Let's Win

Last July, I responded to a question from Kevin Baker of The Smallest Minority as follows:

And the alternative [to voting] is...

what, exactly?

Be specific. And detailed.

Because I really want to hear it.

My reply:

Kevin:

The people in this country who truly cherish freedom in all of its manifestations (thought, guns, speech, religion, association, private property, etc.) had better darned skippy get used to the idea that we are a cursed minority and will be for the foreseeable future.

The simple formula is this:

- We're screwed

- There's gonna be a fight

- Let's win

Your posts on the courts and freedom issues in general mean that I don't have to make the case for "we're screwed" with you.

BTW, thanks for all that you have taught me through your writing.

So we move to "there's gonna be a fight".

Why?

Ain't no way that the transnational socialists can leave an armed, educated, defiant remnant intact to cut and slash at their Utopian schemes at every opportunity. The tranzis have to do everything in their power to disarm (literally, perhaps, but certainly educationally and psychologically; see generally Snyder, Walter Mitty's Second Amendment) everyone they can.

The reality is that the fight has been on for some sixty (or more) years.

You know that, per your writings.

So on to the fun part - "let's win".

Step one in "let's win" is to refuse any further collaboration in our demise. That's Billy Beck's point - delude yourself all you want with your participatory democracy fantasies, but leave me the hell out of it.

Withholding collaboration takes many forms, however. It involves getting physically, mentally, and emotionally prepared for the really hard stuff. Specific steps include the following:

Physical:

1) Fix teeth
2) Lose weight
3) Start walking at a fast pace regularly (1 mile 4x weekly)
4) Start working 25 yard jogs into your walks
5) Eat less and eat better
6) Get a complete physical
7) Stockpile any needed maintenance drugs
8) Start weightlifting by doing rifle dry-fire snaps (start with rifle at low ready, bringing up and dropping hammer just as sights align on light switch) 25 reps for strong side and weak side 3X/weekly
9) Integrate a light (20 lb.) pack into your walk/jogs
10) Bring one's spouse along as much and as quickly as possible.

Mental:

- read and assimilate the resistance canon (Heinlein, Ross, Vanderboegh, Bracken, Suarez, Royce, von Dach Bern, etc.)

- read and assimilate the economic canon (Hayek, von Mises, etc.)

- read and assimilate the political canon (DoI, USC, BoR, Spooner, DiLorenzo, Bovard, etc.)

Emotional:

- Get square with God as you understand Him. Even if atheist or agnostic, one needs a Larger Context in which to place the upcoming suffering and struggle.

- Sort the sheep from the goats in one's immediate circle. In some cases, that may mean divorce/separation, estrangement from children, parents, or other relatives, and the loss of friends. Better now than when the excitement has begun.

- For those remaining, get them up to speed on all fronts as much and as quickly as they can handle. Your associates' ability to digest all of the bitter medicine that they must swallow will no doubt be a source of frustration. Keep trying.

- Understand, at a profound level, how our lives as mortal creatures are both fleeting and as meaningful or as meaningless as we make them. Commit to yourself and to your ideals that you will spend the remaining days of your life wisely and in furtherance of those eternal truths.

Now, compared to that list, do you really think it matters whether one votes for McCain, Obama, Barr, or the write-in candidate of one's choice?

I respectfully submit that it matters not one whit.

Declare yourself into freedom, just as the Founders did 232 years ago.

Then do everything you can to defend that freedom, even unto death.

And I mean everything.

Remember too the cannibal's paradox - that the time spent in overcoming a taboo can so debilitate the prospective actor that the action taken fails for being too late.

Keep bashing on, amigo.

Yesterday, a commenter on this post asked:

OK, but what is the average John Q Public to do?

The list above is a pretty good start, and I would add the following elements upon further consideration:

Mental:

Psychological Toughening/Stress Inoculation: Start to wrap your brain around the fact that you will likely be committing multiple felonies, misdemeanors, and regulatory violations as part of your personal path to victory. Those folks who plan to survive in the new reality but currently pride themselves on being good, law-abiding citizens had best get over that silliness forthwith. After all, as Ayn Rand pointed out more than fifty years ago in Atlas Shrugged:

The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.

Look around and tell me that we have not crossed that legal Rubicon.

Given the current situation, 'tis best to get on with your new life as a criminal. As a warm-up exercise, I'd suggest violation of at least one malum prohibitum law per day -- be it speeding, tax avoidance, unauthorized concealed carry of a deadly weapon, removing the flow restrictions on showerheads and faucets, tossing a rock through an appropriate statist window, or any other of an almost-infinite number of other meaningless rules.

Embrace the life of a malum prohibitum criminal every day, and insist that others in your tribe do the same.

Logistics:

I am not going down the list path in this post, other than to remind you that you'd best be getting your "Six Bs" finalized before the the current "rip-your-face-off" suckers' rally ends in the financial markets.

What are the Six Bs?

Beans: Food for a minimum of one year for each member of your tribe.

Bullets: A bare minimum of a long arm capable of killing a man at 100 yards for every tribe member over the age of 10, along with a bare minimum of 1000 rounds of ammunition for each long arm. Every adult (16 and above) should also have a centerfire pistol and no less than 500 rounds of ammunition for the sidearm. Holsters, slings, and webgear will be essential as well.

Bandaids: Medical supplies to allow your tribe to survive disease and/or injury without reference to existing medical systems.

Brains: Training and reference works to operate and sustain all of the bean/bullets/bandaids elements above.

Balls: Courage and sheer willpower will be dispositive. Strengthen yours and that of each tribe member.

Buddies: You will need a minimum of 14 like-minded people to stand even a basic lookout watch on a 7/24/365 basis. Got real friends? You're gonna need 'em.

Location:

The bug-out/bug-in debate is handled ad nauseum elsewhere. My point here is that wherever you are, you'd best have a detailed plan (along with several back-up plans) for how you and your tribe are going to defend your space. Remember, too, that defending space (i.e., fixed positions) is how hajii has been dying in droves in Iraq and Afghanistan; many of the people coming to hurt you will have had experience in the "fix 'em and then kill 'em" tactics used by the .mil in those struggles. Ergo, best to have a "going mobile" component to your plan -- or, as a wise man once told me, "Don't plan on being where they know you live if you want to keep living."

When John Q Public is squared away on those items, I'll bet this blog's smart readership will have other "to-do" lists to keep the Public tribe moving towards victory.

And defining "victory"?

Easy.

1) Survive the first die-off.

2) Keep your kids alive.

3) Kill the enemy.

4) Keep fighting.

5) Stay alive.

Any questions?

Audentes fortunat iuvat.