(Continued from Part 1.)
Insurgencies can be won in many ways, “including overthrow of the government, successful annexation of independent territory, a marked recognition of minority rights or property rights, or, for the purposes of this study, dramatic political success.” (Connable & Libicki, 2010) Within the United States one could win an insurgency by utilizing a number of the following approaches, or all of them. Ensuring property rights that have been taken by the current government are reinstated. Guaranteeing that regardless of race, color, creed, or religion one would be fully accepted as long as they followed the basic tenets given. Guaranteeing all persons have equal voice and getting rid of the currently bloated overreaching government as it exists now. Reinstating the complete total rights of all felons who were incarcerated for “victimless” crimes. Reducing, dismantling or completely changing the current system of laws. Any one or all of these could be incorporated into the initial statements released to people to gain support.
Keeping these commitments would be essential to the success of the venture.
A successful insurgency in the United States would require a large base of disenfranchised individuals in reasonable location to each other to support it. For example, the U.S. Civil War of the 1860s is the best example of this, though the initial belligerents failed. The Northern states gained an upper hand when they utilized what is known today as virtue signaling to rally support. By freeing only the slaves in those states that were in rebellion, Lincoln destabilized the South. And with the massive influx of recruits in the form of Europeans fleeing famine alongside the industrial ability of the North and you have a recipe for disaster that the South was unable to overcome. Such issues would need to be avoided for any modern insurgency to survive and win in the United States. Obviously, slavery is no longer an issue. However, there are other issues that could and would be used in the same way today.
Zambri notes: “In many cases, governmental institutions could not keep pace with societal change, leading to disorder and instability. This instability left societies vulnerable to insurgent influences. Insurgents could thus take advantage of this flux to gain popular support, by promising alternatives to the government. The government, unable to ameliorate the problems of the population, would increasingly be isolated and weakened. ” (Zambri, et al., 2017) This single phrase explains how a group could effectively engage in insurgency against the current government of the United States. Current state governments of world powers are bloated monstrosities that fail in almost every metric to engage the public. In fact the current sitting government (elected individuals) hold some of the worst approval ratings in history, and yes, this is all of them not just one party or branch.
Successful insurgency requires the same items that successful business requires: Hard work, money, support, and luck in timing.
Demographics
Understanding the population of the region where one decides to form the base for an insurgency is absolutely essential to its success. Attempting to draw support from middle and upper-class individuals in largely urban environments would see negative results. Drawing support from working-class but poor urbanites and rural working-class would have far better results. This is why many insurgencies that have been successful were based originally in the ghettos and rural areas of the nations that they eventually claimed. Having a gifted statesman (this includes men and women) at the helm would be essential. Magnetic personalities would be the greatest asset in today’s world of social media.
Self-Restraint in Use of Force
Use of force should be avoided whenever possible, simply because this would have negative effects on the population and would be difficult, though not impossible, to maintain and win in the long term. Control of major ports of entry, supply lines, and communication hubs.
It would be essential to control communications. The utilization of ham radios and rotating communication approaches would make it difficult for the military and police to dominate the radio spectrum. Using small unit tactics to disrupt government supply lines and terminate political figures and high ranking desk-bound commanders could help assist in fomenting dissension in their own ranks. Understanding that this would be attempted against us would also be necessary to prepare for. One popular approach could be spreading the leadership between several individuals using a line of succession similar to what exists in the United States military and in the Federal executive branch. Unlike the government approach, this would be known and accepted but not recorded and specifics should be kept closely guarded.
All governments move slower than individuals. However, most governments hold an overwhelming amount of power as well. Using quick strikes a coup could be successful in the United States because so many active-duty troops are deployed abroad. This would however mean potentially reducing the effectiveness of the coup due to lack of support garnered. If you were able to whip up support quickly without hinting at objectives including a coup and then rely on that support after the coup, it could be highly successful. Again, it comes back to understanding human nature and current cultural and societal approaches. Current political views within the United States are all supportive of some form of government, the differences are simply a matter of which government is supported, and by whom.
Physical rebellion against the current government of the United States, indeed any modern government across the world would be difficult with untrained or under-trained rebels. But this would not be impossible, and in fact would likely be far easier than many believe it could be. Again, it is essential to understand the needs of a modern military and police force, specifically in the United States. In the following section, we will look at several specific areas including, individual physical ability, monetary ability, supply ability, leadership ability, and the driving forces for both sides.
Considering Police Forces
Civilians in the United States are in some respects quite well trained. In fact, those individuals most likely or able to carry arms in defiance of the government in an armed capacity will be quite well trained. While their overall physical ability will be as a general rule far less than of the average military unit, issues like added weight and reduced stamina are actually very short-lived problems. It would only take a few weeks or even days in some cases to reduce added weight and build necessary muscle mass. Small arms training is arguably better among civilians. While special military and law enforcement units do receive training that puts them far above most other competitors, these units are numerically irrelevant. In some of the most recently available headcounts provided by government statistics we see that police personnel in the United States number around 1 to 1.5 million sworn officers. Of this number, there are around 686,000 full-time officers. (Duffin, 2018)
Looking at the numbers available we quickly see that special tactical units such as SWAT teams are found in approximately 61% of the departments around the nation. Another 31% participate in multi-agency SWAT teams and 9% have no access to SWAT teams. Of those who have teams, 90% are part-time members of SWAT teams, 3% are full-time members. (“National Special weapons and tactics (SWAT) study”, 2013) Large urban areas, cities with populations over one million, generally have the best trained, supplied, and funded SWAT teams. Rural and suburban areas generally rely on inter-agency cooperation and mixed-use teams and tend to have less training, with more resources going toward training SAR teams, e.g., Search and Rescue. Many of these teams have civilian volunteers at their core. In fact, many sheriff and smaller police departments rely on community volunteers for tasks such as traffic control duty and administrative tasks.
Police Policy Differences
Law enforcement in the United States operates per their own state charters/constitutions. This means that except for centralized reporting or the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) most departments operate with their own individual written or unwritten policies. While sworn officers are mandated to uphold state laws, they are not always required to uphold federal laws as well. This means that an officer from New York City, while having similar training, will not be following the same approaches that an officer from Los Angeles will be. Recent changes to this can be seen with the implementation of the Department of Homeland Security, all departments now have liaisons from DHS within them which allows for ease of transition into more centralized approach if a State of Emergency is called. This is, however, with very few exceptions seen as unimportant by many officers.
