The communists were very careful and deliberate in ensuring that the actions of the internal police were made valid through law and rationalized as a part of “class struggle.” Such laws were left so open to interpretation that literally any evil committed could later be vindicated. Man-made law is often a more powerful weapon than any gun, tank, plane or missile, because it triggers apathy within the masses. For some strange reason, when corrupt governments legalize their criminality through legislation or executive decree, the citizenry suddenly treats that criminality as legitimate and excusable.
Incremental prosecution and oppression is effective when the establishment wishes to avoid outright confrontation with a population. Attempt to snatch up a million people at one time, and you will have an immediate rebellion on your hands. Snatch up a million people one man at a time, or small groups at a time, and people do not know what to think or how to respond. They determine to hope that the authorities never get to them, that it will stop after a few initial arrests, or they hope that if they censor themselves completely, they will never be noticed.
Brandon Smith
February 24, 2016
A Warning To The Feds On Incremental Prosecutions Of The Liberty Movement
[I believe Smith is correct about human nature. In Washington State and some others it’s against the law, I-594, to loan your hunting rifle to your life-long friend for the weekend. If you were to assume the claimed motivation for the law is to reduce violence crime is true then it’s an incredibly stupid law. But I suspect many people avoid breaking that law and if they were prosecuted would blame themselves rather than the law and those who voted for it.
As you follow your nature please remember what Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn said:
And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family?
It’s entirely natural to follow the law. But sometimes that which is natural is not what is best for you or society as a whole.—Joe]
Stanley Milgram’s work. ‘Nuf said.
Love that quote…
Just because something is “legal” it is not necessarily right of legitimate. The tag line from Nuremberg of “I was just following orders” will be heard in the aftermath of the coming conflict and will be just as lame and invalid.
Conversely, just because something is illegal doesn’t make it wrong. Lysander Spooner argued the point very well in his two wonderful books “The Unconstitutionality of Slavery” and “An Essay on the Trial by Jury”. The latter is by far the best argument for Jury Nullification I have ever seen (it traces its history back right to the start, about 1000 years ago).
Modern politicians like all those laws. It allows them to throw people in jail easily. They resist efforts to repair things, like establishing mens rea as necessary for criminal conviction — Chuck Grassley, the slime ball senator from Iowa, said so explicitly (“it would make convicting people harder”).
We certainly live in interesting times. Given America’s penchant for arming itself, we have quite the powder keg on our hands. Coupled with America’s rebellious streak (see e.g. the Bundy Ranch standoff), I don’t think that TPTB want anything to do with poking the honey badger. I also don’t like the popularity of that Trump character. I would prefer if the South American dictator types stayed down there, thank you very much. The decline is not going to be a smooth ride.
Don’t worry, El Trumperón will fix everything. I’m sure of it.