Baugh: A Nation Without A Country, Part I: Understanding the Battlefield
The first in a three-part series by Tom Baugh, author of Starving the Monkeys:
[TEXT REMOVED AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR, WHO IS REVISING THE SERIES; MORE ASAP]
UPDATE 2035 EST 10 FEBRUARY 2010: Revised Part 1 of the now-six-part series here.
posted by Concerned American | 5:29 AM
13 Comments:
"Stop clawing.
Just get out of the way and let it head for the cliff as fast as possible. We don’t even have to get out and push. A push wouldn’t hurt, but the leeches will do all the work for us regardless."
What concerns me about Baugh's theory of -- wait, wait, and wait for their own demise -- is that I think I'll be dead,
I think my children will have died, and my grandchildren will be fighting the fight that I should have fought. What does Tom "the soothsayer" Baugh know that I don't know? When do we begin rebuilding?? One year, five, twenty, forty... Some one might say that Baugh is a talented propagandist/agent simply doing his job (for the government). Subduing our passions, and/or
redirecting them to never never land. Or then again maybe he's right, I guess we'll have to wait and see.(ha ha)
Just a thought ...
As one who has been involved with the secession movement for almost twelve years now, Baugh's article is most welcome.
The election of either Obama, or the insane John McCain, in 2008 would have made no difference whatsoever, we knew that either would be equally useful in moving secession along. Obama is certainly fulfilling his promise in that regard.
Self government is the goal, freedom and liberty to run our lives as we see fit, leaving behind the corruption of those in the District of Columbia and surrounds.
We can do this and one of the most effective, lowest cost weapons is to allow the statists to hang themselves, to hoist themselves on their own pittards, to allow them to run off the cliff.
Thank you, Mr. Baugh, well written. We look forward to your next installments.
The greatest asset of any bully is the mythology of unassailable strength he builds around himself. The government is strong because people perceive it to be so, leading it to arrogance and hubris, but as soon as a few start fighting back with success, more will follow, and the giant will be shown to be less fearsome than was believed. It is the same as the story of the Emperor's New Clothes; it took one who was so small and weak that he was no threat to anyone to speak the truth openly. It will take the same to crumble the myth of the omnipotent Empire when it can no longer protect its servants in their own homes.
Reading his book now and I have to say, he has many good points.
One area that I find disturbing is his 'hints' for more later. I feel like there is a certain amount of propaganda going on similar to what Anonymous refers to but nothing I can put my finger on.
Even so, there is more good than bad about it and he holds many valid points that I, myself agree with: enough that I am not putting the book down yet(as he keeps trying to get me to do every chapter)
I think that the machine is definitly going over the edge and the rate its going is escalating quickly. And there are days where I wouldn't mind getting out and giving it a push.
I don't think we will have long to wait, though it may be longer than we like.
Baugh is a talented propagandist, but not for some under-cover government agency, or anything near that covert or sinister.
Baugh is a talented propagandist working for the republic of Baugh, trying to position himself as some sort of insightful, wise, sagacious source of wisdom so that more and more folks will buy his book.
That's what is really going on here.
I know.
I read his book.
the phrase "man without a country" can be attributed to a pro-union 1863 story written in the hamiltonian-lincolnian tradition of defining "federalism" as essentially the contents of plato's republic -- a centralized, communist society -- derogatorily chiding the (southern) readers that should you ever get your liberty, you will return to "mommy," the nanny-state, in time.
"Any plan based on leeches waking up to Constitutional principles is doomed from the start."
i would argue the constitution was never written with confederation principles in mind. no such luck whatosever. it is the 18th century PATRIOT act.
My own take on "Stop clawing" is thus: Don't submit or comply, but don't agonize over the inevitable demise of those who are heading right where they think they wanna go. You don't have to be riding the train when it plunges over the cliff unless you choose to be.
I ponder on this everyday... dig in our heels and try to slow this train (wreck) or jump off into (Galt's) gulch and disconnect?
I think the greatest danger is a continued "slow slide" into socialism/ Statism/ nationalism. To reference the overused "boiled frog" analogy, this has happened the last 100+ years.
