If you’re going through hell, keep going. –Winston Churchill
—–
We hardly need Arnold Schwartzenegger to tell us our freedom is screwed.
As determined as we freedomistas may be to uphold our mental and philosophical freedoms, our political freedoms and economic freedoms are gone-gone-gone. They’ve been going for decades of course. But we now live under a regime that in eight months has ruled via a combination of ever-shifting whim, diktat, incompetence, and a complete disregard for reason, principle, or constitutional law.
When you’re ruled by capricious madmen, your external freedoms are moot. Here today, gone tomorrow, partially restored for a few moments the day after that, made illegal and punishable by heaven knows what the following day.
—–
Knowing we’re headed for some sort of revolution, I’ve surrounded myself with history books. Seeking parallels. Seeking key differences. Seeking advice from the past. Seeking useful blog fodder.
What can we learn not to do from the French? How are we like, and different from, the Americans of 1774? Must we expect the Russian revolution or might we be smart, luck out and get the kind they had more recently in Estonia or East Germany or Hungary? What can the fall of the Roman empire and its long aftermath tell us? How about the Irish, with their centuries of failure followed finally by a “success” that tears them apart to this day?
I’m telling you, though, I read and read and read and got nada.
While history does at times conveniently rhyme — or echo; we can hear the echoes of several civilizations now — our circumstances are so different they’re like discordant, meterless, meaningless nonsense verse, conveying nothing coherent.
—–
I called up a friend with whom I often brainstorm.
“Give me some insights, preferably with a dose of optimism,” I requested.
For half an hour he ranted about … how screwed we are.
Yes, we’re like the French in 1789 or the American colonists in 1774 or the Irish in 1916. But we’re much more like Germany in 1933.
I have no hope for us; we are such a nation of cowards. We have no backbone.
Even after decades of being lied to, we’re watching Americans not only bow down to every bit of nonsense uttered by the establishment, but seeing those of us who question the nonsense demonized as vermin, to be exterminated.
It’s the kind of self-righteousness that goes along with absolute spinelessness.
Well. That was cheery.
—–
But my ears pricked up at one bit of his rant.
“We need to have the courage of the Russians. They say, ‘We’re f*cked, but we’re going to move ahead, anyhow. We’re going to do things. It makes us feel better and we might even get something done.'”
My friend travels the world on business (or did before the current you-know-what). He’s experienced Russian and Soviet dysfunction first-hand. He knows how nearly impossible it can be to try to accomplish even simple things in a completely broken system. But you move ahead because what’s the alternative?
Oddly enough, the evening before calling my friend I had watched the last of season four of The Sopranos. Near the end the tough one-legged Russian businesswoman, Svetlana, makes a related remark to Tony: “That’s the trouble with you Americans. You expect nothing bad to ever happen, while the rest of the world expects only bad to happen. And they’re not disappointed.”
My memory had immediately edited Svetlana’s statement to, “That’s the trouble with you Americans. You expect nothing bad to ever happen — and you’re always miserable — while the rest of the world expects only bad to happen. They’re not disappointed — and they get on with life.”
Which, if she didn’t say, she certainly implied.
—–
Now the logical thing to ask is, “Do we want to live like Russians?!”
And the answer is, “No and hell no!”
But for times like these, those are words of wisdom. We’re already stuck with the oligarchy. We’re certainly creeping up on the dysfunction, and although we’re a long way from Soviet levels of ruin, we’ve already got a broken medical system, broken justice system, broken educational system, and broken political system. We’ve already got a majority of the population dependent on government. We’ve already got cultural Marxism instead of free thought and free speech. We’ve already got a big freakin’ mess — now with the added benefit of inflation, shortages, and government by lunatics!
TINVOWOOT has been a reality for decades, even if it’s only now becoming a popular acronym. But true though it is that there’s no v*ting our way out, we’re also not going to get out of this by any other conventional or polite means. Whatever happens, and how much it does or doesn’t rhyme with the tumultuous turnings of the past, we are going to go through a whole lot of hell before anything has even a hope of getting better.
So.
My globe-spanning friend, with a nod to Winston Churchill, also added:
“If you’re goin’ through hell, keep on goin’. Don’t slow down. If you’re scared, don’t show it. You might get out ‘for the devil even knows you’re there.”
And my favorite blogger John Wilder adds (though a harrowing personal example) that we always need to remember that our mission, however seemingly impossible, isn’t done. We must keep moving ahead, against whatever odds.
And TV Tropes adds The Xanatos Gambit — in which, even if your enemies win, even if you die, you’ve engineered events so that your enemies actually lose.
Perhaps, but as soon as DJT is reinstated (any day now) he’ll get back to expanding the federal government and then start cracking down on all those; libtards, domocraps, BLM’s, foreigners (at least those without papers), take federal control of states, (so that Newsom, Inslee et all are powerless) and then once those people are dealt with harshly, and proper respect for the police and church is restored, you’ll have lots of freedoms.
