This article is well written, I’ll give you this. Maybe because his scenarios are so fearful, maybe because it is not a scientific forecast, I have hard time believing them. I mean, a nuclear power loses civilian control - what if another nuclear power decides this is an existential threat and performs a “kinetic stop”? It is just as believable as the things he writes about.
It really looks to me like he is working off of absolute worst case scenarios. I cannot see enough motivation in the public today to engage in extreme and prolonged violence against their neighbors. No one is hungry (yet), there is no religious fervor, nor vengeful motivation(yet). There are some extremists with big mouths, but they don’t seem like they can be leaders, they show no charisma, no intellect. Maybe I am not seeing the picture right.
While I would like to see something out of left field rise up and correct the mess we find ourselves in - an illegitimate federal administration and continued destruction of our rights and economy; I am unable to imagine how it can happen. I’ll wager that our history going back 250 years would include many citizens who didn’t think the events that transpired were possible either.
As far as the article not being a scientific forecast, I suppose that “political science” doesn’t count? History of events in other countries should not be considered? There is nothing I can see that would lead me to believe that many political officials are trustworthy.
I believe that many are keeping their eyes on the possibility of a worst case scenario. If they don’t, they also won’t prepare for one. I’d rather be ready for one (as much as I can) than to be caught with normalcy bias blinding me and causing me to fail to be ready. If I prepare but don’t need it, I have lost little. If I don’t prepare but it happens…?
At my age, protecting and providing for my family is my goal for the future. Essential to that is my second amendment rights, although it is only one part of the preparation.
- Burning down the White House
- Railroad Teains
- Civil War
- Airplanes
- War in Europe
- Depression
- Television
- A Catholic President
- Men on the Moon
- A President resigning
- The Internet
- 9/11
- A black President
You’re absolutely right. History is full of surprises when you’re living it. Our kids won’t live the same way we do. It’s not enough to teach them what we know, we have to let them learn things we don’t know and adapt to a changing world.
Evidence? Proof? That’s a pretty broad statement.
Proof of claims? To the latter, the KKK still does exist.
100% false. Though, the Northern states did make a concession to Slave-holding states that for census purposes related to the House of Representatives and Electoral College that slaves were to be counted as 3/5 of a person, but that was at a time when they were considered property and not persons. Though the Northern states did want to abolish slavery, they felt having a Union of States was primary at the time, and could negotiate later on the slavery issue.
I think you are confusing Militias with street gangs. However, there is one example of a racist, paramilitary group - NFAC, that recently showed aggression toward general public and people should be wary of it continuing to operate without LE focusing on it.
As far as Police evolution, they evolved from Urban Cohort in Rome, nothing to do with slavery, Confederate South or America. What a skewed viewpoint you have.
What we see here is main education and alternative education. Makes a conversation difficult, huh?
@Stephen22, no one is arguing against preparedness. But if you truly believe that end of days is upon us, you are going to become tired and depressed very quickly. Am I right?
Political science is not good at predictions. Based on history, I’d say for a great clash you need to have a great leader. You should read contemporaries describing Ho Chi Minh or Che, for example, they had tremendous charisma and oratory ability. Who are the leaders of the opposing side in America 2020? You have an elderly lady of hair salon infamy. A couple of equally aged and frail gentlemen whose names may not be familiar to the most people West of Hudson River. A group of young ladies, one clearly lacks intelligence, couple others reproduce thinking and behaviours from failed countries, and probably make majority of their fellow immigrants who escaped this misery, cringe. Can you name a Leader in that camp?
And so, I am worried, but not that worried. Can it turn for the worse? You bet, a natural disaster, a successful enemy strike on US soil, some kind of horrific aftermath from vaccination or authoritarian action involving children, you can continue to imagine catastrophic outcomes infinitely, but you need to label them as “for training purposes only”.
Once we get to the point where we call whole groups of people concerned “racist” we have seen a hard left turn in the debate. Until we understand we are Americans first and descendants of one country or people second we are going to see attempts to change the definition of words. If you are descended from group A and hate everyone from group B,C,D,E. You could b racist. But you are not exempt from being racist if you are descended from “any” of those other groups and you hate or blame group A for for problems you could be racist as well.
