Good morning, Gentle Reader. I’ve given much of the past day or so to thinking about this Victor Davis Hanson essay. It’s a good piece – what else would we expect from Hanson – but I think it’s missing one component to give it a full picture of our enemies: both the visible figures in the Usurper Regime and the shadowed ones who pull their strings.
Hanson leans upon ideology as the explanation for the disastrous (for the United States and its legitimate citizens) policies the Usurpers have deployed. That is: he posits that the damage they’re inflicting upon America and its people is in line with their strongly-held convictions about “the way things ought to be.” But once again: people, their desires, their beliefs, and their aversions exist in a distribution. Not everyone who publicly espouses an ideology regards it as primary, an end to be sought for its own sake. Some people promote an ideology because they believe it to be an excellent tool for acquiring what they value most: power over others.
Indeed, I would venture to estimate that around 50% of the Leftists who promote a Marxist vision do so specifically because they think it will get them power. Remember this famous anecdote from the 1848 socialist upheaval in France?
A famous anecdote from the 1848 socialist upheaval in Paris has a coal-carrier accosting a gentlewoman, saying, “Yes, Madame, everything’s going to be equal now. I’ll go in silks and you’ll carry coal.” Though it cannot be verified owing to time and the lack of attribution, as an illustration of the sort of “equality” left-leaning types truly cherish, this one is unparalleled.
So while ideology is an important player in the dramas of the day, it’s not necessarily the Left’s end-in-itself as we might assume. Orwell was aware of this:
“The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were- cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?”
There is no arguing with a man who has decided that what he wants above all other things is power over you. You cannot reason with him. You cannot reform him. You cannot keep him from pursuing what he wants. Indeed, there is only one long-lasting countermeasure: you must kill him. As most of us in the Right are moderately reluctant to kill others, including the deepest-dyed of black-hearted villains, he has an edge over us that’s most difficult to overcome.
I would surmise that a great part of the interest being expressed in partitioning the nation into separate “red” and “blue” sovereignties arises from the unexpressed awareness that we cannot triumph over the Left without “going for the guns.” If you know that the price of victory is mass executions, but are unwilling to kill, what remains but flight? Yet even flight would provide only a temporary respite, for they who want power want it over everyone and everything. They would pursue us. Ultimately, we would have to fight them to the death.
I purely hate having to say such a thing. I’m more confrontation-averse than anyone else I know. But I can’t avert my mind from the facts and logic that have brought me here.
And with that, I must close. Some will read the above and take it as a license to kill. Some will actively go out to do so. They will look at situations such as the one reported here and feel a moral imperative to strike before the enemy does so. For our enemy recognizes no absolute standard of right and wrong. He believes himself to be the supreme moral arbiter of our time. The only thing restraining him from killing us is the fear that he might not get away with it. He’s certainly discussed it with his fellows often enough.
Still, I had to set my reasoning down in plain type. Perhaps someone wiser can find a flaw in it. I’d be grateful.
Time to pray.
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I hate to say it, but I see no flaw either.
Against someone bend, with Marxianic Zeal, to enslave or kill you there is no other option. The only question is who wants to bell that first cat.
Fran, I am very hesitant to say anything of this sort but, I do agree with your position. The left would kill each and every one of us in a heartbeat. The only reason we are allowed to live is that we might have some value to them. Most of them have no value for life as can be evidenced by their demand for abortion for all. True or false, good or evil does not matter. We actually care about others and get a ration of scorn and derision for that love of our fellow man.
Their ideology does not and cannot permit dissent of any kind. They must have blind allegiance and fealty to the cause or they know the house of cards begins to collapse. I believe they have channels which funnel the talking points they all rely upon to win friends and influence the rabble. When this is exposed and brought to the front then and only then will we know the depth of the perfidy and treason democrats and their cronies in business have committed upon the Republic and it’s people.
The only thing we really have going for us is that most of the privately-owned weapons are owned by freedom loving and right-minded people even though some leftists are getting the message and buying guns at a feverish pace.
Is there any chance that I am wrong on this? Given history and what absolute power has done in the past to seemingly “decent” people I really doubt it. I pray regularly for My President, Donald J Trump and his family and would ask that all who read this consider this as the very least we can do.