Or perhaps DJT won’t be reinstated, and Biden will remain figurehead, er I mean president, and he’ll continue to expand the federal government and then start cracking down on all those; white supremacists, proud bois, xians, antivaxxers, home schoolers, and then take federal control of the states (so that unamerican fascists like Desantist, and Abbott et al are rendered powerless) and once those people are dealt with harshly, and proper respect of the government is restored, you’ll have lots of freedoms.
Or maybe, just maybe, Obama, Reagan, Carter, Nixon, Ike, FDR, DJT, Bush, Bush, Clinton and Biden et al, are playing on the same team, and it’s not the one you’re on and maybe, just maybe, those people, the ones you’ve been told to hate and fear aren’t all that different than you, and perhaps they’ve been lied to, and about by the powers that be, and maybe, just maybe, just as you’ve been lied about, maybe you’ve been lied to.
“But we now live under a regime that in 232 years has ruled via a combination of ever-shifting whim, diktat, incompetence, and a complete disregard for reason, principle, or constitutional law.”
Fixed, no charge.
The key to me is that I can and have found liberty between my ears and as far as I am concern there is no where else that it matters if it can’t be found there.
Our mission now if we choose to accept it is to spread that liberty beyond our ears (but don’t forget you need to have it there first).
Don’t twist my words, guys. I’m not implying that the regimes of the past were anything wonderful, or even anything fundamentally different.
I simply observe that the Biden regime — inspired and enabled by previous regimes — has a) taken us to new lows when it comes to reality recognition, common sense, and even the pretense of “good governance” and b) also represents new lows in regard for freedom. Also, it’s completely populated by lunatics, mediocrities, fools, authoritarians, creeps, and senile old coots.
But it’s a continuum. Very likely (almost certainly) future regimes will be even worse (with the occasional rare and temporary exception).
So lay off, Tom and Myself. You know darned well that neither I nor most of the readers here think Biden and friends are some rare and terrible exception. They are simply the new “new normal” in a chain of “new normals” that get worse every year.
You also miss (or ignore) the real point of my post. Which wasn’t even about regimes, but about us freedomistas.
Oh Claire! I’ve gathered so many books, with intention to read them all, then produce, like, “the golden rules to survival”. It’s all so overwhelming to me. How could things go so wrong, so fast?
What I do day to day is improve “the sustainable homestead”, slowly but with intensity. I do believe hard times are coming, the likes of which we Americans have not seen since the Great Wars and the Great Depression, only worse. It seems that this time around, the main “difficulties” will be on American soil rather than in far away places because it’s our own government that has turned on us.
What did I do this past month? I purchased a home on more acreage than I had before. I love JWR’s survivalblog because there are so many Reader offered stories/tips/tricks/solid advice in solving problems for a wide variety of issues (a goldmine). Just got a couple dozen chics and guineas, looking for other animals that will assist in sustainability, connected with the local farmers and ranchers (met most of them at the Farmers Market – took the time to talk to each one as I purchased what they offered). Met a couple of new neighbors. All this while setting up a new home. I’m exhausted, but I’m going to keep going, like an old Russian woman.
I have this idea, no matter how silly it may seem to some, that I can get things to a point that I won’t have to venture far from the homestead to keep things going. I’m building a refuge for my family should it be needed. My grandfather, who has long passed, told me that during the Great Depression, it was the families that had farms to return to that survived better than others. I also realize that it only takes one good EMP to take away the electricity that keeps things humming and cools off the house. It only takes an occupation from foreign invaders to crush our dreams. I try not to focus on the insanity, but instead put one aching foot in front of another to accomplish the tasks at hand.
Watch this documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFK3DJ7Kn6s
Agafia. Hermit Surviving in Russian Wilderness for 70 years. Her family fled from persecution into the wilderness. All of them died with the exception of herself and she went on alone. She has since passed and was Sainted, which is a touching story in itself. If anyone wants a real view of what toughing it out looks like, this is a revealing documentary. And she, an old woman, alone.
“The key to me is that I can and have found liberty between my ears and as far as I am concern there is no where else that it matters if it can’t be found there.
Our mission now if we choose to accept it is to spread that liberty beyond our ears (but don’t forget you need to have it there first).”
A wise person once said, Don’t save fish from drowning.
As the catastrophe in Afghanistan reveals, you may not achieve freedom through the ballot box, but the ritual of elections can rapidly make the situation so much worse if the wrong people are counting the vote. So there is a glimmer of hope that the vote trafficking cartel will be exposed, and the massive fraud in 2020 pinned on the Marxist puppeteers pulling Biden’s strings. In the process we may see more people pushing back locally against the would be tyrants in their own back yards. Where that leads we don’t know, but surely to a better place than we are headed to now.
I find it helps to read dystopian fiction, in addition to history. At least those novels that are based in reality, rather than science fiction. Of course, when it was published, Orwell’s 1984 must have seemed like science fiction.
I recently read Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Yeah, I know, it’s been in print for decades – but didn’t get to it until now. It’s remarkably prescient for a novel written in the mid-1980s, for example: elimination of cash and replacing it with digital currency made it simple for the bad guys to freeze the accounts of enemies (in this case, women); the bad guys’ takeover of the government by killing the president and members of congress was blamed on Islamic extremists; the Mayday underground resistance was labelled terrorists. And the sequel, The Testaments, gives some ideas on how even someone enslaved by the bad guys can fight back.
