like to pose a few questions to the members who are frustarted with the "high Road" and then add some of my comments.
1. Are those of you who are advocating revolution (or at least serious discussion of it) ready to give up your reputation, your family's reputation, your earning potential, your freedom and ultimately your life? Right now, today? Our founding fathers did. Are you ready for almost everyone to brand you as a terrorist and a criminal?
2. Are you ready to live as a fugitive, moving from safe house to safe house, always in fear of betrayal, arrest and imprisonment?
3. Have you ever been in a country where this type of activity is going on?
4. Have you ever been in combat?
5. Are you ready to go to prison for your beliefs? Tomorrow? For maybe the next 20 years until your side finally wins? What if you don't prevail?
6. Are you prepared to deal with people who are your ideological enemies to defeat the common enemy and then fight it out with them?
7. How many who are ready to shoot now have been involved in the political process? Registered to vote and never miss an election? Recruited like minded people to run or ran for office themselves?
Now for my comments: By many accepted definitions the revolution has already begun. There are groups on the right and the left preparing to achieve their political goals by violent means. Look at the history of our own revolution against the British. The colonists were divided into thirds. 1/3 Tories, 1/3 Patriots (criminals and terrorists to the other 2/3s) and 1/3 just wanted to be left alone. How many years did it take? Did unconventional warfare win the day? No the Continental Army finally started winning on the battlefield in conventional conflict. The Brown Bess musket won the revolution, not the Kentucky Long Rifle.
A revolution would be a bloody hard thing, probably not at all like "Unintended Consequences". Probably more like the communist struggle for Vietnam, 1946-1975. Beginning with leaders and patriots inprisoned and killed and ending with tanks rolling through the gates of Saigon.
I am as frustrated as anyone on TFL about the way things are going right now. But I don't think we're nearly to the point of reinstalling a constitutional government by force. We've yet to exhaust all other options. We've lost a lot in the legislature and to pop culture, but we are just beginning to fight in the courts. Emerson has yet to be heard in the Federal Court of Appeals and is sure to go to the Supreme Court either way the lower court rules.
The strangle hold on information and opinion that the mainstream media used to have is slowly being broken. Fewer and fewer people are getting their information from network news shows, and newspapers are almost dead. The internet, e-mail, cellular phones and other widespead technology is breaking the hold. Places like this forum are a part of that. People who would never think of registering as members surf in and read what we post here. It can't help but influence some of them. Some have even changed their minds and joined us.
Another encouraging trend is the resistance to the intrusive census questions that is coming from all across the political spectrum.
I made this anaylogy in a post a while back, but our current situation reminds me of the year 1942. If you look at history you will find that in 1942, things looked pretty bad for the good guys. Freedom was in retreat everywhere. But there were a couple of small victories that turned the tide for us, even though they didn't appear to be significant to the big picture at the time.
Luck, courage and good leadership beat the Japanese at Midway. Were the Japanese beat, no far from it, but it turned the tide. 3 more hard years were required to put them away, but they never were really on the offensive in the strategic sense again. The German invasion of the Soviet Union froze to death on the steppes of Russia in 1942. Were the Germans beat, no, but as with the Japanese, they never were on the offensive strategically again.
So what has happened this year? We won Emerson at the local court level. For the first time we put a halt to a Federal Gun Control law in the courts. The gun control proponents are now in the defensive. Oh the media doesn't tell us about it. But they are on the defensive. They may be counter attacking on another front, but they are being forced to defend their unconstitutional law in court. At the same time they are having to defend it, no less a legal luminary then Lawrence Tribe writes that like it or not the 2d Amendment is an individual right.
More people are on our side then the media tells us about. Most people are content to live their lives and would just as soon be left alone. SO they aren't involved in the debate. They don't really think about these things, they'd rather not, but when the issues directly affect them they will vote and act. And as much as we like to decry the public school system and the problems in our society, there still is a lot of common sense out there. Look at what does still work in our country. The economy is still chugging along, and in spite of the socialists in the congress, we're still accomplishing great things.
As for taking the high road, that is the only road to take. Our opponents are of the ilk that the ends always justify the means. I like to think that we are above that. As I said earlier, people who would never register and post will read what we post here. Talk of violent revolution just serves to reinforce the stereotype the mainstream media tries to hang on us. The majority of the people are living what they consider the good life right now. They are only going to be turned off to our cause by reading posts that don't take the high road.
Many of us are angry enough to vent our frustraions by talking of revolution. But to do so in public forum is not helping our cause. The average uniformed but openminded person is not going to be impressed by our frustrated rants. So I support the high road.