Firearms training within law enforcement generally occurs twice a year with an average of 15 hours annually per officer. The same study, report shows that armed civilians tend to train an average of 23 times a year or twice a month. (Grossi, 2017) The United States military on the other hand does have significantly more training in combat applications. While not all troops receive regular ongoing or intensive training, the specialty units within all branches of service receive training that is equal to that of many national-level competitors within the firearms community. Current estimates for personnel assigned to all branches of the United States military services is 2,141,200. Of these, 1,281,900 are on active duty. Quantifying current numbers of special operations troops is more difficult. The number is small: Somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 in all branches of service.
These aforementioned numbers include administrative as well as hands-on warfighters.
(To be concluded tomorrow, in Part 3.)
“If you were able to whip up support quickly without hinting at objectives including a coup …..”
It’s very possible especially with social media! Just look at how many people were so quick to slap on a “Black Lives Matter” bumper sticker or T-shirt or Farcebook header, and to DONATE to that corporation, without having any idea that the founders in their own words are “trained Marxists,” or invoke the spirits of the dead, or how their ideals are anti-nuclear family, or how churches are getting burned, or…….. I personally don’t think any of these things were particularly hidden; they certain did more than hint at them, but how many folks do their due diligence nowadays? And how many folks do hear of these things, but dismiss them as fake news, propaganda smears, etc…or figure that it must be exaggerated and anyway the current system is soooOOOooo eeeEEEeeevil that it has to go down regardless? Of course it goes without saying that if one speaks against this corporation or its destructive ideals, one is branded a racist and marked for harassment and cancellation and worse.
Do they have the resources and training to effectively pull off a full insurgency? Not ALONE, I don’t think (particularly given the recent infighting between national HQ and some local branches), but they’re sure doing a good job of being destructive to lives, property, history, societal fabric…and their ‘invisible’ backers and associates are very very much better resourced aren’t they?
——
Also I did not carefully read the data in the last paragraphs, and was not encouraged, regarding the potential capabilities of a purely-hypothetical-of-course counter-insurgency, that will not be necessary to defend the Republic.
//Hard work, money, support, and luck in timing.//
None of this except maybe luck matters a bit without a good grand strategy.
The average American citizen shooter is better trained, organised, led and disciplined in tactics and techniques at all levels from squad to battailon level and above ?
It´s IMHO irrelevant if 500 untrained, unorganised undisciplined shooters who could hit the bullseye better than Daniel Boone rise up, a reasonably well trained and led Rear Echelon Unit – Company would mop the floor with them without breaking a sweat before breakfast, even without mortars and grenade launchers.
The Machineguns with the right tactics alone would be a massive game-changer and the superior communication systems would be a dominating advantage
Interesting how those untrained, undisciplined, illiterate afghanis have given both America and Russia all we could handle in an insurgency
Bret, they are well-trained and disciplined. Beating the Russkies gave many of them OJT. Those folks trained their kids. Same story in Vietnam. The anti-colonial struggle left many battle-hardened and loyal-to-each-other people equipped to face US military and, in many cases, thrash them.
I could tell you stories…
Carry on
ThoDan, you put your finger on it.
Firearms proficiency is a small part of military success. Teamwork, covering each others’ “six”, and trusting one’s commander (s) are all essential. If losing weight, gaining muscle, and building mission coherence could be accomplished in weeks or even days, you know the Marines and lesser outfits would be employing that strategy.
Carry on
Reading carefully, thinking and awaiting the 3rd episode 🙂
Appreciated!
As mentioned yesterday in the comments, information is a resource, and the supply-line of information is also valuable. Following the supply-line of information as you had cited in this work, issues present themselves.
You cite Connable & Libicki 2010, a Rand corporation study (bias), in which that work is attempting to blend two different types of research methods (which is fine), under a framework that was developed by a journalist (tipping point) (a bit of an issue), in order to say their research is a monograph.
A monograph requires that the findings of the research can not be generalized.
According to p. 3 of Connable & Libicki, 2010,
“Because so many unique variables define insurgencies, including local culture, terrain, economy, and government, to name only a few, we found that only a small set of indicators is suitable for generalization.” <—–completely contradicts the research method.
It is here that one would need to ask: Is this research any good? If it is good, what is it good for?
Appreciated, and agreed in general. Ensuring good information is essential, for instance the publicly non secure available documentation of troop numbers is varying. Not by much, but enough to generate concern among some readers, again, using what is readily and publicly available is important. If I used anything that needed a clearance, do you think it could have been published here?
One of 11 cited works, not all will meet everyone’s approval, that is a fantasy. My suggestion, wait for the cited works part, and tear that apart?
And again, yes, all writing and research has bias.
Yeah, for sure. I am looking forward to the works cited page. My comment could have been more clear in that it was not directed at you, per say.
The weight of this topic is rather large, and it seems every place I read on the internet, this topic is on everyone’s minds. My point with following the supply-line of info is that not all info is equal, and when focusing on a topic such as this one, well,….pretty heavy stuff, IMO. Certainly looking forward to the next part.
Agreed 100%
“And again, yes, all writing and research has bias.”
IMO when it comes to books and research, we should never take anyone’s word for anything. When we read something that piques our interest such as this article, it’s just to point us in a direction to take for our next in-depth study and we should approach it with an open, critically-thinking mind, not with the idea of proving our pre-conceived notions.
Many times areas of interest are way outside our knowledge base and/or our ability to do first-hand research, so our only options is wading through what others have researched and written about it. But if we research both sides of the issue, it’s usaully easier to come to a more informed conclusion.
This is one of the better articles I’ve read in a long time and hones in more closely on things I frequently wonder about There are too many variables for me to really come to any concrete conclusions on, and I hope I’m wrong on my current conclusions, but this article gives me a good framework to improve what I’m basing my opinions on and it’s always great to hear what others are thinking on the same topics.
@ St. Funogas,
“IMO when it comes to books and research, we should never take anyone’s word for anything.” I could not agree more.
