So how does the ability to see things as they really are in spite of what others, the mob, the news or official history tells us to believe? What influences our ability to critically think for ourselves while we are bombarded with information that wants us to AND rewards us for conforming to some narrative that society and the elite want us all to worship?
I am still working on this.
The reflection of this was prompted by this article in RT that had some very real observations around how kids in the last year were abused:
“.. Abiding by the new age medical maxim that commands ‘everyone stop living so that you don’t die’ is no way to live. Yet that is exactly how millions of youngsters have been forced to cope with a disease that poses, in the overwhelming majority of cases, no more of a health risk to them than riding a bicycle or crossing an intersection…”
Will kids ever forgive us (actually, the political-medical complex with Gates/Fauci) for depriving them of their childhood? What we put them through has been ruinous for their mental health. Did anyone “count the cost” when they decided to lock-down and mask-up society across the globe?
The message of liberty and freedom in the face of fierce propaganda in the last year has been an uphill battle for the remnant that still believe that these principles are the healthiest for each individual personally and for societies in the long run that treasure people’s character and sense of responsibility.
Some claim that right culture and breeding is the key. In looking at my own ancestors to see which side of the tree might have passed down the desire for liberty to myself, I have a few possibilities, but they are in the extreme minority. It seems the remnant is a real thing in every generation as it most certainly not the mobs that treasure freedom. The closest I can see in my own ancestry comes from my mom, her mom and her grandmother as being the feisty if not rebellious black sheep type that can respect others, but not fear them OR base ones words and actions on the way others might think of us.
Culture is also an interesting influence. This article from Abbeville Institute shares how a proper culture can cultivate a freedom-bent and a liberty-centric view on life itself.
These past several years, we Americans have been living in an accelerating anti-cultural vortex. Day by day the Yankee juggernaut gains steam. Once content with carpetbombing Hanoi and Baghdad, the Yankees are now taking their civilizational demolition derby back South, where it all began. Topple the Southern statues, spraypaint the Southern monuments, mock the Southern accents and folkways, and cancel Southern history and culture from Hoppin’ John soup to pine nuts. You may have heard once or twice over the past few years that everyone (except Yankees) is a racist.
Doubly so for Southerners. Even Georgia native Clarence Thomas got cancelled—during Black History Month—for being too Southern for Yankee sensibilities to handle. I have no doubt that the Yankees will cancel Booker T. Washington and sweet tea next. The former was ornery enough to reject perennial victimhood by insisting that someone could rise “up from slavery,” after all, and the latter, alas, contains neither kale nor tofu.
In conclusion, the author Jason Morgan writes from Japan:
Now, when we need culture and breeding the most—seeing so plainly that the Yankee has neither—let us give thanks that we were born and raised to live like ladies and gentlemen. I have never been so grateful as I am this very day to be a Louisianan, by way of Alabama and Tennessee. (Full disclosure: I once spent time in Wisconsin and Ohio. Please pray for me.) We are universally loathed by the Yankee as barefoot, illiterate, gap-toothed racists. God bless America! To be disdained by a Yankee is a gift from God. And bless the Yankee heart, because he just doesn’t know what it is to have a place in the world.
Let this little missive be a candlelight in the dark to my fellow Southerners. We are perfectly positioned to survive the collapse of Yankeedom, which we see accelerating day by day right before our eyes. There has never been a better time than right now to be a Southerner.
That is funny right there I don’t care who you are, bless their hearts 🙂
But reflecting on this, when one has the influence from a small like-minded group or even a wolf-pack, one can grow to further embrace the liberty-centric life with the encouragement of others.
We can learn from 1774/1775/1776 as well as from 1860/1861 when politicians short term thinking causes a societal rift that most times lead to violent revolutions that result in further oppression of the common man.
