hedgeless_horseman's Revolutionary Call to Arms
"The greatest danger to the State is independent intellectual criticism."
-Murray N. Rothbard
This ZeroHedge comment, today, by JamaicaJim, caught my eye and started me thinking:
New Gallup Poll – Americans Consider Government A Much Bigger Problem Than Guns
JamaicaJimWed, 01/06/2016 - 08:39 | 7004045
That the US Government is corrupt is not the question. They are.
The questions are;
WHAT CAN THE AVERAGE CITIZEN DO ABOUT IT?
HOW CAN THIS BE STOPPED?
For the life me, I do not have those answers.
THAT is the issue; what can someone do?
In the movie, Wayne's World, Garth and Wayne are lying on the hood of the Mirth Mobile and staring up at the stars. Garth whistles the theme to Star Trek, then he says, "Sometimes I wish I could boldly go where no man has gone, but I'll probably stay here in Aurora." Many of us are like Garth, wishing to be bold, and maybe even revolutionary.
But the State isn't very worried. They know that we are far too comfortable, and also too afraid. That we will probably stay right where we are.
But some of us may sense that ours is a false comfort, like the turkey in the days before the holiday.
In today’s keynote luncheon at RIMS 2010, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, best-selling author of The Black Swan, told the story of a turkey who is fed by the farmer every morning for 1,000 days. Eventually the turkey comes to expect that every visit from the farmer means more good food. After all, that’s all that has ever happened so the turkey figures that’s all that can and will ever happen. But then Day 1,001 arrives. It’s two days before Thanksgiving and when the farmer shows up, he is not bearing food, but an ax. The turkey learns very quickly that its expectations were catastrophically off the mark. And now Mr. Turkey is dinner.
For those of us that don't want to be a turkey, and that seek a way out of our false comfort...that want to be bold and revolutionary...we must also find a way to overcome our fear. FEAR. False Evidence Appearing Real. The best way I know to overcome fear is with knowledge. Knowledge allows us to see false evidence as false. Knowledge also allows us to be bold, and to take action, rather than be timid, staying right where we are. Knowledge enables us to be revolutionary.
"A battle of wits was to be fought, and the Boy in Blue was unarmed to-night."
-Abby Buchanan Longstreet
If we want to be a bold, fearless, and an effective revolutionary, then we need to arm ourselves to-night and train for the fight. To that end, please, allow me to suggest this sequential course of action.
hedgeless_horseman's Revolutionary Call to Arms:
- Read Propaganda, by Edward Bernays.
- Read Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury.
- Get rid of your television. Preferably, take it to the dump and destroy it in an extreme and violent fashion.
- Read Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
- Make a commitment to not use mind-altering substances for 90 days. If you fail, go to an AA meeting and restart the 90 days.
- Read The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve - 5th Edition, by G. Edward Griffin.
- Visit a coin dealer and buy some gold or silver Canadian Maple Leafs.
- Read 1984, by George Orwell.
- Make your very own set of Fallacy Flash Cards from the list at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies
- Hold three fallacious posters accountable on www.zerohedge.com by citing their fallacy.
- Read The Law, by Frédéric Bastiat.
- Make a list of your natural rights.
- Read The Constitution of the United States and The Bill of Rights.
- Read Animal Farm, by George Orwell.
- Research your two senators and one congressman at https://www.opensecrets.org/ Make a list of their 10 biggest donors, and send the list to your "representative" in an email or letter.
- Read War is a Racket, by Smedley D. Butler.
- Read On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, by Dave Grossman.
- Watch the online video of the TED Talk, A radical experiment in empathy, by Sam Richards.
- Read Anatomy of the State, by Murray Rothbard.
- Be a volunteer judge at a high school debate.
I pray that many may find the strength and courage to complete this revolutionary training, and to go boldly where no man has gone.
Peace!
(38 votes)
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Nice reading list, but in the end I don't see it making one damn bit of difference to all the corruption going on in Washington. Send a list of your representative's 10 biggest donors to him/her? Oh, that'll scare them. I don't know what the answer is, but I don't think this list is it.
1) It is trivial to come up with reasons you don't think something will work.
2) It is harder to prove it.
3) Even harder still is to come up with a better suggestion.
4) Yet harder still is to prove your suggestion would actually work.