Myself; never have come across a drowning fish, but maybe you fish were I don’t, but I have found fish who did take the bait that was being dangled before them, reminds me of people who take the bait that is being dangled before them too, to submit; why stand for what you believe in or do what you think is right, there is no hope, they are all guilty, what difference can I make……
For some of us we just can’t swallow that bait.
I have always tried to maintain a base level of positivity, but I find that increasingly difficult and unrealistic. My typical response to our situation in general has long been “I think it is going to get worse before it gets better,” with the implication that I think it will *probably* get better . . . eventually. But I am increasingly leaning toward “I think it is going to get *much* worse, we will probably never see it get any better, and if and when it *does* get any better the geopolitical situation will bear little resemblance to what we know today.”
Mr. X…
“Myself; never have come across a drowning fish,”
The expression means, don’t try and save people from themselves, all any of us can do is live our own best lives and not worry about whatever someone else is doing, live and let live, I have no issue with how someone else lives their life, as long as they don’t try and regulate mine, and I extend the same courtesy to them.
but maybe you fish were I don’t, ”
Likely
“but I have found fish who did take the bait that was being dangled before them, reminds me of people who take the bait that is being dangled before them too,”
Like people who think that someone else’s choices are their business, if you don’t like guns don’t own one, but don’t require me to come protect you, don’t believe in gay marriage? don’t marry a gay person, but don’t try and change the law to suit your nonsense, and by the same token, if you are getting married, mazel tov, but don’t expect, or require that someone else take part, hell FTR if I were a backer, I wouldn’t have baked a cake for Courtney Stodden and Doug Hutchison, but that’s me.
In fact, any business should be allowed to refuse to do business with any person, or persons they wish for any reason, but don’t start crying about “cancel culture” if you lose business because of your choice.
“to submit; why stand for what you believe in or do what you think is right,”
Depends on what you believe is right, people who wish to ban guns, coffee, booze, anything really, all are standing for they think is right, I’ll stand for myself, and a few others, but generally, live and let live
“there is no hope, they are all guilty,”
Substitute “we” for “they” and you’re correct
“what difference can I make……”
Very little, and no one will thank you, and in time this road leads to the next oppressor.
“For some of us we just can’t swallow that bait.”
If you wish to die on the hill of saving society from itself, then you’ll be interned in thes ame grave as Stalin, Pol Pot, Chairman Mao, or Ho Chi Mihn
I do not wonder that we have crossed some sort of Rubicon these weekend, the sort of thing that only back on is realized to have been the start of something else.
America’s legitimacy and reputation overseas are tattered and trashed. If I am Ukraine or Taiwan right now, I am sincerely giving thought to what my back up options are as it is pretty clear the US could simply cry “Olley Olley Oxen, All In Free” and be gone in a day. It has gone from fuel sufficiency to begging OPEC to increase production (while not at all mentioning returning to fuel sufficiency).
It has demonstrated that it has a complete inability to manage its financial affairs and this very week is lobbying to increase its national debt by 16% with no ability to pay and nothing to back it up except the full faith and credit of the United States (see above comment on legitimacy).
It has demonstrated an unwillingness to control its own borders but a high interest in controlling its own citizens; it has embraced destruction of its inner cities in the name of ideology and then acts surprised when these same cities continue to destroy themselves.
In other words, the US government now reflects abroad what it reflects at home: it can do nothing serious except exercise a power over its own citizens, telling them where to go and what to believe and what to wear. In other words, a sort of odd reflection of the Taliban which has just crushed their image (The comparisons will be made. They will not reflect well).
The government is rapidly losing any legitimacy it had left. Unfortunately for it, people can now see it.
To my new friend myself;
We are all guilty!
If that brings someone solace in having no hope and being a slave then I hope they can be happy as one. The last thing I would ever want to do is interrupt their happiness.
Live and let live, we can both agree on.
But to me, live and let live also means if someone has a different opinion than I, that is their business not mine.
So I can accept whatever opinion you have but can you of others? But of course you need not answer that because it isn’t really any of my business either. But if so it is good we have that to agree upon.
Mr. X
“We are all guilty!
If that brings someone solace in having no hope and being a slave then I hope they can be happy as one. The last thing I would ever want to do is interrupt their happiness.”
So…
You’ve never driven on government roads? You don’t have government issued ID? You’ve never supported the government? You’ve never supported (even tacitly) laws that have nothing to do with you, but infringe on someone else’s right? You’ve never supported the police?
If you’ve done any of these things then you (like everyone else) are indeed guilty,
Live and let live, we can both agree on”.
Good
“But to me, live and let live also means if someone has a different opinion than I, that is their business not mine.”
Again we agree
“So I can accept whatever opinion you have”
Good
“but can you of others?”
Of course, what makes you think I don’t?
“But of course you need not answer that because it isn’t really any of my business either. But if so it is good we have that to agree upon”
we do
To m new friend myself, life is good when one can find a friend that agrees!
This just in;
For some reason I thought this might be related to today’s discussion.
