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November 2015
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George Rebane

I sent the following letter to The Union after reading the latest ‘resistance is futile’ offering from a well-meaning neighbor in Auburn.

***

Mr Gregg Littell’s thoughtful 7nov15 piece, ‘The idea of 'armed rebellion' in the U.S. is ludicrous’, disturbs on several counts.  First and foremost his arguments ignore historical and ongoing realities.  More distressingly he paints a hopeless picture for humanity since tyranny is the most easily attainable and stable form of governance known – tyrannies replace tyrannies ad nauseum.  With an armed populace the American Revolution showed humanity how it could answer ‘Can man govern himself?’ with a resounding YES!

Today, after decades of meticulous preparation, the American leviathan is in rapid ascent toward global governance with half of us applauding its progress.  Mr Littell’s hopeless analysis of the futility of armed resistance is contradicted by all autocratic governments, joined now by America, that acknowledge disarming its citizens is the sine qua non necessary and sufficient precondition to a centrally planned state with a compliant population.  Ultimately America’s freedoms will be reinstated and preserved by a newly educated citizenry that rejects a carefully crafted imperious America, and instead sees a truly exceptional nation that has delivered by far the most wealth, enlightenment, and hope to the world’s poor and oppressed.  My blog has a more complete response to Mr Littell’s counsel. 

 ***

Of course there is much more to be said about the ‘futility notion’, and RR readers and I have pretty well covered the waterfront on these pages over the last eight years.  The Union’s 200-word letter limit didn’t allow me to add the following for their readers which here I summarize in a painfully abbreviated set of points.  Hopefully our learned and well-read readers can recall the appropriately extended arguments.


- Our military must be trained to pursue and fire on Americans in America.  Every veteran knows that subversion of our military by America’s future tyrant will take time and be very visible as witnessed by the newly inaugurated Jade Helm joint military/police annual exercises.

- Our military must act in unison in service of tyranny, no fractionation of loyalty to government and rebels, else a civil war ensues.

- Successful civil disobedience must be unified, concurrent, and overwhelming.  This is extremely difficult under an all-seeing tyrant.  Nazis hanging conquered eastern Europeans by the dozens in city squares successfully thwarted piecemeal (armed and unarmed) resistance.

- In the last 100 years there are many examples of successful citizen rebellions that were initially outgunned by their governments.

- Rebels will not be limited to small arms once rebellion starts.  The ability to access and incorporate modern technology to perform advanced command/control, sensing, surveillance, and weapon guidance functions will be ubiquitous, especially in a technologically advanced country like the US.

- The telling argument against the ‘it is futile’ crowd is that if Leviathan were not worried about a successful rebellion that starts with broad-based ownership of small arms, it and its loyal lackeys would not be working day and night to make the ownership and use of guns more difficult (using all kinds of ‘gun safety’ arguments, but never touching the function of guns for a free society – trigger warning to progressives: don’t use the old pap of how EU countries do without liberal gun ownership, they have the US to let them play with such social policies).

- The US government ist already worried about citizen armed resistance – refer to the threat list published by the DHS and now the launch of the annual Jade Helm military/police joint exercises.

- Multiple generations have been taught in union schools that America 1) is not exceptional, and 2) is an evil empire come of age in the New World (these pages contain ample evidence of such opinions)

- Founders wrote 2nd Amendment based on the concept of citizens’ ‘par force’ that would check a future rogue government.  While the basic idea remains fundamental, it has been weakened by the constant addition of regulations that impede/proscribe gun ownership and use.

- Constraining America’s salvation to be guaranteed through only mass re-education promotes the odds of an incipient dictatorship, and that in the interval we can make do by remaining ‘ignorant and free’.

- Jefferson’s dictum is already violate.   The disappearance of our freedoms are easily understood through the parable of the slowly parboiled frogs as the existential proof that ignorance and freedom cannot long coexist.

