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| La Liberté guidant le peuple Eugène Delacroix* |
People like to talk about rebellion, about revolution, about overthrowing the existing order. Honestly, I've never been one of those people. I'm a student of history and I know what happens, in many cases, to those who kick these things off. These are very often not good things. Ask Robespierre and Danton, ask Toussaint L'Ouverture, ask Michael Collins, ask Alexander Kerensky, ask Leon Trotsky - these are all people who were instrumental in revolutions against the existing order, in France, in Haiti, in Ireland, and in Russia. Many of whom died as a result of their participation in revolution, Kerensky did not, only because he had to flee Russia for France when the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, established the Soviet Union. (Kerensky had to flee France as well in 1940 when the Germans invaded.)
Two old adages spring to mind, the first "All revolutions devour their children," and the second, "Be careful what you wish for."
Defying the powers-that-be, walking off the job, manning the barricades, etc., are often luxuries that most of us are in no way, shape, or form, prepared to do. In the Declaration of Independence there is this -
“We Mutually Pledge To Each Other Our Lives, Our Fortunes, And Our Sacred Honor.”
They really meant that. To participate in a revolution is something you have to be serious about, if you're not willing to die, literally, in a pool of blood lying in the street, then stop talking. Full stop.
I've seen Death, up close and f**king personal, talk is f**king cheap.
I've got bills to pay and this is still the United F**king States of F**king America, not some Third World shithole. I'll do my thing at the ballot box, anything else and you've lost me.
"You say you want a revolution? We're all doing what we can."
Sums it up pretty well.
The Wu Flu, and the political circus surrounding it, is not the hill I'm prepared to die on, but I will make the powers-that-be miserable as far as I am able. I'll wear the f**king mask, I'll take the f**king shots, but further than that?
It's their move. Eventually the tottering edifice they've built around 46* won't last forever. I doubt it will last through next year, the people are waking up, passive resistance man, that's the ticket. "Let's Go Brandon!"
* This painting commemorates the French Revolution of 1839, not 1789.
CONCUR! Old Guns
ReplyDelete👍
DeleteSarge - You may win the InterWeb today.
ReplyDeleteThis is a point I have been arguing (far less eloquently than you) as well. Rebellions and Revolutions - the real ones, not the fanciful ones we read or see about in movies - are terrible, terrible things. Look at the state of the those countries that engage in them currently, and most of them are not the sort of places that make for a desirable living location.
Oddly enough, the people that call for such things publicly often seem to be the ones least willing to lead them. It is always "The time to rebel", just not "that time".
Many people are deeply unhappy with the current State of Affairs, but not so much that they are willing to take up arms to fight them. And to suggest that either one is "for" revolting all out or by default one is "on their side" is not only simplistic, it is off-putting to the millions who are not happy with the situation or those who have enabled it.
The Art of Politics, any 1st year undergraduate will tell you, is the art of building coalitions to support your positions. To the extent that any group seeks to build consensus and allies through giving them reasons to support you (rather than be repelled by you), is the extent to which you will win.
I have been asked, as I have discussed this idea of "conversion through conversation", how this works. If it did not work, things like the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc would not have happened virtually without bloodshed (and the Czech Republic and Slovakia would have not separated in the same way). Those are the models in recent history for changing governments; we need only follow them.
The reality is that day by day (to quote Juvat), we are winning. Currently in small, silent ways (Satire and Sarcasm, once the preserve of others, has now become a weapon in our hands as well), but - I suspect, and if the elections yesterday are any sign, in larger ones going forward. Nothing begets victory like victory.
Thanks.
I am optimistic today, Youngkin won in Virginia. When I woke up and saw that, there was much rejoicing.
DeleteSarge, from what I am reading, it seems sanity prevailed in a great many places.
DeleteThe difficulty for the Ruling Party right now is they have a fractious demanding more and greater movement and a caucus demanding the same in the face of a rejection of these policies - and those individuals are not going away! - and a rather dismally unpopular Current Occupant and equally unliked Vice Current Occupant with 3 years (almost to the day) until the replacement elections.
Sometimes when your opponent is defeating themselves, you need only let them do so. The great challenge for the other side will be to moderate themselves, if not build a coalition by simply staying reasonable.
"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." - Napoléon Bonaparte
DeleteLots of folks are real lions behind the keyboard when they're telling others what to do. Like the tottering edifice wordage, notice the odor as it rots?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the Pope noticed the odor. 😏
DeleteWhat would Sam Adams do?
ReplyDeleteAlways a good question!
DeleteAmen
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DeleteIt's good to see a big touch of reality in this part of the discussion. Thank you for saying what really needed to be said.
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DeleteCheering from the sidelines isn't being part of a revolution. Day to day quiet resistance is. Along that line, the stories of how slaves of the Third Reich sabotaged the weapons and munitions they were forced to produce was extreme quiet resistance IMO.
ReplyDeleteSmall example, day to day, those of us who were in the military saw what happened to a***ole officers who abused their NCOs and troops.