You're at 1 with almost everyone else. Let us know when you're at 2 or better.
The point of that exercise is not to scare the recipient, but to un-scare the sender.
You cannot trust them. You owe them nothing, not even any truthful statement. Stealth is better than bravado.
You ought to add spend a night in a homeless shelter to that. It's a pretty fucked situation but survivable. At least learn about community resources like churches that have public meals. Then you won't be nearly as afraid to lose it all, and if the unfortunate happens, you'll have some valuable survival knowledge. Oh and make sure you follow Kissinger's advice, trust but verify.
HH,
I would also suggest that people look into how the Roman Republic became the Roman Empire. Actually, the entire history of the Roman Republic is worth looking into, but if you want to see where it really started turning imperial, look into Marius and his Mules. That was a turning point where the legions started becoming more loyal to their commander than they were to Rome. It puts the Founding Fathers' fears of standing armies into perspective.
Very good point. Check out "An Account of Denmark" as well.
Rome fell because there was a class of people who decided they were nobility and they knew what was needed by the Plebs (the lower classes).
They at first made their decisions based on the good of all but that soon turned south when the Legions came home after a war or battle to find their farm lands "stolen" by the privileged few. That was the end but the end took close to 600 years.
Despite many attempts and efforts to stave off the cronyism and corruption, they all failed until one day no one cared anymore and like the Soviet Union, Rome just disappeared.
We are already well beyond the saving stage because of the corruption unless we can modify the Constitution to change things back to Capitalism and a Republic......
About the only thing that might work is a counterrevolution the likes of the Russian or French revolutions where the privileged class were simply executed. We are a bit different in that we have a tradition and history to fall back on and after the executions we may hold another Constitutional Convention and fix things.
Fixing things requires no voting until you pay back welfare money you have taken from the government, term limits, balanced budgets, no administrative regulations unless they are voted on by Congress, the overturning of Supreme Court decisions on the commerce clause, state defamation laws, immigration, and allowing Congress to bribe states, and no bill or regulation passed by Congress can be more than 4 pages, 12 pt type with 1/2 inch margins, Constitutional Conventions every 25 years with the ability to vote new amendments to be ratified by the states and the removal of federal and Supreme Court judges.
If you think about it for a few seconds you will realize that none of this will come to pass so we face the 600 year decline.
Right, but again, how did the Roman Republic turn into the Roman Empire. Everybody forgets that they weren't the same thing. The Roman Republic lasted from roughly 500BC to just before 0AC. If you want exact dates, look up when the Etruscan kings were overthrown and when Augustus proclaimed himself Cesar. That's the official end of the Republic. Augustus was considered the first Cesar, but while it had changed, there had been a Rome for roughly 500 years before that. I'd argue that Cesar was the end of the Republic, but that's just personal preference.
Lots of truth to your post. Reminds me of a college book I opened in the book store ther other day on "Government."
The very first sentence of the first chapter read, "The most important function of the government is to keep itself in power at all costs."
++++ Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire ( required reading )
also suggest "A Canticle for Leibovitz" (required sci fi for insight to human nature)
and The Bible - King James or your preferred version
.....and while reading it, replace the word 'Rome' with USA - the parallels are striking.
Don't forget about the Republic though. When they kicked the Etruscan kings out and forced the patrician class to write down the 12 tables of law is a fascinating piece of history. What remains of the 12 tables also gives a fascinating glimpse into Roman society.
Love it!! On it!!
Gotta call bullshit on you Hedge.
Just look at the image (propaganda) you chose to use with this article. Men with guns. ( Forget for the moment it has Ron Paul on it )
Men with guns. Rebels. Patriotic Terrorists.
You get where I am going ? Your booklist is all fine and dandy. Becoming more informed is vital.
But Liberty was won with the bullet, not the ballot. Before the bullet it was the sword. Tyranny, likewise, is perpetuated by either the bullet or the sword. It's maintained by the ever present threat of the bullet or the sword.
Until Liberty minded politcians openly call for the bullet, until Liberty minded Radio Talk Show hosts openly call for the bullet, until the Military openly calls for the bullet.....you can read all you want and be better informed all you want. It won't matter.
Better just to tune out and drop out. Forget about Liberty. It was a pipe dream. A one time shot. Heard 'round the world. Now silent.