BTW, I was amused to see Mr Littell’s us of “A nation ignorant and free, that never was and never will (shall) be.”  The meme seems to be getting around.  It was in the 1990s when I wordsmithed that abbreviation of Thomas Jefferson’s famous insight that he included in one of his collected letters.  At the time I was lecturing at CSU Northridge in their mass communications school (integration of journalism and media producers) where I wound up as Adjunct Professor teaching their core class in critical thinking that I’ve described elsewhere in these pages.  Before the beginning of every lecture I would write at the top of the blackboard ‘A nation ignorant and free, that never was and never shall be.’  Thomas Jefferson.   Preventing that fate that was my students’ charter, and the compelling principle motivating their studies.  My first online use of it was in 2005 on Russ Steele’s NC Media Watch blog which he kindly invited me to co-author with him before I started RR.  Would love to know if anyone can find an earlier than 1995 citation of that form of Jefferson’s dictum.

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21 responses to “‘Put down your arms, resistance is futile!’”

  1. Russ Steele Avatar
    Russ Steele

    Democrats greatest gun sales promoters of all times:
    The Federal Bureau of Investigation processed a record number of background checks in the month of October, indicating that gun sales were at an all time high for the sixth month in a row.
    The FBI’s National Instant Background Check System processed 1,976,759 firearms related checks in October. That is a 373,290 increase in checks over last year and a new record for the month. It also makes October the sixth consecutive month to see a record number of checks.
    […]
    So far in 2015 the FBI has performed 17,584,346 firearms related checks. Currently, 2015 is on pace to beat 2013’s record 21,09,273 checks.

    The nation is arming itself and Obama is the greats gun salesman in history. Ever time he gives a gun control speech gun sales jump.

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  2. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    How many ‘saturday night specials’ did it take for some Jews in the Warsaw ghetto to slow down the Waffen SS’s relocation from the ghetto to deathcamps? How many more SS troops did it tie up who would rather have been shooting Soviets, English or Americans?
    I think that’s a model for what civilian firearms are capable of doing. The Waffen SS was never a “well regulated militia” but it sure slowed them down when Jews shot back.
    What did the US sergeant armed only with a Colt M1911 pistol tell the Israeli tank driver to get him to turn away from the Palestinian refugee camp? Standing on top of the tank, IIRC it was something like “Turn this tank around or I’ll blow your [expletive deleted] head off”…, and a 45ACP round at point blank range would not have been pretty. It should be noted the camp was the source of rocket fire into Israeli territory, attempting to kill Israeli Jews, so I do not blame the Israeli tankers or the Americans who were tasked with keeping the peace in that area of Lebanon at that time.
    More later.

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  3. Fuzz Avatar
    Fuzz

    Dr. Rebane, I think you may be misinterpreting Mr. Littell’s article. He’s not saying that Americans shouldn’t be armed…..quite the contrary. He’s just saying that the idea of the “armed citizen” confronting tyranny is much different now than the circumstances present during the American revolution. He’s also not saying that “resistance is futile”. He’s offers an alternative to armed resistance that might be more effective. He supports the 2nd Amendment and gun ownership but doesn’t want people going to absurd expensive lengths to “prepare”. I think his emphasis was on national government tyranny rather than localized situations. I guess I took the point of his article differently than your view.

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  4. Walt Avatar

    Do some people have that short a memory? A dose of “tyranny” was put down by armed citizens not that long ago. It’s called the “Bundy ranch incident”.
    I was packed and ready to leave the driveway when the “G” man raised the white flag.
    Gregg Littel Is a little off his rocker. There may be some military personnel that would blindly follow orders and fire upon U.S. citizens, but I doubt the majority of our armed forces would resist that unlawful order, and uphold the Constitution.
    If the so called government DID turn on “us people” there are plenty of “us” to give’m hell.
    The Liberals have been the best gun salesmen. Yet you haven’t seen one gun manufacturer ad on normal broadcasting. (unless you watch the sportsman’s channels)
    BTW.. Seen the new NRA PSA’s? People who have use a gun in self defence. And minorities no less. ( That should piss off some LIB, gun grabbing politicians)
    Sorry Gregg Littel,, There are plenty who WILL stand against tyranny. The America loving American is alive and well. ( and well armed for the job if need be.)

