Tag: leadership

USSA – How Long Has the USA Been Underway in its Socialism/Sovietism?

Just because we are seeing these things out in the open (finally) in the 2020s should not mean that they have not been here (but hidden better) in the previous years and decades in the USA.

Today, in 2021, everyone that can critically think should be able to see that the USA’s Sovietism has progressed to include at least ten key Soviet attributes. [from https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/are-americans-becoming-sovietized ]

For example, below is #4 in this list:

4. The Soviet educational system sought not to enlighten but to indoctrinate young minds in proper government-approved thought.

Currently, cash-strapped universities nationwide are hiring thousands of diversity, equity, and inclusion staffers and administrators. Their chief task is to scan the admissions, hiring, curriculum, and administration at universities. Like good commissars, our diversity czars oversee compliance with the official narrative that a flawed America must confess, apologize for, and renounce its evil foundations.

If you have not seen this attribute in action lately, you must be living under a rock .. or on your own 160 acres somewhere off-grid .. if so, bless you. I am jealous!

The other nine are impressive, so visit the article above that starts out with this as their numero uno:

1. There was no escape from ideological indoctrination—anywhere. A job in the bureaucracy or a military assignment hinged not so much on merit, expertise, or past achievement. What mattered was loud enthusiasm for the Soviet system.

Wokeness is becoming our new Soviet-like state religion. Careerists assert that America was always and still is a systemically racist country, without ever producing proof or a sustained argument.

This transition did not start with Obama, or with FDR, or Wilson, or Lincoln .. it came this way starting way back in the late 1700s when the 13 independent colonies suddenly lost their nerve and decided they needed a leader, like a king only different.

They all knew their Bibles and KNEW of what God had warned the Israelites with they asked for a king ( 1 Samuel 8:10-18 ):

Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

Feeling like slaves yet?

Well, this dependence on a king seems embedded in our DNA, as a majority of the people, the mobs, cry for someone to tell them what to do and keep them safe.

I like how Gary Barnett (writing on Lew Rockwell’s site) calls into question the “Very Notion of ‘Leadership’“:

Leadership? What a curious term for any intelligent man to utter. How many times throughout my life have I listened to the masses clamoring for someone to lead them? Actually, the most prevalent attitude amongst the people is a desire to find the best ‘leader,’ and the epitome of this phenomenon is the ludicrous idea of voting. This process is continuous, and stretches from the heights of the presidency to the choosing of the local dogcatcher. It seems that the quest of men is to not rely on their best judgment or even on their moral beliefs, but to seek out others to follow instead of trusting self. This dilemma has caused much harm, and allowed for the worst among us to control the human narrative.

Can you argue with Gary on this one? As Kevin in ‘Home Alone’ would say:

I don’t think so

Gary continues to outline how this happened in the thirteen former British Colonies after the 1783 Paris Peace Treaty was signed:

Since the beginning of this country, or more accurately, the beginning of the end of this country, that time when the political class came up with a ruling document called the Constitution, ownership of the people by a governing body has been the prevailing state of existence. Throughout our history, this has become more evident with every passing administration. And what has been the people’s only recourse? They have been allowed by their rulers to pick a new pre-selected master (leader) every four years. They always get the ‘leader’ they so desire and deserve, and to this day, this process of voting, the epitome of absurdity, continues without question. Given this scheme, is it any wonder that a fake virus pandemic has brought this country to its knees?

Slaves/sheep that chose their bondage deserve to be on their knees. This seems to be the sad default of the mad masses that call “America” their home.

The more things change, the more things stay the same.

Make no mistake about it; looking for leaders can only assure defeat. Each and every person needs to become his own leader, his own ruler, and needs to stand on his own two feet. With progress in that direction, the fake ‘leaders’ can be eliminated, one by one, and then some semblance of freedom can be restored.

“Anarchism, to me, means not only the denial of authority, not only a new economy, but a revision of the principles of morality. It means the development of the individual as well as the assertion of the individual. It means self-responsibility, and not leader worship.”

~ Voltairine de Cleyre (2012). “Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre — Anarchist, Feminist, Genius”, p.156, SUNY Press

Self responsibility is the key characteristic that needs to be passed from generation to generation.

-SF1

02NOV1780 – British Lt. Gen Charles, Lord Cornwallis Green Lights Lt. Col. Tarleton

The context for this decision by Corwallis to “green light” Tarleton is essential toward understanding the gravity of this moment in the confederation’s (thirteen colonies joined together for this cause) war for independence from the British Empire.