M.S. Toirdhealbheach Beucail
“I do not wonder that we have crossed some sort of Rubicon these weekend, the sort of thing that only back on is realized to have been the start of something else.”
we did that a couple of hundred years ago
“America’s legitimacy and reputation overseas are tattered and trashed.”
Good
“If I am Ukraine or Taiwan right now, I am sincerely giving thought to what my back up options are”
Even better, why should the U.S. people defend either country?
“as it is pretty clear the US could simply cry “Olley Olley Oxen, All In Free” and be gone in a day”.
Of course, just like Korea, or Vietnam again, why should the hard earned money of a U.S. citizen be stolen, and the lives of U.S. citizens be sacrificed for Taiwan, or Ukraine.
If you feel that Taiwan, or Ukraine are worth defending fell free to spend as much of your money as you wish, you’re not entitled to any other person labor. Likewise if you wish to get your gun and go fight for any country, have at it, but you have no right to have the government force someone else t do so.
“It has gone from fuel sufficiency to begging OPEC to increase production (while not at all mentioning returning to fuel sufficiency)”
more oil in the world market means lower fuel prices
.
“It has demonstrated that it has a complete inability to manage its financial affairs and this very week is lobbying to increase its national debt by 16% with no ability to pay and nothing to back it up except the full faith and credit of the United States (see above comment on legitimacy).”
Every administration has increased the deficit, it became worse with the Gold Reserve Act of 1934, and then got worse in 1971 when the U.S. abandoned the gold standard all together.
“It has demonstrated an unwillingness to control its own borders”
Are you willing to accept a large federal government, internal passports, and check points that this would require?
“but a high interest in controlling its own citizens;”
This is the entire point of government, which is why it is an inherently a bad thing, if you feel you need one, keep it small, inefficient, and far away from me.
“it has embraced destruction of its inner cities in the name of ideology and then acts surprised when these same cities continue to destroy themselves.”
That’s a feature not a bug, an excuse for the federal government to take over, and impose a larger police state
In other words, the US government now reflects abroad what it reflects at home: it can do nothing serious except exercise a power over its own citizens, telling them where to go and what to believe and what to wear. In other words, a sort of odd reflection of the Taliban which has just crushed their image (The comparisons will be made. They will not reflect well).
again, this is what governments do
“The government is rapidly losing any legitimacy it had left.”
If you keep voting, supporting any politician or think there should be a law, then you are giving the government legitimacy
“Unfortunately for it, people can now see it.”
Can they? or do many simply want the government to go get those they disagree with? Or people born on the wrong side of an Imaginary line?or pray to the wrong god, or drink the wrong stuff, or have se with the wrong adult, or for the wrong reason?
M.S. Toirdhealbheach Beucail just for the record I thought all of your opinions were well taken.
Thanks.
Because of the way you constantly pick others’ opinions apart. Boy, for a live-and-let-live guy, you sure do seem to be upset by, and also jump to pretty prejudiced conclusions about, others’ views.
Because you often use a “purer than thou” talking-down approach, and often appear to assume that the person you’re addressing is far more benighted than they really are. Because you seem to be more concerned with the views people express, and sometimes with petty aspects of their views, than you appear to be with the actual acts of living free.
FWIW, while I may be more inclined to agree with you philosophically, I think TB made highly eloquent and pertinent points about the decline of the U.S. on the world scene. His observations may not meet your Libertopian criteria, but for those of us living in the real world on the edge of cultural, political, and economic collapse, the things TB pointed out DO have an impact on our lives.
Myself — I’d like to hear about what you’re doing in your everyday life to increase your personal freedom.
I also understand that you are against trying to spread freedom to people who aren’t receptive to it, and as someone who spends her time preaching to the choir I understand that. But — again in real life — what are you doing to engage with and work with those around you who are receptive, or who are already freedomistas, and who do want to create and preserve freedom? How are you and your community improving the climate for liberty in these times that, as you so diligently point out, are so relentlessly inimical to freedom?
“I’d like to hear about what you’re doing in your everyday life to increase your personal freedom.
I also understand that you are against trying to spread freedom to people who aren’t receptive to it, and as someone who spends her time preaching to the choir I understand that. But — again in real life — what are you doing to engage with and work with those around you who are receptive, or who are already freedomistas, and who do want to create and preserve freedom? How are you and your community improving the climate for liberty in these times that, as you so diligently point out, are so relentlessly inimical to freedom?”
I’ll group these two together because they’re interrelated, I don’t have a community, but personally when I returned to the U.S. last Novemberish I reached out to people in Seattle, those that wanted to defund the police, yes that would include people who were part of groups like BLM, of antifa, no I don’t agree with much of what they want, but smaller less funded, less funded and more controlled law enforcement enhances all of our freedom, and in spite of your accusation, I don’t worry about purity, if a goal I support can be reached by working with people I disagree with on every other issue gets something done, I don’t worry about pedigree.
