Guest Post by The Zman
A popular fantasy among the more edgy conservatives is that one day, the Left will get the civil war they claim they want and then they’ll get it good and hard. In this fantasy, those gun-toting, constitution-loving conservatives will show Lefty why the right to bear arms was enshrined in the Constitution. It is a popular fantasy on-line, because revenge fantasies are fun and they provide relief for well-founded frustration. In reality, the great conflagration will never look like the fantasy.
Civil wars are when two sides in the ruling class cannot find a middle ground and refuse to give into the other side. The English Civil War, for example, was a fight between those elites who supported the King and those who supported Parliament. Sure, commoners were in the mix and rose in status, but it was largely a war between two factions within the elite. The same was true of the American Civil War. Slavery was the pretext, but it was largely an extension of the English Civil War.
Revolutions, on the other hand, are when a new elite overthrows the old elite, because the old system offers no way for the new elite to join the elite. The French Revolution is often framed as a peasant rebellion, but the Jacobins who led the revolt were educated and capable men, a new elite for a new age. The Bolshevik Revolution was similar, except there was competition for who would be the new elite. The communists won, so they got to name the revolution after themselves.
In modern America the ruling class is as unified as it has ever been. Look around at the high ground of Imperial life and it is hard to find any dissenters. The revolt within Washington against Trump is a good example. Factions that have claimed to be opponents work naturally together to thwart the people’s choice. In fact, genuine dissidents are presented with a shield wall guarding the high ground of the empire, a sign of elite unity that is deliberately intimidating.
That said, no ruling elite is as unified as what is being presented. In fact, these histrionic demands for unity are a sign they fear a lack of will and unity. The tech oligarchs censuring a mainstream media site is one of those signs that maybe all is not well on the other side of the walls. The elite media may be focused on defeating the evil orange man right now, but they see the danger in what is happening. There are frictions on the other side that could one day be fissures.
No matter how unified a ruling elite may be, they have certain duties they must perform in order to remain in power. The reason people allow themselves to be pushed around is the order provided by even the worst rulers ensures they have shelter, food and a predictable amount of safety. Freedom ain’t worth a damn if you cannot attain the essentials to sustain your life. The big talk about preferring liberty to safety is just that, as people always choose safety over freedom, if those are the choices.
When people begin to sense that the invisible bargain between the people and the ruler is breaking down, that the ruler is not holding up his end of the bargain, that is the beginning of an insurrection. After all, if the ruler cannot provide the basics, like food and safety, what’s the point of having a ruler? Those rooftop Koreans during the Rodney King riots were the stirrings of insurrection. The militias guarding property in Kenosha were the flicker of insurrection among the middle-class.
Every ruling elite relies on legitimacy. The people over whom they rule must accept them as the sovereign. Otherwise, the ruling elite must rely on force and that is the most expensive form of rule, draining both the elite and the subjects from whom they extract that which sustains them. Rule by force is unsustainable. It is why the ruling class must maintain its legitimacy. The crisis we see today is a crisis of legitimacy, where a growing portion of the public questions the legitimacy of the system.
If we are ever to get to anything close to that fantasy of those gun-toting, constitution-loving conservatives, it will first start as an insurrection. Here and there, people will look around and realize the state cannot or will not perform its basic functions. If the cops, for example, refuse to do their job, then people take up arms. If the state cannot run the schools properly, people pull their kids from them. Individually these acts are trivial, but collectively they change the public consciousness.
It is not just among the Dirt People that we are seeing signs of insurrection. We see states refusing to abide by federal law. We see cities in open revolt against the national and state government over policing. Federal judges are refusing to abide by the rules of the court, over ruling legitimate actions by the President. This revolt of the elites is more like an insurrection within the elite. They no longer accept the legitimacy of the system that allows them to be an elite.
This is the soil of revolution. On the one hand, you have the people seeing a breakdown of that invisible bargain between themselves and their rulers. Basic things like road maintenance, policing and public order are not being done. On the other hand, you have members of the elite who no longer accept the authority of the system in which they function, causing that system to further breakdown. American is a machine that is breaking down and no one wants to repair it.
