What is the point at which we have "nothing left to lose"? This is not an expression of errant paranoia but rather a call to calm preparedness for the future as we hurtle into a darker age.
I spent the last six months of his life with Spencer MacCallum, helping him complete his life work of preserving his grandfather's ideas. The most important thing I learned from him is to avoid polluting my mind and conversation with the news and the outrage it provokes. It's a hard lesson to learn, and I still struggle with it.
I understand the urge to consider the question of when is enough, but I think Spencer was right. Focusing on future evils and our response takes away from our opportunity to focus on truth, beauty, and growth.
For those interested in Spencer Heath's ideas, I was able to complete the Spencer Heath Archive and deliver it to Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala City. It is also available on their website, ufm.edu. The main thing Spencer and I worked on was completing the book Economics and the Spiritual Life of Free Men, which was published by the American Institute for Economic Research and is available on Amazon.
"The most important thing I learned from him is to avoid polluting my mind and conversation with the news and the outrage it provokes."
Excellent point. Outrage clouds the mind and leads to stupid acts which inevitably trigger more outrage. There's a delicate balance between being negligently uninformed and being glued to every detail of every mess in the world. My general practice is, if I'm getting mired in details that provoke anger, stop digging into more of the mire; the overall picture is already clear and piling on more horror does not add any more clarity.
I am hopeful there are good factions within waiting for their moment to pounce. Prepared to pull the trigger before we as individuals have to. I still encourage us to prepare in the event they fail. It is always wise to have a backup plan.
As I look around, the evil has overexposed itself thinking it has won. Parading down the streets and on every channel. Once again hopeful, this evil will be rounded up and extinguished to a smoldering pile.
This potential darker age can be more of a quick and somewhat painful transition, like that of removing a bandage. Then we will move on to lighter days. A lot of hoping going on with me!😌😝
I feel like the practical philosophy of Cody Wilson (or even J Stark, RIP) is pertinent to this question. Led by a sort of brutalist anarchist ideology, he’s fighting what I think can rightly be characterised as a Cold War with the totalitarians, which suggests there’s a false dichotomy here. I think he would argue - and demonstrate - there are strategically and morally necessary modes of being, stages of mobilisation, between peace and open conflict. The agorists would agree, with their principle of counter economics.
One very comprehensive answer to this question comes in the form of the book “Unintended Consequences” by John Ross, God rest his soul.
Ross uses the analogy of a kidnapper who, having invited you into the back of his van, asks you to be handcuffed “for your safety and mine”. This withdrawal of your freedom of action, he proposes, is the line at which you must fight to the death like a trapped animal with no regard to consequences.
That said, he also proposes a way to effect the “surrender” of the oppressor without a full scale revolt and the level of immediate risk to life and limb such an action brings. The book is a novel, and so it strays a bit into the realm of the unrealistic for entertainment’s sake, but the core principles are sound:
1. Define the fulcrums of power to narrowly limit your targets.
2. Strike these legitimate targets with surgical violence.
3. Amplify the psychological effect on the cogs in the machinery of power via randomness, fear, and doubt.
4. Make the terms (individual surrender) known while remaining anonymous and hidden.
I won’t go into too much more detail, for obvious reasons, but I will simply mention the 2013 killing of Kentucky police officer Jason Ellis. A word to the wise will suffice.
Given the reality of the automobile & airplane...might not our Modern mobility today push those potential Triggers & nothing-left-to-lose crises farther away? Given the whole tilt of Underthrow...might not all those expat Plan-Bs options become more viable? Our colonial forefathers did the "Flight and/or "Secession" first...before firing their muskets, no? Families in debt with children in very woke public schools...with no foresight or Plan-B relocation seem most vulnerable to violence. Whatdaya DO...when the public school guidance counselor & nurse call child services to take you 8-11 kid to be sexually mutilated? What are your options...& does shooting someone solve the problem more than exacerbate it? Not easy choices...when the Totalitarians not only want your Stuff...but your kids and grand-kids too! We might begin by knowing/learning just what safe and affordable Plan B options Are available to us. Beware of where and when you plant your flag...on that hill you die on.
I spent the last six months of his life with Spencer MacCallum, helping him complete his life work of preserving his grandfather's ideas. The most important thing I learned from him is to avoid polluting my mind and conversation with the news and the outrage it provokes. It's a hard lesson to learn, and I still struggle with it.