I also find that most people, often especially, people I disagree with are actually pretty decent people, and I have no issue hanging out and hearing what they have to say, sometimes I learn things, and even if I don’t change my mind (I usually don’t) I at least try and see issues from other peoples perspective. I find not only useful, but essential to get outside my comfort zone and engage with people I’m not in complete agreement with, it is also a great chance to evangelize, I may not change anyone’s mind, but at least I try, and perhaps some seed I plant may germinate, with someone.
“Because of the way you constantly pick others’ opinions apart.”
What you call “picking apart” I call trying to find out more of what they think, the nuances of their viewpoints, and suggest my own, I often ask questions looking for common ground, and like I said above I enjoy the conversations.
I find Comrade X to be one of the more intelligent posters here, I don’t always understand where he’s coming from, so I ask questions and engage with him, frankly I would love to spend an evening with some Whiskey and cigars around a fire with him, I think we would have a great discussion, we hopefully wouldn’t agree on everything, but isn’t that what makes for a great discussion?
“Boy, for a live-and-let-live guy, you sure do seem to be upset by, and also jump to pretty prejudiced conclusions about, others’ views.”
I believe I’ve answered this above
“Because you often use a “purer than thou” talking-down approach, and often appear to assume that the person you’re addressing is far more benighted than they really are.”
Sorry you feel this way, that was, and is not ever my intention, I like diverse viewpoints, and yes, sometimes I challenge peoples views, I am of the impression that was encouraged, am I wrong?
“Because you seem to be more concerned with the views people express, and sometimes with petty aspects of their views, than you appear to be with the actual acts of living free.”
Of course I’m interested in other peoples viewpoints, and how they arrive at them, often I wish to flesh it out a bit, read or hear how they formed them, that’s how I learn.
I think TB made highly eloquent and pertinent points about the decline of the U.S. on the world scene.
TB is another poster here I have a great deal of respect for, if I didn’t I would tend to just ignore his posts.
“His observations may not meet your Libertopian criteria”
Again, please read the above
“but for those of us living in the real world on the edge of cultural, political, and economic collapse,”
I’m not sure what a cultural collapse is, but as for economic and political, I can only say I wish, but I fear said collapse is not as near as many believe, though the collapse of the U.S. government would be a great step on a road to freedom.
“the things TB pointed out DO have an impact on our lives.”
I would humbly suggest that a war with either China over Taiwan, or Russia, over Ukraine, would not be beneficial to anyone’s personal freedom, but I could be wrong.
Spirited yet respectful discussions and even respectful disagreements. Am I sure I’m on the internet?
Claire, this is an excellent post about an important topic. Thank you.
The first two comments made me wonder if your words had been translated into some foreign language that certain readers just can’t comprehend. The problem isn’t your words, but those readers’ facile assumptions and reading comprehension challenges.
I had to sleep on this before commenting, because I learned long ago it’s best not to write while angry. The casual arrogance, deliberate obtuseness, and insult to both Claire and her readers still grate.
Thomas Knapp, Claire Wolfe has a dozen published works, including 5 books about the decline of liberty and growing tyranny published before your blog was created. She’s been a consistent and important voice for freedom for over two decades. Show some respect. Don’t teach your grandmother how to suck eggs.
Myself murdered thousands of words polluting this discussion with drivel. Claire deserves better.
Thankfully,most of Claire’s commentariat are thoughtful and respectful. The overwhelming majority of the civil and sometimes insightful comments on this and every other post show that.
Whisky and cigars will always get my attention.
I rarely question other people’s comments because IMHO everyone has a right to their opinions whether I agree with them of not. Who am I to question someone else? The person I mostly question is my self (as in me).
The strength of this country has always been the strength of the individual however today our biggest weakness and contributing factor to those same problems it seems is our lack of individual strength, IMHO.
It takes a real effort to be on the right side of that line of good and evil in all of our hearts, methinks if that effort is negative than you most likely will end up on the wrong side of that line.
The beauty of what Claire’s writes is that it is thought provoking and I find that it provokes thoughts in me that allows me to better see what I need to see within my self to find the right side of that line and I thank her for that.
I am the master of my fate, the keeper of my soul, that makes me free.
No one here advocated any such thing.
You initial responses to TB, ComradeX, and my post belie your assertion that you like to listen and understand. You simply imputed the worst assumptions to us, assumptions that are even more unwarranted because you’ve had quite a bit of time to get to know us.
It’s true you do respond politely and thoroughly when challenged, and I thank you for that. You have also eloquently taken my side on a number of occasions, for which I also thank you. And I’ll thank you for disagreeing with me, when your disagreements are well-considered. But your initial responses, both to me and others, are often nasty and nit-picking, and project judgementalism and a sense of superiority. You often express concern about others being authoritarian, but those aspects of your typical responses to your fellow freedomistas are all highly authoritarian in themselves.
I’m interested in hearing more about how you worked with the “defund” movement in Seattle and how responsive they were to your involvement and your ideas.
Doesn’t that depend on what replaces it?
