Phil Rockstroh muses on how the impulse to possess an unlimited number of firearms fits into the late-imperium scheme of things.
Tucson, Arizona, shopping center where U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and more than a dozen others were victims of a shooting attack on Jan. 8, 2011. (Steve Karp, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons)
By Phil Rockstroh
The U.S. is less of a nation than a collective, psychotic episode.
Within day-to-day life in the nation, a cultural aura exists that shifts, mingles and merges between a sense of nervous agitation and displaced rage, in combination with a sense of weightlessness. The fragmented quality of daily life imparts an insubstantial, unreal quality wherein the citizenry of the capitalist/consumer empire of hungry ghosts drift through a nadascape comprised of ad hoc, fast-buck-driven, suburban/exburban architecture and the ersatz eros of constant, consumer come-ons.
Yet beneath the nebulous dread and nettling angst of it all, there exists the primal human imperative for connection and social communion i.e., authentic eros. The most lost among the lost in the ghostsphere of the collective mind attempt to animate the realm of shades with libations of blood. The gods of the capitalist death cult demand no less.
Where does an impulse to possess an unlimited number of firearms fit into the scheme of things? A firearm’s heft, for one. The weapon’s substantial feel, when held and hoisted, serves, provisionally, to mitigate a psychical sense of weightlessness. The act of engagement eases nervous agitation. Gun reality offsets the weightless content of media reality. Focus is achieved when one aims the weapon on a target. Nebulous dread transforms into adamantine purpose. The presence of an Angel of Death will focus the mind. The ground, for the moment, feels solid beneath one’s feet. Hence, there arrives a craving, in the sense of addiction, to hoard the object that provides relief; in addition, massive quantities of ammunition must be stored as emotional ballast.
The mystifying, rankling, uncontrollable criteria of this weightless Age and the white noise of uncertainty seem to yield to the clear and decisive crack of a rifle shot. Relief is imagined in the concomitant carnage. The late British author Rebecca West captures the phenomenon in her book, “Black Lamb and Grey Falcon:”
“Only part of us is sane: only part of us loves pleasure and the longer day of happiness, wants to live to our nineties and die in peace, in a house that we built, that shall shelter those who come after us. The other half of us is nearly mad. It prefers the disagreeable to the agreeable, loves pain and its darker night despair, and wants to die in a catastrophe that will set back life to its beginnings and leave nothing of our house save its blackened foundations.”
Police photo of Nikolas J. Cruz, who committed a shooting massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School, being arrested in Florida, Feb. 14, 2018. (Wikimedia Commons)
Feedback Loop of Carnage
Because we, on a personal level, in most cases, choose the primary option, our hidden, shadow half will live out the latter on a collective basis. During the blood lust on display at President Donald Trump’s rallies, the mob finds a collective comfort zone in catastrophic longings. The domestic landscape of paranoia works on behalf of the profiteers of perpetual war, perpetrators of the U.S.-created deathscapes overseas, and vice versa, in a self-resonating feedback loop of carnage.
In our era, in which, the U.S. empire is in decline and the white supremacist order is giving way, Trump’s frightened legions feel as if their identity is under siege. Seal off the nation’s borders. Construct an unscalable wall. Create a cordon sanitaire to protect and preserve racial purity. A strong authority figure is craved to set the world back in order. The phenomenon could be termed, Authoritarian Simpatico Syndrome (ASS) — a pathology manifested in personality types who have been traumatized by the authoritarianism of the U.S. socio-political milieu but who seek to assuage their hurt and humiliation by identification with the very forces responsible for their torment. It’s the stuff of a cultural nervous breakdown.
To that end, according to its own laws, the nation’s citizenry, sufferers of mental distress, should be restricted from purchasing a gun. Yet without a doubt, the most disturbed of all are the nation’s political class, those responsible for gun legislation. There is compelling evidence that they present a clear and present danger to themselves and others. The political class is a menace to society; they make decisions, more often than not, based on delusional thinking, that are responsible for harm on a massive scale. They should be subject to institutional-style restraint, within the confines of the most heavily secure, lockdown ward in an asylum for the criminally insane.
President Donald Trump at a Make America Great Again rally in Missoula, Montana, Oct. 18, 2018. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times/Flickr)
Although the so-called mentally ill, as a rule, are not any more inclined to commit violent crimes than are the general population of capitalist dystopias. The U.S. was founded in genocidal violence and the fortunes of its ruling class’ are protected by the state sanctioned violence of the police and are bloated by the violence inherent to imperialist shakedown operations.