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  5. Walt Avatar

    Hi Fuzz,, nice to see you back. The writer claims to have dropped his NRA membership.(Why?)
    I took that letter the same way Doc did. ” we are outgunned by the gov. So don’t bother”.
    The average American will not bow to the Agenda 21 crap. ( part of which is the abolishment of the 2ND Amendment)
    As you stated, “He’s offers an alternative to armed resistance that might be more effective.” Please remind me of just what that might be. ( taking to the streets and bitching?)
    Some of that “tyranny” is taking a new form. LIBS are setting criminals free to roam the streets, by the thousands.
    I never felt the need to keep a gun at arms reach for most of my life. That has since changed. I never felt the need to lock our doors all these years. That too has changed.
    A CWP permit is soon to be reality too. ” It can never happen here”… Well that’s what they believed up in Oregon too,, and at the collage in Mercede.

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  6. Russ Steele Avatar
    Russ Steele

    There are thousands of prepper units scattered through out the Western states, if not in other regions as well, training for “the conflict”. We have some in Nevada County. A couple of years ago I attended the Miwall Fathers Weekend Ammo sale early on Saturday morning. I had picked up my number, 273, and was waiting to be called and as I was standing around among many others, I overheard a conversation initiated by a young man wishing to join a prepper group. He was told by the group they did not have any more room in their unit, unless he had some special skills, like medic, radio repair or gun smithing. He was directed to call a Placer county phone number (written on a slip of paper), as there was a possibility of a new unit being formed in Foresthill/Cool area. My number was called and I did not hear any more of the conversation. I collected my hand truck and joined the others hauling ammo out of the MiWall facility by the hand truckload. When I left Miwall the number was over 400 and there were multiple small groups with hand trucks still waiting their turn. A friend attended Sunday afternoon reported there was still a line to enter the facility. Only 20 people at time are allow to shop for ammo of all kinds. Some loaded with forklifts into the back of pickup trucks.
    There is either a lot of shooting going on in Nevada County or a lot of prepping for conflicts to come, or both.

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  7. Bonnie McGuire Avatar

    What’r people supposed to do in an obviously immoral society robbing, killing and stealing to support themselves, or their drug addictions. We can’t afford enough policemen to protect us when needed.

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  8. Fuzz Avatar
    Fuzz

    Walt, I didn’t see anywhere in the letter where he stated he dropped his NRA membership or was even an NRA member. Did I miss something? Also, if the majority of US armed forces would refuse to obey a “tyrannical” takeover, as you suggest, then it won’t succeed and the fear of tyranny becomes quite remote. On a local level, using your example of the Bundy Ranch incident, and assuming that government personnel were taking a “legal” but unpopular action, where does private citizens shooting BLM personnel get you? When is it OK for private citizens to bypass proper legal challenges and protests and go straight to guns? If the US Forest Service banned all OHV’s from national forests and an armed group of citizens threatened to kill Forest Service personnel if they didn’t open the gate, what happens when a group of Earth First types threaten to kill anyone on an OHV? You want to go to war over something like that? Take it to the ballot box, the BOS, your congressman, etc etc. Get an official legal ruling and if you don’t like it, try to vote in people who agree with you. From my previous post you know I’m a vet and a gun owner but I guess I’m more in sympathy with Mr. Littell’s sentiments. War is hell….all my family members are vets….we all shoot…and we all look at “heavily armed prepper types” with a perhaps a slight bit of jaundiced view. I understand patriotism and I endeavor to be patriotic to my country but maybe I’m just getting too old.

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  9. Scott Obermuller Avatar

    from fuzz – “…where does private citizens shooting BLM personnel get you?”
    No one shot any govt official. The govt officials were shooting his cattle. You’re not getting too old, fuzz, you’re just another slowing boiling frog. The fed govt is out of hand. They lie to us daily and don’t operate according to the rules. What ballot box? The rules and regs emanating out of DC are almost never voted on. They are dictates from agencies that are not accountable to the voters.
    The second amendment was explicitly put into place to enable citizens to own military grade fire arms. If you think differently, you are at odds with the founders of our nation.
    You have that freedom – please let us have ours as well.
    I think the main reason the feds don’t want us to own enough weaponry to protect ourselves has more to do with the coming lawlessness that will leave many folks helpless and totally dependent on the govt for their safety.