My previous post showed how Francis Marion’s winning streak was turning society away from leaning toward an inevitable “Loyalist” South Carolina and swelled the ranks of the patriots. From the book “Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution“:

Marion’s victory at Tearcoat Swamp left the British high command in a state of panic. With no effective enemy force in the field, Marion now had the ability to strike at will throughout the entire area of South Carolina east of the Wateree River and north of the Santee.

As a result it had become almost impossible for the British to safely send supplies or communications from the coast to Cornwallis’s army. The Santee, the major navigable river flowing through the heart of the state, did not connect directly to either Georgetown or Charleston. Therefore, to move supplies from the coast to Camden and Winnsboro, it was necessary to use both roads and waterways. Typically the British traveled either overland or by boat to Nelson’s Ferry, where they crossed the Santee, then by wagon to Camden. But because of the threat Marion posed, the British were afraid to cross at Nelson’s and began taking a longer, more circuitous route to the northwest over more difficult roads to Friday’s Ferry on the Congaree River. From there they crossed the Congaree and traveled overland to Camden and Winnsboro.

Desperate times calls for desperate measures apparently. Lord Cornwallis, who prided himself publicly as a man who fought with honor decided to give in to Banastre Tarleton’s pleas to go after the guerrilla militia leader Marion. This was not just Cornwallis granting just any staff officer their desire, it was a calculated move based on Tarleton’s history, character and reputation. Cornwallis was brilliant in strategy, however, it seems that his assumption that American colonial society would quickly forget atrocities (underestimating “blowback”) may well have been one of his weaknesses, along with pride.

From the movie “The Patriot” (2000):

  • Benjamin Martin: I’ve just read into the mind of a genius. Cornwallis knows more about war then any of us could ever hope to learn in a dozen lifetimes. His victories at Camden and Charleston were perfect, perfect. The thing is, he knows that… and perhaps that’s his weakness.
  • Gabriel Martin: Sir?
  • Benjamin Martin: Pride. Pride’s a weakness.
  • Major Jean Villeneuve: Personally, I would prefer stupidity.
  • Benjamin Martin: Pride will do.

Basically, the man Cornwallis chose is the antithesis of Francis Marion. Read the following from John Oller’s words and see for yourself:

Young (twenty-six in 1780), boyishly handsome, athletically built, a drinker, gambler, and womanizer, he cut the sort of dashing figure that some have mistakenly ascribed to Marion. His stock in trade was his ruthless pursuit of his quarry followed by a headlong, frontal cavalry attack, with sabers flashing and slashing when he inevitably caught up with them. Son of a wealthy Liverpool slave-trading merchant, Tarleton attended Oxford and studied law at London’s prestigious Middle Temple before quitting to follow his friend and fellow Oxfordian, Francis Rawdon, into the military.

He purchased a “cornet,” or commission, in the British cavalry in 1775 and voluntarily sailed to America to fight with the king’s men. He was part of Clinton’s first, unsuccessful attack on Charleston, saw action at Brandywine, and helped capture Charles Lee, the Continental commander, in a raid on a tavern in late 1776. During the British occupation of Philadelphia he gambled away his salary, nearly dueled an officer whose mistress he dallied with, ..

Next, let us add in the 1780MAY actions of Tarleton as a follow-up to the British capturing Charlestown:

.. In late May, Cornwallis had dispatched Tarleton and his Legion of 230, along with a company of 40 British army dragoons, to pursue Colonel Abraham Buford. Having arrived too late to reinforce Charleston, Buford and his 350 Virginia Continentals were then on the run toward North Carolina. With them were Governor John Rutledge and some members of his council, who had fled Charleston before it fell.

Although the Americans had a ten-day head start on him, Tarleton drove his men relentlessly forward, covering 150 miles in fifty-four hours to catch up with them. Rutledge barely avoided capture by veering off from the main force hours ahead of the pursuers, but Tarleton overtook Buford just shy of the North Carolina border at a place called the Waxhaws. There, in Tarleton’s own words, “slaughter was commenced.”