For me, I question that there is so much information available now, that part of that hyper-availability is that people tend to not trust or believe in any information. I think a similar pattern can be found at the start of the Protestant Reformation.
“…that part of that hyper-availability is that people tend to not trust or believe in any information.”
And the sad part is, they don’t bother to even try to figure out what’s good and what’s garbage. When people learn to think critically and not try to “prove” things, it becomes much easier to find the truth or at least apply some probabilities to what they find.
Very interesting article. I have spent quite a bit of time thinking about how an insurgency could communicate in order to coordinate actions and am at a loss. With the entire radio spectrum and internet being monitored by The Feds, how could secure communications take place?
By a courier in person.
Courier pigeons, also called “Homing Pigeons,” were utilized by bad guys in Iraq.
They also used flag signaling from roof to roof by swapping colors of flags, or sequence of colors. Sort of similar to smoke signals?
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Semper Fi
Laundry on the line, colors mean A, all white means B and mixed means C.
to time consuming when the other side use radio
Pigeons were actually quite good and messages arrived at the designated delivery points quickly.
No traffic jams, checkpoints, etc., and mingling in with thousands and thousands of “wild” pigeons camouflaged their movements. Who even knew they were released?
Straight from point A to point B.
Merry Christmas
Semper Fi
…. If you live like it’s the past, and you behave like it’s the past, then guys from the future find it very hard to see you. If you throw away your cell phone, shut down your e-mail, pass all your instructions face-to-face, hand-to-hand, turn your back on technology and just disappear into the crowd……
I hate Hollywood but its a good quote
You want to coordinate Squads, platoons or companies in combat with pigeons against an opponent who uses radio?
Especially if they ´ren´t in contact?
Answering Sleepless’ statement.
I suggested a proven method of what we could do if we could not use radios.
Have a good day. And Merry Christmas.
Semper Fi
Dead drop.
Loving this. Can’t wait to read the next installment. Over 38 million hunting licenses/tags/permits were issued in 2020, and there are over 430 million guns in the United States by loose estimates. Those two statistics don’t paint the full picture, but I think Americans outside of law enforcement and the military are the largest “standing army” in the world. In my mind, our government or any other, short of bombing us, doesn’t stand a chance if we all decide that we’ve had enough. I pray we can right things through peaceful means. I pray our Sheriffs, who are elected, will stand with the people if that time comes. I pray our law enforcement, who have been sorely abused by the Marxists in our midst, stand with the people. I pray our military men and women will have the wisdom to divine a Constitutional versus unConstitutional order and act accordingly. I constantly pray that the Lord will have mercy on America, and that we will stand firm when the time comes.
An armed Mob is a mob nonetheless and weapon´s don´t make good, efficient soldiers.
Training, education, discipline make good soldiers !
Organisation, including support and supply and LEADERSHIP including Staff then make a military
I agree with you. I think that is what the various American militias are attempting to do: training, education, discipline, organization, and communications, as well as learning to live a self-sufficient lifestyle. Leadership is the wild card, in my opinion. I was, for a time, following American Contingency on Locals.com whose goal is to prepare folks to defend themselves, their families, and their communities. The reason I stopped following them on Locals, is because I don’t want to be on any “list”, and cautioned them about being too public and organizing online, which I think is a risk, depending upon how the political winds blow. But, lol, I’m just an old woman who knows more about keeping the home fires burning than anything else.
I must politely disagree. The lack of central leadership will be one of the greatest strengths of any future resistance movement. Do a web search on “Leaderless Resistance.” Small, independent cells are impenetrable. A leaderless resistance movement is essentially unstoppable. For some further reading, see: https://survivalblog.com/2018/05/15/mathematics-countering-tyranny/
A resistence is not an army or military, nor an guerilla military.
I wholly agree with you too. I may have stated only half of what I was thinking! Is there room for both formal militias and “leaderless resistance”? I will review the article. Thank you for the link.
For many of us, the beauty of the Patriots series of novels is that there’s no “government to the rescue” BS as in so many TEOTWAWKI books. And the Patriots books take it one step further: what attempts there are by the gov to resurrect itself are quashed by the good guys. We can dream, can’t we? 🙂
Hey JWR, great link. The first thing I thought was, “When can I get my order in the for the SB stick?” It’s hard to just cruise through the SB archives online and would be a fun activity with the SB stick.
No pre-orders, correct? What is the current ship-date target? Hopefully it will be shipped before Inauguration Day in case that coincides with the first day of TEOTWAWKI. 🙂
The ad for pre-ordering should be up on or before January 1st. Shipments should begin around the third week of January. Thanks for your patience.
I completely agree. Small cells are the way to go.
Read your article, and it was excellent. That would very likely be the way things would play out, as long as the government does not control the food supply.
Ration cards have been issued in America before, during WWII.
All that would be necessary is for the government to issue ration cards with somewhat less than the necessary minimum of calories. Not at first of course, first the cards would be adequate, to ensure their acceptance.
So now your children are hungry, and asking you for food, and the government will give you a one month deluxe ration card for each gun you turn in. Okay, make it two months.
If daddy won’t turn the gun in, mommy probably will.
This would work for Bibles too.
These people are not stupid. They are very evil, and they have been gaming this for decades.
WOW! Just got a chance to read your GREAT article from 2018 JWR. It is exactly how I see it happening, while it’s a bit scary to put that in a public forum, good for you! I don’t think the commies have a chance unless they bomb us from space (hence, Space Force).
I have family members in law enforcement. To the man (and woman), there’s no way they would ever go door-to-door. There would be more retirements than there are now, total sick outs, or potentially they would aid the citizens. There’s more good than bad in law enforcement, and they are currently thoroughly disillusioned by the commies in power who undermine their work at every turn. #thinblueline
Those militias ´ve training above squad level at best?
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc80w2gBc1lbalveNDF642g
As an example: YouTube channel for Mike Glover, former special forces guy. He’s been de-platformed on many fronts because of what he is teaching.
Many of the militias are formed by veterans. I don’t know much more than that. You’d have to research for yourself.
Personally, my training has been from family members who are retired LEO. All I have learned is to aim and shoot straight and maintain my weapons, nothing more. I could stop an intruder. I do not have advanced skills to speak of. I need to learn more. As I stated, I’m just an old woman so I could not give any expert advice other than how to make a mean chili and absolutely delicious sourdough rolls.