Looting, burning buildings, attacking people on the street as a group can be racist no matter how you justify it. And calling someone a racist for forming a group to defend themselves from group attacks is at the very least criminal if not racist.
We can debate ideas but we will get no where if we call one side the devil and ascribe angelic purity to our side. The minute you toss foul terms at me or my family you become the enemy and debate stops.
It is my opinion that if you are going to excuse one groups organized destruction of so many of our urban centers you cannot be shocked we people form a defensive organization to protect themselves from their destruction. And don’t be surprised if blaming the bad acts of someone the was born and died 200 years ago doesn’t cause me to cash out my savings account to make someone that was born into the same generation as I was to feel better.
I say again militias are legal and can serve a purpose today.
Please stop throwing around who’s racist. Everybody has bias, not necessarily racist. It’s an instinct built within our psyche/ neuropathy. What’s different than me might be potential dangerous to me or my family.
My own family is in denial that my family members are actually Hispanic/Latino. Might explain why my parents divorced. Not sure. My best friends growing up we’re mostly Hispanic. I had a couple of close black friends too in college and Army.
Militias might have racists within their ranks but that doesn’t mean they all are. I’m a member of a religious group where a couple of members in their 70s hinted at some racism but typically they treat everyone with respect. I nearly died inside when I heard it. But I realize it’s part of their generation. That really needs to go to the grave with them. Hell, I was cut out of mom’s Will because I refused the join in with her racist rant. My little brother got it all and mom said he’d have the last laugh in me. He blew through it and ended up with only a retirment payment of $800/mo. I now help him. No laugh at all. He’s my brother.
My sons are married or dating Hispanic women. I’m the one that married the seriously too white woman - Irish. so much so that I continue to remind my kids that they are of Spanish decent.
I hate when people turn to racist accusations without evidence. Language does mean someone is racist. It means they’re untrained at speaking. I think Trump is an excellent example of a man born with a silver foot in his mouth. He just doesn’t know how to fix it. Biden is exactly like Trump. I belief Biden has said and promoted many racist things. Trump’s not innocent but both are trying to fix it. Give them some slack. I remember real racism from my youth.
Hope I didn’t offend anyone.
I agree that there are probably racists within militias. But I see the same in BLM, Black Panthers, etc. religious bigotry is also spread wide. I’ll probably delete this to avoid family conflicts with my non-Hispanic side of the family.
You make an excellent point. We have reached a stage in society where people paint with a broad brush. Heck one of the congressmen that wanted the National Guard to come protect the white house also called them possible raciest and wanted them investigated. A few years ago the governors would have pulled the Guard home and sent the congressman a book on DIY defense and sent him a BB gun.
The thing with a Militia in the current context is riots are happening. The police are not able or willing to defend the citizens in places like Portland, Seattle, Tacoma, Chicago, even Denver. The governors are not willing to call out the national guard so the people are left to either suffer as an occupied people or unite in some kind of defense community. Is the Militia ideal? Maybe not but letting the mob rule the streets cannot be the default position either. Asking people to wait till the next election or administration to get things back to normal is unacceptable. If an armed citizenry is the last resort so be it. But the rabble cannot be allowed free reign to destroy our cities in a tantrum for something the people living there today had no part of. Call it an armed militia or county volunteer force or sheriff’s posse doesn’t matter because there is no life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness when the mob rules. And if we have decided to abandon, Portland, Seattle and Tacoma to the Mob shame on us.
Right from your link - “Slave Patroller’s Oath”. That is not a police officer. Further your link posts this, which is also not police officers, “First formed in 1704 in South Carolina, patrols lasted over 150 years, only technically ending with the abolition of slavery during the Civil War. However, just because the patrols lost their lawful status did not mean that their influence died out in 1865. Hadden argues there are distinct parallels between the legal slave patrols before the war and extralegal terrorization tactics used by vigilante groups during Reconstruction, most notoriously, the Ku Klux Klan.”
If you truly were enlightened, you would understand better what you read, if you actually read it.