If we "stop clawing" and let the train go over the cliff, maybe our fellow citizens will feel the "sudden boiling" and jump.
What we need is a visual description of what American life could have been like, without the "monkeys/ statists" taxing and regulating everything. Our citizens need a visual (movie/ book) of a free America, showing where we could have been.
Collapse and revolution will bring change, but history shows much post revolution change has been for the worse, as the thugs consolidate power as citizens demand security over all else.
We need a vision and a common goal developed and agreed upon now, before D-Days comes, so that we don't bicker among ouselves when that day comes. (example: return all laws and court decisions to the state they were in as of 1820).
We are such a small minority, we can't afford to fight each other.
Jeeper
Anon said:
"Baugh is a talented propagandist, but not for some under-cover government agency, or anything near that covert or sinister.
Baugh is a talented propagandist working for the republic of Baugh, trying to position himself as some sort of insightful, wise, sagacious source of wisdom so that more and more folks will buy his book.
That's what is really going on here.
I know.
I read his book."
hmmm, the Amazon description says this:
"- Why you don't need to stockpile gold and guns, or head for the hills."
And Baugh's own site says:
"Nor do these solutions involve violence, "grab your gun" or any other kind of "let's go git 'em, boys!" kind of foolishness.
Doing that would only get you killed. And the responsible parties would rejoice at your sacrifice. Because that is exactly what they want you to do. Get killed, so that you, and your ideas, are out of the way.
Don't give them the satisfaction. Besides, your brothers are going to need you later.
There is a much, MUCH, better way. This way."
So, he has all the answers. He has the one true way.
From poking around his site, seems his answer is to be self employed, incorporated, with no employees, and what? Just wait it out, without having to fight? Seems to be his plan. Don't stockpile guns and ammo. Don't prepare to fight. Just trust that it will collapse of its own weight before it kills you. Stay down, out of the way, and wait.
That's the strategy the Jews in Germany tried. And the same for Russians who trembled in terror hoping the knock in the night would not be on their door. What did Solzenitzen tell us about how that worked?
Ditto for China and Cambodia. Millions were murdered before the beast starved. Hundreds of millions. What makes Baugh so sure it will be so different this time, when the collectivists unleash their full go for broke?
I'll reserve judgment till I read it, but so far, based on Baugh's own description, it sounds like a warmed over and rehashed version of Harry Brown's "How I found Freedom in an Unfree World"
http://www.amazon.com/How-Found-Freedom-Unfree-World/dp/0965603679
Sounds like bullshit. The storm that's coming can't be sidestepped or sheltered through by becoming a creative entrepreneur and ducking for cover.
"The storm that's coming can't be sidestepped or sheltered through by becoming a creative entrepreneur and ducking for cover."
Facts favoring Baugh include: the peaceful fall of the Berlin wall and the relatively peaceful decline of the Soviet Union; the tax-resistance movements that sprung up during the last great depression; the Internet; crypto-protected blogs, ebays, and craiglists are technically possible.
What would happen if one million people sold all of their assets and bought gold coins, then turned in new W-4's with enough exemptions that they'd pay no taxes? What would happen if twenty million people took the license plates off their cars?
ANON 7:04 said:
"Facts favoring Baugh include: the peaceful fall of the Berlin wall and the relatively peaceful decline of the Soviet Union; ..."
Peaceful decline of the Soviet Union? Sure, if you start history at 1960 it looks like a relatively peaceful decline, but what about through the 20s,30s, 40, and 50s? Tens of MILLIONS were murdered - intentionally starved, worked to death, frozen in gulags, or just plain tortured until they "confessed" their sins and then executed. Not very peaceful.
And plenty of East Germans died too, some of them shot trying to cross over or under the wall, others dying in gulags. All before it came down "peacefully."
ANON 7:04 ALSO SAID:
"What would happen if one million people sold all of their assets and bought gold coins, then turned in new W-4's with enough exemptions that they'd pay no taxes? What would happen if twenty million people took the license plates off their cars?"