It comes down to this: In our emotionally brutal era, those deemed mentally ill are suffering from capitalism. The pummeling stress and boot-in-the-face, hierarchy-inflicted humiliations inherent to the system inflict trauma on large swathes of the citizenry.
Epidemic levels of middle-aged U.S. citizens are dying with needles in their arms. The inherent and internalized white supremacy of the societal order has been exacerbated by Trump’s self-serving, reckless agitprop and acts in a drug-like manner causing dopamine levels to rise in those experiencing emotional torment due to humiliation-caused despair. Demagogues such as Trump are aware and exploit the manner in which despair can be mitigated by the emotional displacement of rage.
Fascist insignias rise when the hopes and aspirations of the working class lie shattered across a capitalist economic wasteland. Hoisted torches provide the illusion that dark despair has been banished. The fascist mob becomes possessed by a belief that they, en masse, can ascend into the precincts of heaven by scaling a mountain of corpses comprised of outsider groups.
Fascism as Psychoactive Drug
Fascism acts as an anesthetic to the wounds delivered by capitalism. It is also a psychoactive drug; its incantatory rhetoric and imagist psychical material provides an intoxicating, crude allure.
Capitalism is borne on manic wings. The economic elite move from corporate skyscrapers and high-rise rooftops in order to travel by helicopter, where upon landing, they board private, luxury jets, then, whereupon landing again, they are transported by helicopter to corporate skyscrapers and high-rise rooftops. Touching the Earth is a fleeting experience. The ruling class have lost touch with ground-level verities. In a classical sense, such displays of hubris were understood as the progenitor of madness. The gods first elevate those they drive mad.
Memorial in Charlottesville, Virginia, for Heather Heyer at the site of her death during a white supremacist rally. (Evan Nesterak. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons)
And, yes, race-based fears and animus are in play. Racism engendered mass murder has been coming to pass since armed Europeans trudged ashore in the Americas, with their blood-sodden religion and their murderous craving for gold and land. Of course, the racist demagoguery of the Bloated Orange Tub of Nazi Goo oozing into and agitating the limbic systems of violent cretins during homegrown Nuremberg Rallies and his compulsion to blitzkrieg the pixel-sphere with Der Stürmer tweets is fomenting racist mayhem that includes bacchanals of blood. U.S. mythos is rancid with the reek of the corpses of the innocent slaughtered by white men brandishing firearms. Mass murderers have been and continue to be enshrined as heroes, from Wounded Knee to Afghanistan.
The nation was established by gun-enabled genocide and the intimidation of African slaves held at gunpoint on capitalist plantations. The truth has never been faced e.g., the suppression of the Nixon tape in which Ronald Reagan displayed his racist mindset.
The U.S. citizenry thanks the soldiers of its racist wars of aggression for their “service.” The origins of perpetual shooting sprees can be traced to the heart of darkness of the nation and its concomitant white supremacist creed. The killings happened long before the rise and election of the Tangerine Tweet Führer. Of course, the racist shit-heel Trump has exacerbated the situation. He deserves all scorn cast his way. It is obvious his capacity for malice does not possess a governor’s switch.
Trump is a two-legged emblem of the hypertrophy at play in late U.S. imperium. Gun-inflicted violence is steeped into the blood-stained fabric of the U.S. (sham) republic. Withal, Trump is not an anomaly; he is an emblem. Gun-strokers are no more going to shed their mythos than liberals and progressives are going to shed theirs that the U.S. is a democratic republic, governed by the rule of law, and progressive reforms will be implemented by its High Dollar owned and controlled political class that will serve to turn around the trajectory of the blood-built and maintained U.S. empire.
Phil Rockstroh is a poet, lyricist and philosopher bard living, now, in Munich. He may be contacted: [email protected] and at FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/phil.rockstroh
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Before commenting please read Robert Parry’s Comment Policy. Allegations unsupported by facts, gross or misleading factual errors and ad hominem attacks, and abusive language toward other commenters or our writers will be removed.
It is a very well written and thoughtful article. It has some complex words, often used in electrical engineering: emotional ballast, white noise of uncertainty, feedback loop, self resonating, etc.
But is there a solution? You seem to be in despair – “Gun-strokers are no more going to shed their mythos than liberals and progressives are going to shed theirs that the U.S. is a democratic republic, governed by the rule of law, and progressive reforms will be implemented by its High Dollar owned and controlled political class that will serve to turn around the trajectory of the blood-built and maintained U.S. empire.”