In the 19th century, there was quite a strong “Little England” movement in Britain that rejected Empire and foreign wars…It failed because the upper classes saw profit in the Empire, and in its arrogance pushed the UK into ruinous wars, free trade, and the immigration of cheap labor, destroying the native population…..Similarly, George Washington warned against “foreign entanglements”, but the American elites saw profit and status in such wars and alliances, and also in the large scale importation of cheap labor..We now have the result of that….The only way a country can stay free and prosperous, it would appear, is to severely limit the power and wealth of the upper classes and business tycoons, but without socialism…Ancient Sparta maybe…,.
s — Thank you very much for your spirited defense, not only of me but of the quality of our wonderful Commentariat.
And LOL I do confess I identify with the first guy in your gif. Without great comments (and specifically ones that enlarge the discussion), posting feels like a waste of energy.
I don’t know how many of the “I can typing” types read this blog, but a few do comment — and their remarks are cringeworthy. One recent new commentor submitted nonsensical one-liners in which he always seemed to think the word “cuck” had a meaningful place. His comments were so meandering (yes, it’s possible to meander in one line) I couldn’t tell whether he was calling people here cucks or whether he was trying to “agree” with us that the rest of the world was full of cucks, but either way what was the point? Thank heaven for the moderation and ban options!
I’m also discouraged when people disregard the majority of the post and tear into me for some supposed philosophical crime I committed in sentence three of paragraph 14. (Although I love the people who point out my typos or factual errors.)
The purists discourage me most of all. Neither I nor any regular reader or Commentariat member deserves to be schooled by someone who looks down on us merely because we live in and cope with the real world rather than speaking from a high window in an ivory tower.
And yes, purists, we have some people here who lean conservative. We have minarchists, as well as anarchists. We have anarchists who nevertheless feel the need to respond to daily happenings in the real (that is, overgoverned) world. All kinds. Feel free to differ, but quit twisting their words or judging them because they don’t live up to your exalted standards.
/rant
S, I appreciate your defense very much. I’m grateful for a good and varied Commentariat.
“You initial responses to TB, ComradeX, and my post belie your assertion that you like to listen and understand. You simply imputed the worst assumptions to us, assumptions that are even more unwarranted because you’ve had quite a bit of time to get to know us.”
“But your initial responses, both to me and others, are often nasty and nit-picking, and project judgementalism and a sense of superiority.”
Very sorry to learn you feel this way, is it at all possible that perhaps you’ve “imputed the worst assumptions and misjudged my intentions?
“You often express concern about others being authoritarian, but those aspects of your typical responses to your fellow freedomistas are all highly authoritarian in themselves.”
I disagree with this, and that was never my intention, and you perhaps be so indulgent as to give some examples of where you feel Ive done this?
No comment.
Not likely. But you’re free to believe that if it makes you happy.
Your very first response in this thread. Your response to TB. As a general rule, most of your initial responses over the years when you feel someone isn’t up to your philosophical standards. Do a search. Read your own posts.
To your credit, you can be a very valuable Commentariat member. And you’ve been a great supporter of this blog over the years. But … well, read your own posts.
And now I’m done responding to you on this issue, Myself. I’ve played a part in derailing this discussion to get into it with you, and for that I apologize to everybody. Anyone else who wants to engage with you is welcome, but I’m not playing.
Interesting observation, pyrrhus.
Never did I ever think I’d even partially agree with a comment like the following. You do have a point, though.
I’m not sure any country can stay free and prosperous in the long term. Switzerland comes to mind, and even there freedom is in the eye of the beholder; at best you can say they’ve stayed decentralized and focused on their neutrality (which would be an encouraging start if we could manage it here).
I think a truly free country would naturally, even effortlessly, have less chance of producing an oligarchy. Simply eliminating the possibility of cronyism would go a long way in that direction. But how to get there from here? I don’t know and I don’t think it can be done without tremendous upheaval, whether violent or not.
But I’ll have to say no thanks to ancient Sparta.
Well now… I think this is all very interesting and – to me at least – informative. I’ve been reading/following Clare for awhile now and have to agree with a lot of what she says, supports and presents. I’ve also come to highly respect the usual suspects around here and their views/ideas as well. With that –
Myself seems to want a ‘fight’ not a discussion. Hey, that’s my unprofessional opinion and even if I did stay in a Holliday Inn it ain’t worth more than anyone else’s. However, I still value this input as it makes me think about things in a way I may not have considered. There comes a time however, when I find that I am skimming over the input from our commentator Myself as it starts to become tiresome and appears to not have a true “give and take” to it.
So, I will say that Clare and company are not perfect – and I sure fall way short of that too. There will be ‘flaws’ in any view and often the ‘flaw’ is that of a personal nature and while the view may be perfection for the one that holds it, someone else will find it doesn’t fit well for them. I’m for discussion and even formal and logical argument but do not appreciate the continued apparent attitude of “I know better” that has become a trend in this specific thread.
Thanks Clare for this place we all share and for the insight, information and ideas that are produced by one and all. There is no need for an apology from you Clare as this is ‘your house’ and one of the visitors became rude.
In conclusion (I know, everyone is saying about time) The post by Clare that kicked this all off is valuable and gives all something to work with in their own thinking and while discussion and even other thoughts sparked by the topic are great, dragging the comments down is not productive. Thanks Clare and all!
Thank you, Old Trainer, from your very, very, VERY imperfect hostess.
