In regione caecorum rex est luscus
In the Land of the Blind, the one-eyed man is King
by Desiderius Erasmus, a GSL member
Many great military strategists throughout history were forced to fight from a position of disadvantage: the other guy was more powerful; sometimes the strategist had more than one adversary. Such was the case with Mao Zedong (aka Mao Tse-tung.) Mao was a bad guy, but his strategy was smart – it wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough.
As leader of the Chinese Communist Party, for thirty years he had a running fight against the Chinese Nationalists and then the invading Japanese Army. Mao ultimately beat both using something called Protracted War. The first phase didn’t key on violence, but was the most important – the organization, consolidation, and preservation of base areas, usually in isolated terrain. Mao called these areas his “iron bastions” which gave his troops the ability to “move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea.”
That’s a mouthful; what does that mean for supporters of the 2nd Amendment (and every American who supports the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 14th Amendments too) today? The bottom line is that right now we are reeling. Our beliefs, Constitution, election integrity, and “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” from the Declaration of Independence are all under assault.
We must avoid the two knee-jerk extremes: we cannot quit, and we also cannot “die on this hill” by using violence to fight back.
So let’s adopt a strategy far more effective for now– patience, creating sanctuaries for the 2nd Amendment – Mao’s iron bastions. Then later we’ll roll back the tyranny.
Huge cities are lost causes, dying on the vine from out-of-control crime, one-party-rule, ever-increasing taxes, pathetic public education, and corrupt political bureaucracies.
We need to begin our endeavor in smaller cities and the vast core of America – its rural heartland. Governments tend to ignore rural areas. They discriminate against rural inhabitants, or at least to divide them, which they already have done in the big cities. “Fly-over America” is not a term of endearment; it is the snarling curse from coastal elites. However, that attitude makes it harder for a distant seat of power to effectively control these regions; it may be isolated terrain for them, but for us, this is our “sea.” This is where we must start, one cornfield at a time, forming our Bastion of Iron.
But you already know that because you live here. So what can you do right now to help us all survive this onslaught and later roll back tyranny?
Have the backs of law enforcement and law-abiding citizens defending themselves.
Do not avoid jury duty. On a jury you can make a difference, especially when a defendant is being railroaded – because he or she is a law enforcement officer; or trying to defend themselves and their family; or is getting the shaft because of their race, ethnicity, political beliefs and so forth. The prosecution cannot order a jury to vote a certain way; they must prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt – your reasonable doubt.
Do not buy products or services from people who hate, demean, or want to subjugate us. This is easy to do. First determine radio and television programs and networks you truly despise. Then watch them! Write down which companies advertise on the worst-of-the-worst shows. Be specific: network name, program name, advertising company, advertised product, date and time the advertisement ran. Consolidate your list with your friends’ lists and distribute them. Then stop buying the advertised products; stop giving money to the haters.
Encourage every qualified adult to own a firearm. For non-firearms owners, discussions about the 2nd Amendment are just academic bovine fecal matter. Firearms owners have skin in the game and draconian restriction proposals adversely affect them. Help a non-firearm-owning friend obtain a FOID, select a firearm, and practice. Start now due to FOID wait times. Actually go with them and help them submit the FOID request. Do not advocate getting a “cannon” or they will not practice. A .22LR gets them off the bench and into the game.
Go silent on social media about your firearms. Loose lips sink ships. You have no expectation of privacy on Facebook, Twitter, e-Mail, etc. One day, Big Tech, who is not our friend, will provide information on your gun ownership to those who would take that right away, but only if you have provided it.
Millions upon millions of people genuinely and sincerely support defending the land of the free and the home of the brave. That is the real iron bastion… and impossible for any force on earth to smash. We are the sleeping giant of all backgrounds, religions, ethnicities, and races in an iron bastion that has awakened and been filled with a powerful resolve.