“The guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea.” – Mao Zedong
Under cover of protesters reacting understandably to what appears to be yet another instance of police brutality, the enemies of our nation have launched what amounts to a full-blown insurgency. Pallets of bricks conveniently show up in time to be thrown through store windows. Networks of celebrities are providing bail money for those who are arrested. Politicians are pledging support to Antifa, even as the Federal government finally labels it a terrorist organization (spoiler: it always has been). And the airwaves are thick with misinformation and misdirection, minimizing the extent to which actual violence and destruction have become daily routine over the past week.
And if that wasn’t enough, at least one potential agent provocateur has now been arrested while posing as a National Guardsman. Keep that in mind the first time you hear of an incident between a Guardsman and a ‘protester.’ Things are not always as they seem, especially in press reports.
This is perhaps the most dangerous moment for the U.S. since 1861. President Abraham Lincoln rightly pointed out:
At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never!–All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. (emphasis added)
And so it was our adversaries, beginning in the Cold War, began the “long march” through American institutions, seizing control of the means to shape the culture in such a way as to alienate a significant portion of the population from loyalty to the United States. Their efforts were greatly aided by the deep scars of slavery and racism in our country. One of the major reasons any sort of lasting racial reconciliation eludes us is that the issue is too useful a wedge for gaining influence — and yes, this is a trick used by partisans of many persuasions. Remember the adage “divide and conquer.”
Now we’ve arrived at a point in our cultural programming where trying to rightly discern between protest and pillaging is dismissed as ‘racist.’ Now Mao’s ‘fish’ in the above quote can swim easily in the ‘sea.’ If only pillaging were the only goal, however.
Mao Zedong literally wrote the book on insurgency, after successfully fighting the Japanese in World War II and toppling the post-war Nationalist government of China. He identified three phases to a revolutionary insurgency:
(1) Organize: Build cells and support
(2) Guerilla Warfare: Undermine the Government
(3) Conventional (open) Warfare to topple the Government
Our internal enemies are well organized and enjoy considerable support from “the commanding heights” of society: educators, politicians, entertainers, wealthy ‘movers and shakers’ and so forth. The violence we now witness is the movement into phase two. Our Federal, State and local leaders are confronted with a choice: show restraint, in which case they look weak, or crack down, in which case the propaganda machine will work overtime to paint them in the worst possible light. Either way, the insurgents seek to reduce support for our government. President Trump has openly criticized State and local leaders for not doing more to control the violence. Contrary to published reports, he is not calling for the arrest or abuse of peaceful protesters. (Don’t rely on reports: listen to the man’s own words. And notice ABC’s headline for the linked video. Do they match?) The corporate media blur the distinction between protester and criminal so that the president’s calls for law and order appear to be an effort to curb legitimate expressions of dissent. Heads, they win. Tails, he loses.
Do not lose sight of the fact that during all of this chaos, the public is not paying attention to the recent declassification and release of very damning documents that show how contrived and politically motivated the entire “Russia Russia Russia” hoax was, and how Michael Flynn was wrongly targeted as part of that process. Powerful people have great reason to do anything to keep focus from turning to these developments. Many have remarked about 2020’s penchant for disaster. Think of the main media themes in the U.S. this year: in January, it was impeachment. Hardly had that fizzled than we were told COVID would kill us all, so better shut society down. Once it was clear society was tired of being shut down and was de facto on the way to opening up, suddenly a case of police brutality sets the nation on fire. (By the way, want to see ‘diversity?’ Look at the four officers involved and fired — it wasn’t a gang of white cops, but photos of officers Thao, Kueng and Lane don’t appear in the Minneapolis Star’s report on Monday. Why is that?.)
None of these events are occurring in isolation. This is not a normal election year.
I believe the experience gained in our overseas fights must be put to use here at home, and quickly. The networks of support for organizing violent, criminal activity, must be rolled up, and those involved forced to pay a high price for their incitements. There are very good reasons not to like Donald Trump, who is a deeply flawed man. But many of his opponents (on both sides of the aisle) are no longer the “loyal opposition” — they are literally fifth columnists who are a domestic threat to the Constitution of the United States, willing to overturn an election through rumor and innuendo from within the apparatus of shadowy government agencies. Never forget that our leaders and our armed forces take an oath requiring them to defend that document against ALL enemies, foreign AND domestic. At the very least, there are a large number of people guilty of sedition in this country. And while treason is a word too lightly tossed around these days, an argument could be made it’s applicable in some cases as well.
Even if the government moves effectively to end the current crisis, it’s not finished. The reason insurgency is so hard to defeat is that unless the ideas and motives behind it are completely discredited, even losing in stage three can leave a small cadre of the committed to begin all over again. This is the type of war we have been fighting in Afghanistan and the Middle East since 9/11, and the reason Al Qaeda and Islamic State still persist, however diminished. Killing combatants is easy. Killing an idea is damned well impossible. (I use “damned” deliberately, as the resiliency of Marxist and Jihadist aspirations, despite the long historical record of horrors in their names, shows the hellish perniciousness of their deceit.)
This is why the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. We have been lulled into complacency, our attention directed anywhere other than where it needs to be. Whether the insurgency grows to phase three or is knocked back to the starting line for another generation depends on Americans learning what’s really going on. Lots of dots need to be connected to see the picture. The question is whether we have the attention span and discernment to do so anymore. Otto von Bismark, the statesman most responsible for the creation of a unified Germany in the 19th Century, is said to have remarked “God has a special providence for fools, drunkards, and the United States of America.”
I certainly hope that still holds true.
A True Progressive 