"The end result, which we want to avoid, is the concentration camp. The gulag. The gas chamber. The Spanish Inquisition. All of those things. If you are in a death camp, no one would fault you for resisting. But when you're being herded towards the gas chamber, naked and seventy pounds below your healthy weight, it's too late. You have no chance. On the other hand, no one would support you if you started an armed rebellion because the government posts speed limits on open roads and arrests people for speeding. So when was it not too late, but also not too early?"
Unintended Consequences (John Ross)
The empirical answer given in the book was "when the new imposition makes future resistance impossible". We submit all too often by going unarmed to locations where legal carry is restricted. Some locations also prohibit cell phones, making communication impossible. However, as a people we are still reasonably well armed and disappearance of a few people would put the rest on high alert. The threat to the American people from its government is a lot lower than the threat from Nazi, Soviet or plain psycho regimes out there...it's our job to keep it that way.
It's odd to be an American who has suffered little or no personal loss at the hands of history's despots who ensured their safety by disarming their people first. We look at the growing mountain of evidence and say, "Oh yeah? Well just wait until they do something really bad..." Meanwhile those who lost family members to history's monsters are loading stripper clips.
We live in interesting times.
1 comment:
Actually, it IS time to start shooting when the state puts speed limit signs on the road and starts stealing money that way, but few people acknowledge that fact. I would never stand in the way of such a rebellion.
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