Submitted by Brandon Smith from Alt-Market [8]
How To Defeat Tyranny
It is inevitable. There comes a point in the development of every crisis, every catastrophe, every impending disaster, every act of methodical dictatorship, in which the generations selected by fate or destiny to endure the trial must attempt to look beyond the intellectual and the psychological, to deeply consider the greater philosophical or spiritual questions of their epoch. Certain moments in history demand that truly free individuals relinquish their cynicism, and embrace that inherent world of form and conscience that exists in each of us but remains largely unexplained. Without this act of “faith”, or intuitive knowing, good cannot exist, inspire, or prevail.
To understand what we face in our age of encroaching technocracy draped like glistening silicon across the face of a third world American cesspool, we must accept certain realities; the first and foremost being the existence of “evil”. Not the evil of ignorance, that is easy to recognize. Not the evil of apathy and moral relativism, though the stench of both sharply permeates the sour underside of our culture. No, I am talking about pure, unbiased, unflinching, perfectly conscious and fully absorbed evil. The kind that they tell stories about. The kind that history books speak of almost in awe, as if it is miraculous in nature. A dark tide. A prehistoric leviathan. An unbelievable and seemingly inhuman myth made manifest by astonishingly vile despots.
This evil is so overwhelming that many people today scarcely imagine it possible. It is our society’s greatest weakness; the denial of ultimate malice.
Our current governmental system has adopted a policy of open theater, in which the two sides of the false paradigm now barely hide their farcical opposition to each other. Their rhetoric no longer obscures their acts of political collusion in the destruction of our founding principles and Constitutional protections. In the past several years they have acted in the best interests of corporate minorities and moneyed elites without hiding their intentions towards globalism and the destruction of sovereignty, fearlessly spitting on the redresses of the public. All of this while they arm themselves to the teeth with billion-plus round stockpiles of ammunition and Orwellian surveillance technologies. Yet, foolish subsections of our populace still argue that the government is a “product of elections”, and is “made up of Americans for Americans”. Even if we do not see them as an enemy, they certainly see us as such.
Our financial system is a stampeding procession of nightmare fueled blood-drenched circus freaks dancing in an ether driven haze of pungent absurdity. It is as if our economy has become a morbid parody of itself, like a queasy piece of horror/comedy cinema. We are so far along in the collapse of our markets that the banksters no longer see the need to hide the fraud. With the advent of the Libor Scandal, governments, central banks, corporate financiers, all flaunt their criminality with pride. Yet, some Americans still clasp their naïve hopes to a chance of fiscal recovery.
To fight against an evil of this magnitude takes more than anger, or physical preparation, or organization. It takes personal exploration, a steeling of one’s heart, and a conquering of one's shortcomings.
Tyranny, true tyranny, thrives on our selective awareness, and our ability to bend our minds and our vision to avoid seeing that which is really there. In the end, victory over tyranny is less about guns, bombs, mass dissent, and civil fury; it instead requires an acceptance of the dark side of the world, and the unwavering will of honorable men ready to face it. That is to say, the defeat of tyranny begins and ends in the mind.
In America today, many minds are not ready to handle the trials ahead. Maybe it’s the ease of several generations of uninterrupted prosperity. Maybe it’s the Babyboomers. Maybe it’s Generation X. Maybe it’s the public education system. Maybe it’s the water. Maybe it’s all of the above and more. At this point, we have little time to debate symptomatic culprits. It is time to go to the root of the problem, and cut it out.
What we need is a foundation, a set of “personal rules for combat” when engaging a tyrannical establishment. This “code” should above all else provide a way of mentally and spiritually confronting one’s own weaknesses and presumptions. Dictators and oligarchs are not our primary concern. Our inner state is.
Rule #1: Stop Waiting For Others To Fight The Battle For You
If you want to put an end to totalitarianism, you can’t sit around waiting for other people to solve the problem for you. The greatest downfall of any political campaign (even when led by a liberty minded candidate) is the centralization of popular focus on a single man. There is no knight in shining armor coming to lead the Liberty Movement to the promised land. These unrealistic expectations will only end in disappointment and nihilism. The solution starts not with others, but with YOU. Where do you contribute to freedom? What actions have you taken? Who have you inspired? What ideas have you offered? What project have you organized, struggled for, sweat for? Take the reigns of your own destiny and finally join the fight instead of perusing the internet longing for a guru to hand you a mission.
