Archive for the 'America' Category

Via WRSA, this piece at The Burning Platform is interesting.

What do I owe to my country?  Its central government is thoroughly and irredeemably corrupt. It is bankrupt both fiscally and morally. As of this writing, its judiciary has shown itself incapable of defending the Republic against the depredations of leftist rabble. The tentacles of its bureaucracy reach into the lives and wallets of the productive class “eating out the substance of the people” exactly as Jefferson warned.  Yet still, with the stench of corruption and theft pervading the country, this government  assumes my loyalty.

What, pray tell, has it done to deserve it? Mobs of the indoctrinated expect that we should all just “get over it” and “come together to heal” as if the gangrenous clot of necrotic tissue that is the political culture of this nation will ever heal.  Our rulers, our media, and half our “countrymen” piss down our backs and still insist it’s raining. The fealty of helots is what the Lords of Washington expect. They will not get it from me.

The loyalty of free men is reserved for a government of equals, not an aristocracy of reptiles. The latter is what we suffer now. The former we once possessed, but it lies now in the dust of history. The outward form and function remain, but the spirit of liberty, which animated it, has gone. The ties by which free men bind themselves voluntarily to any form of government have long since been sundered by the actions of those who have chosen to rule rather than govern. I will not suffer those ties to become shackles.

Since my forbears bequeathed to me a form of government that no longer exists, I am released from further obligation to the abomination that has replaced it. My loyalty, like my liberty, belongs to me and me alone. It is mine to give or to withdraw as I see fit. I owe the rulers of this land nothing: not life, not liberty, not the pursuit of my own happiness. These things are mine from my first breath to my last gasp. They cannot be abrogated, regulated, or terminated by the denizens of a distant city who presume to know what is best for me. These…people (I do not have the words for the contempt I feel for them) have polluted our forms of government, destroying what they can, dismantling what they cannot.

Everywhere is grift and graft. They have taken nearly everything, yet they still want more. They want my body shackled, my spirit humbled, and my mind enslaved. They try to steal the very breath from my body with their filthy rags. They have trampled upon my God-given rights, indoctrinated my children, accused me, threatened me, and silenced me. Now they have stolen even my choice from me. This government and its leftist appendages have betrayed my trust and half my fellow citizens treat me and mine with undisguised contempt. My loyalty to them and to their government is at an end.

Whether he knows it or not, he’s describing covenant and contract.  Lawyers take classes in this sort of thing, and remember it only when it’s convenient for them and pads their wallets.  Since lawyers are taught not to believe in God’s law, they believe that rights come from the state.

This is simple and easy to remember, and makes life understandable.  Rights come from the Almighty, of course (as do the corollary duties and responsibilities as He dictates), and He governs His creation in only a single way: covenants.  This is true of families, church and its leadership, state and economics.  If a church denies the authority of the Scriptures, even if you have taken a vow of submission to the church (you won’t bring divisiveness or schism, you’ll use your talents to help your fellow congregants, etc., all very customary for church membership), those vows are null and void because the church leadership has broken covenant.

If a man regularly beats his wife or harms his children, or is unfaithful to his wife, they are no longer under obligation to fealty and faithfulness to him.  God recognizes the legitimacy of divorce in circumstances like that because the covenant has been breached.

If a man steals from you, the Scriptures say that he is to become your slave until the debt is paid back in multiples.  God’s covenant of property ownership has been broken and must be restored.  There is no such thing as a crime against society.  God doesn’t recognize this false notion.  There are crimes against individuals, and justice must be served.

When the state breaks covenant with tyranny, the terms of the covenant are broken and God doesn’t recognize it as legitimate.  This Calvinian concept of covenant was taught in church sermons on a regular basis well prior to and leading up to the war of independence.  It is the basis for our liberty.

I am not a libertarian.  I am a Christian libertarian.  Liberty and freedom are to be found in God’s laws, following His commandments, and following His covenant structure for all of life.  R. J. Rushdoony has taught us this.  Remember this lesson.

BLM has made their intentions clear.

A Black Lives Matter leader told Fox News on Wednesday evening that if they are not given what they want then they will “burn down” the system.

Hawk Newsome, head of Black Lives Matter for Greater New York, part of the neo-Marxist Black Lives Matter movement, made the remarks in a combative interview with Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum.

[ … ]

“If this country doesn’t give us what we want then we will burn down the system and replace it,” Newsome responded. “All right. And I could be speaking figuratively, I could be speaking literally. It’s a matter of interpretation. Like let’s be very real and observe the history of the 1960s. When black people were rioting we have their highest growth and wealth and property ownership.”

People have begun to look to the future and what it may look like.

America faces three scenarios.

• One: Trump is re-elected on a wave of anger over the looting and anarchy unleashed by the “I-Can’t-Breathe” narrative. Trump sends Javanka packing, dispatches the troops to restore order, extends the immigration moratorium, finally builds the wall, and begins mass deportations as the White House protects the dissident Right from deplatforming by the Tech Totalitarians.