I don´t see any squad or above tactics, field problems etc.
The problem is IIRC my own service time, shooting straight is a valuable skill but it´s no replacement for tactics or even fire and movement techniques(I hope i translate that not to wrong)
Mean Food is a most dangerous weapon
The meaner the food, the meaner the army
@ SaraSure,
There is a lot that could be said about Mike Glover, and people similar to him. What I mean is, retired SF dudes who have an enormous amount of skill, training and prestige, but are also very well trained in psyops.
I am certainly not suggesting to discredit Glover, because the guy has skills. I would suggest reading some psyop manuals so that in the very least, you can gain a new perspective. I hope I am not upsetting anyone with this comment, but geopolitics is a game, and Mike has been trained, well, in how to be a player. Because of this, I am skeptical about the amount of SF dudes trying to be celebrities now.
As a former civilian contractor who never was military or law enforcement, but who spent over a decade teaching the same, honestly, its not hard to be trained better. But again, in number 3 tomorrow you will see added reasons and needs.
If an uneducated, poorly equipped, poorly trained insurgent force can quickly be defeated by trained soldiers with the best modern equipment why are we still trying to “pacify” Afghanistan after nearly 20 years of occupation? If Afghanistan isn’t enough then Vietnam before that and Korea before that. It’s hard to root someone out of their home no matter what kind of tech you’re bringing to the table.
The Vietkong were many things poorly trained and educated they were not if OTOH american soldiers were trained and equipped for this kind if war is doubtful at best.
Good straight facts!
You are right on. And you know what? They’ve been using homing pigeons all along.
Merry Christmas!
Semper Fi
Sara Sue,
(Can you imagine — I often experience something I call ‘close-focus’, getting caught in details?)
I think the statistics of firearms we own is irrelevant to today’s discussion.
How many firearms owners never leave their recliners to practice dry-firing in all positions in all weather at night… while working as teams, sprinting cover-to-concealment-to-cover while imaginary foes poke holes in our fragile bodies?
* How many wars/battles are initiated by one person with a plan?
* How many ‘removals’ of one person stops wars/battles, all our well-laid plans sputtering to nothing at the loss of one charismatic spokes-model?
I think the statistics of hunting permits is irrelevant to any discussion of insurgency.
How many hunters never ask permission… because we are insurgents in the first place?
How many permit-holders are incompetent at stalking, reading their terrain year-round, the simple act of seeing?
How many hunters and permit-holders are ‘good Americans’, and believe their enemies play by the ‘good American’ definitions of ‘rules’?
.
.
One point I learned during debates:
* each side justifies/rationalizes the destruction of all other sides.
And each individual — me included — defends our side because it is my side so it must be right because it is my side so it must be right because it is my side…
Here is a suggestion:
* can you imagine — we are all one, and a force is testing us, attempting to get us to believe the illusion of separation?
All good and interesting perspectives. I guess, in my mind, the sheer number of people who own firearms, assuming most are actually proficient and don’t just stick a loaded handgun on the nightstand, gives us the upper hand, in general. I guess my perspective is colored by where I live, where most firearm owners are active hunters and/or feel strongly about “peace through strength”, and have their own firing ranges on property.
But, my mind is jello this morning due to the head cold, so I should stop typing away. LOL. Carry on!
I agree with many of your points. My understanding from my city dwelling dedicated hunter friends is that their skills involve driving to the deer lease, climbing into the deer stand and waiting for something to show up at the feeder at a range well within the you can’t really miss range. The idea of stalking or moving over terrain in a stealthy manner is irrelevant. Some of these same hunters also look at me like I have a third eye when I mention any kind of military style firearm as if who in their right mind would own that. Never mind the purchase or use of night vision devices, silencers and heaven forbid a binary trigger/bump stock. Those things are totally illegal in their mind and only a nutcase would own anything like that. They’re more worried about snagging tickets to a major sports event or the next greatest electronic gadget to waste money on those things. So I wouldn’t count on the city dwelling deer hunters for an insurgency. Sure there will be some that can be counted on but most are in the good American category as you said and won’t do a thing other than rat out the ones that make the mistake of saying the wrong thing.
I used to have an FFL many years ago and what I saw back then still fits your comments about firearms numbers today. Many new people this year are buying out of fear from crime and riots and they’re either going to buy a handgun in a caliber designed for the wife or a shotgun so they can make that ridiculous statement about all I have to do is rack this thing and criminals flee. They have budgets and the idea of spending over $1k on a decent outfitted AR got nixed before it was ever considered therefore the idea of being involved in an insurgency also got nixed at feeding the kids and paying the bills.
I’m probably too pessimistic at times. We may have lots of guns and plenty of hunters but there aren’t that many people willing to be involved in any insurgency, or for that matter to support insurgents, therefore you’re right using numbers to place any kind of success factor on insurgencies is irrelevant.
Very good series, I’m enjoying it. I’ve been fascinated with insurgencies and read a good bit about WWII, particularly the Jewish resistance. For example, the Jews could not kill Nazi soldiers; if they did, the Nazis would slaughter 50 random citizens from the nearest town to “encourage” reporting of any resistance fighters. But the Jews did kill some non-Nazi collaborators.
Aircraft was really the bane of the WWII resistance, but planes were scarce at the time. Today, government monitoring from overhead is much more common, and would need to be considered.
One common thread that seems to get little attention is that most long-term insurgencies received extensive government support. From our own founding battles against the British supported by a fledgling government, to the Russian support for Jewish resistance during WWII, to the Chinese support for the Viet Cong, the resources of an government entity were a substantial factor.
In some cases, the volume of supplies is simply staggering. Lists of items provided to Jews by the Russia include items like 300,000 hand grenades, 50,000 submachine guns, and that’s in addition to bales of blankets, food, and other necessities. Storing your own supplies for a year or two is challenging enough. If those supplies are lost, then resupply could be nearly impossible.
None of this is to comment positively or negatively on the article thus far. Simply sharing thoughts I’ve had that aren’t necessarily intended to be covered by this series.
The jews did fight and kill german soldiers during the warsaw ghetto uprising and others, Jews served in resistence organisation or groups
Could you tell me your sources for the russian supplies specifically to the jews ?