The description has a focus on a small time scale, and also on a small space on earth. If we expand to entire earth and over centuries and even millennia then we can see the global destiny of the universe, and possibly a solution to the problem, which can be implemented right now.
Periodicity is a law of nature. At the lowest space-time, we take birth, grow to maturity, then slowly decay, and finally die. If you know the reincarnation law of nature, then we take birth again, after some time gap. If you combine several periodic events then you will get a larger event with a longer period. This process will continue and eventually at universe level, we will find the birth and death of the universe. Nietzsche called it eternal recurrence, and in simple language, history repeats itself.
Cause and effect is also a law of nature. But every cause also has a root cause. For our present society, you say – “Fascism acts as an anesthetic to the wounds delivered by capitalism.” The root cause of economic problems is money, originating from the central bank. Since money is not an object of nature, it must be false. Therefore money cannot be necessary to run any kind of economy. So if we can get rid of money to create moneyless economy (MLE), then the heaven will come on earth. All the problems in the society, like poverty, unemployment, racism, gun violence, wars, pollution, discriminations, migration, etc., will vanish from day one of MLE. Yet under MLE you maintain complete democracy and any lifestyle you want. Take a look at the article for more details
https://www.academia.edu/38590496/A_COMPARISON_OF_MODERN_SCIENCE_WITH_VEDIC_SCIENCE
The US nation is not a psychotic episode so much as the writer projects his impaired contact with reality on everyone who doesn’t share it. Everyone is crazy except Mr. Rockstroh.
The Management Of Savagery
https://electronicintifada.net/content/how-us-foreign-policy-spawned-terror-and-trump/27371
Thank You, Kathy Kelly, — P.S., I Love You
https://consortiumnews.com/2019/08/01/the-ongoing-dread-in-gaza-so-many-names-so-many-lives/
Force is the only language of the rich. Those who deplore gun rights advocates have driven them to the right and have castrated progressivism. As ugly as force is, as horrible as shooting sprees are, and as disorganized and untrained as small armed bands are in comparison with government forces, they are nonetheless the Only force feared by the rich who control the US. The rich do not care about justice, climate change, or any other progressive issue. If progressives will not speak the language of force, the language of the rich, they have said nothing to the rich, they will never restore democracy, and they have destroyed their own movement.
Without bands of armed radicals during the Civil Rights riots, MLK would have been ignored by the rich and their fake mass media and fake Congress. Without bands of armed radicals during the anti-Vietnam-War period, the demonstrations would have been ignored by the rich and their fake mass media and fake Congress. They are truly the only remaining influence of progressives upon the federal government. How could so many be so foolish as to go along with oligarchy disarmament efforts? Because the mass media say so, and cowardly conformists and foolish dreamers suppose that a completely bought government won’t do them any harm. Just disarm and talk pretty climate issues all day instead of the political corruption that has ruined the country, and maybe mommy and daddy will restore democracy while we are watching TV. Good luck with that.
The left must seize control from the rich to restore democracy.
Progressives must make peace with gun rights advocates or they will never achieve progressive goals.
My compliments to the author. You have successfully challenged the reading comprehension of some here. Maybe it’s a generational thing but then again at 70 I really enjoyed you rant! Great stuff.
Thanks.
Fascism as Psychoactive Drug
Trump is a two-legged emblem of the hypertrophy at play in late U.S. imperium. Gun-inflicted violence is steeped into the blood-stained fabric of the U.S. (sham) republic. Withal, Trump is not an anomaly; he is an emblem. Gun-strokers are no more going to shed their mythos than liberals and progressives are going to shed theirs that the U.S. is a democratic republic, governed by the rule of law, and progressive reforms will be implemented by its High Dollar owned and controlled political class that will serve to turn around the trajectory of the blood-built and maintained U.S. empire.
Lest we forget, Trump’s Right-Wing BASE includes Neo-Nazi’s, sworn enemies of the Jewish race.
How do you parse that, Mr. Trump? Jew hating Nazi’s in your camp… ?
Only an Ignorant jack-mule and/or unrepentant bigot, filled with animus, could harbor such hatred against any Human Being sympathetic to the abominable plight of the Palestinian People. ? ? ?