I am not rich nor do I have the alleged benefit of a higher education but, I live a comfortable life and up until November of last year had faith in the people of the United States but, the crimes committed against the people destroyed that in short order. How can we restore the Republic and regain the respect and allegiance we used to have? I don’t know what the solution is but, the clock is running and we are running out of the most precious resource – time.
“The only thing restraining him from killing us is the fear that he might not get away with it. ”
Perhaps you’ve have missed that they are already killing us? It is we who are too charitable to recognize that the vaccines that “protect” us from the virus – that they themselves released – are killing people at a rate equal to or higher than the virus itself, and we have no way to determine how many lives have been “jabpardized” in the future due to lowered immunities and increased organ decay.
We are idiots, a new species, Homo gullus dullardis. We are already two years into this latest Holocaust, and this one will make the Nazis look like kids killing ants with magnifying glasses.
They didn’t want Trump. So badly in fact that they cheated BIG. Once the “switch” is flipped they’ll get the super sized Pinochet treatment. Local accountability checklists will be filled in completely. Marxism will return to it’s rightfully despised position in society. And Patriots will be judged by the number of heads they took.
Sigh. I will try not to shoot the messenger. There is a lot of hand-wringing in the Dead Elephant Intelligentsia about the current state of things. But, let’s look at the other side of the coin: There are legions sick and dying due to the forced “Vaccinations”. That solidifies the argument of the anti-vax physicians and nurses. The “Let’s Go Brandon” Memes are multiplying faster than fecund rabbits. The ridicule along with the continued senile utterances of the puppet-in-chief are having an effect on a lot of fence-sitters.
Sales of firearms(which Mr. Hanson could have lawfully used to stop the thefts from his ranch in CA) are through the roof, along with sales of ammunition and folks enrolling in classes to learn how to use handguns(listening, Alec?). Add to this state of affairs, the pushback by airline pilots and other employee groups over VAX Mandates. Mr. Hanson would do well to recall the joke about the old bull and the young bull looking over the herd of cows. Stay safe. Stay vigilant. Stay Gray. And ignore any hand-wringing, whining, or other foolscap exuding from Mr. Hanson, Larry Arnn, Bill Kristol or any spineless Dead Elephant Poseur, or Poltroon. Bleib ubrig.
Outstanding. I so tire of those that look frantically for every excuse to negotiate, reason, placate, submit, but never, never fight. I worked with many of these pathetic creatures. The end result did not matter, only that they could say they accomplished something that mattered not a wit. If this demonstrated the lack of will of the USA or how easy it was to evade any agreement it mattered not to these pathetic creatures. And fight? They’d wet their panties and call for the Marines.
@ Francis Porretto
If you will pardon a brief but relevant digression…. one must understand what one is up against if one is have any hope of defeating those who seek to tyrannize others.
The post-modern world does not like to use the word “evil,” instead preferring to label such people as “ill” or “disturbed” or the like, or to blame societal conditions for the existence of crime, cruelty and depravity. This world view is profoundly mistaken and dangerously naive. Evil does exist; it is simply that our society and culture have been relatively safe and secure for so long that most people have not had day-to-day exposure to the evil that men can do.
I was perhaps guilty of such blinkered thinking myself, but for the chance encounter with a very influential and eye-opening book years ago, namely “Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit ” (published 1995) by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker. Douglas, then-recently retired from a long career in the F.B.I. and its now-famous “Behavioral Science Unit” or BSU. Douglas was one of the founders of behavioral profiling of serial violent criminals and other such subjects, and his many experiences and famous cases are detailed in this book and its sequels.He worked the Atlanta Child Murders, the Green River Killer, the Robert Hanson case in Alaska, and many others.
The take-away for our discussion here is that those who are naive about the existence of human evil ought to read Douglas’ book. It will change your view of the world permanently. Great evil exists and Douglas’ experiences prove it beyond all doubt.