The Warsaw uprising was a special case. There was no forest to hide in, and no neighboring villages to inform the Nazi’s. It was immediate kill or be killed. So the 50 to 1 retaliation did not apply.
I didn´t meant the warsaw uprising i meant the warsaw ghetto uprising and that was not the only ghetto uprising and that isn´t jewish resistence members
Hi Tho Dan
I meant the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising too. Sorry, I was sloppy.
My memory could be off. Found a reference to 17,000 machine guns and 200,000 grenades in the book Partisan Warfare on the Eastern Front by Nik Cornish (p.124). Not specifically to Jews, my error.
I may have been skewed by having recently finished Rather Die Fighting by Blaichman (great book).
But there was a lot of support for partisan/ insurgent groups.
Thank you
How did they take place before the internet/social media/radio?
pony soldiers. carrier pigeons. messages sewn into buttons.
perhaps, “John has a long mustache”
An excellent analysis, but the Left has already mounted a successful insurrection as described. They control the mainstream media, Facebook and Google. This allowed them to have seize the reins of power through a fraudulent election. Eleven million illegal immigrants will soon be joined by millions more. These ‘disenfranchised individuals’, already receiving drivers’ licenses, welfare, medical care and even Covid stimulus checks, will be weaponized by the Left. Restoring voting rights for felons will tip the balance even further. Sorry, Leonidas, the Persians are already through the pass.
If you recall, after Leonidas fails to stop the Persians, an entire army of free Greeks rises up and drives the Persians out. You might equate what the article is talking about to the second phase rather than the first.
If the commies want this land, they are going to have to pay in blood.
Don´t overestimate Leonidas, this free greek absurdity is at best cynical.
The greeks´d decided to fight before thermopylae, de facto the 300 homioioi were most likely the lowest contribution, at least 2 times more spartan slaves died most likely at thermopylae than spartiates and that´s not counting the thousands of theban and thespians citicen´s who also made their last stand at the hot wells.
For most spartans(the helotes and periocei etc) persian conquest would´ve meant very likely liberation from the worst form of slavery in greece
But, I saw 300, and Leonidas was the bestest.
I prefer The 300 Spartans, which gave the thespians their due or at least tried
but remember the “traitor” ephialtes would´ve been murdered as a newborn in sparta!
Which loyalty did he own sparta?
Ditto Randy, we’ve been living through the lefts insurgency for 50 plus years. We may not be at the point where average John Q. Public is willing to say “STOP!” but I think we’re closer than ever before. God help us if we reach that point.
With this totally fraudulent and illegal election….we may be closer than you think.
Dang it, Dan!
I am frustrated with the word ‘election’!
I am certain we have a better word to describe the events of early November than ‘election’.
Can somebody please suggest the opposite of ‘election’?!?
And no fair saying ‘that phase of this incremental coup’ or ‘that phase of this incremental over-throw of our Republic’…
.
.
I think saying ‘election 2020’ is equivalent to saying ‘CoViD-19’ instead of ‘this phase of this Economic Lock-Down’.
But that’s just me.
These illegals will be easily located by watching their mailboxes on check day.
Semper Fi
Contrary to popular belief, illegals depend less on government aid and have a higher rate of employment than the rest of the population in the US. 99% of them are paid with regular paychecks, not under the table. They pay into social security and medicare, and have state and federal taxes withheld from their paychecks when they will never get a cent of that back. They also mostly do jobs that Americans think they’re too good for. The illegal alien “problem” would be fixed in 30-days if every employer was mandated to use e-Verify. When it’s not mandated, you have to ask yourself why? Because nobody wants it. Politicians don’t, employers don’t. So who does that leave? Politicians talk a good game to keep all the legals happy, but it’s all just hot air.
St.
Did someone slip you some Kool-Aid?
In my part of this wonderful country, where illegals cost our school systems an extra teacher’s salary at times for just one student, they work at all local plant nurseries, some for cash. African Americans did hold those jobs until replaced by illegals. They are American citizens who were not on welfare.
Each Friday afternoon the illegals made a stop at the bank(s), cashed their checks, then straight to post office to send most of the money to Mexico.
Those who worked for cash also received welfare, free children’s lunch…and the women living with a man who was not their husband also received welfare. One of my deputies was a female from Mexico, and she did all interrogations of the illegals. Astounding what they were allowed in compensation.
Many summer jobs were lost by high school and college youth because all mowing and trimming was no longer available.
I won’t even get into extra law enforcement costs for bar fights, stabbings, stolen vehicles, and DUI arrests. No Feds would pick them up, so we had to release them repeatedly.
A young mother of two children, living in my community, was killed by a drunk driving illegal. Her husband had passed years prior, and the children had to be placed.
I could go on for hours.
Hoping you have a Merry Christmas.
Semper Fi
We must be from different parts of the USA. Much different where I’m from.
Most African Americans in my community were released from their jobs in favor of illegals, and they were not drawing welfare. Not then.
Illegals receive free housing and special teachers at more than $30,000 per year per classroom.
Merry Christmas
Semper Fi
@St. Fumogas- Illegals are NOT our friends. They must go back. They are ILLEGAL. Understand ? There is another way to find out WHO is an illegal but not as sure. Do they speak English ? It is your first clue. If they don’t speak English you need to investigate further. I’m not saying that illegals are the number one target, but they must be dealt with also. They take away jobs from Americans and consume precious healthcare and education dollars that our veterans and other Americans need. Plus there is the cost of welfare and socialist wealth redistribution programs that steal money from American taxpayers. They must go back.
“….Contrary to popular belief, illegals depend less on government aid and have a higher rate of employment …”
I must respectfully disagree with St. Funogas. Having worked for a period of time in the social services portion of the court system (DCF), the single LARGEST pool of social services consumers are overwhelmingly illegal immigrants and their legal-born children. In addition to all kinds of indirectly subsidized “charity” such as food banks and no-questions-asked free school lunch and free education for illegal kids, the moment an illegal immigrant has a US-born child, they are entitled to all the same welfare benefits that you or I would be entitled to, minus a small deduction amounting to less than 10% of the average allotment. This isn’t right-wing propaganda. I was ORDERED by the court, and their social services DCF state taskmakers, to sign all these people up for all the free stuff you could imagine. Free healthcare. Free or subsidized housing. Free lunch. Free food stamps. Free food pantries. Free clothing vouchers. Fuel assistance. Etc. etc. etc.