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  10. Walt Avatar

    Thanks Fuzz for pointing out my error. Yup,, I was WRONG!
    I went back and re-read said letter. There was another letter submission mid week that was along the same lines, but a lot more “anti”. I had the two confused. In that letter that guy stated he turned in his membership.
    This is the one that got stuck in my thinker.
    http://www.theunion.com/opinion/18807929-113/harry-wyeth-how-about-some-critical-thinking-about
    It’s been a long week. I just got back to work after being semi-retired. It has taken it’s toll. Like the redheaded stepchild of a rented mule.
    As for the Bundy Ranch, yes, the “G” man really overstepped. BLM “rustled” the man’s cattle. Destroyed his rightful property, not to mention destroying endangered critter habitat with their vehicles. All because Harry Reid was trying to make a land “swap”.
    Go read the history of the event.
    To this day, not one charge has been leveled in court against Bundy or anyone who was there.
    As for locally, Greenhorn BLM land has been cut off “from use”. No gunfire over that.
    The “ballot box” has become a joke in this state. “WE the people” pass a law, and some pissed losers take it to court and get it overturned.
    At least in my little corner of the world I can still shoot targets in my own backyard.
    And all my neighbors have yet to band together and deal with the illegal pot grower that is now stinking up the environment, the cops have yet to deal with.
    As for the rabid ECO types, they are there. They have strung up piano wire across trails.
    Set booby traps. Put nails in trees marked for logging. damaged equipment. Yet not one dead hippy propped up on a stick.
    Good to hear your a shooter. Stay in practice. I too did my duty, and a kid or two still is. In the last 7 years, our rights and liberties have taken a big hit under this administration, and some are getting pissed, and rightly so.
    No my friend. Your never too old the believe in being a patriot. If the shit hits the fan when I’m 80, I would still do what I could to take up arms to protect what America stands for.
    Look what is happening right now. Plenty think it’s OK to kill cops, and destroy anything the please,, and they got elected politicians approval! I give you Ferguson.
    The pavement apes had free run.

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  11. Bonnie McGuire Avatar

    I’m watching Datline (nov 7) and wondering if the kidnapping story isn’t just like what’s happened to America

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  12. Todd Juvinall Avatar
    Todd Juvinall

    I saw SPECTRE and it was great. Lots of shootem up. That Bond, James Bond, is quite a secret agent. He saved the world again. Gun involved in that.

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  13. George Rebane Avatar

    fuzz 652pm – Mr fuzz, I stand by my commentary because Mr Littell gives no hint in his essay that he supports the 2nd Amendment nor decries the steady rollback of gun rights. His only point is erroneously arguing that armed resistance of leviathan is futile. And the alternative counsel he gives is patently ineffective for a gruberized and gruberizing citizenry that will be the last resort against a technically savvy autocracy cum tyranny.
    People like Mr Littell are the modern day moral equivalents of those who argued in support of Lenin during the Russian civil war, and for Hitler during the 1930s. They never saw the error of their ways until it was too late. However, their sentiments did not save them from being marched to the wall.

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  14. Fuzz Avatar
    Fuzz

    Scott and Walt, you’re right that I need to review the Bundy incident. I don’t support anybody doing the illegal unconstitutional thing, government included…..especially the government. The great experiment of the US was to “reconcile liberty with law”. The problem now is that congressional/presidential statesmanship and governance has morphed into something with single digit approval ratings, a dangerous development. Did you hear the first speech of Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Ne)?…quite an eye opener.
    http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4558327/sen-sasse-maiden-speech
    Dr. Rebane, please reread the letter because Mr. Littell states, “I’m a supporter of the 2nd Amendment, with reasonable and prudent restrictions.” He never states that he’s against owning and using military style weapons, just that the cost of gearing up at warfare levels might be an unnecessary expense. You state: “People like Mr Littell are the modern day moral equivalents of those who argued in support of Lenin during the Russian civil war, and for Hitler during the 1930s.” I didn’t get that at all! He’s arguing for resistance, except that armed resistance might not be the most effective. I guess we all read things through our own filters and come to varying conclusions. It seems to me that improving the “knowledge quality” of the average American (me included) is the thing that will steer America forward to the highest level of security and strength.