The last great rift in the US’s history is none other than the victor’s name for that war, the American Civil War (War Against Southern Independence). A blog post from the Abbeville Institute by John Devanny helps unpack not only what happened in the 1860s .. but also what is happening now. Consider:
The guns of that [Civil] war have long since been silenced, slavery has thankfully ceased, and racial bigotry has waned greatly in the succeeding generations, no matter what the “woke” among us believe; we who have more years and experience know better. An older conflict, however, re-emerged. One need only consult an election map broken down by county to see this ancient Anglo-American conflict in colors of red and blue, center versus periphery, court versus country. The great metropolitan cities and suburbs, college towns, the financial centers, the techno-autocrats of the left coast, and their suburbs arrayed against the small towns and rural counties of America. Neither slavery nor sectionalism nor the two-party system obscures the conflict now. A wide and deep enmity and distrust now separates Americans and reaches its icy hands to divide colleagues, friends, and families.
The year 2020, perfect vision, should make it clear, crystal clear to everyone, that there is a great divide in this land. There are those that think no one should be responsible for themselves, and for the greater good allow politicians and bureaucrats dictate society’s every move who oppose those who believe in the individual, their natural right to life, liberty and property.
So in reflection, it can be seen that in 1860, the legitimacy of the newly elected government was in doubt, as it was obvious by the rhetoric of these politicians that the northern states would accelerate the wealth transfer (via tariffs) from south to north. No longer did the south give their consent to this federal compact.
The election of 1860 and the actions and policies of Mr. Lincoln called into question the legitimacy of the federal government for many Southerners. It brought to life the warnings of John Randolph of Roanoke and John C. Calhoun, the South would be governed by the North, Southern interests, and not just slavery, were put into the hazard. For Calhoun, one of the dangers to the federal republic’s integrity was the rejection of the principle that the union’s benefits and burdens were to be shared equally by the states. The Republican Party’s motto might as well have been that of every other conqueror in history, “Woe to the conquered, spoils to the victor.” The Republican Party had no intention of resisting the temptation of indulging their libido dominandi, and with John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster, and Henry Clay removed from the scene after 1850, compromise was impossible. This being the case, Southern states concluded, one by one and often for somewhat different reasons, that the federal government lacked legitimacy. The resort to military force upon the part of the federal government only confirmed their suspicions.
Back in 1860, there was a great swath of Christians that allowed many military conflicts to avoid destruction to innocent civilian bystanders until later in the war when the likes of Sheridan, Sherman and Grant were desperate enough for total victory that their total war strategy would be used to exterminate the southern culture and then be used on the plains Indians to do the same.
Today, society is very post-Christian and also post-rational as the blog author points out. The years to come will not be pretty.
The great crisis of legitimacy that resulted in the War Between the States proved our country’s greatest and bloodiest war. For the states of Maryland and Kentucky, it was a true civil war, where brother fought brother, cousin fought cousin, yet these implacable foes did retain their humanity toward each other, ‘twas a more Christian age. All of America is now Maryland and Kentucky, circa 1860. The difference is the Court and the Country revile each other, and the lessons of the classics and Christianity will not provide restraint, not in a post-Christian and post-rational society. Three of our greatest statesmen: Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun could only forestall the awful conflict. Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Alexander Stephens, and Stephen Douglas, all able men to one degree or another, they and the others of their generation blundered the nation into a horrible conflict. What are we to make of likes of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Janet Yellen, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, Mike Lee, William Barr and the vast sea of mediocrities and blackguards inhabiting the foggy bottom swamp upon which the Court stands? No one can seriously entertain the notion that these persons are of the caliber of the Framers, the Great Triumvirate, or the Blundering Generation. Are they even capable of discerning the mischief their policies and negligence have wrought upon the country, or the deep mistrust they have helped to sow among their countrymen? What shall future generations make of such men and women?
We can only pray that a minority, a remnant, would rise up and give hope to those who value freedom and liberty not just for themselves, but for the generations that follow.
To kickoff this post, try Ingraham Angle, 16 Sep 2020:
At about 3:30m mark, Laura points out Biden’s NATIONALISM binge as he wants national standards for return to school, mask mandating and rolling lockdowns all controlled by the US federal government.