Not that there aren’t many decent people who illegally cross the border because they want a better life. Big business encourages them to come. But the moment people realize they can get more by NOT working than by working, they stop working and live off the dole, so big business encourages even MORE illegal immigrants to come to replace the ones who decide it’s not in their self-interest to work. It’s not “those evil illegal immigrants.” It’s just human nature … the same flaw which always causes communism to fail. Why work when you can get something for free?
Batteau,
Will the ‘freedom’ folk be easily located after our bank-accounts suddenly vanish and our debit cards get a ‘declined’ at the ATM?
Probably not.
As now, I imagine a lot of grumpy grumbling by ‘good Americans’, some peaceful sign-waving half-hearted attempts at redress but not much else.
How will we know which nameless faceless bureaucrat deep in the bowels of some bureaucracy someplace pushed that computer key to permanently ‘delete’ all our worldly possessions, transferring title to their off-shore shell-corporations?
It couldn’t happen?
Show of hands — how many believe bureaucrats have your best interests at heart?
I’m lost on commenting here.
Thanks though.
Merry Christmas.
Semper Fi
A few days ago, there was an article on ZeroHedge (The Populist American Powder Keg is Primed but Will It Be Lit?). Without recounting the entire piece, his main premise was that people are motivated by their desire for “comfort” and are averse to upsetting the apple cart. Only when their comfort is taken away are they ready for “change”, or revolution, or insurgency. Common sense.
I would express this in a slightly different way. The US is a welfare state. Approximately half the population lives off of some form of welfare, unemployment, social security, WIC, Food Stamps, college loans, section 8 housing, a government job, a government pension, etc. etc. etc. They are never going to bite the hand that feeds them. The deal is this: the Elite, the Deep State, the Administrative State will be allowed to run things as long as the government checks keep coming. This is called “stability.” 51% of the vote will maintain this system.
Unfortunately this means that things like stealing elections, censoring information, using the FBI for attacks on political opponents, flooding the country with illegal immigrants, allowing cities to burn, insane levels of public debt, public officials bought off by the Chinese, etc. are tolerable as long as I can still cash my social security check. None of these distant complicated things are serious enough to upset the apple cart. History shows us that most people will even allow themselves to be herded onto cattle cars to temporarily avoid discomfort.
Insurgency? It won’t happen until we reach 3rd world status… grocery store shelves bare, fuel unavailable, electric power off for most of the day, etc. What’s worse, under those conditions, historically the lemmings are more likely to call for communism than freedom.
@Wag- I worked for decades, paying in to Social Security and I do not agree that it is “welfare”. I also paid in huge amounts of income tax. I would give up my comforts to restore free and fair elections, and to eliminate the communists from our country, or to establish a separate country free of communists. I would pledge my life, my fortune, and my sacred honor to this goal. We shall soon see if the Spirit of 76 still exists in the land of the formerly free.
Nathan, I pray there are more people like yourself.
My experience has been that most people don’t know and they don’t want to know. Just before they’re shoved through the doors of the cattle car, they’re going to ask if there’s someplace they can plug in their iPhone.
Amen and amen.
….kinda like Megan LaCroix in Liberators? I thought JWR did a masterful job of depicting what was going on around her as society started flushing down the toilet.
Hi Just a Dad, this is an excellent article which I am enjoying immensely and looking forward to Part 3, wishing there could be parts 4-10.
I’ve read this three times before responding and there’s a lot to digest. I’ve made it knows on too many occasions that I’m all for the U.S. breaking up into smaller pieces. All the negative replies to that when I’ve posted have been emotional responses, and IMO, emotional by definition isn’t rational. I’ve also made it known that I think the Constitution was a good first try but a failure in too many ways. I’m not a conservative so I don’t want the old ways conserved, I want to see the best ways used whether they be conservative or liberal. And most of all, I want to see true Freedom reign somewhere before this planet becomes uninhabited.
With that said, my biggest reason why I could never see an insurrection/civil war/break up occurring is that we’d never be able to reach critical mass, which is almost never a majority just a large enough amount of determined individuals. And the reason I’ve always felt that we couldn’t reach critical mass is that too many people are on the government payroll for one reason or another and governments at all levels. Nobody is going to give up a paycheck to get rid of our current form of government, or currently constituted USA. In 2013 (couldn’t find more recent in my limited googling) 49.4% of Americans were getting some sort of aid from the government, including SS, medicare, foods stamps, veterans benefits, etc. I’m not arguing whether those are the right thing to do or not so let’s avoid that topic, I’m just stating that a lot of people are getting money from the government. That 49% doesn’t even include people who are currently working for the government, and 12% of the population gets a paycheck from Uncle Sam. That doesn’t include other government works at the state, county, and city level. It also doesn’t include all the millions of jobs created by suppliers/contractors for the government: defense contractors, vehicles, office supplies, cleaning supplies, the list is endless and way over 50% of the populations. So up until recently, the whole probability of a civil war, insurrection, Greater Idaho movements, Texas independence, etc ad nausem, have seemed to make any change for the good completely hopeless. Then covid came along, our best friend so far for speeding up the demise of the US as currently constituted, and the Social Security’s estimation of running out of money in 2034 is now more likely to happen in 2028 or 2029 according to a lot of economists, assuming no more bad news comes down the pike. At that point, benefits checks would be cut to 75% of current levels. No THAT’S something that could pi$$ off a lot of voters, including the family members of SS recipients and all the people who benefit from those people spending money. A quarter of the people SS sends money to are SSI recipients so they’ll be upset as well. Bottom line is, I do have hope that some sort of a collapse can occurring in the next 8-9 years. So my $10,000 question is, will the mathematically projected economic collapse happen or will the Guv somehow do a big reset, devalue the money to make their debts disappear, or what could happen at that point?
I would suggest you are closer to the truth than many. As always, your comments are greatly appreciated and it is obvious you read the segments so far.
Most Americans are far to comfortable with what is, regardless side they rant from.
