Amen! An excellent statement of the position. We also need to consider what to do in case what the Soviets called ‘the pessimistic variant’ prevails, but that’s another discussion.
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“The pessimistic variant”?
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The ‘pessimistic variant’ is that the political lobotomy that the Left has been carrying out on the younger generations is irreversible, and we find ourselves in the position of being a permanent minority, albeit a large one.
The Left are never content. If by fair means or foul, then can get the numbers to do it, they will do things like admitting Puerto Rico as a state, packing the Supreme Court, expanding ballot harvesting, de-masculinizing the military, hollowing out the police …
We need to have a Plan B. This is not the place to talk about it in any detail, but it would mean achieving, however we can, some sort of very advanced Federalism – up to but, hopefully, not including secession. The sort of arrangement that, in theory, ‘autonomy’ has meant in those empires which consisted of different ethnic groups – like the Austro-Hungarian empire, for example. (Anyone who knows more about this than I do – not hard! – feel free to expand or amend or correct me here).
We’re not there yet. But many of the things we need to be doing – forming Community Defense Groups, for example – are dual-purposed.+
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“A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state…” – That’s the first right protected in the second amendment – “… the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” – That’s the second right protected in the second amendment.
10 USC §246 defines the militia as all able-bodied males 17 to 45 years of age…
§246. Militia: composition and classes
(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b) The classes of the militia are-
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title10-section246&num=0&edition=prelim
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Okay. Can you explain how this applies, concretely, to our situation at the moment?
I’ve argued everywhere I can that all patriots who have not done their military service yet, and who are able to by age and condition, should enlist in the National Guard. (Although I know no one will. We’re dedicated, but not that dedicated.)
Otherwise, we need to organize ourselves.
Note that there is a serious push from among the Left to outlaw the existing militia groups as ‘private armies’. This push is being led by Mary McCord, a law professor and former government advisor. Here’s a transcript of an NPR interview with her:
My experience has been that many of the local ‘militia’ groups have got people in them who are totally ignorant of the law, and are really romantics, acting out their Rambo fantasies. Not good.
We’ve got to be exquisitely knowledgeable about the law, both Federal, state and local, when it comes to firearms … whether held for personal use, or by people in some sort of organized group. Many people are not just ignorant about this subject, but have completely wrong ideas about it. (Those two fellows in Georgia now serving life terms in prison for killing a possible thief are examples. You will not always have a ‘Joe Horn’ jury. [ Joe Horn shooting controversy - Wikipedia ])
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NPR! If NPR calls in a witness you can bet the witness is on the Left. Remember what was going on in 2020 - mob violence, riots, arson, looting, murder led by Antifa and BLM, all with impunity, while elected authorities, Democrats all, looked on with satisfaction, even actively encouraged the criminality. But citizens trying to protect private property with arms were “illegal”? Such nicety, such fine discrimination on the part of the lady professor! What government did she advise? Obama’s?
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Oh yes It’s the same here with the BBC. I don’t watch the BBC news program any more, except ‘accidentally’, because the news is so obviously biassed., and I want to avoid brain aneurisms.
Even my conservative British friends – who remember the BBC of old and think it’s still the same – believe that America is a racist hell where young Black men on their way to a tutorial in aeronautical engineering are wantonly shot down by racist policemen … daily, when they’re not being the targets of crazed white gun-owners…
Trump, of course, really made their presenters’ brains boil.
A nice book on their bias is here:
The Noble Liar: How and why the BBC distorts the news to promote a liberal agenda [ Amazon.com ]
And a news item here: One Million Households Drop BBC Liscence Fee Over Past Two Years
In the UK, if you own a TV set, you are forced to pay about $200 a year to the BBC, whether you watch it – or anything – or not. They have ‘detector vans’ driving around to catch people with TVs who have not paid their ‘license fee’. (Every receiver is also a tiny transmitter, evidently, although the detector vans may be mainly a bluff. Whatever, works with me.)
The Conservatives – talk about RINOs, you haven’t seen the half of it! – may … finally, finally, are getting around to taking the BBC off the government teat.
A shame, really Because the BBC used to, and does, present some excellent programs, that … in the old days, anyway … might not have been made by commercial firms. And it’s very nice indeed to be able to watch a program without it being interrupted every ten minutes by an inane advertisement.
So, in theory, a non-market institution that produced ‘public interest’ programs, like this one [ BBC Kenneth Clark's Civilisation 01 The Skin of our Teeth - YouTube ] sounds like a good idea, at least to a non-minarchist conservative like me.
But, just as every non-profit, even ones funded by grasping cruel billionaires, eventually becomes liberal … so also do such institutions. Anyway, technology has made it much easier, now, to produce excellent television/vidoe programs for not much money, and to make the old ones available.
We could probably produce an entire college-worth of degree programs, based solely on YouTube videos. (Which is an idea for a different discussion, on how to break the Left’s near-monopoly of higher education. I’ve got a cunning plan.)
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Please tell us your cunning plan, Doug. A cunning plan is badly needed.
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Okay! Let me start a new thread on it.
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As I understand it, the National Guard is normally under the command and jurisdiction of each state governor, but can be brought under presidential command in certain situations. Beyond National Guard (including Air National Guard), I’ve also heard that county sheriffs would be a source of organization, as sheriffs can deputize any number of deputies (with or without being on the payroll). You’re right about getting self-organizing militias up to speed on legalities and other areas of contention, as well as just being more competent and less Rambo about it. But the 10 USC §246 is clear about its legitimacy: “the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard”
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Yes. We have legal ambiguity here, and how the various laws will be interpreted will depend on who has power. My experience, admittedly not enormous, with people who are actually in militia groups, is that there is a great lack of knowledge about the relevant laws … not just those regulating militias, but those regarding use of force in self-defense, citizens’ arrests, etc.
For example. suppose you were in a militia group, and one of its members – who had passed a background check by the group, showing that he was a veteran – gave you a tip about where to buy a nice handgun, cheap … and you did. Then suppose a couple of months later, he told you where you could buy a shoulder stock for it, to make shooting it more accurate. He’s a nice guy, sometimes buys the drinks where everyone goes after a day on the range.
Anything fishy here? I have to admit that I would not have thought so., but you could be falling into a trap. Most of us don’t actually know the legal situation, and we should.
But …
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