I aim to keep this a hospitable place. Sometimes there are fine lines to walk with “edgy” commentors and I don’t always get it right. But I’m gratified to think I provide something of value for good people.
All said and done, our freedoms may be seen as gone and nonexistent anymore. At least at the observable and visible level. Now it’s time to get very very serious about the invisible grey man game. I’m referring to the “Monkey Wrench Gang”. Hardly known and mostly forgotten. But holy smokes, we got more members than I’d care to try and count. They cannot fight it. And their efforts to control it merely exposes their ineptitude.
“I called up a friend with whom I often brainstorm.
‘Give me some insights, preferably with a dose of optimism,’ I requested.”
I know you made this request of your friend, not me. I’ll give you the best I have, anyway: I know that my Redeemer lives.
I also know that this mortal life begins and ends in the blink of an eye, relatively speaking. Oddly, I find this a cheerful thought. To me, this means that my mortal life is properly used, and ultimately given up, in the advancement of that which is longer-lived than I. Thinking of human liberty here.
Granny:
“Oh Claire! I’ve gathered so many books, with intention to read them all, then produce, like, “the golden rules to survival”. It’s all so overwhelming to me. How could things go so wrong, so fast?
I have this idea, no matter how silly it may seem to some, that I can get things to a point that I won’t have to venture far from the homestead to keep things going. I’m building a refuge for my family should it be needed.”
Yes!! I have shelves full, that I’ve barely cracked, because I’m too busy DOING. I know this season will pass and there will be more of a balance. And luckily I’ve always been a hands-on learner. 🙂 And YES!! again, to the refuge-building. I am support staff, both now and long-term as I train up the next generation. It is slow work. Our secluded acreage in the mountains has room for more homes, and raising food, and some wonderful-beyond-belief neighbors who have been there for generations and yet welcomed us with open arms. I am looking forward to learning even more from them than any books.
James:
“I’ll give you the best I have, anyway: I know that my Redeemer lives.
I also know that this mortal life begins and ends in the blink of an eye, relatively speaking. Oddly, I find this a cheerful thought. To me, this means that my mortal life is properly used, and ultimately given up, in the advancement of that which is longer-lived than I. Thinking of human liberty here.”
Thank you — this was indeed encouraging.
And Claire:
Thanks for this as-always thought-provoking post. I’m’a come back and read it again later when the rain isn’t threatening my clotheslines and the cubs aren’t tugging at my sleeves for a snack. But I do like that song. Listened to it a ton back in college, ’cause three jobs and school requires some keep-on-keeping-on. And the overall philosophy too of course. I may not get anywheres, but I’m too danged stubborn to roll over and die just ’cause!
Pray. It got me through the ICU and Charon waiting at the door.
The King of Kings gets a vote in all of this.
The Luciferian globalists are octogenarian and older and want the NWO now by any means necessary.
They must have the one world police state in order to prepare for Megiddo.
We have some advantages the Russian people lacked in the USSR. We have firearms, the freedom to move about and access to information. We MUST use those advantages NOW before the commie Demonrats move to nullify them. And since the political reality is TINVOWOOT, that means our options are NOT peaceful and NOT “legal”…. At least not in the minds of the corrupt rulers who have seized power. If we don’t move to remove them from power NOW while we can they WILL take away our ability to do so…..they are working hard on that agenda as I type this. The ugly truth is we areLONG past the point where we had ANY peaceful options. We are faced with only two choices, surrender and slavery or civil war.
[…] The always-wise and eloquent Claire Wolfe is wondering about a few important things. […]
http://coldfury.com/2021/08/17/screwed-blued-tattooed/
Thank you so much, Claire, for the kind words. I just had such a good example to follow. You led the way for all of us.
Pyrrhus – Interesting stuff on the “Little England” business. History books seldom tell the whole story about anything. The film ” The Free State of Jones” relates a county, Jones County, in Mississippi that resisted Confederate rule. What I wish they would have mentioned, is that no fewer than 100,000 Southern white males voluntarily fought for the Union.
Claire – You’re damned right, the real (“overgoverned”, as you eloquently state it) world has an exasperating way of sitting its fat butt on our freedom. We gotta keep thinking of new ways to pull it out before it asphyxiates.
[…] RTWT including comments […]
https://diosworkshop.wordpress.com/2021/08/18/well-now-4/
This came across my feed this morning, by Francis Meyrick:
“A tale of an ‘Appeal to Reason’, and a paper fly-swatter
When you are up against an evil entity with no shame?
Then they cannot be shamed.
When you are up against an evil entity that has no conscience?
Then their conscience cannot be stirred.
When you are up against a corrupt, evil entity, that craves absolute power, cost-what-cost? And fuck you anyway?
Then reasoning with them is futile.
When you are up against a criminal gang, who love the Dark, and hold the Light in contempt?
Then shining a light on their misdeeds will never persuade them to alter course.
It’s like facing down a rampaging bull with a paper fly-swatter.
Whilst earnestly reciting fine poetry. With a tear in your eye.
America? Stand up now, create merry hell now, break at least ‘a couple of windows’.
