Force and Legitimacy

On Principles and Elite Confrontation

Another Day in Washington

Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky has faced some intense criticism of late for his unwillingness to take part in the censure of fellow congressman Adam Schiff. He’s being called all the typical names like RINO (Republican In Name Only) for doing what he always appears to do, act in accordance with his principles. He has previously argued that Nancy Pelosi’s fines levied against him for not wearing a mask is a violation of the 27th amendment. Is it? I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter. He took that position, so it would be preposterous for him to interpret the censure and fining of Schiff as being erstwhile acceptable. The bottom line is that if the majority of politicians in this country were more like Thomas Massie, we wouldn’t be facing down the end of our republic.

An Eye for an Eye, a Tooth for a Tooth

Unless we all want to end up blind and toothless it is imperative to follow Massie’s lead here. In a war of all against all, the whole of humanity loses horribly. Perhaps some psychopaths in the 1% will get to gratify themselves in the process, but they were born defective. There is no true victory for human beings that are unable to experience empathy. They are all merely detritus in this grand project of civilization we’re engaged in, riding the currents that the true participants generate through the exercise of will. It has never been more important for those capable of such exercise to engage in this effort with deliberation and care.

Will and Legitimacy

The winner of any conflict in the long run is solely determined by will. When will is broken, fighting may continue for some time, but the decisive point has been surpassed. This simple fact is difficult for many to understand. They think of weapons, resources, and manpower. These things are all important, but only insofar as they impact will. This is why the GAE hasn’t outright won a war since WWII, and why it will never win one again if we continue along this current trajectory. A useful way to conceive of will is through the lens of legitimacy. Are your efforts righteous? If you believe so, can you convince the majority of a population of the same? Can you convince your enemy of the same? Legitimacy is critical to will, and nothing bleeds legitimacy faster than open and obvious hypocrisy. Whether or not a majority of Americans are capable of recognizing such is an open question. If not, we’re already lost, but I’ve got excellent news on this front: Nobody knows for sure. This means that there is hope, and that all patriotic Americans have an obligation to exercise will in a manner that keeps this hope alive.

The Constitution, Natural Law, Rationality, and Narrative

People look upon the blatant hypocrisy of the regime and despair. How can we prevail when the enemy has taken hold of the wheel of power and is willing to forsake all oaths in order to maintain their malign hold? They are wrong to despair. Such actions have costs, in this case, it is causing the regime to bleed legitimacy. Not only is the Constitution based on natural law, I argue that the very act of engaging in hypocrisy is a fundamental affront to the intuition and sensibility of neurotypical man. This effect is suppressed and hidden through complex networks of censorship coordinated and funded by the very swamp creatures gripping the wheel, but the cosmic consequences will inevitably exert themselves. It is the manner in which this impending preference cascade unfolds that we are in a position to influence. The drive to forego the moral high ground with its foundation in natural law, reason, narrative above a base, raw Nietzschean will to power is perpetually seductive. After all, our enemies have done the same. But is that not what makes them our enemies? How are we better if we abase ourselves in the same manner? Why are our preferred norms worthy of prevailing if we abandon the rule of law and the virtue of commitment to principle?

Overwhelming Spiritual Supremacy

The last thing we want is two sides in a closely matched Machiavellian power struggle. The will of these respective sides are destined to be evenly matched, both sides convinced of the righteousness of their cause and the justifiability of any evil means to achieve their mutually exclusive ‘noble’ ends. This is the fate we observe throughout the world in regions engulfed in sectarian violence. This could be the America we leave for our children (or even ourselves in a few short years) if we don’t focus our efforts on dominating in the spiritual domain. Even with focused effort, victory is not guaranteed, but that is the case in any conflict of consequence. Regardless of your faith tradition, there are two excellent targets for those wishing to establish a foothold in the spiritual domain.

1. The first is humility, or seeing yourself exactly as you are. Towards achieving this end I find evolutionary biology very helpful, but there are excellent lessons to be gleaned from the pages of religious texts and the council of wise religious leaders.

2. Be principled. Another way of saying this is don’t be a hypocrite. You can’t accomplish this without humility first, and the more humble you are, the less likely you will be able to hide your own hypocrisy from yourself whenever it might be convenient via efficient self-delusion. This is the foundation of legitimacy and maintaining will against overwhelming odds in the other domains.

There might be other targets worthy of pursuit, but to dominate the spiritual domain in America, humility and principle represent key terrain that we can’t afford to abandon.