This article is a nice breath of fresh air compare the vast majority of work that is produced from analysts who seem incapable of viewing the current cultural epoch in a nuanced and interconnected fashion. The placing of racial animosity within a larger systemic frame work of economic and social despair that naturally emerges from Capitalism–while at the same time truthfully expressing the long history of White Supremacy within the United States and its glorification of violence–serves to illuminate the root causes of Trump and the danger he represents.
It is unfortunate that much of the conversation seems to remove the topic of despair from the list of considerations. Such a state of affairs serves simplistic narratives that foster myopia towards the real and emergent threat of Late Stage Empire and Late Stage Capitalism.
In the end, it is only writers who reliably delve the through the immediacy of the moment to view the totality of the society in motion that have anything of any real value to say.
Hey All! I like it. Shows a certain elevated sophistication of intellect possessed by the poet.
Of course those who comment to vent on the criticism of their heroes would not be expected to approve. This is free speech, if you don’t approve it’s okay to say so . You are welcome!
The same stuff is written and deposited here everyday. Phil is simply much more artistic with the language.
First sentence of his third paragraph Feedback Loop Of Carnage, not withstanding, the remainder is thing of beauty and a joy forever, especially his claims of the damage they do by not doing their jobs and serving the people instead of the corporate oligarchy.
So Phil just who do you think should guard this, and I agree, most dangerous political class. The CIA who seem to me to be the most serious threat to the nation and it’s people because they owm congress.
Thanks Phil and by the way that first line is a killer!
Would this piece pass the comment rules? An odious, venomous piece of trash that belongs in the trash bin rather than the pages of CN.
EYES WIDE SHUT … .
https://electronicintifada.net
Because….? (How many times do I have to try and post this one word?)
Ahh, Michael Niemi, this great poet Rockstroh has hit a nerve…
of yours. The Truth is mighty uncomfortable, no?
Because…..?
Because….?
I see what you mean.
This Rockstroh man only hits a few details, only to once again hop on the train of preferential disarmament and typical accusations of current POTUS being a supremacist – despite the fact that the guy has clearly bought into ideals similar to ANTIFA/Amnesty International – as if the same POTUS wasn’t business-based enough, thus why guns are still being bought, albeit to the benefit of the corporations they are based upon, rather than to the divided insanity of the supposed population. It’s also so that Rockstroh has even failed to highlight the use of mass shootings as an advantage for both covert lawmakers and plutocratic backers to further strip us of our leftover individual sovereignty.
All in all, our issues mainly fall under corporatocracy through financialization, rather than mere capitalism – both symptoms of CB-based systemics.
In the interest of correcting the record: Robert Parry cultivated and published numerous article, over the years, written by the writer in question.
https://consortiumnews.com/tag/phil-rockstroh/
Whenever I see words describing how “Americans” practiced genocide upon the American aboriginals, it strikes me as odd because no one questionsfrom where, nationality, did the vast majority of those Indian killers originate.
The largest decimation of Americas indigenous population, there are three americas, had already been carried out before the USA was founded, all done by Europeans.
The very first official thanksgiving was done right after god fearing gun toting English immigrants went on a slaughtering spree that wiped out tribes and killed hundreds of man woman or child.
Clear up until end of Indian wars 1880s’ the vast majority of rank an file soldiers were recent European Immigrants, led by first and second generation political and military leaders.
The then recent European immigrants did not give a fly’n pig that they were stealing lands of original inhabitants and agreed with, ” the only good Indian is a dead indian”; spoken in many of their home nations languages.
Culture of violence in US, WTF, Europeans were competing with each other in stealing foreign lands and had been in constant warfare for centuries with each other, and it took massive destruction of Europe from WWI and end of WWII to end that mindset.
The New England Colonies became a New England and that nature of centuries of British rule at any cost spread from them to include all of US, and its governing bodies that now reaches worldwide.
Jealousy and greed go hand in hand and those who never had to destroy others but grew up in that which others greed made ease of attaing affluence easy, can and are just as oppressive in nature towards their form of control replaces those now in control.
Different words but same results.
Very interesting article and comments. As a citizen of another land, not the USA, I find both article and comments very weird. I am old now, but have never faced gun violence or the sort of frantic response by “normal” people when they are thwarted from some action they wish to take.
From where I sit in Colombia S.A. this article sums up the USA quite nicely. I could not agree more with it`s summation of american life.
No it’s not Bob Parry, Gary Webb, investigative reporting but it was a fun read and poetically on point a bit.