I understand the urge to consider the question of when is enough, but I think Spencer was right. Focusing on future evils and our response takes away from our opportunity to focus on truth, beauty, and growth.
For those interested in Spencer Heath's ideas, I was able to complete the Spencer Heath Archive and deliver it to Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala City. It is also available on their website, ufm.edu. The main thing Spencer and I worked on was completing the book Economics and the Spiritual Life of Free Men, which was published by the American Institute for Economic Research and is available on Amazon.
"The most important thing I learned from him is to avoid polluting my mind and conversation with the news and the outrage it provokes."
Excellent point. Outrage clouds the mind and leads to stupid acts which inevitably trigger more outrage. There's a delicate balance between being negligently uninformed and being glued to every detail of every mess in the world. My general practice is, if I'm getting mired in details that provoke anger, stop digging into more of the mire; the overall picture is already clear and piling on more horror does not add any more clarity.
I am hopeful there are good factions within waiting for their moment to pounce. Prepared to pull the trigger before we as individuals have to. I still encourage us to prepare in the event they fail. It is always wise to have a backup plan.
As I look around, the evil has overexposed itself thinking it has won. Parading down the streets and on every channel. Once again hopeful, this evil will be rounded up and extinguished to a smoldering pile.
This potential darker age can be more of a quick and somewhat painful transition, like that of removing a bandage. Then we will move on to lighter days. A lot of hoping going on with me!😌😝
I feel like the practical philosophy of Cody Wilson (or even J Stark, RIP) is pertinent to this question. Led by a sort of brutalist anarchist ideology, he’s fighting what I think can rightly be characterised as a Cold War with the totalitarians, which suggests there’s a false dichotomy here. I think he would argue - and demonstrate - there are strategically and morally necessary modes of being, stages of mobilisation, between peace and open conflict. The agorists would agree, with their principle of counter economics.
This is a really good point (no pun). It is important to think of this as stages, not an inflection point.
One very comprehensive answer to this question comes in the form of the book “Unintended Consequences” by John Ross, God rest his soul.
Ross uses the analogy of a kidnapper who, having invited you into the back of his van, asks you to be handcuffed “for your safety and mine”. This withdrawal of your freedom of action, he proposes, is the line at which you must fight to the death like a trapped animal with no regard to consequences.
That said, he also proposes a way to effect the “surrender” of the oppressor without a full scale revolt and the level of immediate risk to life and limb such an action brings. The book is a novel, and so it strays a bit into the realm of the unrealistic for entertainment’s sake, but the core principles are sound:
1. Define the fulcrums of power to narrowly limit your targets.
2. Strike these legitimate targets with surgical violence.
3. Amplify the psychological effect on the cogs in the machinery of power via randomness, fear, and doubt.
4. Make the terms (individual surrender) known while remaining anonymous and hidden.
I won’t go into too much more detail, for obvious reasons, but I will simply mention the 2013 killing of Kentucky police officer Jason Ellis. A word to the wise will suffice.
Really interesting, JM.
https://www.amazon.com/Unintended-Consequences-John-Ross/dp/1888118040/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2W1C6A6ZI7FSL&keywords=unintended+consequences+john+ross&qid=1704909985&sprefix=unintended+con%2Caps%2C107&sr=8-1
Goodness, Solzhenitsyn's warning is so chilling!
We are still having this conversation over at the Freedom Scale. I too do not know the answer.
But I love the MacCallum quote from his correspondence to you. Beautiful.
Given the reality of the automobile & airplane...might not our Modern mobility today push those potential Triggers & nothing-left-to-lose crises farther away? Given the whole tilt of Underthrow...might not all those expat Plan-Bs options become more viable? Our colonial forefathers did the "Flight and/or "Secession" first...before firing their muskets, no? Families in debt with children in very woke public schools...with no foresight or Plan-B relocation seem most vulnerable to violence. Whatdaya DO...when the public school guidance counselor & nurse call child services to take you 8-11 kid to be sexually mutilated? What are your options...& does shooting someone solve the problem more than exacerbate it? Not easy choices...when the Totalitarians not only want your Stuff...but your kids and grand-kids too! We might begin by knowing/learning just what safe and affordable Plan B options Are available to us. Beware of where and when you plant your flag...on that hill you die on.