I for one am more than happy that those in the former federated republic known originally as the united States (seen in early 1780 documents), that there is still enough federalism left to allow South Dakota to opt out of the political house arrest/lockdowns/mandatory mask reaction to Covid-19. It is GOOD, I contend, that state government judicial branches can overturn Covid-19 executive orders like they did in PA and legislatures doing their job like they did in ID. One size fits all does not work in the US, and honestly, does NOT work inside most states! States need to be aware of the regions and cultures in their own arbitrary boundaries and allow county, city or village differences.
So it seems that most GOP love nationalism (flag, national anthem even though it is socialist to the core and worship of the military) and the Democrats who swore by “sanctuary cities” NOW swears by nationalism (once they are in power). I hate both .. both wings of the same party love the measles of nationalism.
I contend that if the Articles of Confederation were in force today, there would NOT be this epic power struggle to be in control of the US federal government, because it would be the weak servant of the states, which is what the founders originally wanted. Now that the STATE is not only the master of the states (on the government plantation), but is also the master of the world as the strongest empire, telling other countries what to do and dinging them with embargoes and sanctions if they don’t.
So where does that leave those of us in the US today after it has been made clear that we have closet tyrants at EVERY level of government from federal, state down to the local level? What options does the “remnant” have to deal with compliant sheep/slaves in this system, used and abused by their government masters? Can politics fix this?
“Respect without fear may come from being prepared and keeping all things in proper perspective.” – John Wooden
Perspective, critical thinking, knowing your options are all essential skill sets to have in this 2020 environment not just in the USA, but also in most countries in the world as the political chess players are making their moves.
The USA itself is forever in a huge debt cycle compliments of the FED, and most European countries are in the same state of affairs. The socialist moves (thanks to BOTH Democrats and Republicans in the USA) over the past 100 years have eroded the ability for people to rise up themselves and be innovators in their business adventures. When technologies would afford people to become true entrepreneurs, this 2020 Crisis has crippled startups and other businesses to seemingly force government loans/grants to ensure continued corporate welfare dependency on a new generation of small businesses and the bailout of large corporate entities as well.
In an effort to mask the underlying financial hole that consumes a large part of the world, Covid-19 followed by accusations of racism and white supremacy have been followed by … Covid-19 again. Take 3.
A hundred years ago, back in the early 1900s, most people in the USA were farmers who had to understand free markets, investments in capital, saving for a rainy day as well as the science behind making their farms profitable. Most were a principled people who knew their individual connection to society. These people had perspective, they were critical thinkers as their lives depended on it and their efforts in farming with nature’s storms and droughts meant they feared men less and respected God more.
Since those days we have lost so much of our principles in our society as government has become daddy, nanny, our god and/or a safety net and more recently an entity that can be called on to make us all FEEL better. It seems that the longer people are in government schools, the more they conform to the government’s mold. This sadly is by design of course.
Today, everyone is offended, monuments, books and movies all can trigger a bad feeling so they must all go away. The US political party called Democrats have generally encouraged this temper tantrum behavior.
Well, y’all enjoy your moment in the sun because there is a day coming where reality will hit you like one of Aunt Minnie’s pies from the movie “The Help”
Some day when the government runs out of other people’s money, those who have been on the government dole will find out what was really in that government “pie”. There ain’t no way you can easily recover from the revelation that you have been a pawn in their game all your life or for many families, for generations.
There are also other political forces (known as the GOP) that are now upset with all the destruction of (their) things that are so very important to them .. like monuments, buildings and the like. They too are being triggered as this is all somehow ending Western Civilization. Well, if it was only these monuments, books or movies that was keeping it going, it was indeed a hollow shell.
Now, let me be very clear, I do contend that destruction of property is a crime no doubt. But I do wish that instead of “public” monuments that these would have been private monuments so that private citizens could defend them on private land without government interference or arrests! You see, having the government own land is not a good thing. The common square can be trashed and government workers are told to defend themselves instead of protecting people or property. It is never government’s fault for anything.
But I digress.
We in 2020 tend to think in terms of either/or. We are for BLM/Antifa or for Trump/GOP/Neo-cons. Well this is BS as there are other ways.