Another article that talks about the US mass shooting phenomenon without mentioning the most important aspect of it. Pharmaceutical companies are selling billions of dollars worth of psychotropic drugs that say right in the package insert; may cause suicidal or homicidal ideation. If there is no way to stop them – democracy could help if we figured out how it works – then I guess we just need to adjust to our new reality. We can write poetic articles about the multiple complicating factors, all of which are important and need of attention, but let’s not upset this massive industry which is killing us in multiple ways while making investors happy. Many people focused on their pet solutions get mad at the few people bringing up what ought to be obvious, yet is fast falling into the memory hole.
Bingo! No one seems to be interested in publicizing this fact. Add these psychotropic drugs to the opioids and their lesser over-the-counter cousins, and you’ll begin to get a better sense of one of the underlying causes of out national psychosis.
This is easily the worst article I have ever read and it is very hard to read indeed. The author in fact doesn’t know anything about real Americans. Visit Cheyenne Wyoming and find out about peaceful Americans no matter how many weapons they own. The big cities are rotting with moral decay and decadence.
There are plenty of right-wing bigots in Wyoming, in small-town Oregon where my mom lives, and in the decidedly unglamorous Inland Empire where I came of age. Same in Texas where I lived for a year. Guns are allowed to flourish in the US. That allows them to be used. And trust, although there may not have been a massacre in Cheyenne, those same sorts of ideologies are percolating. The hatefulness and division which Trump promotes at his rallies is always in right-wing communities. In big cities diversity is valued. Atomization and fear of the other triumphs in Cheyenne WY, rurul OR, and small-town Texas.
Well said, sir !
Well said diatribe, it’s accuracy is affirmed by the emotional distress evident in the negative comments.
By the way Munchen is a real cool city, you can surf there even, on a river bar. Great subways.
Ever heard of Matthew Shepard?
Somehow, I can’t image CN giving any space to this biased screed while Robert Parry was alive. How about sticking to investigative journalism? I’m seriously thinking of withdrawing my financial support.
I agree with you 100 percent. Robert Parry would have never wanted a demagogue writing on his site.
Let’s focus on whites, huh? This twaddle is hardly worth commenting on, really. Minorities (primarily blacks) blow each other away on an alarming daily basis, in equally alarming numbers. As certainquick pointed out, Philly is a rat infested shooting gallery, like so many other American cities. All we hear is crickets. Going back to the article, there are many gun collectors, with a lot who never even fire the things.
It’s the mindset. Further, all the “underclass” is pitted against each other to provide a cushion to the ruling elite. If you don’t understand this game then you’re not going to get it.
Check out Catherine Austin-Fitts’ writings on HUD to get a better understanding of how the stage is set.
Until we own the errors we’re only going to keep perpetuating them.
“there are many gun collectors, with a lot who never even fire the things.”
I suppose you’re one of them. I don’t collect guns, per se, but I do own some (in which case any attempts to label me as anti-gun will fall flat). But, using your logic I could say that there are MANY Nuke collectors, with a lot who never even fire the things. Feel “safe?” (speaking of firing Those things, it was the US’ white majority rulers who are the ONLY ones to “fire the things” (killing, you guessed it, non-white humans; and so the story goes on an on…).
Are you proud of your racism?
“Haters gonna hate, Consumers gonna consume.”
~ TA. Swift
https://osociety.org/2019/08/14/control-the-message-haters-gonna-hate-consumers-gonna-consume/
The cycle of power and violence and control keeps on spinnin’…
“Haters gonna hate, Consumers gonna consume.”
~ TA. Swift
https://osociety.org/2019/08/14/control-the-message-haters-gonna-hate-consumers-gonna-consume/
Travis Bickle, his Magnum pointed at the tube.
Whatever.
Watch the videos of the latest shooting going on in Philadelphia today. The cops have a literal army out, cars and tanks everywhere. (btw, if you ever wanted to rob a store in that area of Philly, today’s your lucky day).
If nearly every citizen were carrying a gun, this wouldn’t even be in the news. Any shooter would already be caught, wounded, dead, or all the above.
Instead, witness the police state of America.
“If nearly every citizen were carrying a gun”, then your violence-addicted society would suffer even more gun deaths than it does now. You all need to calm down.
No argument about the US being a police state. I believe a big part of this is their ability to point to gun proliferation and claim any amount of heavyhanded action is totally justified.
As for the rest, Texas has one of the highest rates of handgun CC in the country. While it could have been a factor, it didn’t help anyone in that El Paso WalMart – which was not a gun free zone. It didn’t help anyone in Vegas either, which also has a very high percentage of personal carry.