Rule #2: Believe In Something Greater Than Yourself - Abandon Childish Cynicism
This is where we get all “spiritualized”, which for the typical cynic is a rather gooey and uncomfortable affair. If accepting a higher purpose to the universe and your own existence is too much for you, then at least consider deeply the future of humanity in general. Think not of what mankind is today, but what mankind could be tomorrow if you make it so. Know that there is an indelible good within us, though it may be difficult to see at times. Cradle that spark, and champion its return. It is not enough to oppose tyranny. One must know exactly what he is fighting for in order to triumph.
Cynics do not make history, or change a country for the better. They are the forgotten dust wafting about in the wayward attics of time.
Rule #3: Deal With Your Fear, Or It Will Be Used Against You
A subjugating government’s size, military might, technological superiority, and overall gravitas are irrelevant. The fight will come whether we want it or not. Accept the fact that the fight is coming to YOU; your fear of it does not change the eventuality of it. Wars, especially those waged for freedom, are won by the will, not by arms or technology. Not by laser guided missiles and predator drones. Tyrants always have the advantage. They always have the upper hand. They win when they are able to convince the masses that this advantage makes them invincible and that resistance is a futile exercise. They lose when the people could care less about the size of the guns pointed at them.
All men are afraid to take risks, especially mortal risks. However, great men understand the necessity of risk in the pursuit of that which is right. Fear should play no part in your life, ever.
Rule #4: Understand The Nature Of Tyrants
Overcoming fear is one thing. Being overconfident is another. Understand that the evil you face is capable of absolutely any depravity in its lust for absolute control. Understand that the crimes you will one day witness in your battle to dethrone the autocrats are designed to rattle your will and eradicate your resolve. Know that to attain a free country you must struggle through social, economic, and physical carnage you never thought possible before. Be ready, psychologically and emotionally, for anything…
Rule #5: Dump Nihilists And Obstructionists By The Wayside
You can’t save everybody, and you certainly can’t impart a sense of greater purpose on cowards, weaklings, and nihilists. These people are inherently self centered, and seek only to prolong the ease and length of their own existences regardless of the cost to others. Nihilists in particular are so inwardly and subconsciously ashamed of their own weaknesses that they go out of their way, often obsessively, to project those weaknesses on the whole of. The have to believe that if they are not capable of fighting back, no one else can be either, and they will shriek to the rafters about the impending doom of us all.
Nihilists and Obstructionists are dead weight on any dissenting activist movement, even though they pretend to support the cause, and should be tossed to the curb immediately. A revolution for liberty requires foresight, and courage. If a person does not meet both these criteria, they will eventually bring you down with them.
Rule #6: Find A Love For Humanity Once Again
I know as well as anyone how hard it is today to care about most people given the amount of utter stupidity so many display on a daily basis and the costs this behavior has accrued in our society over time. Get over it. Recognize that when you fight for freedom, you fight for EVERBODY, even people who have not earned your efforts. If you fight only for yourself, or your immediate circle, you will lose. Look at the bigger picture, and know the real breadth and consequence of this undertaking. Fight for all, or you might as well crawl into a shallow hole and pull the dirt over your head now.
Rule #7: Remain Adaptable To The Circumstances Of The Environment
Absorb what works, and cast off what doesn’t. Be stubborn in your principles and your resolve, but not in your strategies. Vulnerability comes with predictability. Blaze trails the tyrants don’t expect. Show them something they’ve never seen before. Be bold, or go home.
Rule #8: Retain Your Principles Or You Will Fail
The philosophical doctrine being peddled by elites in our military today states that “in order to defeat a monster you must be willing to act like a monster”. This is insanity. Forgoing one’s principles and adopting dishonorable and vicious methods is not the way of a warrior; it is the way of the tyrant. Remember what you are fighting for. This is not just about our personal survival, but the survival of a worthy ideal. Abandoning that ideal may give us the illusion of short term success, but in the long run, the cost will bankrupt our movement, demolish our moral high ground, and make hollow any victories we do achieve.
The Real Fight Is Within
Some may have stumbled upon this essay with the expectation that it would outline a kind of step-by-step instructional guide to crippling the globalists. Sorry to dissatisfy if that was the case, but it is better that we all comprehend now that there will never be such guide. As much as globalists and collectivists with aspirations of world dominance and total financial centralization are a threat to our way of life, the real fight, the fight that matters most, is not without, but within. We will overcome them only when we overcome our own failings.
I imagine many wish, as I surely wish, that simple days and comfortable times could continue on forever. The difficult truth is that history tests man, and sets the extraordinary apart from the mundane. Sometimes these tests are so epic in their scale that one wonders if anyone will step forward to weather the storm. Someone always does, and we owe those brave souls a debt of gratitude which can only be paid with our own stand in our own era. At the end of all things, we will either open the door to a better world, or we will cut our own throats. Tyranny is nothing but an opportunity for the best in all of us to rise.