The objective should never be liberty, every sailor knows it ends when the bell rings. You want freedom, no one can take that away because it's not a grant. There was a time where men could walk away to be free, freedom was full of risk, your were on your own. Liberty requires a rule book, and you better not deviate. Freedom isn't legal under a liberty based power structure. Free men don't need a government to thrive and survive, liberty loving folks do.
Wulfkind - you should watch the movie 'Braveheart'.
William Wallace was a regular guy, not a politician or a talk radio host or even a military guy. (In fact, the movie depicts the politicians of the day doing nothing useful while lining their pockets.)
As a child, he picked up his uncle Argyle's sword in fascination. His uncle then said "First learn to use THIS...", and he touched the kid's forehead:
https://youtu.be/L-hkKmhssSU
I believe this is hh's point.
My point was.....all Hedge talked about was "book learning".
No call to arms. We have WAAAaaay more tyranny by our own government than we ever had as colonists under the reign of King George. And still no call to arms.
Look at the Bundy's out west. Already the MSM, but more importantly the American Sheeple are already labeling him and his father lunatic homegrown terrorists. In fact, all I heard on the radio the other day was the term "MILITANTS". Like they were some home grown version of ISIS.
Nope. You all have two choices and two choices only.
The bullet or dropping out and becoming as invisible as possible.
Wallace was educated first, then lived invisibly...until the injustices called to him to act. Then he became violent as all get out...in a smart and calculated fashion.
The Bundys have been called to action by the injustices that they have experienced as ranchers. They seem to act with very calculated and smart moves.
Remember.....Braveheart was just a movie. Do you trust Hollyweird for your history ? The real Wallace was nothing like the Hollywood movie nor was their any evidence that he had an uncle that educated him like in the movie.
Hollywood sells myths. Heoric myths.
All I'm saying is....if you're going to employ the Militant Propaganda imagery that Hedgless Horseman employed and indeed Ron Paul' marketing team employed, then you had better back that up with an EXPLICIT call for armed rebellion as the ultimate aim. Same goes for all the BITCH show hosts ( not talk show....all they do as well as their listeners is bitch ) like Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin. These useless fucks all use patriotic imagery and all full of miltiant meaning. But they never call for armed rebellion implicitely much less explcitely. Why......because that would get them kicked off the air and they would lose their income and their lifestyle. That's too high a price to pay.
You'll know how precious something is.....how much it means to a man when that man is willing to die for it. Obviously Rush Limbaugh, and his listeners, Hedgeless Horseman and the American Sheeple don't think Liberty is precious enough to die for it. So they either bitch or come up with "reading lists".
I don't call for armed rebellion because I don't care. Just like "Braveheart", if you must reference a Hollywood myth, I'm the guy who, as he was looking out over the battlefield and seeing nothing but nobles from both sides negotiating in one last attempt to stave off the bloody battle, turned to his clan and said, "I didn't come all this way to fight and die for these bastards. Come on, boys let go home"
Once again.....two choices.
Armed rebellion.......or tune out and drop out. I chose the latter. Because at the end of the day, if your armed rebellion is successful you'll just eventually get the same people back in the halls of power both politically and financially.
You make good points, and I agree with most of them. Some movies have grains of wisdom among the garbage; older movies have more, and of course you have to be able to distinguish the 2.
Yes, most people will be just comfortable enough with their lifestlyes and talk show positions to just bitch about the problems. However, when injustice gets personal enough, some people ARE willing to die. The Bundy group seems to be an example, and Braveheart was an example, even if the Wallace character was imbellished. These people are often labeled "terrorists".
Let me back up a bit a say this. You could have a NON-ARMED rebellion......ala the Civil Rights movement and in theory affect a change for liberty. But, that would still call for WAAaaay more sacrifice than the majority of American Sheeple are willing to make. Is anyone ready to....
1: Organize
2: Plan
3: Prepare
4: Effectively Execute
5: Go to jail
6: Lose your job
7: Get out of jail and do the first 5 steps again and again and again. ( Not to mention if you have a wife or husband, extended family, friends, business associates, that may not support you )
Not to mention that in this day and age of the NSA and Local Para-Military Kill Forces you may not even make it past Step 3.