Quiet resistance, aye!
DeleteThe only reset I'm interested in is a reset to Constitutional principles. A 4 year sunset on every law every passed in D.C., to be accurately assessed as to results and rewritten and re-debated if justified. I want to see traitors hung or shot and those representatives that enrich themselves through their insider knowledge jailed and their estates given to the Salvation Army. If a Congress runs a deficit, they are ineligible to be reelected. I'm tired of playing this stupid game.
ReplyDeleteI started watching politics closely when we moved to a farming community that went hard for the peanut from Georgia. I watched as some of those same folks lost their farms due to a couple bad harvests and the stagflation / malaise that exposed the abject stupidity of the representative class. I was typing away on a BASIC program when my high school teacher came in from poll watching. "We ran out of ballots... I don't know if they are voting for Reagan or against Carter, but man, it's one sided." You are conservative about what you know best. And that stinker made alot of farmers sit up and take notice.
Adams said that the constitution was wholly useless for an amoral / immoral society. If that doesn't sum up todays USA, I'm not sure what else could be said. Individual states may still elect good folks, but with the "fortified" election of the recent past, I'm not sure we can vote our way out of this nationally. I hold out hope we can. I'm figuring we can't.
But what has the last 40 years shown us? "Conservatives" vote for bills they don't read. They are subject to greed and avarice like any mortal is. The .gov is misusing laws to conduct operations against citizens, not actual terrorists. And that was something I figured wouldn't happen at the time it was passed. Silly me. I trusted bureaucrats to not turn on citizens. Our government is turning the eye of Sauron inward. This is the harbinger of official purges, progroms and the like. I've seen it too many times in history to ignore this or misunderstand it. It only stops when enough oppose it.
We need a great spiritual awakening, or we are doomed to balkanization, if not outright stalinist purge plutocracy. I don't have much left now but my meager life. But one life, lived well, with principle, can make a difference. Even if it's just to one or two others. And an example isn't enough. People misunderstand everything they see. There has to be explanation of the why. I believe we are in this mess due to the greatest generation not wanting their kids to suffer like they did through famine, hardship and world war. And those spoiled ingrates rebelled because they didn't understand what they saw, and still don't.
God help us.
You are far too pessimistic. See Virginia. There is hope, it's beginning.
DeleteAnd the kids of the "greatest generation" aren't the problem, their grandkids might be. (FWIW, I dislike the term "greatest generation" applied to the WWII generation, I'd reserve that for the men and women who won the Revolution.)
I'm in agreement with everything you've said, I'd be happy to be in the vanguard with you, and I'd like to repeat/emphasize your last statement:"G-d help us."
DeleteIn God We Trust.
Delete(Don McCollor)...I like the old quote "God protects fools, drunkards, and the United States of America"...
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DeleteThat is just the issue. Unless we as a nation turn back to God, we will not be blessed. It is not so much is God on our side as it is are we on God's side. If we are not on God's side, we will continue to be punished through evil rulers. We have to do our part and stand up for what is righteous, including in our own lives. The blessings of righteousness and the cursings of unrighteousness are just as automatic and immutable as the laws of gravity and inertia.
DeleteYeah. You are right. And it's a point I've made elsewhere, on other people's blogs, when some firebrand is screaming at the rest of us to go do something kinetic. And I say, "You first." Which shuts them up. Makes me wonder how many of those commenters are Fed Boys trying to stir up something.
ReplyDeleteAs to the masks and the shots, I just worry about you. Having lifelong lung problems, I know that restricting breathing isn't a good thing, and that the lungs need to exhale dangerous particles as that is one of the layers of protection the body has against disease. But... yeah. Just worried about my people out there in the interwebs.
Though Virginia going the way it did was refreshing, we are still waiting on New Joisey, and NYC went squishy. And, of course, there's always the mail-in ballot fraud to consider. We shall see what the standing is in a few days, since the Dems have a habit of unconceding.
When's your flight out of Rhody to the D'Eggo?
I fly tomorrow.
DeleteBe safe, and God Bless, Sarge.
DeleteThanks drjim!
DeleteOn the Virginia Election, McAuliffe conceded. I was waiting on him to "Tank Abrams" (not conced) and there appear miraculously another 80,000+ votes for McAuliffe. Last night when I went to bed Youngkin had over 200,000 vote lead. I guess the Democrats couldn't create a large enough margin of cheat without it being too obvious.
ReplyDeleteAs to future elections for Federal Office, I don't hold out a lot of hope. The Democrats will just try to figure out better ways to cheat and not get caught. They did fairly well in their cheat in November 2020.
As to a revolution or rebellion in this country, I don't see a good outcome. I have been saying for years (since 2012 at the earliest) that the UN would be invited in as in OAFS's tale with the PDRC/CCP being the primary force. What ever would happen, the United States would be greatly diminished even if Constitutional Americans were to succeed in reestablishing good governance. I fear though that we would become a vasal state of the PDRC.
