Every Good Man’s Calling: Part 2
Being dangerous is not just your right; it’s your duty.
Evil has only and will only respond to one thing, overwhelming force. Some generation will find that evil coming from the people who are charged with defending us, government.
If good men are found to be weak, what then? If we do not possess the ability to resist, who then stands up? Who then stands ready?
Do we then plunge into a second dark age where there are rulers and subjects? Must we again await the spark that is the spirit of man willing to do anything to be free? Must we wait in chains and bear the great cost of lives and progress when we have already thus far so nobly advanced? How dare we so poorly and frivolously invest the spent blood of the brave men before us? What foolish stupor have we allowed ourselves to slip into? What vestige of nearsighted apathy have we so aimlessly dawned?
We need only answer our eternal call to be good and dangerous men.
This calling stands in violation of our collective and mostly subconsciously cowardly hope that someone else will do the work of vanguarding our most precious worldly possession, liberty.
Capacity for violence is power, it is authority, it is control. Power, authority, and control over your life rightfully rest with you. Any resignation of these civil rights moves a progressing society into reverse, leaving the door wide open for malfeasance. Such a forfeit not only invites corruption, it ensures it. Every individual of every people, of every nation, is born with the blessing of self-ownership. The morally bankrupt and lawfully illegal theft of that birthright by the corrupt elite will surely one day be arrested from those glutinous few and restored to the people.
Indeed there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend, and there is no greater wisdom than to be able to sell that life dearly. For if I ever lay my life down for a friend, I hope it is at great cost to those who dare infringe upon these self-evident truths and our inalienable rights.
More so, if the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time by the blood of patriots and tyrants, it is my goal to see that ball kicked down the road for centuries. And when things do come to a head that the result is found quickly and with the most excellent extreme prejudice.
If you neglect your call to steward your capacity for excellent violence, you softly surrender your bloodline to foolishness and eventual slavery. You may say this statement is fantastic and that it leans towards exaggeration. To think that would be to suckle harder the teat of complacency you and your bloodline have known for several generations.
The decisions we make towards or away from readiness have steep and real-world consequences. Imagine if the Maginot line was extended to the sea. Imagine if the war-weary politicians in post-WW1 Europe had decided to pour research into modern military technology to keep up with Germany. Imagine if wiser people held office instead of those who proclaimed that Hitler would bring peace to their time. Sadly those decisions required the blood of OUR boys to cover the lazy reasoning of Europe's political class. And it was the blood of OUR martyrs that watered their meadows and restored self-determination to their people. For it has always been the blood of braver men who pay the price for simple-minded fantasies.
These macro examples are analogous to the plot that plays out in our individual lives. Imagine if a tyrant takes power and the populous finds itself already disarmed by the bad actors who laid said tyrants’ foundations. For the prep work of every tyrant is the disarming of the people.
It is the calling of every good man to see that our right to be dangerous is preserved and that each violation is met with every possible escalating measured response fitting to the specific infringement. Someday good men may again have to give their last full measure of devotion to maintain this right. And while that may be the highest price we are able to pay when weighed on the scales of time, this sacrifice is negligible to the suffering caused when the ability of good men to respond is found wanting.
I heard 9-1-1’s voicemail when a gun was pulled on a friend of mine. That moment was an awakening to the reality that the police are a clean-up crew. It was a great reminder that NO ONE IS COMING; IT’S UP TO US. Yes, it is likely that it won’t happen to you, but probabilities are a hope, and hope is not a good plan. Our society needs and your family deserves a man who is diligent, trained, and ready. For if that horrible moment befalls you: run, hide, shoot. Run towards the bad guy, hide behind some cover and shoot that fucker in the face.
You might ask why use such strong language. Why use the phrase, “steward your capacity for violence?” Being that there are so many ways to make any given point. Why use words that bring to mind such negative and triggering connotations? Why not use words that are more common in our daily vernacular? To do that would be to say the exact same thing, just using less honest language. Indeed the wording could be more palatable, and though I have never seen bloody conflict, I do know I would never want to civilize it in any way. It is the vilest and most awful outcome. There is no language strong enough to appropriately describe the reality of war or the gravity of this calling. What I seek to do by word is jar the mind toward the reality that we are the answer to the core issue of humanity that spurs some to dominate their fellow man. In many ways, this calling is no different than any other diligent practice of personal responsibility other than the fact that it has been widely forgotten by the good men of our time.
The last war is still to be fought, and the last tyrant yet to reign. Therefore we need good men to carry the mantle of John Stark, Davy Crockett, and the like. Men who were thinkers and warriors. Men who progressed society both in policy and business, yet who also stood in the breach when the wheel of time came around towards tyranny again. As a kid, I looked up to my grandfather and uncle, who fought in WWII and then came home and became Vice Presidents of their respective companies, Reliance Electric and Kennametal. They were normal civilians before and after fighting in Africa, Italy, France, Germany, Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. The mantle of the citizen warrior is an honor that rests upon every American man.
I believe this generation, like the renaissance men of the enlightenment and the stoics of the victorian era, are creating a more complete picture of what it means to be a man. Something that holds tension. Something dangerous and kind, powerful and meek. And if this American experiment is to continue, our men who have learned well the gentleness of the lamb must also learn the rage of the lion and couple them together with integrity and clarity.
Every good man is called to steward their ability to be dangerous. When times try men’s souls, it is up to us. Always has been. Ever will be.
What are you waiting for, your bloodline looks to you.
Hold Tension, Be Vast.Remember, restoration alone brings victory.