November 10, 2008

Now the war begins

Compromise ('thy name is McCain'), even with a sugar coating (Palin), has failed: the line is clearly drawn between some 63 million Americans who are willing to enslave themselves and the rest of the 300 million of us, and... the rest of us. 56 million voted for McCain; apparently at least half of those held their nose to do so [and I am NOT saying that a lot of those, if not the majority, are willing to enslave us, either]. Of 300 million of us, close to 100 million are NOT eligible to vote: they are too young, felons, immigrants, or incompetent. That leaves 200 million: but only 119 million VOTED. Where were the other 81 million? Yes, there are many lovers of liberty who have dropped out of the election process (see the excellent article). But much as I wish, I doubt if that amounts to more than 5, MAYBE 10 million of us. That leaves 70 million non-voters; they are not people without opinions, but they are either opting out or unmotivated.

This is important, for now the effort must be made to form a coalition, which historically needs to be at least 1/3 the population, or 100 million, which is willing to openly revolt against this abomination. It will not be easy, least of all, because it will require an alliance between a wide spectrum of people: anarcho-capitalists, minarchists, Constitutionalists, paleo-conservatives, independence-advocates, even some social liberals. Ultimately, such a revolt would be led by libertarians (anarchists), just as the American War of Independence included a coalition of limited-monarchists, parliamentarians ("Roundheads"), Jacobins (Stuart loyalists or "Cavaliers") and republicans, but ultimately agreed on the most revolutionary of those positions - the republicans.

The war, the revolt, will have to be classic (modern) Fourth-generation warfare. It will not, cannot be, a war of mass armies and movement, of heavy combat, or of traditional lines, rear areas, and sanctuaries. For one thing, there ARE no sanctuaries: even the Tories in Canada and the most "right-wing" of Mexican governments cannot and will not support a true fight for liberty, and the Mexican invasion is well underway - a distraction from the real fight. For another, if the United States does not have a hard shell to protect it - a shell consisting of nuclear missiles and large task forces and large air fleets - the rest of the world (minus a very few players) will eat us alive. [It isn't a matter of hatred or even envy - just greed. As a famous criminal once said, when asked why he robbed banks, "because that is where the money is."] Puritan or Messianic or Apocalyptic or not, the United States is the hope of the world socially and politically - the hope of the world for human liberty.

The first stage of this revolt will be what we see now: Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty and other actions that together are an "information war." In many ways, it will be an expansion of the "culture war" now underway in the United States and around the world, which is a war (at the moment) being lost, badly, by the lovers of liberty and freedom. The Info War will be fought by a wide array of people, and the front-line soldiers will be people like Lew Rockwell and Mary Ruwart and L. Neil Smith and Vin Suprynowicz and Bob Barr AND people like Limbaugh and Hannity and Williams and Sowell. IF we can stop the squabbling and form the coalition that is so essential. Ben Franklin's words ("we must hang together or we shall assuredly hang separately") never rang truer.

What do we have going for us?

Obama will not govern from the "center" - the new triumvirate of Obama, Reid, and Pelosi will govern as far left as possible - and many of their supporters and voters will not be able to stomach it, to say nothing of the rest of us. Whether we want to or not, the United States is going to become part of the New World Order, the Tranzi (Transnational Socialist) movement. Under their heavy, ideologically-driven hand, government will quickly become even MORE of a nightmare. BUT! Their actions will drive more and more people to see that government is the problem, not the solution. And we have modern tools of communication AND resistance that no one had during the Revolutions, during the New Deal, or even during the Great Society. The info war is one that we, lovers of liberty, can WIN. And perhaps not even with guns or other weapons - although as soon as the enemies of freedom realize we ARE winning, then we must be prepared to defend ourselves from them and those that they have blinded or coerced into following them.

The Socialist Party candidate for President of the US, Norman Thomas, said this in a 1944 speech:
"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of "liberalism," they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened."

He went on to say:
"I no longer need to run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democrat Party has adopted our platform."

Little did he know that the Republican Party, too, would adopt all the essentials, in fact if not in writing. We saw that in this week's election, even if too many people saw McCain (and Bush) as the lesser of two evils. Different, yes, but not "lesser." At least now, the battle lines can more clearly be drawn.

What can we expect from the Obama Administration?