I am also a proponent of a break up, at some point all nations fail, ours is quickly reaching that point on purely historical knowledge and applied reasoning sans emotion alone.
I raise a glass to you!
Hey Just A Dad, when can you come over for some coffee and fresh cinnamon rolls so we can chew the fat around the wood stove? The we can say all those things we really want to say without the NSA taking notes. 🙂
I would love too, currently looking out my window at the lower south eastern end of the rockies
Lots of good points St. Funogas. (In fact it was one of your comments, once upon a time, that started to tip my opinion from “I hope we don’t balkanize” to “that might be a decent idea actually”… ) I totally agree that the next decade or so is going to get reallllll interesting.
Just one quibble tho – I disagree that veterans’ benefits constitute “aid.” They are definitely money that comes from the government, but… it’s more like accounts payable for services already rendered.
P.S. if I abandon the idea of cooking a healthy dinner tonight and instead get the dough rising for a billion trays of cinnamon rolls, it is completely your fault. 😛
Insurrection Act may be our only way to fix it all at the same time.
In JWR’s link above about The Mathematics of Countering Tyranny, several of the commenters mentioned reading Unintended Consequences. Here is a link for a free pdf.
https://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Uploads/129/Media/Unintended_Consequences.pdf
If anyone can find a Kindle link, please post it. Be sure it’s the novel by John Ross, there are lots of books and articles with that title.
If Joe Biden and Kamela Harris are illegally installed in office we shall see on January 20th at noon Eastern time how many Patriots will give up their comforts to restore our country to the Christian Republic that it once was. Next year could be as spicy as Ghost pepper habanero sauce.
1) I think this entire discussion is unrealistic ( I’m trying to be tactful).
2) There is no justification for violence against a lawfully elected government.
3) Even if in the distant future, Washington turned into a violent tyranny, it would be impossible to overthrow it without 80 percent of the American people dedicated to that. At least 50% of the voters currently disagree with you, at least 90% would be opposed to any violent insurgency and would support suppression of the same, and of the 10 percent remaining, 9 out of 10 would desert the cause at the slightest discomfort.
4) WHile I support Trump, he lost the election because his followers let his billionaire enemies and mass media prostitutes beat on him for 4 years without his supporters lifting a finger to stop it. I think people too lazy to engage in politics –i.e to talk with their fellow countrymen — would not make good combat troops.
5) Plus Much of the malign actions of Democrat billionaires like Jeff Bezos has been enabled by the past actions and ideology of conservatives. Who argued “money is speech” — which means Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post deceit gets heard and you do not. It was Ronald Reagan who destroyed the Fairness Doctrine that in the past forced the TV networks to air both sides of a political issue. And how could “Libertarians” talk so loudly of Evil Government while NEVER mentioning the threat posed by the billionaires who own and control that government? You don’t have to be a “socialist” to see the harm arising in the past 30 years from the billionaires globalization and their ever-increasing seizure of US income and wealth.
De facto slaves speaking of Insurgency is like fish speaking of flying.
6) You don’t even know who your real enemies are — you are letting them turn you against your fellow Americans with the Divide and Conquer propaganda. Your enemies are not powerless “leftists” or the average Democrats — it is rich men who are stealing everything not nailed down while you are distracted by News Media deceit and theater.
Anyone who knows who really owns the Democratic Party and Congress knows that sincere average Democrats will be angry, bitter, sad and deeply depressed 1 month after Joe Biden is sworn in.
7) You have no idea of how modern military operations work — if you ever looked at cluster bomb strikes, napalm and an AC130 gunship in action you would not be touting mere rifles as important. Speaking strictly as a hypothetical the only way a real tyranny could ever be destroyed is by destroying the economy , enlisting the aid for foreign allies and hoping those allies do not turn out to be worse than the tyrant.
8) Forget our national myth about the American Revolution — we won because one superpower of the day –France — helped us against the other superpower –Britain. Our Founding Fathers were the Taliban of the day and the United States was the Afghanistan. And within 10 years, the Rich had mounted a counterrevolution in a secret Constitutional Convention to regain control of the “rabble”. The rabble which had won the war while the Rich dodged military service, traded with the British enemy and tried to pimp their daughters to any British officers with aristocratic ties.
“Just months before the storming of the Bastille in 1789, everything was calm… the social order ran smoothly. The poor paid their dues. The middle class kept their mouths shut. The aristocracy partied … and the next day they were being dragged through the streets by their frilly collars like common thieves.”
Even in the seconds before their heads were about to roll away from their bodies underneath the blade of the guillotine, it still puzzled the elite how this could be happening.
@Don Williams- If Biden/Harris are installed in office, the result will NOT be a “lawfully elected government”. It will be an ILLEGAL and illegitimate fraud. A CRIME, in other words. If YOU are willing to accept leaders and “representatives” who are chosen FOR you without regard for your vote (assuming that YOU didn’t vote for Biden- I realize that YOU probably did) and the votes of millions of other who voted LEGALLY, then you do not agree with one of the fundamental tenets of our country- that we should govern ourselves and not be ruled from above by an unchosen ruling class such as a monarchy or a dictatorship. Thus your opinion is totally outside of the realm of the American experiment and is not relevant to the solving of our current problems. In other words, you are a Royalist as opposed to a Patriot. You may be sympathetic to the Patriots’ cause but you have been brainwashed if you think that Joe Biden WON the election. He did NOT. If the government, either the legislative branches, or the courts do not correct the election and validate only the LEGAL votes, we have every right to withdraw our consent to be governed and to use violence against the perpetrators who committed this crime. To us, the right of self-governance is all important- worth giving up our comforts and our lives for. If you don’t want to help, so be it.
1) I voted for Trump.
2) Trump commands the entire Federal law enforcement incl the FBI and Justice Department. Where is your evidence of fraud on a scale that could elect Biden if the votes weren’t there? And last time I checked the Supreme Court is NOT controlled by Democrats. Or are all the Republican Judges in on the coup as well?
3) Was there some fraud? I’m sure of it. On a scale that could negate the vote? Where is your proof and why are so many Republicans unaware of it?
Don,
I could take your questions one by one and provide succinct answers to all. I won’t, it would take too long. That being said, if you don’t know the answers yourself, you are not paying attention.