Who knows? It could be all sunshine, flowers, and fluffy bunny rabbits. But another possibility is that it indeed does help bring about a crash, but then the statists simply use that "emergency" to declare martial law and go for broke, including banning and confiscating all that gold just like their hero, FDR did, and anything else useful, right down to your last can of soup and your last turnip. Just ask the Russian peasant farmers, the Kulaks, how that works.
In which case, you must be ready to resist. But if you did not prepare for resistance, then you will die "peacefully," likely starving to death right along with all the mass of idiot "monkeys" while the elite feast on caviar. Again, look at ALL of the actual history, not just your favorite parts.
Is it possible to have a peaceful collapse of the beast? Yes. But don't bet on it. And certainly don't follow Baugh's advice to NOT stockpile guns to fight back with (and the ammo to go with them, along with food) in case you need to.
Why the hell would he advise you to NOT do something so incredibly sensible? DON'T have final recourse to arms when all else fails?
I certainly hope that is not really his advice, and it was his editor who dreamed up that stupid line on Amazon "Why you don't need to stockpile gold and guns, or head for the hills."
Why not hope and work for the best, but also prepare for the very worst? And while doing so, look to the history of the last 100 years without rose colored glasses.
The worst is mass starvation (perhaps intentional depopulation?) while fat party elites live it up, Animal Farm style. The worst is genocide. The worst is murdered women, children, and old couples drug out of their homes, out into the snow and shot on the edge of town. Prepare for that, just in case.
I hope you are right, and it will all just collapse and fade away peacefully. That has been a libertarian fantasy for decades. But looking at the sad history of collectivism in the 20th Century, I think that unless there is very real, very active resistance BY THOSE WHO PREPARED FOR IT, it's more likely to be mass starvation and death, with the beast still very much alive and kicking.
Just look at North Korea for an example. Horrendous economy, mass hunger and starvation, and yet the military dictatorship is still there, sitting on the pile of bodies, but still alive.
And what about communist China? That particular beast, which killed at least 75 million of its own people (and likely far more), is still chugging right along, and is in fact doing better than we are, thanks in part to slave labor, but also thanks to our dumb ass population buying it's plastic crap.
How well would your strategy of buying gold coins and refusing to use license plates work over there, in China?
Sometimes you have to fight if you intend to be free. Sometimes you don't. But you are a fool if you are not ready for both possibilities.
So much rhetoric about "resisting" and "fighting". So when? How many reshed to New Orleans to defend those whose firearms were stolen? So much talk, so little action.
When will the tipping point be? When will the bugle sound? Who will sound it?
Clearly identifying this point should be our primary concern. I dentify it, draw the line in the sand, then stick to it. Until we do, our movement is nothing but whining and talk.
"Peaceful decline of the Soviet Union? Sure, if you start history at 1960 it looks like a relatively peaceful decline, but what about through the 20s,30s, 40, and 50s?"
We know the dollar and the T-bill are doomed. We know that Social Security and other welfare is doomed. Is it possible to switch the current US trajectory onto the collapsing Berlin wall path? The best contrary argument I've found is the claim that a cultural group can't get to a period of libertarianism without just having gone through a period of genocide.
"Why the hell would he advise you to NOT [stockpile]"
Here is my wild speculation: Putting on your surplus boonie hat and camping out in the local national forest is the very last approach you want to consider. Almost all of the time, it just trades one overlord (the Union) for another overlord (the Confederacy), and thus it is usually a failure. Yes, certainly, acquire all the camping gear and know how to use it. But use it last.
"How well would your strategy of buying gold coins and refusing to use license plates work over there, in China?"
I think it is now working in China. I think the citizens figured out that wealth comes from manufacturing useful things, while evading red tape with misdirection, pretend ignorance, and a smile. For instance, consider their Internet censorship policy. If they wanted to execute anyone that searched for the wrong thing on the net, they could certainly do that. But they aren't, and evading the filters seems to be the national sport for the young. I think their censorship policy is just about saving face, not effective censorship.
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