That scenario is most likely a fantasy.

[ … ]

• Two: Trump loses, and the Blob and its allies triumph. But because this is a country now and not a nation, with no shared sense of common identity and agreed-upon history, culture, beliefs, or language, only a full-blown police state can hold it together.

Even that might not ensure order in a chaotic post-America, and the diminishing number of whites will surely not enjoy the protection of the state. At some point, white Americans might well be living like white South Africans, ever in fear for their lives.

[ … ]

• Three: The country breaks apart, and the Historic American people establish enclaves for themselves and others who love and fondly remember the old America.

Those scenarios are possible, except for #1.  Actually, #2 could only ever be temporary, as I don’t even believe that a full blown police state could hold it together.  Neither do others, I suspect, as witness the massive gun and ammunition buying spree Americans are currently on.

But burning the system down isn’t something that will happen in the future- it’s already happened.  The fruits of Horace Mann (1796 – 1859) and John Dewey took a long time to ferment, but they did, and their children now self flagellate over “wokeness” and whiteness and imaginary infractions and sins, all the while ignoring the maker of the universe, the only sovereign, and the only potentate who can legitimately demand loyalty and obedience.

The real root of the problem lies not in the current disembowelment, but rather, that it is a replacement religion for the vacuum left by the utter and complete failure of classic Christianity in the West.  True religion, Christianity, was under attack for centuries by German higher criticism and modern philosophy, but actually held fairly strong in America until about the early 20 century.

By that time, the influence of John Darby (1800 – 1882) had begun to be felt, and his acolyte Scofield (1843 – 1921) popularized his ideas.  Mann’s ideas would have had little traction had it not been for a weakened, decimated Christianity that believes that the world is getting worse and worse and worse and Jesus is coming soon, and rather than “take every thought captive” to the claims of Christ, as the Calvinist would say, the job of the Christian is to make converts, cloister and expect the soon release from the hell that the church themselves created by turning their backs on the world.

Rather than be salt and light as commanded, the church turned over science to Darwin, the arts to the pagans in Hollywood, and politics and law to the demons in Washington and their “expert” linguists in the schools of law to teach them how to twist every word ever spoken.  The racists want reparations, or more redistribution of wealth (a colloquial term for theft), the woke mob is even now targeting STEM, and the Marxists want to tear down now just statues, but every vestige of Western history and culture, most especially the church.

America is not going to rupture, it has already ruptured.  The framework had begun to be hatcheted some century or more ago.  The American church is to blame.  “Go forth and make disciples” became “Go forth and snatch brands from the fire before we all get a free ride out of here, and maybe there will be football, beer and brats in heaven.”  The church got one half of it right, but therefore all of it wrong because it missed the “disciples” part of it.

Dispensational, premillennial rapturism neutered American Christians and rendered them pathetic; it is the greatest lie and hoax ever perpetrated on the Christian church.  If you’re looking for a root cause of all of the pain and suffering we are soon to endure, look no further than ourselves.

NC Scout has his most recent podcast up, and I had intended to link this earlier.  It’s well worth the 40 minutes.  I like his style – humble and unassuming.

Sitting at the table of the Father, obeying His moral law, as a sovereign individual, at peace with others.

General Cornwallis had as his strategy to conduct war in South Carolina, taking and holding the important port city of Charleston, and then move north through North Carolina, meeting up with General Howe to end the campaign.  It was a bold plan, and he had dealt a blow to the continental forces on the field of battle on a number of occasions.

But the size of the continent and the temperament of the people made it impossible to prosecute a war of this kind with the forces and lines of logistics he had at his disposal.  The linchpin of his plan called for the utilization of loyalist forces to do battle with patriots.

Enter Major Patrick Ferguson, who was tasked by Cornwallis with leading loyalist forces, whom he had no difficulty recruiting in his sweep through South Carolina.  He sent a message to the patriots: “If you do not desist your opposition to the British Arms, I shall march this army over the mountains, hang your leaders, and lay waste your country with fire and sword.”

Not dissuaded from battle, the patriot forces, enhanced mainly by the “Overmountain men,” decided to give chase to Major Patrick Ferguson and the loyalists.  The loyalist forces heard of the plan because of a couple of deserters from the patriot forces, and decided to retreat to the protection of Cornwallis and his forces.

The Overmountain Men had ridden horseback for a protracted period to convene with other forces, much of it sleeping in the day and riding at night.  But now they had to move quickly.  After convening, they had to ride horseback through the night, and much of the day, and prosecuted battle in the afternoon hours with no sleep.  Yet they dealt a decisive blow to the loyalist forces.

Many of the Overmountain Men were under the age of 18, raised hard and experienced in the American bush and hills.  In the small townships in the Appalachian mountains, the men had to stay and tend crops, tend livestock, and protect the family.  Sons had to be dispatched to fight the campaign.  Women and men, mothers and fathers, lined the roads and sang hymns as their sons rode by and they dispatched their sons to war.  They saw it as a religious quest.