Speaking in medical-scientific terms, many of the perpetrators studied by Douglas and the BSU were sociopaths and psychopaths. Few “successful” serial criminals who commit multiple violent acts without being apprehended are truly criminally-insane, since many of the insane cannot control their behavior even in front of others. These perpetrators, on the other hand, were disciplined-enough to avoid capture, at least for a time, and some – such as Ted Bundy – were highly-intelligent and personable.
The reason the above is relevant is that at least some of the people behind the current tyranny overlap at least somewhat with those Douglas and his colleagues encountered, but with an added twist: These often extremely rich and powerful individuals are not merely sociopaths and psychopaths – which is dangerous-enough in itself – they are what are termed “high-functioning”sociopaths/psychopaths.
Low-functioning sociopaths/psychopaths are evil and vicious, but have trouble controlling their impulses for violence and anti-social, maladaptive behavior. Hence, they are often caught by the authorities at some point.
The high-functioning ones, however, are worlds more-dangerous in the sense that while they are every bit as evil, vicious and cruel as their counterparts, they are disciplined-enough to hide their true natures and pass for more-or-less normal members of society. Indeed, because such individuals are often not only intelligent but highly-motivated and self-disciplined, they often ascend to great heights in society, to run governments, large corporations or the like. They are drawn like moths to a flame to such positions for the opportunities they offer for wealth, power and the control and manipulation of others – the things that they crave the most.
Large movements are invariably led by a cadre of what the brilliant Eric Hoffer termed the “true believers.” Many of these small-but-committed minorities are led by… you guessed it, sociopaths and psychopaths. Stalin, Hitler and Mao all fit the classic definition of that personality type. As do many of the as-yet unknown leaders of today’s unfolding tyranny.
As for the reluctance of the decent common man to face tyranny head-on and deal with it, humans have a deep capacity for denial when it suits them or is necessary for them to survive day-to-day. Hence, even good people can sometimes fall into the trap of denying evil, or knowing it exists, doing anything about it. Even, in extremis, appeasement. Prime Minister Winston S.Churchill, a man some consider the finest statesman of the 20th century, was well-familiar with this phenomenon, which is perhaps why he said the following:
“Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win
without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure
and not so costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to
fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for
survival. There may be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is
no chance of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as
slaves.”
You have accurately described the Quisling Repubs in Georgia’s State Gov.
They were so quick to pass a Gas Tax Increase a few years ago when prices were low and wouldn’t be “felt” by the Sheeples. Now they run as fast as possible from the GA sElection Fraud of 2020 by their Own Sec of State and Governor.
No Tax Relief, No Justice, a Hard Rain is going to fall in GA.
That is one of the best comments I’ve ever read. I’m going to copy that so I can refer to it and quote from it (with the proper credits). Thank you Georgiaboy61.
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“The apostle Paul wrote, “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12 NLT)
“Satan’s greatest accomplishment is convincing people he does not exist”. I don’t remember where I read this.
That was a line from the film The Usual Suspects. It was uttered by Verbal Kint in passing while he was speaking of Keyser Söze, the shadowy figure that haunts the whole film.
I knew I heard it somewhere but being a 70 yo senile cluck I just couldn’t recall. Loved that movie.
“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” Don’t know if the idea originated with the film’s writers, but that is the verbatim line. Of course there is Plato’s Cave and the world is convinced that it is only a story for fools. There is no Numero Uno atop the oligarchy.
This article states what I have been thinking and have only spoken about in my own home. Not going to lie. I’m scared. I’ll saddle up, I am already dead. God bless& protect family . God bless soil
The war isn’t over. It’s just beginning.
Running, withdrawing, buy only time, and not much of that. Marxists are locusts, and the logic of locusts is to keep pushing, invading, pushing, laying waste to new territory as they exhaust their old. Red states fall blue one by one as Marxists flee from the nests they fouled, to places where there are clean nests to foul. You cannot reason with, deal with, or fence out locusts. They have to be starved out or exterminated.
I came to the same conclusion several years ago. This is not a message people want to accept. I also know that we cannot compromise or appease them. This means we cannot negotiate or trust them to act with any honor or good faith. This means that our fight will cost not only our lives but the lives of those close to us. The evil we fight will kill everyone and do anything to have power over us.
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