Or the steel shutters will slam down hard over those windows, blocking out that cherished light, for ever.”
https://gab.com/FrancisMeyrick/posts/106776984884625857
Old Infantryman’s creed, “Embrace the suck”
What a person can, or should do, depends a lot on their age.
As long as the clicker provides us with entertainment, the grocery stores are packed, Gas is still available, and everyone who wants one can find a job..There wont be any protesting worth Governments time to listen too… People arent feeling any pain except the day to day stitch and bitch session over covid..
As my Bosnian buddy told me when he was over helping me wire up my chicken coop in his dark blue track suit with a white strip running down the legs..Things have to get a whole lot worse than this before things get serious…I asked him for an example, he got a little dark and serious with me… said, You will know when it’s getting close when trucks get hijacked on their way to grocery stores and drivers start carrying guns. When electricity is rationed , when fuel is rationed, when Police are in gun battles, and they lose, or retreat. when Murders are committed and go unreported or ignored by police because of manpower shortages.When cerfews are ordered, when the military is mobile and seen on roads Then he asked me about my neighbors, I said I liked my neighbors and as far as I know, they liked me. He said take them over some fresh eggs once in a while, maybe some vegetables out of your garden..He said plant seeds now, so if your hour of need ever comes, you will have good neighbors.. He told me bad blood between neighbors is the major cause of death, sickness and injury of non-combatants during crisis. Food is weaponized, and old scores are settled……. BUT he said with a big smile , we are a long way off from any of that, maybe 10 or 20 years..
Here is an interesting article that explores the demonization of the unvaxxed in the context of darker mob psychology. Kind of like what is addressed in Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery.
https://charleseisenstein.substack.com/p/mob-morality-and-the-unvaxxed
Noah Body — That is a superb (and terrifying) article. I hope people will read the whole thing. It gets off to a slow start, but every word is worthwhile.
Simmerjet — Welcome to the Commentariat. I sadly agree with your first paragraph. I fear your Bosnian buddy accurately predicts our future. I make only one hopeful quibble: by the time most of those events are happening, I believe “it” will not just be starting, but already well underway. If we let matters get that far before fighting back, we’re already lost.
And although the history of revolutions and civil wars is bleak, there have been plenty of occasions on which people resisted tyrannical states before conditions devolved that far. The American Revolution is the best example, but so are the modern non-violent revolutions in many of the former Iron Curtain countries.
Please thank your Bosnian friend for his voice of experience. However it starts, I expect we eventually will experience all the events he describes. He’s very smart about being good neighbors to your good neighbors, also.
Noah and Claire – The Eisenstein article is both true and chilling as you both assert. Definitely thought provoking on the vaccine as well as a number of other subjects.
Noah Body,
Thanks for the link. I had never heard of Charles Eisenstein before, but it was a very thoughtful article. And Claire, thanks for forewarning us about the slow start, or I would have stopped reading early on.
This explains what I’ve been experiencing: first public shaming, then dinner conversations. Last nite at dinner a neighbor espoused a brilliant solution for the unvaxed: send all those east of the Mississippi to Gitmo, west of the Mississippi to Alcatraz. I don’t even know where to start. This article confirmed that you can’t reason with these people and that I will be among the demonized underclass.
Yes, Sara Wilson, the whole world (most of it, anyway) has gone insane. I am also among the unvaxxed, as I think the shots carry a substantial risk of injury and death, plus they don’t even seem to work. Also, I suspect I had COVID, in January 2020, so I should have natural immunity, which is better than any artificial immunity conferred by a vaccine.
The extreme hate is coming from people who should know better. An article in a local paper quoted a local clergyman (who wanted to remain anonymous), who said those who refuse the shots are “selfish” and acting contrary to scripture, specifically, the Golden Rule. That theme is being voiced elsewhere, so I suspect it is coming from some central playbook. I wonder if they are getting religious authorities on board to stifle any possible religious exemptions. Franklin Graham and the Pope have both endorsed these shots.
Maybe I shouldn’t say this here, but I am really starting to wonder when the use of deadly force in self-defense will be justified. If they try to forcibly hold me down and inject me (which has been advocated by some), then I would say yes, that’s the line in the sand. But how about if the “choice” they give us is take the shot or starve? (Which has also been advocated.) But then I also wonder if the point of some of this extreme hated is to provoke a violent response, to justify more extreme measures against the anti-vax “terrorists.” And the “gun nuts” too.
So I’m coming out of church this morning, and I hold the door for this stereotypical “Nice Little Old Lady.”
(She isn’t as old as I am, but she really fits the part. The type that brings the best covered dishes to church suppers and is active among the church women. The kind that scoops up our big Texas cockroaches on newspaper and releases them outside. Not a political bone in her spry body.)
She checks out my nametag so she can thank me by name.
Then she says, “Wait. Are you the gentleman who teaches gun classes in the community education pamphlet?”
I allow as how I am.
“I’ve never had a gun or wanted one, and I know nothing about them. But I’ve been reading the news. I’ll be in your next class. Is that where I should start?”
Something is stirring.
And that, larryarnold, is another lovely and hopeful story from the Commentariat’s best (true) storyteller.