“One Southerner can lick twenty Yankees.”
Charles Hamilton
Gone With The Wind
Such is the bravado of young men. And, honestly, it should be that way. However, bravado, machismo, and testosterone do not, by themselves, win battles or wars. Battles and wars are won by bravado, machismo, and testosterone in the service of wise tacticians and strategists who know when to strike, when to lay back and absorb a blow so as to be positioned to inflict damage, and when to retreat. It is now Sunday 19 January 2020, and nothing I write here will make any impact on what will happen in Richmond, Virginia tomorrow, yet all the same I’ll state my convictions so that in three years time we won’t be in some other Virginian city (Roanoke anyone?) planning another march that will show how determined the Patriots are.
Please understand my opposition to attending this kind of turkey shoot … er, um, I mean rally, is not (as I’ve been accused) based on personal cowardice. Nor is it due to the fact that I have different long range goals then those who are protesting in Richmond tomorrow. I loathe Statist apparatchiks more than the next person and am in full agreement with Albert Jay Nock’s book title, “Our Enemy, the State.” No, my opposition to attending Richmond is about methodology. I am of the conviction there are better ways to skin the cat of Government oppression and illegality than putting one’s self in an environment that is completely under the control of the enemy. Nobody fights purposely allowing the enemy to choose and have the high ground and metaphorically speaking that is what is happening (again) as Johnny goes marching on in Richmond.
One would have thought that the Patriot movement would have learned something with Charlottesville or in Seattle or in Portland, but nope, it is, “Once more unto the breach, dear friends.” This is starting to look like Charlie Brown and his eternal determination, to this time “really kick that ball,” only to find that Lucy, once again, is way ahead of the well determined, likable, but not particularly astute Charlie Brown.
Lucy, in this case, is the Statist apparatchiks. They are the ones who are holding the football. They know what their going to do. They know the terrain. They have the resources to create and / or sustain and / or turn a blind eye to mayhem. It is a Captain Obvious statement, based on Charlottesville, Portland, and Seattle, to say that their sympathies are not with the Patriots. And yet, this time it will be different.
Why not just start wearing a “hit me” sign?
Note here that the danger is not only as coming from the antifa side or as coming from the beloved Constables. There are those in the Patriot movement who might think to themselves, “”We need to get the pot to boil and the only way to do that is for our side to take some hits. If we can get Richmond to go bad that accelerates the Rebellion,” and in light of that reasoning work to the end of creating an incident for the good of the overall cause. So, if the question is asked “Cui Bono,” all sides could spin this thing going sideways as “we benefit.”
Then there is the publicity / media angle. The Patriot crowd could be saints on stilts but no matter what happens in Richmond all we are going to see on the media is Confederate (and maybe even Nazi) flags. Militia members who look like a cross of Sergeant Rock and Freddy Kruger. Followed by “in depth analysis” by some sodomite news anchor telling us the covert white supremacist action that all second amendment people represent.
So, I ask myself, “How does this advance the cause of the Patriots?” How does the gathering of some of the finest people getting beat up, arrested, slandered and libel advance the cause of the 2nd amendment, or the Patriot movement overall? What are we proving? Our ability to take a punch? I think that is now well established.
Those people don’t care what Americans want. They don’t care how many letters they receive in the mail. They are nonplussed about numbers protesting. So, again, what does this accomplish besides making one’s self a target? Sure, the attendees can tell themselves good things about themselves about how they rallied as long as they leave out the part where they were bloodied by antifa and the Statist goons.
Some will contend, “Pastor, you don’t know how the Spirit of God might use this rally.” That is true. However, not knowing how God might or might not use something doesn’t excuse me for showing up at a turkey shoot starring as the turkey. (Yes, I know live turkeys are not used in turkey shoots … roll with me here.) Some will contend that a statement has to be made. What statement? That we will keep protesting no matter how many times the spider says to the fly, “Welcome to my parlor.”
So, what are the alternatives? If going to their place isn’t going to work what is going to work?
First of all, we have to be honest enough to admit that unless a much larger percentage of our country embrace Jesus Christ as Lord and Biblical Christianity that even if there is success there is failure. Right now America is a confused country when it comes to their faith. There is little understanding how Christianity is the only answer for stopping antifa and the Statist government and what understanding does exist is usually so tepid and watered down that if it is Christianity it is of a very strange variety. One wonders how many of those protesting have children in government schools? Wait … you want to keep your guns but you’re willing to lose your children? One wonders how many of those protesting are supporters of Israel no matter what? Wait … you want to keep your guns but your willing to continue to make America’s sons and daughters to be canon fodder for Israel’s wars? One wonders how many of those protesting care about God’s law? Wait … you want to keep your guns but your willing to let the rest of God’s law remain ignored and you expect God to bless your efforts? As long as Americans keep Biblical Christianity at arm’s length any success on keeping their guns is largely irrelevant.
Second, if protesting isn’t working on throwing off the vile Christ hating bureaucrats then maybe the answer is to organize locally into cell groups. Virginia, for example, has many counties saying they will not enforce unconstitutional laws. Beyond this there can be meetings of neighborhood areas where some kind of alarm system is established whereby neighbors coalesce if and when troubles from the enemy authorities arise.
Third, it may require that if we are living in areas that are overwhelming blue we have to move to an area that is sympathetic to our beliefs.
Fourth, at some point we have to realize that if rallies and ballots are strangled then history demonstrates that the only option available that remains is rope and bullets. This is what our forefathers concluded in 1776 when the British incarnation of tyranny arose. This is what one of our own 20th century president observed,
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
John F. Kennedy
In conclusion, I salute the bravery of those seeking to exercise their constitutional right of peaceful assembly. I do not disagree one iota with their goals. My disagreement is on the best methodology to achieve those goals. I strenuously do not agree that protests that are intended to be peaceful on our part is a methodology that can achieve what is desired.
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