“While sworn officers are mandated to uphold state laws,….”
I have to disagree with this statement. Millions of us watched police blatantly ignore rioting, looting and assaults. All are clearly against the law, and no Mayor or Governor has the power to dictate to police what laws are to be enforced and what laws are to be ignored
Entire police forces across the Country have shown the public that they cannot be trusted to do their sworn duty.
And I’ll just add this,
Nothing in the way of change is going to take place in this country, until people by the tens of millions are personally affected in their homes, in a negative way… meaning 50 to 100 million ( or more ) people go without power, or water or food, or fuel, or money, for a significant amount of time, or martial law clamping down nationwide It has to be a top tier level deprivation. being pissed off about a stolen election, being told to stay home, wear a mask, shut your business down, keep your kids out of School don’t qualify as some major life-altering event, enough to trigger something as radical as an insurgent, even corrupt governments aren’t enough to do it.
A good example is Venezuela, as deprived as the people are, their Government is still plucking the publics feathers.. bad things have to happen on such a grand scale and to literally tens or in some cases hundreds of millions of people that it becomes impossible for leaders to convince their military and police to carry out their orders because their families too are being affected.. the US isn’t anywhere near that level. As long as the TV works, and your social media account can be accessed, life for the majority of people is livable. Take away the power, to 150 million, make them poop in a homer bucket and tell them to glean a farmers field for food, and that’s when things happen.
Your excellent comment wins first place! I couldn’t agree more.
I think a more real reality can be reflected in an expression we shared privately among fellow US Dept of Interior employees: “If you take the kings shekels, you do the kings work.” That was 20 years ago.
That certainly applies to the majority in the US now. They will, when called on, do the kings work to keep those shekels coming in.
The nightly media broadcasts showing the thousands of very heavy weight people standing and driving through food giveaway lines for months now, while the propaganda machines tell us how critical these food giveaways are for the starving, show the fallacy in a claim people are in a food crisis.
The food bank people are blending in perfectly the dual message of how much more they are giving away now and how much more money they need as they show a note of desperation.
Our food banks here now refuse to take food donations. They only take money, especially government money.
Those blessed individuals who generously care and do donate time and money to serve the those in true need, are now the thin veneer used by the government complex who are ensuring the dependency and thus the loyalty of the masses.
I’ll happily share my food with people in true need. But not willingly with people who are simply taking advantage of giveaways.
Be prepared. We are not winning by buying more weapons we really can’t win this war by using. Use your wits to shape opinions of others.
“There is no justification for violence against a lawfully elected government.”
What if Biden was not lawfully elected? There is ample reason to question the results, and the Supine (sic!) Court will not allow an examination. More to the point:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
I think JWR said to hold the majority of comments until after Part 3?
If this is an indication of holding back comments, how many will we have tomorrow!?
A very GOOD INDICATION of what’s on the minds of Americans right now.
This article is excellent.
SempervFi
Yes, if most folks aren’t too busy with Christmas observances then the comments tmrw may well rival a Saturday progress-report section!
I do not know of any other place on the Internet where the discussions are so thoughtful, both deep and broad on scope of topics, and so civil even in disagreement. Thank you again, JWR and Lily!
Dan, excellent Analysis.
1) When Progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Libertarian Justin Amash agree on something it is worth taking note.
Re the “Stimulus Bill” just passed by Congress:
“We have an oligarchy disguised as a representative democracy,”
https://theweek.com/articles/956637/omnibus-oligarchy
Article notes that Congress got 5000+ page bill a few hours before they had to vote on it. Ha ha ha
2) Note WELL the GANG of EIGHT who crafted the Bill: Democratic Leaders Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, the three corresponding Republican Leaders (McConnell,etc) plus Republican Senator Pat Toomey and Trump’s Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
As a Christmas Present for you guys , here is some “schadenfreude” by way of
an excerpt from a letter Bernie Sanders sent out today re the Democratic Leaders (Part of the Gang of Eight) performance in crafting the stimulus bill:
“Remember, way back in May, the House passed a $3.4 trillion HEROES Act, which was a very serious effort to address the enormous health and economic crises facing our country. Two months later, the House passed another version of that bill for $2.2 trillion.
That same month, Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed a $1.1 trillion piece of legislation that included a $1,200 direct payment for every working class American.
Months later, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, negotiating on behalf of President Donald Trump, proposed a COVID relief plan with Speaker Pelosi for $1.8 trillion that also included a $1,200 direct payment.
And yet, after months of bi-partisan negotiations by the so-called Gang of 8, we ended up with a bill of just $908 billion that includes $560 billion in unused money from the previously passed CARES Act — a worse deal than was previously proposed by Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump.
So we went from $3.4 trillion, to $2.2 trillion, to $1.8 trillion from Trump and $1.1 trillion from Mitch McConnell to just $348 billion in new money — roughly 10 percent of what Democrats thought was originally needed and half of what Trump and McConnell offered in direct payments.
This is not good negotiating. This is a collapse.”
For some reason, I suspect Democratic billionaires did NOT get a coal in their Christmas stocking from this bill.
PS Re Trump’s demand that Congress increase the direct payment to the people from $600 to $2000, note that Congress does NOT have the ability to override his Veto if he does it as a pocket veto. I.e, simply refuses to sign it.
Trump has 10 days (excluding Sundays) to consider the bill and Congress has to adjourn before then (January 3).
NOTE also how those self-proclaimed champions of the People — the TV networks, Washington Post, New York Times,etc — are NOT talking about what Bernie Sanders calls the “collapse” — i.e, how the Democratic leaders sold out their voters for the billionaires.
PPS The direct payment to the people fades out for AGI incomes above $75000 (single) ($150000 joint married) and goes away for income above $90000 (single)
(180,000 married joint). Which means that while blue collar families in the Red States will get $4000 instead of $1200, the arrogant urban yuppies in New York City and San Francisco with the Ivy League degrees will get …er… bupkus.
Well, except for the warm feeling of having their proclaimed values served to them —good and hard.
If you want to listen to an interesting commentary on our responsibility to own a semi-automatic rifle, watch from the 35 to the 39 minute mark of the video “Troublous Times” – by Chuck Baldwin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj1xk25KeKM