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  15. George Rebane Avatar

    Fuzz 848am – You are right, my interpretation of his 2nd Amendment support is not as strong as yours since he doesn’t spell out his “reasonable and prudent restrictions” thereon, nor whether there are enough such restrictions in force today. But his counsel on “futility” while leaving us with an alternative that has a snowball’s chance in hell of working is what really set me off. According to my lights, we have a much better chance of successful armed resistance against a tyrannical government than we have of foregoing that and hoping that the “knowledge quality” of the populace will improve enough in the interval to stave off such a tyranny ascending. There may well come a time when it will be better to die on the barricades than tuck tail and talk of futility – our Founders thought so.

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  16. Scott Obermuller Avatar

    Mr Littell littered his opinion with plenty of red flags as to where he stands. ‘Wasting our money on AR15s and X number of ammo’. According to him, we need to ‘educate’ ourselves. Sounds like Al Gore and his firm commitment to ‘hunter’s rights’. There is a reason the fed govt has purchased enough ammo to fight 4 or 5 WWIIs. They claim the employees of the various agencies involved need those rounds for target practice. With NOAA officials now taking the 5th perhaps just a few more folks might wake up to the fact that our govt is not quite the govt we read about in our civics classes.

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  17. Walt Avatar

    We have “educated” ourselves. That’s why we are staying “well armed”. We teach our kids the proper use of weapons.
    Now,,, on the “common sense” gun front, look what a “common sense” judge just did.
    http://dailycaller.com/2015/11/08/woman-who-illegally-bought-gun-used-to-shoot-cop-sentenced-to-one-year-of-probation/
    The “black lies matter” crew must be singing in the streets.
    “A federal judge in Omaha on Monday sentenced a woman to one year of probation for illegally buying a gun on her boyfriend’s behalf from an FFL at a pawnshop. The woman could have been sentenced to a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
    The boyfriend was a prohibited felon and gang member at the time of the purchase. He later the used the firearm to kill a police officer, Kerrie Orozco, “

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  18. George Rebane Avatar

    An apropos email from a reader and correspondent –
    Today I placed my 9mm Beretta semi-automatic on the table right next to my front door. I left 6 cartridges beside it, then left it alone and went about my business. While I was gone, the mailman delivered my mail,the neighbor across the street mowed the yard, a girl walked her dog down the street and quite a few cars stopped at the stop sign near the front of my house.
    After about an hour, I checked on the gun. It was still sitting there, right where I had left it. It hadn’t moved itself outside. It certainly hadn’t killed anyone, even with the numerous opportunities it had been presented to do so. In fact, it hadn’t even loaded itself.
    Well you can imagine my surprise, with all the hype by the Left and the media about how dangerous guns are and how they kill people. Either the media is wrong or I’m in possession of the laziest gun in the world.
    The United States is 3rd in murders throughout the World. But if you take out just 4 cities: Chicago, Detroit, Washington DC, and New Orleans, the United States is 4th from the bottom, in the entire world, for murders. These 4 cities also have the toughest Gun Control Laws in the U.S. ALL 4 of these cities are controlled by Democrats. It would be absurd to draw any conclusions from this data right?
    Well, I’m off to check on my spoons. I hear they’re making people fat.

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  19. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    George
    Do you have any documentation for your 8:15?

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  20. George Rebane Avatar

    PaulE 1054am – Good question Paul. The email in italics is as I received it with no links. I’ve seen this claim before and the whole question is a bit more complicated than the simple summary given. A little digging revealed a more complete discussion and corroboration on the following site –
    http://www.mythdebunk.com/us-3rd-in-murders/

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  21. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    Thanks George I’ll check it out.

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