Besides.....did the Civil Rights movement actually win or did they only get what on the surface looks like a wiin ? Did racism stop existing ? Did the black lives really matter when blacks are the ones killing other blacks in FAR LARGER numbers than whites did back in the bad 'ol days? And look at the Black Leadership they got after the Civil Rights movement. They went from Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. How could that possibly be construed by anyone as a win ?
So.....in correction.....you have THREE choices........Armed Rebellion......Non-Voilent Civil Disobedience.......Tune out and Drop Out. Only one of these is based on history and rational thought.
Only one of these is based on history and rational thought.
According to this TED talk, history and rational thought support Non-violent Civil Disobedience, to wit:
From 1900 to 2006, nonviolent campaigns worldwide weretwice as likely to succeed outright as violent insurgencies. And there’s more. This trend has been increasing over time—in the last fifty years civil resistance has become increasingly frequent and effective, whereas violent insurgencies have become increasingly rare and unsuccessful. This is true even in extremely repressive, authoritarian conditions where we might expect nonviolent resistance to fail.[4]
Researchers used to say that no government could survive iffive percent of its population mobilized against it. But our data reveal that the threshold is probably lower. In fact, no campaigns failed once they’d achieved the active and sustained participation of just 3.5% of the population—and lots of them succeeded with far less than that [5]. Now, 3.5% is nothing to sneeze at. In the U.S. today, this means almost 11 million people.
If you think about it, everyone is born with an equal physical ability to resist nonviolently. Anyone who has kids knows how hard it is to pick up a child who simply doesn’t want to move, or to feed a child who simply doesn’t want to eat.
What happens in these countries once the dust settles? It turns out, the way you resist matters in the long run too. Most strikingly, nonviolent campaigns were far more likely to usher in democratic institutions than violent insurgencies. And countries where people waged nonviolent struggle were15% less likely to relapse into civil war.
The data are clear: When people rely on civil resistance, their size grows. And when large numbers of people withdraw their cooperation from an oppressive system, theodds are ever in their favor.
http://rationalinsurgent.com/2013/11/04/my-talk-at-tedxboulder-civil-res...
Winning means shit if you can't sustain it.
Reporter: "What do you have here in this new country, Mr. Franklin ? "
Benjamin Franklin: "A Republic.....if you can keep it."
You have reminded me to read a couple of books Ive been meaning to, so thanks for that. Im a little curious about your statement to buy canadian golad/silver maples specifically. If I had to guess, Id say because it is an internationally recognized coin that is also currency, that doesn't help fund the USgov by allowing the US mint to make money off your stacking, is that about right? Not that there is anything wrong with the idea, or maples, just curious.
Another point is that maples are 24k gold, while eagles and krugs are 22k or less. They all contain a troy oz of gold, but the eagles and krugs are heavier because they are alloyed with other metals.
Maples can be melted to pure gold. My local coin shop is frequented by Indians that purchase maples to melt and form into jewelry to take back to India.
I believe that visiting a local coin dealer and buying some gold or silver Canadian Maple Leafs is the easiest and most likely path for a neophyte to have a positive first experience.
I addressed the preference of foreign vs. domestic coins in a comment above.
Nothing in that list but a bunch of sitting around and reading. How about becoming a regular at your local shooting range. Or assembling a neighborhood watch group. Or how about instead of following the "if you see something and say something" bullcrap, what if folks when they saw something started DOING something. Like thump someone in the skull when they deserve it. The sitting around and reading stuff is fine for fancy types. I aint ever heard of a revolution being waged, or won, with a stack of printed paper.
Uninformed revolutionaries tend to bring about "meet the new boss, same as the old boss." Before you do something, you should know whether or not it is wise. Our founding fathers were very knoledgable. They did use stacks of printed paper to wage the revolution.
True but they also fostered noncompliance and subversive behavior towards the British government. BGO has a point that reading books alone is not going to accomplish anything. How about everyone come up with a legal way to tie up a government agent's time for an extra hour a week? Taking action, actually doing something to put abstract ideas into practice and nudge the needle, can be tremendously powerful on multiple levels.
Before embarking on the revolutionary path - read The Prince. Makes a nice foil to The Art of War, especially with regards to the reactions and motivations of the governed.