Further debunking this argument, most shootings are criminals shooting other criminals, any of whom might be armed. Again, an armed third party might cut this short, but it isn’t going to prevent anything. You can only react after the fact, and then only in the right place, right time, good angle on the shooter, willingness to engage, situational awareness enough to NOT shoot the wrong person.
The genie is out of the bottle, and it’s pointless to even discuss these shootings any more than it is to talk about controlling the weather, cancer etc – when it rains some folks are going to get wet even if they’re carrying an umbrella, some folks are going to get cancer no matter how clean they live and work. Luck of the draw and if your number’s up it’ll be the back of your head some nutter has in his front sight, what’s on your belt or strapped to an ankle makes zero difference.
Well argued, Miller.
I’m sorry, but this is a mindset borne out of Hollywood movies.
I’m a “trained killer” (USMC). I own guns. I KNOW that unless you are trained and ready at ALL times there is hardly a chance that you’re going to be prepared to do anything constructive when such an event occurs. I’ve been involved in more “survivalist” discussions than I could possibly count; most folks don’t have an f’en clue. People would be hard-pressed to stop an armed intruder into their home. Yes, go ahead, tell me exactly how YOU would be “ready.” In nearly all scenarios it wouldn’t involve waking up from a deep sleep, and, it wouldn’t involve having to wait until your hands are actually functioning (from soreness or numbness).
The 2nd Amendment was about a properly trained militia (there being NO standing armies): it was stretched to provide “cover” for folks out in the “frontier” areas. FULL STOP.
I don’t promote “solutions,” BUT, I do KNOW that arming everyone isn’t in any way a sane one: everyone should have Nukes, no?
The Japanese considered an invasion of the West Coast of the US until they found out that a whole lot of civilians were armed. At least that’s what I heard. Maybe not a huge chance that this ever becomes an issue again, but on the other hand Better safe than sorry. I’ve also noticed that the places like Idaho where there are a lot of guns, people tend to be very polite. Yes correlation does not prove causation but I really think there is a correlation. Just sayin’.
Nukes are just fine. Life doesn’t come bubble wrapped and it isn’t going out that way either.
“For those new to LP [Libertarian Party] terminology, the macho flash is an in-your-face flaunting of the most extreme libertarian hypotheticals. No soft-peddling or sugar cube to make the medicine go down. Should a soccer mom ask about drug policy in a hypothetical libertarian society, the non-flasher will discuss medical marijuana, the failure of Prohibition, and the benefits of treatment over prisons. The macho flasher will defend the right to erect crack cocaine vending machines in daycare centers.”
http://www.libertarianpeacenik.com/articles/2012/machoflash.html
(BTW, the Libertarian Party is a joke. Libertarians with a small “l” (libertarians) are the real deal. If you don’t understand or care what that means, guess what? I don’t either.)
Very good points Seer. I’ve gone over the scenario of defending my wife and I in our home late at night with a gun, and came to the same conclusions you did. Older now, harder to awake, failing eyesight and hearing, and I still haven’t bought that 9mm. Also trained as a “killer.” RA, Infantry, Airborne, but thankfully never had to go to war. Amazingly effective the way that the military trains its troops; after all these years I still remember most everything that we were taught to try to keep us alive. Defensive positions, offensive tactics, cover and concealment, how to move as a unit across different terrains, constructing/avoiding ambushes, escape and evasion. Most of what is presented in the movies and on TV is hogwash. As for the “rebellion,” three words – “small arms fire.” Yes, nukes are the logical and absurd culmination of this debate.
The silliest of arguments as always, are the ones that end with, “…should everyone have nukes?” Even the USMC takes silly people. If we aren’t inclined to nuke Russia or China or Iran, which we are not, it is highly doubtful we would ever nuke our own country.
Read Federalist 46… which contradicts you, and then read Heller. “…the right of THE PEOPLE, shall not be infringed.”
It has always held that the nation’s standing army (ours is now 1.3m) would easily be outnumbered by 15 to 1 if the nations citizens took up arms… against a clearly Surveillance based Police State (or any other flavor of tyranny)… that’s assuming every US soldier in the entire world landed on the side of said tyranny and followed the orders to shoot their own citizens.
Lastly read The Law, written contemporaneously during the French Revolution, by Frederic Bastiat…
It is a God given right, not bestowed by govt, therefore not to be taken away by govt, that every person near or far, has the basic right to self defense… this is why when people kill in self defense, they dont go to prison.