Now I'll pull on my nomex and grab the 30 lb CO2 fire extinguisher
I'd like to pose a few questions to the members who are frustarted with the "high Road" and then add some of my comments.
1. Are those of you who are advocating revolution (or at least serious discussion of it) ready to give up your reputation, your family's reputation, your earning potential, your freedom and ultimately your life? Right now, today? Our founding fathers did. Are you ready for almost everyone to brand you as a terrorist and a criminal?
2. Are you ready to live as a fugitive, moving from safe house to safe house, always in fear of betrayal, arrest and imprisonment?
3. Have you ever been in a country where this type of activity is going on?
4. Have you ever been in combat?
5. Are you ready to go to prison for your beliefs? Tomorrow? For maybe the next 20 years until your side finally wins? What if you don't prevail?
6. Are you prepared to deal with people who are your ideological enemies to defeat the common enemy and then fight it out with them?
7. How many who are ready to shoot now have been involved in the political process? Registered to vote and never miss an election? Recruited like minded people to run or ran for office themselves?
Now for my comments: By many accepted definitions the revolution has already begun. There are groups on the right and the left preparing to achieve their political goals by violent means. Look at the history of our own revolution against the British. The colonists were divided into thirds. 1/3 Tories, 1/3 Patriots (criminals and terrorists to the other 2/3s) and 1/3 just wanted to be left alone. How many years did it take? Did unconventional warfare win the day? No the Continental Army finally started winning on the battlefield in conventional conflict. The Brown Bess musket won the revolution, not the Kentucky Long Rifle.
A revolution would be a bloody hard thing, probably not at all like "Unintended Consequences". Probably more like the communist struggle for Vietnam, 1946-1975. Beginning with leaders and patriots inprisoned and killed and ending with tanks rolling through the gates of Saigon.
I am as frustrated as anyone on TFL about the way things are going right now. But I don't think we're nearly to the point of reinstalling a constitutional government by force. We've yet to exhaust all other options. We've lost a lot in the legislature and to pop culture, but we are just beginning to fight in the courts. Emerson has yet to be heard in the Federal Court of Appeals and is sure to go to the Supreme Court either way the lower court rules.
The strangle hold on information and opinion that the mainstream media used to have is slowly being broken. Fewer and fewer people are getting their information from network news shows, and newspapers are almost dead. The internet, e-mail, cellular phones and other widespead technology is breaking the hold. Places like this forum are a part of that. People who would never think of registering as members surf in and read what we post here. It can't help but influence some of them. Some have even changed their minds and joined us.
Another encouraging trend is the resistance to the intrusive census questions that is coming from all across the political spectrum.
I made this anaylogy in a post a while back, but our current situation reminds me of the year 1942. If you look at history you will find that in 1942, things looked pretty bad for the good guys. Freedom was in retreat everywhere. But there were a couple of small victories that turned the tide for us, even though they didn't appear to be significant to the big picture at the time.
Luck, courage and good leadership beat the Japanese at Midway. Were the Japanese beat, no far from it, but it turned the tide. 3 more hard years were required to put them away, but they never were really on the offensive in the strategic sense again. The German invasion of the Soviet Union froze to death on the steppes of Russia in 1942. Were the Germans beat, no, but as with the Japanese, they never were on the offensive strategically again.
So what has happened this year? We won Emerson at the local court level. For the first time we put a halt to a Federal Gun Control law in the courts. The gun control proponents are now in the defensive. Oh the media doesn't tell us about it. But they are on the defensive. They may be counter attacking on another front, but they are being forced to defend their unconstitutional law in court. At the same time they are having to defend it, no less a legal luminary then Lawrence Tribe writes that like it or not the 2d Amendment is an individual right.
More people are on our side then the media tells us about. Most people are content to live their lives and would just as soon be left alone. SO they aren't involved in the debate. They don't really think about these things, they'd rather not, but when the issues directly affect them they will vote and act. And as much as we like to decry the public school system and the problems in our society, there still is a lot of common sense out there. Look at what does still work in our country. The economy is still chugging along, and in spite of the socialists in the congress, we're still accomplishing great things.
As for taking the high road, that is the only road to take. Our opponents are of the ilk that the ends always justify the means. I like to think that we are above that. As I said earlier, people who would never register and post will read what we post here. Talk of violent revolution just serves to reinforce the stereotype the mainstream media tries to hang on us. The majority of the people are living what they consider the good life right now. They are only going to be turned off to our cause by reading posts that don't take the high road.
Many of us are angry enough to vent our frustraions by talking of revolution. But to do so in public forum is not helping our cause. The average uniformed but openminded person is not going to be impressed by our frustrated rants. So I support the high road.
Now I'll pull on my nomex and grab the 30 lb CO2 fire extinguisher