Every revolution has begun in the minds of men, reading wakes the brain, reading intelligent thoughts inspires intelligent thoughts. Birthing revolutions. Reading is very very important.
Agreed. No argument. But reading alone is not enough. Intelligent thoughts are necessary, but not sufficient.
21. Get yourself a battle rifle and learn how to use it.
22. Read The Art Of War.
Never been a big fan of the Art of War. But some of John F Antal's interesting interactive books might come in handy-- Armor Attacks. Infantry Combat, and The Captain's War all are built around a decision tree structure where you are confronted with a relatively modern combat scenario and then given a list of reasonable-sounding alternatives from which to choose. Sort of a literary video game that is an excellent primer on basic modern military tactics.
Also Nassim wouldn't know how to farm his own food unless YOU, the great HH, showed him how. THREE years for an Effing turkey!? Nassim is full of it- stuffing that is.
"We raised two turkeys last year for the first time, white broad-breasteds, pretty much the analog to Cornish X chickens. The literature says six months. We kept them almost six months, fed them generously, and let them free-range during the day. One, the hen, dressed out at 24#; the tom dressed out at 44# and wouldn't fit in the oven!
how long does it take to raise full grown turkeysWe housed them in a 10' by 10' pen that we have, with a tarp over part of it for shelter from rain, etc.; but, as I say, they were loose during the days.
Based on our experience I'd say take a close look at them at 4.5-5 mos., and if they look big enough, kill 'em and grill 'em (or put them in the freezer for the holidays).
We cooked ours in one of those plastic bake-in bags and they were plenty moist and tender."
Yes, Alexcojones,
It does take nearly 3 Years...
http://wildturkeybourbon.com/about/bourbon101/
Bada-Bing!!!
Nassim was probably quoting sources for Heritage Breed Turkeys (which have a 2 Year Growth Period noted in MotherEarthNews).
Nice! I like to soak ours in a molasses-salt brine for a day or two, before stuffing, roasting, and basting a la Julie Child in, The Way to Cook.
Excellent article. Thank you, HH, for the reminder and recommendations to go through these again. So many of the concepts run through my mind and I need a refresher. I also highly recommend Total Resistance by H. Von Dach and The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - the latter should carry a warning of potential extreme depression because of the parallels we see now. History repeating...
Also, to go along with #9 https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/
Don't believe them, don't fear them, don't ask anything of them
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Yup, he should be high on the list, because your going to stand alone most of your life, and if you want to survive it, better have something real inside. Crash or not.
Hedge Horse: I enjoy your posts a Lot.
But Nassim is not that great writer every critic makes him out to be. He wouldn't know a Black Swan unless Langley told him about it beforehand.
Cheers!
I'll bet the turkey was reading all that bullshit right up to two days before Thanksgiving. My point is that we are way past reading, talking and a peaceful resolution to the situation we find ourselves in and we are all just waiting for spontaneous combustion.
Hedgeless Rocks!
I would add getting out of debt to this list. If you cannot get out of debt, rid yourself of credit card debt, and in any case do not accept new credit offered. My bank keeps offering me credit in insane amounts, but I do not need it and do not want it.
Most debt is created as an accounting entry with no legal 'consideration.'
Banks create the money they loan, therefore, they take no risk and offer no consideration.
Thus the contracts made are not legitimate and most people can have their debts erased.
"Conversely, if A signs a contract to buy a car from B for $0, B's consideration is still the car, but A is giving no consideration, and so there is no valid contract. However, if B still gives the title to the car to A, then B cannot take the car back, since, while it may not be a valid contract, it is a valid gift."
Most bank loans are gifts, since there is no consideration on their part.
That revolutionary act comes after the training.
Hedgeless - this is a great list. Thank you. I want to hear more of your thoughts behind the "kill your TV" (#3).
I donated my old TV back in 2010 and lived without one for 18 months. I did not miss it much. I eventually purchased another one because I like to watch movies from time-to-time. I do not watch cable or network programming, though; not since college.
Doing #1 and #2 can move people to do #3.
Some of the direct effects of getting rid of our television 10+ years ago are: 1) our kids attend college on scholarship and without debt; 2) nobody in our home is overweight; 3) mrs_horseman and I still have a good sex life; 4) everyone in our family has read most, if not all, of the books on this list, and a great many others as well.