The patriot victory at King’s Mountain had great significance.  Cornwallis, who had planned to use a victory over the patriots there, held his plans in abatement.  His plans to use loyalists completely shattered and abandoned, he got bogged down in a guerrilla campaign in South Carolina in the bush and swamps.  He finally set out through North Carolina, but his forces were so depleted, sick and without logistics that all he could manage was a retreat to the coast to ensconce until surrender.  His lines of logistics had effectively been cut by the patriots.

This marked the turning point of the campaign.  Cornwallis won conventional victories, but was never able to manage the insurgency in South Carolina.  The British lost, and General Howe wasn’t far behind the surrender of Cornwallis.

This fourth of July, celebrate the lives of the great men who brought you what liberty you enjoy.

I know my readers.  And I know why you come to TCJ.  You come here because this is the only place you can find the kind of scholarship you seek.  Here you can get everything from epistemology and ethics, to sectional density and ballistic coefficient.  If I can’t give it to you all the time, the commenters will. Give yourself and me a pat on the back.

It’s in that spirit that I offer up this worthy viewing for the day.  Language warning.

GAO:

The 20 federal law enforcement agencies in GAO’s review reported spending at least $38.8 million on firearms, $325.9 million on ammunition, and $1.14 billion on tactical equipment—at least $1.5 billion in total—from fiscal years 2010 through 2017, based on data agencies provided to GAO.

And Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution comes to mind.

Calvin Coolidge:

No one can examine this record and escape the conclusion that in the great outline of its principles the Declaration was the result of the religious teachings of the preceding period. The profound philosophy which Jonathan Edwards applied to theology, the popular preaching of George Whitefield, had aroused the thought and stirred the people of the Colonies in preparation for this great event. No doubt the speculations which had been going on in England, and especially on the Continent, lent their influence to the general sentiment of the times. Of course, the world is always influenced by all the experience and all the thought of the past. But when we come to a contemplation of the immediate conception of the principles of human relationship which went into the Declaration of Independence we are not required to extend our search beyond our own shores. They are found in the texts, the sermons, and the writings of the early colonial clergy who were earnestly undertaking to instruct their congregations in the great mystery of how to live. They preached equality because they believed in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. They justified freedom by the text that we are all created in the divine image, all partakers of the divine spirit.

Jonathan Edwards is rightly called the greatest philosopher America ever produced, and Whitefield perhaps the greatest preacher – both Calvinists.

The roots of the American revolution go to continental Calvinism and the doctrine of covenant, just as we have discussed before.

We haven’t had a president like Coolidge since him, and we’re likely never to have another one.

Happy independence day.

Enjoy it with family and friends.  And remember.  King George was just a man.  There have been many other such men throughout history, are many such now, and will be many in the future, who would “erect a multitude of New Offices,” and send “hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.”

All usurpation of God’s authority and governance over mankind is wickedness.  Always and forever.

Via WRSA, Chateau Heartiste:

A few years ago, I struck up a conversation with a white guy from Zimbabwe — in the Wal Mart checkout line, of all places. Fair number of blacks around, but the guy was totally relaxed. It was a comparative matter, you see. Back home, he explained, there was just just no way his car would still be in the lot when he exited the store, since in the present case he had left no one armed to watch it. Just having that luxury — not leaving an armed person and believing his car would be present —   was like heaven.

And Americans may look back on years gone by as like heaven compared to what’s coming.  What’s coming won’t exempt military or LEOs because they carry guns or a badge.  Everyone will get swept up in it.

As for Christians in California, let’s take a look at where they are right now.

According to its website, Summit Ministries, an organization devoted to advising Christian youths on how to live out a Christian worldview, has canceled its scheduled appearances at Biola University in Los Angeles “due to concerns that California will forbid some of what it teaches.”

Summit’s concern is real.

The fact is that California is about to make into law A.B. 2943, a bill recently passed by the state Assembly and probably soon to be ratified by the state Senate.  The proposed law seeks to punish by fines and penalties any goods and services and services “offering to engage in or engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with an individual,” claiming that such efforts constitute deceptive business practices.

[ … ]

The reluctance to fight is in some ways understandable because of the high-profile examples of the Christians whose businesses and lives have been destroyed by radicals of the LGBT movement.  Even big fish like Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A have been threatened because their managers have dared to stand up for the Christian view of marriage.

Moreover, many times, fellow Christians do not come to the support of other Christians who are attacked.

Well, they’re too busy watching football and worrying over racial reparations while they’re at worship.  It only goes downhill from here.  Diversity means submission, Sharia law means for your women too, and MS-13 had better be appeased or they’ll hack you to pieces with machetes.  They clearly want to do something like that to Mr. Trump.

In the mean time, you’d better purchase some good firearms and ammunition and learn to fight if you haven’t already done that.  Make sure not to forget PT.  It means everything.  Without PT you will be too winded and weak to defend yourselves or your families.