There is indeed another road or two that most people have not found yet. Many might know it in their head but it ain’t in their heart. Religion and politics have inoculated many of these from these alternate roads where one can really respect all as being made in God’s image while fearing no man.
Historically, the Enlightenment from the 1700s on brought some great things but also sought to elevate man and his political governments above God and so now the republics have turned towards socialism which can lead to fascism, Marxism and communism who all see in their minds:
This life is all there is
A most beautiful future where everyone is equal
A future place where no one gets their feelings hurt
A core benefit that Global Warming is stopped so Mother Earth is saved thanks to man’s efforts
Those who know their history know that Marxism/Communism has been tried before time and again with millions killed by their own governments only to see the whole s**tshow collapse time and again. Just ask Russia! Is it no wonder that Russia learned from its pre-1990 times and therefore keeps Rothschild, Soros and Bill Gates from having influence in their republic?
While that side-show is in progress, the elites are now looking to utilize this turbulence to exert more control on the population while reducing it to a size that they can “manage” in a generation or two. Yes, there are evil people thinking about this day and night for their whole lives. They are not like you and me, on the outside they look normal, but inside they are pure evil. (again, think Rothschild, Soros and Gates) They all dream of a sequel to the American Empire.
So, what are the alternatives?
One way has been a hidden road that is revealed with some history of what happened a couple of thousand years ago another empire was falling as well. From what I understand, Jesus and his followers had it right on many levels as how to approach this life in this broken world, in their case, inside the Roman Empire:
This all is not about flesh and blood but about good and evil powers and principalities
‘For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.‘ The Bible – Ephesians 6:12
This is not about church buildings, monuments, etc.
“believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” The Bible – John 4:21
It is not the things of this world that sustains us in times of crisis, but what is written on our heart
“..you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” The Bible – 2 Corinthians 3:3
The followers of Jesus, were made free by His love, even when 50% of them were still slaves in the Roman Empire. They were all an inspiration to others in the midst of the empire’s fall. Their oral histories were carried on for generations! This was mainly an underground movement for many years.
It does seem that all it takes is small numbers of people (a remnant) in every country, where it seems that the “safety” governments promised is eroding in the face of violence, that can make a difference one person at a time, spontaneously. We shall see if Jesus-followers make a difference this time.
As to another road or way to live, I look for those with a more libertarian bent that may or may not be Jesus-followers. I for one believe that this other “remnant” and true Jesus followers are not that much different. Both believe in the non-aggression principle BUT still believe in self-defense. Both have a concern for others as INDIVIDUALS and do not play into group definitions. Both also allow others the space to figure things out on their own and will not intrude into their space in an effort to change them. Both allow others to observe their lives, their course that is based on their own principles of life, their North Star, to influence others by their actions.
These roads do not take the top-down attempt to MAKE society worthy of the principles of freedom and liberty. Both of these are grassroots efforts, ignoring political quagmires, in an effort to positively impact others one person or one home at a time from the ground up.
Just as the liberty minded of the 1770s who risked all to exit their security, the British Empire, were actually “formed and molded” by the events of the 1760s where many grew up in their critical thinking and formed a foundation for themselves of principles, either on God and/or on freedom.
These are indeed most interesting times!
So may it be in the midst of this 2020 crisis, we can see clearly a small but encouraging uprising not only in the back-country, but also in the inner-city and suburbs from those that know God as well as those who don’t yet.
Don’t look for this on the news, as any underground movement will remain hidden for some time. Maybe in the next 10-15 years we will begin to see amazing things from small beginnings, a society that changes from the inside out, taking on the Golden Rule (below) as a way to live.
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you”
In my previous post I opened up the whole concept of the remnant as it was offered by Albert Jay Nock in the 1930s to describe those who could see what the masses could not. His thought was that is was a huge waste of time and effort to educate the masses, and that it was much more effective to address the remnant, even if it meant a much smaller audience and rarely any reward factor.
I talked about my school experience transition where I was able to see it for what it was by age 10 as my parents separated and I moved with my mother and sister to California for my 5th grade school year. My whole personality changed with this new adventure in the midst of a time of crisis, where my parents were heading toward divorce.