Based on his campaign statements, but recalling that politicians seldom live up to (or down to) their campaign promises, it is comforting to believe that things will not change too much. But here are some possibilities:

1. Repeal of the USA PATRIOT Act and its extension: ain't gonna happen. Selected pieces will get very publicly axed (maybe) to keep the hoi polloi happy, but this is TOO valuable to the Obama-Reid-Pelosi triumvirate to let go away. Think Janet Reno... on steroids. Instead we will see use of the USA PATRIOT Act against people who are opposed to the triumvirate: very likely, based on what his campaign team and Congress have already done. Opponents, right down to people who write letters to the editor and call into talk shows, are likely to be investigated, to be under surveillence, and to be blackened and blacklisted.

2. Withdrawal from Mesopotamia: very unlikely. Again, a token reduction (probably not as much as Bush withdrew after the surge to "meet the promise," but we are there just like in Germany and Japan. Instead, there will be new rules of engagement that make it more likely that the occupation will become a meaningless waste of lives and treasure: quite likely indeed.

3. New, Carter and Clinton style interventions in the world, sucking more troops and treasure: good possibilities are Somalia, Congo, (back to) Bosnia, (back to) Haiti, and Zimbabwe.

4. Open borders: very unlikely, in an official way. On the other hand, expect effectively wide-open borders: look out for a million or more new undocumented immigrants per year, as the economy of the rest of the world suffers even more than the US economy. Remember that during the Great Depression, the fact that things were bad all over the US didn't stop Okies and Arkies from streaming westward to California. New rules of engagement, new restrictions on sweeps (perhaps good in themselves) will combine synergistically to make this even more like Europe: the newbies won't assimilate at all. Expect a fresh push for amnesty in Congress.

5. End to almost all new drilling, new nuclear power stations, and a vast slowdown if not a stop on coal-fired power stations. Expect California-style blackouts within two or three years, rolling across the nation, to be used as the excuse for rationing of energy, including fuel and electricity.

6. Expect government bureaucracy to explode, from the federal level right down to your local special services district, as a gusher of new regulations floods and new programs explode. Expect more and more "multi-jurisdictional" regulations so that if you are inspected by one agency, they ALL get a slice at you. Expect bureaucratic infighting to delay approvals still more. Expect sharp rises in regulatory fees, to take government money "off-budget." And expect more "friendly" lawsuits from environmental and community activist groups (EDF, ACORN, etc.)

7. Expect a repeat of the early years of the "New Deal" in which politics trumped over economic sense, and the country remained in a depression because it was good for government.

8. Expect "economic justice" and "economic equity" to dominate new regulatory schemes for business and labor, sucking more and more capital out of the system, while the new government-owned banks will also become government-controlled banks.

9. Expect more "transnational socialism" (Tranzi) actions: ratification of major UN treaties like the Law of the Sea Treaty, various International Tribunals, a major step forward for the North American Union (maybe even the Amero), and more support of the UN kleptocracy.

10. Expect to see free speech and free elections start to fade away, starting with right-wing talk radio and secret ballot elections for unions. Continue on to regulate or outright ban private schools and home-schooling. See third-party and inner-party challenges made harder and harder.

11. Expect justice to increasingly favor the "poor" and the "minorities" regardless of whether the real victims and accused are either: judges will be appointed based on their sympathy and not their knowledge of the law, and they will make more law than ever from the bench. Expect a liberal, activist, "lawmaking" Supreme Court for another generation.

12. Expect the family to be assaulted at all levels: a repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, yes, but a lot more: new interpretations of "separation of church and state" to make religious definitions of marriage and family illegal, more indoctrination in schools (including "private" and "home-" schools and "volunteer public service") and public-service ads for acceptance of homosexuality and other "alternative lifestyles," increased pressure on "deadbeat dads," and mandatory pre-school for ages 3 and up.

13. A rise of a new police state, as more and more federal agencies are given "enforcement powers," such as the Surgeon General's special police (for protecting abortion clinics against riots and bombers and to "prepare" for the inevitable bird flu), the armed Environmental Protection Agency Enforcement Branch, and the Department of Education's School Protection Service (to "respond" to shootings, threats by irate parents, etc.). All of these will use contractor personnel to a large degree, including a good many amnestied immigrants.

I could add another baker's dozen, I'm sure, but this is enough.

Coming, Part Two: "And in the bottom of the box was... hope."

Nathan Barton is writing this from a wonderful place in the West, which might be in the Black Hills of South Dakota or Wyoming, or might be in one of the Four Corners States. Exactly where it is, the breezes blow with the scent of liberty, and the sound of the pines or the pinions is the sound of freedom. For thousands of years, people have fought and died for the liberty that Americans in the great spaces of the West enjoy, and he writes these commentaries in the hopes that continued generations will be able to do so, until the end of Time. Visit the blog: The Gospel Sower

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