Some historians think this is shear propaganda, however, there have been many direct sources that relay some rather harsh orders that this 28 year old gave to his men.  Here is some more detail from the claims that emerged after this event:

The patriot side claimed that after the fighting stopped, Tarleton’s men were guilty of outright massacre, hacking Buford’s men to death even as they lay down their arms and begged for quarter. “Tarleton’s Quarter” (meaning take no prisoners) and “Buford’s Massacre” became rallying cries for the patriots in later battles, notably King’s Mountain. What is sometimes overlooked is that although the commander of the king’s troops at both King’s Mountain and the Waxhaws was a Briton, virtually all the slaughtering was done by Americans against Americans.

This man had no long-term appreciation for what America would be like after his assumption of British subjection of the rebel spirit. This man is very much unlike Francis Marion in almost every way.

In the six months Tarleton had been in the colony of South Carolina, he bested the likes of William Washington, Issac Huger, A. Buford and even Thomas Sumter, all of senior rank to Tarleton. With a reputation like this, Corwallis was hoping for a quick win from someone who could get things done, even if it was done ruthlessly. Cornwallis had already spent more time than he would have liked in this southern colony and was anxious to maneuver north to bring a quick end to this conflict and bring the colonies back under the British wing.

With the “green light”, Tarleton moves out of Winnsboro which is 30 miles west of Camden and will take several days ride to arrive in the area Marion and his militia might be. Tarleton will be leading what is called a British Legion, which is actually a loyalist cavalry (American Tories) unit that was recruited from both New York and Pennsylvania. Legions consisted of traditional saber carrying cavalry and dragoons which are infantry who traveled on horses who had pistols and muskets.  Tarleton’s men wore green coats to set them from the redcoat British regulars.

The hunt is on, for this “fox” that has interrupted British operations in the region.

Stay tuned.

-SF1

 

1780OCT – War Amongst Us, What is that Like?

I do believe it is easy for those insulated from war to have no clue as to the short and long term impact of war on people and society. Many of the politicians, generals and admirals remain out of harms way while giving orders to troops on the ground, in the air and on the oceans treating all of this like a video game. At the end of the day they return to their suburban Northern Virginia homes have been able to compartmentalize their day’s decisions that negatively impacted hundreds if not thousands of men and women not counting tens of thousands innocent men, women and children and the lands and societies they have to deal with on a daily basis. American foreign policy is the root negative issue in most parts of this globe while free market forces are solving poverty and other societal issues worldwide in a positive light.

Returning to the 1780 South Carolina colony that is seeking independence in federation with 12 other American colonies from British rule, if one only reads and understands the dates, stats and facts of the various expeditions the British regulars, American Continentals, and militias on both sides accomplished, one misses understanding what it was like for the average family that endured this 7 or 8 year war that was not regulated to far away fields of battle but took place ‘amongst’ us [movie “The Patriot” clip]:

To learn a “Tier 1” only history about a regional conflict only exposes the tip of the iceberg.  Tier 1, if done right should tease readers and listeners to ask questions about Tier 2, a deeper insight into the daily life of the people involved and how it changed the communities involved.

Americans learn Tier 1 in this history classes in schools, Tier 2 requires one to invest the time to seek out deeper understanding, the ability to enter that period of time IN CONTEXT to fully adsorb what was won and what was lost. In the movie “The Patriot”, only the positives were communicated:

The feel good ending to this movie can only allow reality to counterbalance this by investigating, CSI if you will, how free American colonists were before and after the war. While Benjamin Martin (fictitious character that was the combination of three South Carolina militia leaders Pickens, Sumter and Marion) seems to be doing much better, Francis Marion would tell you differently, and that would be even BEFORE the end of this war!

One of the richest insights can be gained by a read of John Oller’s 2016 book “The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution“.  I have included a few clips below that related directly to the posts I have had about October 1780 recently (here, here and here):

With the quieting of the Tory threat east of Camden, Marion sat at Ami’s Mill pondering his next move. On October 4 he confessed to Gates that he had suffered many fatigues over the previous few weeks but had managed to surmount them. He had never had more than sixty or seventy men with him of all ranks, and sometimes as few as a dozen. In some cases he had been forced to fight against men who had left him to join the enemy; he regretted that he had no authority to punish them. If he had a hundred men from Gates’s army, he thought, he could “certainly pay a visit to Georgetown” and attack the British garrison there. But Gates had answered none of his letters—

So early in October, Marion felt very alone after the three wins his militia had in late September that kept the British distracted from rolling up the colonies towards Virginia and eventually toward Washington’s Continentals in Pennsylvania and New Jersey while British General Clinton totally controlled the port of New York with his troops. It had been a stalemate in the north for months now.