There is a small caveat to that. There is a core of heritage Americans who do want to fix the machine, but they are now treated as an enemy by the elites. The civic nationalists calling for reform are treated as subversives, enemies of the state, by the people controlling the apparatus of the state. Increasingly, the people are viewing them as fools for thinking there is any way back to the old normal. The civic nationalist is quickly becoming the royalist of this age.
Not all insurrections result in revolution. Insurrections are quelled either by the firm smack of authority from a unified and confident ruling class or through the careful reform of that ruling elite in response to the insurrection. This is the crossroads in which America now stands. Will the elite unify and crack down on the people or will they begin the process of imposing long overdue reforms on themselves? Or, has that ship already sailed and we headed for insurrection then a revolution?
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For change to happen society would need to bottom out. Like when a drug addict realizes how bad his life has truly become. Our media just keeps the lie alive. So do printing and debt. I never thought that about half the country would embrace Communism. I guess they are so stupid they don’t even know what Communism is.
I assume nearly 80% of people have never travelled outside the usa and only know 1% of other forms of govt or history. They will revolt heavily, even the lefty snowflake soy boys when they realize what they did to themselves. Problem is they will have self disarmed and allowed the govt to take their means of revolt away. And today we have serious tech unlike in the past. Today We can be tracked and traced with satellites and facial recognition. So there will be no winning the revolution. This is for keeps this time. We cannot allows shit for brain sheeple to give up America to these fucking commies….We must win this fight now before it truly become us vs the govt. When that day comes we are truly screwed. Us vs the idiot lefty’s is something we can win while we still have some rule of law and some justice system. Once disarmed it is all over within 5 years. Every country that disarmed within 5 years their freedoms are gone completely. Look it up.
Not credible.
The only countries that went Communist were poor, agrarian ones.
The way Western democracies go bad is via fascism a la Weimar to Hitler.
Tucker Carlson has said many times this is a revolution of the ruling class against Les Deplorables. Seems a reasonable assessment. Anyone paying attention is seeing both establishments opposing Trump and us. What that alone tells us is all we need to know. “I am telling you the man and the dog are working together!” Our choice? Whether to be a Sheep or a Ram. I choose to be the Ram.
The coming civil war will largely consist of right wing dissidents being blown up remotely via transgender latinx drone operators.
When / If the bullets start flying you’ll see these ‘elites’ picking sides faster than…well use whatever you want to finish that shit. There is no more room for conversation. The media wont tell the truth, and the covidiots wont listen to it anyways, and almost everyone in gov is either corrupt or a fucking pussy. They literally hate the basket of deplorables and talk openly about killing us on any social media platform without repercussions.
Fuck them. When the time comes grab your guns or fuck off and die. We (meaning conservative types who are sick of all this shit) have been buying bullets and guns like they’re not making them anymore because we’ve had enough – and we’ll find out after this election what needs to be done. Only a brain dead idiot would think this is not going to go hot at some point UNLESS Trump and the justice department do SOMETHING…which they’ve shown they wont/are not willing/ or don’t really care.
Oh, it’s fucking coming and the clock is ticking.
Trump absolutely cannot do anything for if he did even the smallest thing it would unleash a wave of “holy fucking shit that is what was going on?” The smallest thing they can let is serious graft, pedo, Child porn, killing babies, blood drinking satanist. You would be so appalled at the bad shit these fucks have been doing. Its so fucking deplorable they cannot prosecute even the smallest of crimes because their smallest are so fucking epic it would make the avg person puke. Remember the story of the NYc cops that say Weiners laptop. The cops all puked all over their desks and had to have psychiatric help after viewing the beheading and organ eating. Do not ask me how I know this…..that is my point. They are the elites and they are all corrupt and play together when needed. Enemy of my enemy is my friend and we the people are their mutual enemy. So, yeah it will take a helluva lot of elite blood to right this fucking ship and yes many are primed and willing to make that shit happen. And yeah they know we won’t be coming out of this, at all. But they sure as shit do not plan on coming out being caught either. They plan on taking it to the finish line one way or another. This is where they have been pushed. Yeah, so they fucked up this time and went to goddamned far and they realize it and now are pushing their final solution asap….that is why you see crazy shit we cannot even believe and why we do not even comprehend how these people think. Because once you understand their end game it all makes clear sense. They are positioning to chop your head off and you are all still fucking playing nice and ignoring the sword they are raising at your neck. Wake up people.