First a little history. Some 5,000 years ago the Chinese were discussing every man’s right to self defense. Update 4,000 years and you find English law (we are, after all, a significant child of the British kingdom) requiring all citizens to own a weapon for self defense and to be proficient in its use so they can respond when the community is attacked. That was true until Charles I took arms away because he feared rebellion. He lasted 1.5 years, after which the weapons were returned. Serfs were required to own a pike pole; knights a horse, armor, chain mail, broadsword, shield, etc., all based on economic level.
The reformation era brought English settlers to the Atlantic coast in 1609. They were armed, as were the Plymouth pilgrims, for self defense.
175 years later, the Constitution guaranteed the right (it did not create the right). In the Same document, the militia was identified as all able bodied men between 18-47 years older were the militia. There was no joining, per se, you were. That same Constitution required each state to supply a Republican form of government to the citizens of the US.
Each state constitution has the same basic description of militia. Some break them down for you. First is likely the national guard, that operates with a budget from the state and answers to the Governor, and can be called up by the President. Then follows two varieties. Organized and unorganized (legal terms). Organized is again under the Governor and can be called state guard. They may receive money or supplies from the state. Unorganized is all volunteer, gets no funds for anything, buys their own weapon, ammo, food, shelter, etc. They may be called up by the Governor.
Militias exist in many forms, as you may have read above as to what they call themselves and what they intend to do. The trick question to ask is are they constitutional. Some work with any police agency to see to it constitutional rights are protected. Others won’t step up, but like to social media a lot.
One unorganized militia concept you can research is the Light Foot Militia in your state. There is no national organization because militias are local. That’s why it’s a misnomer to call National Guard a militia. They are paid, get funds from government, and work the job on a regular basis.
I am the Chaplain for the SC LFM with 8 years of experience of standing for constitutional rights in places like Washington, DC, Gettysburg National Cemetery, Harrisburg, PA, and other notable locations on the Atlantic coastal states.
“It matters how you stand.” LeVoy Finicum
Show me one police department in this country, with policy prescribing arrest of escaped slaves, or employing officers who were involved in persecution of slaves.
This is quite obsessive and unhealthy, seeing everything through a lens of slavery and abuses that happened over a century ago.
interesting.
I gave you history and from information from the police. But I see reason is not to be had here. My lens is clear as I understand why this country will never unify as long as people deny history.
We are discussing how police came to be in the U.S. nothing more nothing less, History
Your history book is missing pages or even entire chapters.
Do you propose anything? Apologies from LEOs, abolishing the police, etc? Maybe no action, but always treat cops with a scorn, keep it in the back of your mind that social injustice is in their DNA.
Thank you for the information. Why did we move so far from protecting ourselves and community’s to allowing a police force that has no duty to protect? Every gun is a violation of the 2A, yet the Supreme Court refuses to hear any gun cases, they turned down 10 cases that took years to reach them.
Every Gun law, I think you meant.
I don’t know for sure, but politicians are always looking for ways to protect themselves. Passing laws removing guns from citizens’ hands theoretically protects them. Since there’s nothing new under the sun, you may see continued repeats of this phenomenon soon.
If I may…
Having sat through the history of policing class many times, it is true that slave patrols are often included as a part of American police history. It’s certainly not the first form of policing in the Americas, but it’s a part that historians don’t ignore. The big emphasis on slave patrols are: A) that they were one of the first publicly funded forms of law enforcement in the southern colonies, and B) that they were used to repress a large section of the population- or enforce unjust laws, if you will.
Like many topics in history, you have to understand the context in order to draw relevant conclusions. Even urban police departments in southern states spent a good deal of their time enforcing slavery laws in the early 19th century, because those laws required a large degree of resources to enforce. So it’s not that American policing was born from slave patrols, but that repressive governments require a large amount of police.
If you really want to cover American policing, there is much, much more to discuss. Like our legal system, most of our policing heritage comes from Great Britain, from the earliest colonies to Sir Robert Peel. 19th century American metropolitan police were often as corrupt as 19th century metropolitan politics. We really don’t get to the kind of policing we’d recognize until we see 20th century legal reforms and court cases.
How does this relate to today? I don’t know… just in those three paragraphs, I hit on repressive legal systems and corrupt politics. I hope that doesn’t become a hallmark of our era. But we’re a democratic system, and we get what we deserve.