First Shot Justification Thoughts

What action, or further restriction of freedom, individual or otherwise, instituted by the federal government, would justify taking up arms against the United States government, crossing that line in the sand, firing the first shot?

This is a troubling thought to consider.  I, for one, would prefer that taking up arms against the United States government need not be resorted to, but what will open the eyes of Americans to the fact that their freedom is under assault.  What will be America’s Broken Arrow?  Is there one freedom restricting action that could be instituted by the federal government that would awaken Americans to the systematic destruction of freedom taking place in America, causing Americans to rise up and say “No More?”

“Massive, passive, civil disobedience” has been suggested, and I most recently noted and encouraged this here, noting recent events in Iran, but, for the most part, this suggestion falls on deaf ears, and willing lever pullers.

The impetous for my thoughts on this subject today is a post at American Mercenary under the heading Fort Sumter, which is worth a read.  The question, from within the post, which resulted in the title to my post.

So that really is the question isn’t it? When does the fedgov become so tyrannical that Fort Sumter becomes justified? Then again, what made Lexington and Concord justified?

Good question(s).

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 06/16 at 10:22 AM

  1. All that aside, the Juju Woman and I spent a day at Fort Sumpter not long ago.  Very interesting, and the National Park Service was excellent.  They knew the history…even to where the first shots landed.  It was a great day.  If you ever have the opportunity, check it out…you can almost feel how it would feel to have people lobbing cannon balls at you…with nowhere to run.  They didn’t have a chance, but they didn’t know it.  Beautiful place.  They were trapped…kinda reminds me of the Alamo.

    Posted by Yabu  on  06/16  at  02:04 PM

  2. Fort Sumter was preceded by a huge propaganda campaign, and many smaller actions, which inflamed the people of the South to support the opening shots. We are not there yet.

    As noted by the Mercenary, there have already been two actions, Ruby Ridge and Waco, that might have qualified, but I think they didn’t work because the individualist right had not yet awakened. A similar action now might have very different results.

    Had the Hutaree been massacred, that might have triggered it. Instead, the public reaction from the right was swift, loud, threatening, and the case against them has been mostly dropped. Five years ago, they would have disappeared without a trace.

    Had Heller gone for D.C., that might have done it, or if MacDonald goes for Chicago, that might. (I know some are derisive of Heller and MacDonald, even of the SC itself—“Nobody tells me what to do.” I believe, though, that those cases are about tracking the government’s willingness to slip the leash, not about what we the people can and can’t do.)

    Passive disobedience won’t yet work, I think, because it receives almost no coverage, and what little coverage there is is not encouraging. The media is not interested, is in active opposition, and is so ignorant they don’t even know what questions to ask.  Nobody wants to go down unnoticed and alone.

    As far as group actions go, I like the Open Carry movement, which sees opposition even in states where it’s legal. Gets attention, though, at low risk for participants.

    Elsewhere, unarmed Holster Carry gatherings just see derision, but they’re few and far between. They might gain respect if they become widespread.

    I believe the Tea Party movement must adopt a policy of OC or HC at public gatherings, just to get the media and the public at large to notice that we think something is wrong. People have got to get over the idea that staying quiet and being polite to the point of self-effacement no longer works. An OC Tea Party is practice, that’s all, as much or more for the Partiers as for the public.

    These are small things, which I often see derided by the more committed, but the very first thing that needs to happen is for the non-committed to get accustomed to asking, politely and respectfully, to exercise their rights. Many don’t even realize they have rights that are being taken away. Should we have to ask? No, of course not. But we’re talking about folks accustomed to asking for the salt and pepper just to be polite, not because they actually need permission to season their food to taste. They’ll do no less for their rights at this stage of the fight.

    However, the stagnant stink of tyranny and defeat wafting from Obama is being noticed by his followers, now. They’re beginning to notice they were lied to about exactly what kind of change they were getting. His fellow Democrats are getting nervous; see the reluctance to face town meetings, and Etheridge’s panicked battery of a student videographer. That last is evidence that simply asking polite questions, on record, is enough to provoke an ugly response. If you want a Fort Sumter, we need to see a lot more of that first.

    We need small, quiet, individual actions. Lots of them. Candles, not forest fires.