When the North elected Lincoln, Southerners knew they were in the government’s Crosshairs and there would be no more compromises; Southerners knew that the North’s Taxes on the South would stay and Slavery would be outlawed; the South Seceded. If the Democrats win in 2020, Normal Americans know they will be in the Crosshairs of Liberals for severe oppression. Conservatives will resist, first by protests that will accomplish nothing; then by a push to Secede which will be rebuffed; then some will fight. The temperments of the Left are anti-compromise and anti-coexistence with Conservatives. The Right will not be forced into Leftist Slavery. A Great American Political Segregation must occur (such as happened with Muslims and Hindus in India) or there will be brutal open warfare to settle wether America will be a Constitutional Republic or a Leftist shithole.
I’m not smart enough to figure out where things are going in the medium to long term. I just hope the national guard is ready to go the day after Trump gets re-elected.
Iska- Just wondering where the National Guard was during the rioting paid for by the billionaire boys club. Why would they show up after the election and not show up for duty during two solid months of rioting , looting and burning? Maybe you can tell me who gives the NG the OK to report, who ultimately gives the order at the top?
The revolution is world wide. Europe will begin with digital currency and nationalizing all the bankrupt essential industries such as energy and airlines. Most of the auto workers will be unemployed as well.
Klaus Swaub intends on diving up a smaller pie so people don’t starve. Anyone who revolts gets no pie.
Tis going to be fun,am sure all here stocked up on “essentials”,hopefully see ya’s all on the other side
I believe the only thing stopping bloodshed right now is The Law and Consequences. There are plenty of people ready take up arms, but who will be first? Go too soon and you wind up in Supermax. That kid in Denver is finding out he went too soon.
When law breaks down and people no longer fear consequences it will be On.
The real truth is the people are getting raped by their rulers and they’re tired of it being done without lube .
Oks farts like me know that as the years go by the thought of life in prison becomes less of deterrent and that freedom for the young ones we love will be the great motivator .
“Will the elite unify and crack down on the people…?”
What do you think Covid is?
The author of this article has part of the lede, but is ultimately wrong.
In my view, the elites are not unified. The Democrats = tech, health care, universities and lawyers. They’re the ones who primarily (but not exclusively) sold out the bottom 75% in aiding and abetting the offshoring of jobs to China.
The Republicans = old money, land, oil, MIC. Some members helped, but their primary objectives continue to be self enrichment via direct and indirect government subsidy plus taxation protection. They didn’t really care about the offshoring because it doesn’t hurt them directly and they tolerate the Democrat activity so long as it doesn’t hurt them directly and maybe rake off some for themselves.
Trump is more land/old money, but he has explicitly called out the Democrat sellout. He is hated by the Never Trumpers, though, because he also doesn’t play the game: don’t call out the Federal Bureaucracy (some call it Deep State), don’t mess with the MIC machine etc.
To be clear, I’m not saying he’s a reformer in any way – more a bull in a porcelain shop (deliberately not saying china).
This analysis leaves a lot out. This country does not fit the template of previous revolutions. It fits the template of our own history where there is a periodic house cleaning and change of cultural and political attitudes. Look at the trees to understand what is going on in the forest…look at the gradual awakening of blacks and their disillusionment with the Democrat Party which has taken their votes for granted. Look anecdotally at Kim Kacik, Herschel Walker, John James, Tim Scott, Tom Collins (challenging Maxine Waters), Candace Owens, Star Parker, Kanye West, even 50 Cent…etc etc. There’s a lot going on.
Stuff like this went on in the 1960s, read David Horowitz. But now we have both a leader, and a hyper aware public. We are on the cusp of transformational era, a good house cleaning one. American attitudes, for example, are widely pro Second Amendment…this is a big change!!
When Trump wins, he will invoke the Insurrection Act to quell the violence. He will have the support of two thirds of the population for doing this. Then he will clean house and get rid of our corrupt officials.
To me this is a far more likely scenario.