My second of three major transitions came in the part of life that many people talk about the least. While most see this as religion, I see this more as faith and hope. Many, like myself were introduced to faith through religion, especially in my generation ( #60ish ), and that experience could have been good or bad, however, if you are one of the remnant, you might be “gratefully disillusioned”.
In hindsight I would change nothing, because my faith journey toward who I am today required that I navigate (with the assistance of the Great Navigator) my own way to the understanding I have today and where I might be going in whatever tomorrows I still have. I had mentioned last week:
I think it is by design that truth makes itself know in a process verses just being taught. While knowledge helps, there is nothing like a crisis to unpack that truth that had been simmering for months and years before.
This holds true for me in my own process of developing a faith worldview.
The process started in my earliest memories of attending a fairly large conservative church where a majority were of Dutch ancestry in the Midwest. The typical cycle of weekly religious life was church attendance TWICE on Sunday, at 9:30am and 6pm with almost NO “fun” allowed on that “day of rest”.
Many families would have cooked their Sunday meal the night before and prepared for a day, the “Sabbath”, to reflect on where they came up short with their creator. The church service was designed by John Calvin’s followers to be a rather dour experience where man’s degenerative nature was emphasized and I was quickly aware of the sour faces around me for that hour of organ music and hymns followed by a sermon from the “dominie” ( minister / professional pastor ) who spoke God’s Word at us in no uncertain terms.
Dominie is a Scots language and Scottish English term for a Scottish schoolmaster usually of the Church of Scotland and also a term used in the US for a minister or pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church
By Monday morning I was on my way to Christian school where the underlying emphasis was still communicated as almost all our lessons came from the Bible’s Old Testament and God was someone you always feared. Staying on the right path performance wise seemed to be the only way to avoid God’s wrath and judgement until one went to Heaven to be with Him forever. Midweek there was a Catechism class taught at the church and so we were bused from the Christian school to the church for another hour of instruction on what is called the Heidelberg Catechism, a question and answer format that was foundational to this Calvinistic theological matrix that emphasized total depravity of man, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace and perseverance of the saints. ( known by the acronym TULIP, how Dutch is that? ) The only day without religious expectations was Saturday, which to me meant Little League, college football and playing with neighborhood friends except for weekends when our family went to my grandparent’s dairy farm for the day to visit, which itself was an interesting experience that I plan to talk about someday.
Inside this rhythm of religion, I started to explore the only option I had during the minister’s sermon on Sunday mornings, the Bible. Instead of paging through the Old Testament, I started reading the New Testament books where I discovered a whole new “lens” to see what faith was beyond the typical religious wrappings and trappings. I found it interesting that Jesus came humbly into the world and took His time to start His official ministry, that he was marginalized in His own hometown and that He chose gnarly fishermen to be on His team. This was not an exclusive religious performance culture, but an inclusive relationship-based friendship culture. The nautical culture that Jesus introduced His friends to the real loving Father he had, would impact the early Jesus-follower’s vocabulary for generations. The anchor symbol meant a hope to a future, whether on this earth or not.
“At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in.” ~ CS Lewis
So in the middle of religion, I found a relational faith that would take years and decades to unpack. I will post an “Episode 2” in a few days that expands on my journey during the balance of my school years from 5th grade and beyond.
In hindsight, towards the end of this journey, I have learned to relax in this relational faith in the middle of the storms of life.
As opposed to religious obligation says that it is all up to you, where, if God isn’t doing the things you want, you have to work harder, stand firmer and pray longer. The religious focus I have found is on your performance, your obedience, your righteousness.
Outside that box, you will learn to rely on Him ( Abba Father or Papa ) alone and recognize that any time you give up responsibility for your spiritual and faith nourishment to another person – whether friend, pastor or author, you’ve already traded away a bit of your freedom, for life in a box.
So in these days I picture this:
.. and I leave you with this:
Peace out ..
The anchor holds
Though the ship is battered
The anchor holds
Though the sails are torn
I have fallen on my knees
As I faced the raging seas
The anchor holds
In spite of the storm