    The Change Wind is rising. Small gusts, fitful, weak, but so the storm begins.

    I am not optimistic, but I am hopeful.

    [By the way, when I tried to submit after previewing it, I was not presented with a challenge image, but one was demanded anyway.]

    Posted by DJmoore  on  06/16  at  03:06 PM

  3. This is a good question and one who watches the daily movements of the nation and world must always consider.

    But if Ft Sumpter or C&L are examples, we are not there. Both were in fact military actions. In the case of L&C, the British army who had been encamped in the City for some time, ventured out into the country. They stepped into a hornest nest of people who had already orgainized into a fighting force. In the case of Ft Sumpter, we have the US trying to send reinforment to a place that was already under a state/CS military command. In both those situations there were mostly hard lines of territory or states.

    At this point, we both are surronded by and do surround our oppressors, who are both elected and appointed. They infiltrate us and we infiltrate them. They are wary of us and we are wary of them. It is a true civil conflict. This next event will be more akin to the Russian Revolution than our American Revolution.

    I think what will ignite the fire will be “misery level”. It was the poverty and deprivation that encourged the weary Russian to take up arms against the Czar. It was the poverty and deprivation that allowed the Nazi’s to rise in the 30’s. 

    Too many Americans are numbed by our culture to think about freedom. I dont see our citizens forming company size fighting units, not today. They get broken up by both internal and external forces. Our state governments are as much a part of the problem as our federal governments, so secession will not be the trigger.

    But personal proverty, hunger or loss of material goods does get attention. As our economy begins to retrace backwards and the government ramps up its control, making the problem worse…...the misery level will rise.

    At some point, it will be a bank crash, or a natural disaster, or invented disaster that will be used by the government to confiscate property and liberty. A simple power blackout in a major city in the middle of August will create enough hate and discontent to require the National Guard. How easy would it be for that to get out of control?

    The Russian Revolution was the beginning of years of warfare throughout Russia which resulted in the Communists, the Reds, winning. Our next revolution will result in years of warfare. Our job is to live through the first die off and live to defeat the American Reds, the statists, who will be left to fight.

    Perhaps we should consider for triggers, what made the Russians rise up against the Czar’s remaining military, or similair events in eastern Europe after WWII.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/16  at  04:26 PM

  4. DJ,

    Thanks for your comments, which, by the way, are not necessarily disjointed, as you mentioned in your own post linking here.  The subject matter being discussed has many facets.

    We need small, quiet, individual actions. Lots of them. Candles, not forest fires.

    The Change Wind is rising. Small gusts, fitful, weak, but so the storm begins.

    I am not optimistic, but I am hopeful.

    Your closing thoughts note a definite need, even so, there are a plethora of these “quiet, individual actions” currently.  Consider the blogs you yourself are aware of that express many of the concerns I myself blog on, there are “lots of them.”  The question is are the concerns addressed noted, are they casting any “light” beyond those of us currently aware and forcefully speaking out?

    There is a “storm” developing, so I pray that America will not suffer a storm of wanton destruction, because it is not just my survival I am concerned with, though my own, and my family’s, survival will take precedence.

    Posted by John Venlet  on  06/16  at  06:53 PM

  5. Rick,

    I think you may be correct that the “misery level” could be the “trigger” for massive chaos, and your referencing of the Russian Revolution and the rise of Nazism also do not go unnoticed, here.

    The history of the rise and fall of civilizations and governments has much to recommend to us in regards to possible future events.

    The United States and the rest of the world are attempting to hold in check a rapid rise of the misery level through massive government intervention.  It will not be held in check forever by the games governments play, and a small spark could set off a conflagration most are unprepared for.

    Posted by John Venlet  on  06/16  at  07:05 PM

  6. That’s the big question.  I think we’ll know it when we see it, but the only thing I’m fairly sure of is that I agree we can’t move first.  If a group like the Hutaree were actually to start shooting, they would be painted as lunatic extremists and public sentiment would be against them.  As it is, it seems anyone who read anything about the story blew it off.  OTOH, if the feds had started shooting the Hutaree, the feds would be in full damage control mode. 