The Kinetic Event Horizon

Keeping the above in mind there is a time when using force might be justified, and that moment in time will vary from individual to individual. The benefit of dominating the spiritual domain is that this moment would be coordinated for maximum effectiveness without the need for deliberate communication, all of which is of course monitored by the regime. Even better, such dominance and alignment in the spiritual domain has the potential to signal effective deterrence against regime forces that otherwise have their foot stuck on the accelerator as we rapidly approach the black hole of tyranny’s event horizon. To illustrate let us imagine an American population that includes some tens of millions of gun owners who understand that they have not only a Constitutional right to bear arms, but a natural right to do so as long as they don’t use these weapons to constrain the negative freedoms of their fellow man. With this understanding, a national mandate of outright gun confiscation would represent a clear kinetic event horizon. Not only is this a clear and obvious violation of the plain language of the Constitution and natural law, it effectively ensures that further government encroachments on negative freedoms would be much more difficult, if not impossible to resist. Another key dynamic to consider is the spiritual impacts on government officials. The regime apparatchiks tasked with enforcing such a decree would simultaneously destroy the very foundation of their own legitimacy by abrogating their oaths. Applying an appreciation for the role played by will and legitimacy consider this video:

Now think about the outcome we just experienced in Afghanistan. A myopic consideration of conflict limited to numbers and materiel misses the big picture: Will determines victory. To leverage this big picture truth most effectively requires domination of the spiritual domain.

Political Solutions Still Exist

There are still political solutions to the challenges we face as a nation. Domination of the spiritual domain can also be sought by our government. This would of course require a circulation of the elites, as our current elite is either painfully ignorant of the spiritual domain, or in open revolt against it. The only way this circulation happens without bloodshed is with a centered focus on dominating the spiritual domain. This means giving up any power associated with the pretense of GAE hegemony. It also means that we need to stop pretending that we’re in a position to tell the rest of the world what they ought to do. It means an end to the GAE and an abandonment of an ‘international rules-based order’ that is increasingly focused on globalizing WEF style public-private partnerships that always and everywhere aim to supplant the will and desire of ordinary people with that of power brokers and “experts” who are really only engaging in an elaborate moralization of their own self-interest. The only way we’ll succeed is by understanding how we’re different. What makes us better? What makes us worthy? If we don’t have satisfying answers to these questions that resonate with the bulk of the American populace then we concede the battle before it has even begun.

The Ongoing Battle for Legitimacy

We should all know by now that government comes out of the barrel of a gun. We should be perpetually skeptical. I don’t know that a single institution even needs a monopoly on force, but I can also acknowledge that most people don’t think like me going so far as to question the legitimacy of government generally. No, most Americans think that it is possible for the government to be legitimate, and there have been times when we seemed to be very close to this. The most recent example I can think of is encapsulated in this excellent speech by president John F. Kennedy shortly before he was assassinated with the collaboration of actors within the executive branch he nominally led.

Cynics look at this outcome and decry that it is all hopeless. Whether that event, the many false flags that initiated unjust and destructive wars, or the sharp contrast between Trump’s most recent indictment and the Biden pay-for-play Burisma scandal, they witness glaring hypocrisy and criminality and despair. They give up, or worse yet endorse the abandonment of principle to counteract all the vile and disgusting things that only result from such an abandonment in the first place. They don’t understand that legitimacy is finite. The truth matters. Principles matter. The apparent dualism between a pragmatic and principled approach is an illusion. Reality is monistic and principle and humility are key is because they align us with a reality that loves to punish apostasy.¹ The way apostates are punished can be dramatic or subtle, but nobody escapes the wrath of reality forever. A principle mechanism by which reality exerts this wrath is by way of legitimacy. All the evil and hypocrisy you behold bears other witnesses. Sometimes it is your duty to spread the word. It is always your duty as a patriotic American to remain aligned with the truth, pursue true humility, and adhere to your principles because this all impacts the legitimacy of your cause.

Elite Confrontation

While it might appear that the culture war between right and left is the foundation of the ongoing spiritual conflict, this is really only a divide and conquer strategy being employed by the ruling elite. Continued confrontation is inevitable as the current elite seem intent on playing an ultimatum game with ordinary Americans whereby they get everything and we get nothing forgetting that the enemy always gets a vote. That vote can’t be to go kinetic or weaponize the government in a manner that is clearly hypocritical if we’re to retain hope of circulating this elite with minimal strife while moving towards an America better aligned with its foundational values. If we’re to shore up support for our civilization now decaying in a bath of toxic leadership heading up nearly every major institution, we’ll need to engage in a deliberate march of our own to retake or supplant them. The focus of this march must be on legitimacy. It must recognize that individuals and institutions can lose and gain legitimacy based on key concepts like humility and principle. While these forces exert themselves on all, deliberate consideration is imperative. Much like forging mind-muscle connection in an athlete or bodybuilder, building awareness of these mechanisms will yield better results for team reality. Legitimacy is the difference between a freedom-fighter and a terrorist. It is the difference between a false-flag attack that strengthens a regime and a principled resistance that topples one. Our enemies have gone all-in on the assumption that legitimacy can be molded, shaped and controlled regardless of whatever the underlying reality may be. I’m eager to prove that they’re wrong. Who’s with me?

1. Even if it is not readily obvious how, in the long run reality does punish apostates. As the saying goes “God works in mysterious ways”