Marion also felt the shift in what his leadership skills had to adjust to in commanding Continental regulars who obey verses volunteer militia that could quit at anytime ESPECIALLY if a command was given that the men did not agree with. I contend that this keeps leadership personnel honest and weeds out “management” personnel who are only worried about the status quo and their own position in the politics of things.

Brilliantly, Marion makes yet another bold move ..

Marion decided to make a little probing incursion against Georgetown anyway. He heard that Micajah Ganey, the Tory whose force he had bested at the Blue Savannah, was in Georgetown to reinforce the British garrison there. On October 9 Marion entered the city unmolested with forty men on horse and, once inside, issued a rather audacious demand to the garrison commander to surrender.

So if you have been reading my Tier 1 posts, you thought that Francis Marion and the men that remained with him took three week off from the conflict when in fact, they did venture into “British occupied territory” to harass the Redcoats!

While the British did not surrender …

Before leaving, however, and to show the enemy he was a force to be reckoned with—or just to show off—he took his men on a little parade through the town. They made off with a few horses and some of the enemy’s equipment and captured several notable Tory military men whom Marion immediately paroled to their homes. If nothing else, Marion served notice that if the British wanted to hold the second-largest population center in South Carolina, they would need to keep men and resources tied down there. “This damned Georgetown business,” as the British called it, would prove an unwelcome distraction for months to come.

Marion again attempts communication in his chain of command:

Marion reported to Gates on his little foray, saying he wished to hear from him as soon as possible, for he had received no word from him in a month. As Marion explained, this lack of information forced him to act with extreme caution lest he fall into the enemy’s hands. He closed by asking Gates to excuse his “scrawl,” as he had no table to write on in “this wild woods.” (Sometimes he lacked even paper to write on, which placed a premium on brevity.)

So here you get a little insight into JUST Marion’s world (Tier 2), not even his neighbors miles away near the St. Mark’s district closer to Kingstree, the shopkeepers in Georgetown or anywhere else in South Carolina.

If you wonder why Marion might have targeted Georgetown, you do know that as a teenager he attempted being a sailor and sailed out of Georgetown decades before right? Oh that Tier 2 knowledge sure does help with the context of things. You will find that Marion has a heart for the strategic importance of this port and what it would mean to the patriot cause. However, he was well aware of his limits and would not place his few men in harms way for his dream.

I do hope you are now even more curious about what made this militia leader tick .. if so, welcome aboard!

-SF1

24SEP1780: Intel Received is Evaluated – Time to Move Out of the Swamp

In my last post about Francis Marion, he and a subset of his men were hold up in a mosquito infested swamp just inside North Carolina.

[NOTE: Today, this same swamp would be a huge lake as Hurricane Florence dumped 20+ inches of rain on this exact area this past week in 2018.]

So with Intel detailing the destruction in the Williamsburg SC area being communicated by Major James including details on house burnings, church burnings and turning churches into British army depots, a plan was formed following the same strategy that had given them successes so far in their fight against the tyrannical British effort in the region.

On Sep 24th 1780 after two weeks in the swamp, Marion heads back into South Carolina and at nightfall on 25SEP they reach Kingston (now called Conway) and camp along the Waccamaw River.

[NOTE: In the next few days here in 2018, this river is expected to crest FIVE feet above the highest level seen in recorded history in this region]

Marion and his men end up traveling 60 miles in two days and finds much support as he arrives. He utilizes locals from the Pee Dee River area to guide the 60 man militia through three miles of swamp to avoid detection and with horses swim across the river so by 27SEP they were positioned for another strike in the area.

The strategy again involved, keeping your plans close-in, allowing his men to go to sleep good and then wake them for a night attack .. (to be covered in a subsequent post)

The cool leadership demonstrated by Marion early on in his militia-led actions showed that while there was common ground in the patriot leadership, there were big differences as well. Thomas Sumter (Gamecock) was combative, bold and rash in his approach whereas Francis Marion (later called the Swamp Fox) was described as timid, cautious and would risk nothing. Cornwallis himself would describe Marion as cautious and vigilant and would not jeopardize his men’s lives by relying on Intel, careful planning and shrewd tactics.

Again, it is essential when engaging a force with more resources that one is strategic in engaging the enemy, especially a global empire.