    In the study of 4th Generation Warfare there’s a potent analogy.  If a parent swats their kid in the store, everyone will notice but nobody is likely to say anything.  If the bigger, stronger parent just starts wailing on the kid and beating them badly, people will get involved, call police or even go fight the parent.  The analogy is that if the big powerful government starts taking citizens out, a lot of neutral observers will start taking sides. 

    What if we had the same kind of election fraud that Iran had?  Would people fill the streets?  You would have to be armed; you saw what happened to the kids over there.  It’s an old saying that “an armed man will kill an unarmed man with boring regularity”.  What if the election was canceled due to some “emergency”?

    What if the last election was the last election?

    Posted by SiGraybeard  on  06/16  at  09:29 PM

  7. Food for thought…

    http://causapatet.blogspot.com/2010/06/food-for-thought.html

    Posted by Brutus  on  06/17  at  12:34 AM

  8. John, thanks for you encouragement. Let me amplify one thread:

    The thing that most concerns me is that Fort Sumter was merely the spark. The tender was piled high, and very dry, and soaked with oil.

    All we’ve got now is some damp kindling. Nothing short of a blow torch, such SiGraybeard’s “last election” can start the fire, and I’m afraid even that might not work.

    We can’t afford a Fort Sumter, not yet. We’re not ready. We can’t even afford Billy Beck’s passive disobedience, because no one will notice if we’re taken. (Beck’s spent his life doing it. For most of us, it would be a change, and Those Who Watch notice that kind of change.)

    For crying out loud, I can’t even convince my father, who lost his campus ministry for taking the students down to Selma to march with King, that politely declining to consent to a police search is the wisest course. The police are the good guys. They’re our friends. Let them look around, help them out, get them on their way. The thought of withholding consent deeply troubles him.

    That’s why the Tea Parties are important. The Carry movement as political theatre. The blogs. Even personally coming out to friends, family, and co-workers as…not an Obamite.

    Dry out the wood. Scrape off some tinder. Take a friend to the range, or a reporter (I keep seeing stories by reporters making their first visit to a range. They’re always surprised: “It was fun! Everybody was so nice!”).

    Press the idea that it’s not this policy or that, it’s pressing for no policy at all. The entrepreneurs practice the “elevator pitch”: what they can say to a potential investor while in the elevator to get his attention.

    I’m looking forward to trying out, “We should assume everyone is competent to manage their own lives, but that no one is competent to manage anyone else’s. Anybody wanting that job is always on probation—and the fact they want it counts against them.”

    Stickers in restroom stalls, one-page flyers under windshields and on bus seats, comments on opposition blogs and newspaper letters.

    But right now, as the economic rap video says, Keynes is the agenda; Hayek isn’t even registered at the hotel. [Crap; my Linux spell checker recognizes “Keynes” but suggests “hayseed” for “Hayek”.]

    That’s got to change.

    When the tinder’s dry and oily, the Ft. Sumter will take care of itself.

    Posted by DJMoore  on  06/17  at  01:28 AM

  9. Graybeard,

    What if the last election was the last election?

    In my opinion, if such an announcement came down from on high, it would be an open declaration of war against the American people, providing justification for the immediate removal, with prejudice, of those individuals holding the reigns of power, and the reign holder’s supporters and enforcers.

    Posted by John Venlet  on  06/17  at  07:34 AM

  10. Brutus, thank you for linking to your “Food for Thought” post.

    Violence takes many forms. How about the violence that daily assaults our minds, our virtue, our modesty, our common sense, the truth, and etc.?...

    ...It is the “law” that is and will be our undoing.

    I agree that the “law” is violating Americans on a daily basis, incrementally destroying morality and ethics, in addition to the attributes you note above.

    The “law,” which is sold to Americans as an ally, is in actuality a traitor, killing us from within.

    Posted by John Venlet  on  06/17  at  07:47 AM

  11. DJ,

    We can’t even afford Billy Beck’s passive disobedience, because no one will notice if we’re taken.

    The civil disobedience Billy refers to, would have to be massive, or it would be in vain, as you note in your comment.

    I realize that the majority of America is “not ready,” as you say, and even I keep watch for an exit which will not entail violence to restore America.  I search and search for this exit, daily here, but I see no exit signs, only rest areas offramps, whose onramps merge directly back onto the road of tyranny.

    Posted by John Venlet  on  06/17  at  08:01 AM

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