A collectivist take on Kokesh's "Armed March on Washington"
Adam Kokesh Open Carry March: What Liberals Can Learn From This Revival Of Civil Disobedience
Though the police department in Washington tends to respect political speech, as soon as Kokesh’s parade crosses Memorial Bridge, they will be publicly flouting more than traffic regulations and park hours — and that’s their point. Both Kokesh and D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier say they want to work together "to ensure a peaceful airing of grievances," but the chief remains adamant: if a law is broken, there will be consequences. Kokesh, dispelling fears that the march will result in violence, is equally resolved: he will “submit to arrest without resisting.”
That is the point, after all. Though many commentators are attacking Kokesh for everything from being impractical to having poor taste, they are overlooking the fact that this proposed march of thousands isn’t even meant to happen.
10 comments:
Isn't meant to happen? Enlighten me.
I'll try to answer: If the county respected the rights of it's citizens regarding the 2nd, the march would never have to happen.
I frankly don't give a flip what Kokesh "intends" to happen, just as long as it doesn't. If people use their good sense and stay home, Kokesh's 'event' will be a non-issue. But I think that this is all just a publicity stunt to get the blogosphere to talk about him; like all politicians Kokesh is an attention whore deep down inside, IMHO. The publicity for his plan gives him the very thing that he wants, without having to actually go to DC and get arrested. The conditions and caveats he places on his plans to march give him a convenient "out".
For all the reasons that other readers here have commented on in previous posts, nothing good can come of this if AK sees this through to its inevitable conclusion... I genuinely hope that people will let common sense prevail and send Mr. Kokesh back to obscurity in his little corner of YouTube, so we can all forget about him.
Item 1: Should this march happen with its current 3000 people participation the DC police will have to approach things from a different angle then they are used to. It is easy for police to halt a group of protesters that are seemingly sans firearms. They deploy riot police, they deploy water cannons, they used gas and other less than lethal options. When the group approaches they isolate and arrest individuals at random that they can get their hands on.
Item 2: The crowd is maneuvered into areas through these means that makes it possible for police to take the group piecemeal by separating them into smaller groups. Many are convinced to disperse through what they see and what effects water, gas, and rubber bullets have on them individually.
Item 3: Once the group is pushed out of a denied area the crowd usually dissipates and the situation is diffused.
Item 1 Revisit: Now the different angle… Police are going to have a hell of a time with something like this. Can they really use water cannons, firearms firing rubber bullets, and gas on a group that is armed? Do they want water cannons knocking people with loaded firearms over? Do they want to fire weapons loaded with less than lethal options, they still go bang and could be confusing? Do they want to panic armed individuals by blinding them and freaking them out? Are they going to convince officers to go at it in just riot gear sans firearm?
Item 2 Revisit: The best thing they can do is to keep that group intact. Instead of a four block long section of armed people to contend with they will divide their forces and risk a major altercation in multiple locations. I don’t think so. We have all seen how police handle even one armed individual.
Item 3 Revisit: A group of armed individuals will make some of their own rules about their disbanding.
You have to understand the precarious position here. What can they do, besides fire into that crowd? And if you saw your countrymen who decided that this was their moment, being gunned down for making a political statement, for transporting a weapon illegally into an area that has deemed your protected rights invalid what would you do?
This march is not ideal for many of you. I don’t blame you for that. But it is not a bad idea. This march may turn into a mess, but are you really going to care what the media says about it if it goes south? Should those people, even if you disagree with their choice of venue be shot at for transporting a weapon illegally?
I don’t know any of you, but I know you have principles and I know you appreciate the liberty that we enjoy, and I know you see it being infringed, I know you have seen it infringed multiple times and I know that many have had just about enough.
Kokesh is not ideal, but I would rally to push the idea, instead of offering reasons not to finally make a MEANINGFUL stand. You worry about getting your firearms taken away and your future rights to own them. What do you think you are faced with this very moment?
Confiscate, confiscate, confiscate.
You decide to let them take you individually and they will succeed. If this happens and it does go south, July 5th will be another important date on the calendar.
What a wuss you are, William Flatt! Thank goodness there are still people in this country with a spine. If tens of thousands march, do you think they can arrest all of them? Think about it.
Anon @ 1:54PM on 5/12,
Good points all. This could easily shape up to be the "Boston Massacre" all over again...or even a Lexington green moment.
Or, it could turn into the greatest reason to ban semi-autos ever given to the leftists that are running/ruining our country.
Or, it could turn out to be nothing.
I'm not sure which way it'll go....but if the shooting starts, and we are thrust into another Revolution.....I hope we're all prepared to do what needs to be done to win.
What can they do besides fire into that crowd? Lots. Put yourself in their shoes and imagine. Then again, maybe they WANT to fire into that crowd. Oh, not the front line schmuck they order to do the firing, but I mean the higher ups. Maybe they want to find some excuse to mow them down and see if they can 1) convince the low info voter that they had it comming and 2) intimidate the rest of us.
Or if they don't then they could just park a couple of Active Denial Systems where they could run their beam across the bridge as an invisible wall of pain and not even have any police on the other side. Of course they would. Unless they had Marines.
I think the key thing to consider is that with all the laws and information and control of land around the bridge and cooperation of local LEOs they surely have, the federal gov't could easily throw up a lot of roadblocks to stop the protestors from ever even being able to assemble on the bridge if they were afraid of this event. If this goes ahead with Mr. Kokesh in charge of it then you can be assured it is because the feds want it to happen or don't care. Then you can get paranoid.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/armed-protesters-face-arrest-91022.html
What's with the silver stars on Lanier's shoulders?
Does this silly and ridiculous woman fancy herself as a general?
Unfortunately, we have become a nation populated with William Flatts.
But, fortunately, there are more than a few Adam Kokesh'es amongst us.
The Samuel Adams will win this day, not the Neville Chamberlains.
Mr. Flatt, please stay home. Stay out of the way of the real American men doing the work that needs to be done.
To quote myself, "This WILL be a shooting war at some point. The people already have the moral authority to fire the first shot. Put on your big girl panties and deal with it."
Anon 8:52, yes they can do alot more than just fire into that crowd. They can step aside and let people demonstrate their rights.
They probably do want to fire into that crowd, maybe they dont. Honestly they just want you to do what you are told, right or wrong on their part.
What if they did put up roadblocks? What if that crowd just moved through them or walked around them?
An ARMED crowd changes things dramatically. Police have doctrine setup and in place for occupy type groups and rioters, not doctrine in place for patriots.
Im telling you, this kind of thing is something they have no way of dealing with. That is why the bloggers on both sides are trying to make it appear as a no go.
The only bad part was the idea of turning around. I say keep moving. Just keep walking to your objectives.
It could be bad, we could be looking at numerous dead. Im sure alot of men who left home to defend their liberty said to themselves this could be bad.
Those are men who we remember.
We dont however remember the sissies who decided that Lexington Green wasnt right for them.
It may be a great excuse for a ban on semi-autos... But do you really think that is something that is going to fly? I dont think the people will allow it quite frankly.
A ban may be the least of your, or their worries if that march went south.
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