-SF1

20SEP1780: How Long Does the Fox Stay in the Swamp?

In my last post about the adventures of Francis Marion and a small remnant (about 60 men) of his men who in two weeks had cause a large part of the British forces, both Tory militia and British regulars numbering about 1500, to try to hunt him down, Marion’s men had reached the safety of Great White Swamp just 30 miles over the border in North Carolina.

I also shared that British office Wemyss was terrorizing the areas of South Carolina that supported Marion and in a letter to Cornwallis, Wemyss shared his frustrations:

In a letter to Cornwallis on September 20 the thirty-two-year-old Wemyss wrote that he had done everything in his power to nab Marion and Colonel Hugh Giles but lamented that “I never could come up with them.” Nonetheless he boasted that he had broken up their band and forced their retreat into North Carolina. The rest of his report was, in Cornwallis’s view, “not so agreeable.” Wemyss had discovered that every inhabitant in that part of the country was deeply caught up in the rebel spirit, whereas the Tories were dispirited and apathetic. “It is impossible for me to give your Lordship an idea of the disaffection of this country,”

Oller, John. The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution (Kindle Locations 1106-1111). Da Capo Press. Kindle Edition.

Part of Wemyss’ frustration was also on how Capt. James and a few of the Kingstree militia, maybe no more than 20 in number, that had stayed behind in South Carolina to harass the British as they targeted the innocent people and homes. On 15SEP1780 at McGill’s Plantation, Capt. John James, Jr. fires on Maj. James Wemyss and his 63rd Regiment of Foot (200 British Regulars) as well as another 100 men from South Carolina and North Carolina Loyalist militia units.

It would take more than a week for this news to finally reach Marion and it turned into a great excuse to leave their swamp existence as outlined again in John Oller’s book:

… Back at Great White Marsh, camp life had turned grim for Marion’s men. Food was scarce, mosquitoes prevalent, the mood downcast. Among those present was young William Dobein James, whose father and brother were still in Williamsburg Township assessing the situation there…

While there is safety in the swamps, the long hot summer and all the mosquitoes made for almost a more dangerous environment.

… Among those felled by the fever were young William James and Peter Horry. The others were starting to complain and become restless …

These men suspected that in their absence there was nothing good to come from the British having free rein of South Carolina, especially the areas known to support the rebels:

It was Major James who brought word that Wemyss had torched the major’s house as well as the Indiantown Presbyterian Church, where James was an elder and many of Marion’s men regularly worshiped. Other churches were either burned or turned into British army depots, and those that were not were closed by their congregations, as the people felt it was unsafe to gather in public. The men of Williamsburg, aroused as never before, were anxious to take the field again.

Oller, John. The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution. Da Capo Press. Kindle Edition.

So from a two week whirlwind of victories against the British and Tory forces, to a two week respite in the swamps of North Carolina, how did this leader impress the men in their first month together?

Gravity—seriousness of purpose—was what gave Marion the intangible, almost mystical power he held over his men. Although he lacked physical presence or a magnetic personality, they regarded him with awe. Part of their reverence was due to his success, which naturally bred respect. But it was his steady, equable character that most caused them to follow where he led. … “He yielded to few excitements, was seldom elevated by successes to imprudence—as seldom depressed by disappointments to despondency.”

Oller, John. The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution (Kindle Locations 1145-1151). Da Capo Press. Kindle Edition.

Seldom depressed by the vary real circumstances that were totally out of his control, and yet he was able to stay the course. That quiet, resolute character strength was just what the militia needed as they lamented their family and friends lot back home.

It is this steadfastness of character that caused many after the war to pay high respects to this man who humbly led men, whether 20 or 200, in a variety of engagements towards stalling the British in South Carolina and keeping focused on the cause, freedom from tyranny!

Before the end of the war, Marion himself would be very aware that this “tyranny” would not evaporate once the conflict was over. George Mason from Virginia would say in 1782:

“posterity will reflect with indignation that this fatal lust of sovereignty, which lost Great Britain her western world, which covered our country with desolation and blood, should even during the contest against it, be revived among ourselves, and fostered by the very men who were appointed to oppose it!”

Sick, isn’t it? To go through a revolution and end up with practically the same thing? So basically, freedom and liberty in this world is an everyday battle for every generation to embark on. One of my goals is to give insights for the next generations to consider. Passing on not only knowledge, but wisdom if I can.

-SF1