Never give up, never surrender. Don't let the bastards get you down. God is in control, this nonsense will pass.
DeleteFunny, not funny when you combine say, that so and so Robespierre when making you point. Do not dissuade acting in just cause by using those dastardly examples.
ReplyDeleteIn making your larger point - that death awaits the revolutionary - you ignore the possibility of a just cause. There are in fact, very good reasons to rise up to topple the edifice. You don't want to join, fine, don't join. But don't impinge others if they should decide differently. So you've seen death, well lots have seen what you have and even more. But as you imply, such experiences are enough to dissuade you to war. All peaceably men would prefer the enjoyment of their sunset. Yet there are those who are inclined to prevent you from having that.
Not all who seek to take up arms are they who have hot blood for war. Many, probably most, have concluded that the peace they desire is no longer attainable. So fight they must for they have so treasured that formerly peaceable life. You fight for what is worth keeping. It is rightfully ours, others wish to take what is rightfully ours.
It is quite insensible to compare the cause of preserving liberty with a failed war. You have seen death, but have you seen death for a just cause? Is Vietnam or Korea or the hundred smaller battles as just as the cause of liberty? No! Not when the
cause was to the benefit of the M-I complex.* Yet often are the former used as excuse to not engage in the former.
*I know well the full history of VN and of Korea. Included is I know why we were there. Initially, the cause was just. Then it was soon corrupted. But most - even those who say they've seen the horrors of war - know not of this history. They only use the corrupted cause - for that is all they know - as reason to not engage, no matter the cause.
I am rambling. I am not trying very hard to edit my words. I trust by now all understand my thoughts. Stay home, stay out of the way, kindly do not disparage those others who will fight for the cause is just. God bless us all.
Well-said! Very well stated. Many of us realize we are being pushed, pushed very hard; but still are unable to the find the answer as to why; why go to this extent.
DeleteRick - I'm not ignoring the possibility of a just cause. The revolutions in France, Haiti, Ireland, and Russia were all just. Things didn't always go well, sometimes bad stuff happened to good people. Death is death, regardless of the cause.
Deleteboron - We are being pushed, the push-back has started. The why is simple, evil wants to control everything.
DeleteSarge, I am obliged to apologize for my comment. It was the product of a raised passion and rushed (I had to skedaddle to do my errands). Thank you for not being as harsh as I had dreaded. All day I had felt misgivings over being perhaps too bold, certainly impassioned. That passion should be saved for the field, not on a blog where I am a guest. I apologize for the somewhat ill temper but not the heartfelt position.
DeleteThanks Sarge, for giving voice to thoughts that a lot of us are having. I find myself very much in the passive resistance category right now. That and doing my best to raise my kids to have such values that should a time come where very hard decisions must be made, that they make their individual choices consistent with the character and values they've been raised with.
ReplyDeleteMy oldest is sixteen and dreams of flying Marine F-35Bs off assault carriers. I'm doing my best to equip him for the best chances of success, but I do fear that he will be the first of my boys to see real combat in ways that the U.S. military has not experienced for decades.
On a lighter note, I was in Sandy Eggo myself a couple of weeks ago. I managed to make my first ever visit to Shakespeare's, and on the trip home I was quite amused by a passing traveler's mask which read "This mask is as effective as Joe Biden." Passive resistance indeed!
The resistance is real, it's passive and very American. Remember what Patton said, we Americans don't tolerate losers well. Brandon is indeed, a loser.
DeleteDON"T get the clot shot. The odds of getting a "harmless" jab are not good.Karl Denninger has a well researched article, UH, That's Not a Conspiracy Theory. Death or disability is not a good option. The Burning Platform has many contributors writing many good articles with Prohibited Truth. Please do more research.
ReplyDeleteAlready had the shot.
DeleteVery sobering reminder, Sarge. Thanks for publishing it.
ReplyDeleteIt also gives me renewed respect for our Founding Fathers.
They were some pretty smart guys.
Delete(Don McCollor)...Also historians. They knew the Classic Greek and Roman history of their democracies and how they fell, along with the history of European monarchy. And they were realists. (They planned to eliminate slavery, but now needed the wholehearted support of the Southern states (the British Lion had just had his tail chewed, and was licking his chops for a rematch [the Industrial Revolution and the demand for cotton kept the can kicked down the road until the Civil War]) They were not just thinking of the good but also the evil of mankind. Powers were separated into equal judicial, legislative, and executive branches, with no full control over the others. Senate was based on states, House based on population, so the higher populations did not control the vote. The US is not a true democracy voting for a President. The vote is for an elector to vote fore the President who does not have to vote that way. A final check is that the Senate has to confirm the votes. A cumbersome slow system, but ensuring that no one man gains too much power, and nothing is rashly done. Two centuries ago, they thought well...
DeleteIndeed.
DeleteWhat needs doing and what we possess the will to do are VERY personal ideas. Introspection trumps bloviation on this one...
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DeleteDamned if I'll take their f**cking shot.
ReplyDeleteBoat Guy