Saturday, October 31, 2009

The Mathematics of Liberty: "One Hundred Heads" re-examined.

Scout Sniper (MOS 0317, formerly 8541) is a specialist in the United States Marine Corps whose mission is to deny the enemy freedom of movement by killing enemy leaders, crew-served weapons operators, radiomen, observers, messengers, and other key personnel with single, well-aimed shots. In addition, scout snipers also provide close reconnaissance and surveillance to the infantry battalion. Scout Snipers attached to Marine infantry battalions fall under the Surveillance and Target Acquisition units, usually a reduced platoon with the headquarters company. Marine Corps Scout Snipers are widely considered one of the elite forces of the US military and all branches of service send their best to be trained at one of the four school house locations.

As defined by the Marine Corps Scout Sniper Basic Course, a Scout Sniper is a Marine highly skilled in fields craft and marksmanship who delivers long range precision fire on selected targets from concealed positions in support of combat operations. -- Wikipedia.




NOTE: Some folks, in and out of government, will take what I write below as an invitation to assassination of public figures. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am on record as denouncing the idea of assassinating President Obama, going so far during the campaign as to call on good folks to attend his rallies and watch for threats to him. Assassination, even of a President no matter how much you dislike or fear his administration's policies, is a loser's tool. Indeed, there is much more to be gained by the enemies of the Founders' Republic in the assassination of President Obama than by anyone else. If it happens one must ask the old criminal investigator's question: Cui bono? Who benefits?

(One wonders if this isn't -- subconsciously at least -- what's behind the incessant comparisions of Obama to Lincoln and Julius Ceasar.)

Rather, the political and military dynamics I try to explain below are in the context of a hypothetical civil war initiated by a tyrannical administration. In that scenario, the killing of senior executives of the murderous regime would not be murder, but, from one perspective simple justice, and from another legitimate targets permissible under the laws of war. (See Bill Clinton and Serbia, 1999).

As with everything I write, I'm trying avoid a civil war here, not start one. -- MBV


Folks,

Trying to finish Absolved, real life events intrude as they must. The flurry of praxis posts was done for a reason -- responding to a need reflected in email requests and face-to-face conversations with folks new to the armed citizen concept. The response to the FM 21-15 offering was amazing, and I spent more than I little time sending those pdfs out. It was worth it. Glad to see all those budding militia supply officers out there. Logistics most often decides conflicts and thus we should pay great attention to ours.

Will, of course, is also indispensable. But as the Japanese Empire could tell you if it were still around, "Yamato damashi" alone can only take you so far. Training, tactics, strategy, intelligence, all are also critical to success.

But what we would all prefer is not to have to fight at all. Since we prefer to live in peace AND liberty, it is necessary to figure out what motivates our enemy -- the domestic enemies of the Founder's republic and the Constitution. What do they want? Well, that's pretty obvious. They want to be able to tell the rest of us what to do without interference. To paraphrase the sign my ex-wife used to have on the wall, it is their way or the highway.

That is what they want, surely. But that is a mere appetite. That is what the old military acronym IOE -- Intentions of the Enemy -- is all about. But if we are talking about preventing war, then we must create a credible deterrent -- something that strikes at the heart of their ambition and causes it to die aborning.

Thus, in the end, credible deterrence is less about figuring out what they want or how they intend to go about getting it, but rather depends upon the answer to this question:

What is it that they most value?

Credibly threaten what they most value -- as in, make them believe that they will lose it if they attempt to attack you -- and they will not do that thing. They will not attack you, lest they lose it.

So, what do they value? Power, certainly. Principle? Certainly not. Everything is compromisable toward the satisfaction of appetite. Do they fear God? Certainly not. These are very temporal creatures. They live in the here and now and glory in the satisfaction of their senses.

Thus they have no understanding of the concept, "Live free or die." Such a thing as dying for a principle is incomprehensible. Which is why they do not understand how dangerous is their present position.

They value power then, for power's sake, but here is the key. They cannot wield power if they are dead. Because they believe in nothing higher than their own ambition (despite whatever convincing noises they make for the collectivist herd about "for the children" or the "perfectability of socialist man" or the "triumph of the 'volk'") it is their lives and their lives alone that they value.

This is what they understand: YOU CANNOT EXERCISE POWER IF YOU ARE DEAD.

And THAT is what they fear. The ending of their existence. That, and that alone.

Remember, we are talking about the war initiators here. The war makers. Not the useful tools who carry out the policy but the policymakers themselves, and the people who manipulate them.

Boiled down, this is part of what the Founders had in mind with the Second Amendment. Give the people the means to resist tyranny, and then it is the tyrants who die in the end.

Or, as I tried to distill it down for the impatient hoplophobe who demanded that I tell him my position in as few words as possible: "If you try to take our firearms we will kill you."

Substitute the words "liberty and property" for "firearms." THIS is what we must make our enemies believe. If we regain the credible deterrence that the armed citizenry once had in this country, no would-be tyrant will dare apply for the position. He will be unable to attract lieutenants if they believe such an action is suicidal.

This is what the Founders intended. They tried to construct a system of checks and balances, a deliberately inefficient system of government, to avoid the tyranny of the King or of the mob. But it was a system designed for a moral people, a God-fearing people, and though it lasted a long time, the fact is that we are, in aggregate, no longer moral or God-fearing. Thus, we are left with the armed citizenry as the arbiters of their own liberty.

If you try to take our liberty and property we will kill you.

That sentiment strikes at the heart of what they value. Everything else is window dressing.

If we can convince the enemies of the Founders' Republic that this will happen as surely as two plus two equals four, there will be no next American civil war. But the burden is on us to present the mathematics and make them credible.

Thus, as an exercise in the mathematics of liberty, I re-post a piece from back in January. Cheyenne 0317/8541 is my nominee for next year's Nobel Prize in Mathematics. If we can somehow get the Constitution's enemies to understand this mathematic principle, we will all live long, prosperous and free lives without conflict.

But, given the collective history of this sorry planet, that's not the way to bet.

Mike
III

http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2009/01/one-hundred-heads.html

Saturday, January 24, 2009

One Hundred Heads

Folks,

You have no idea how humbling the response as been to Absolved and this website. These are serious issues. Issues that, in the fullness of time, could get people killed. Yet what I write apparently resonates with people because God has given me a talent for expressing what they have long believed.

All of my work has been motivated by a desire to avoid conflict over these principles we hold so dear. If I bluntly warn liberal politicians, media types and academics of the folly of their proposals, it is because I don't want my children and grandchildren to have to suffer the ghastly experience of civil war.

It has always been my belief that if people understood where this is heading, there was a least a chance of avoiding it. As we proceed into the Era of Obama, I am afraid that is becoming more and more a faint hope.

As some of you know from bitter personal experience, taking a stand does not come without cost. There are dangers, even now, to having political opinions. Just ask David Olofson. From time to time, people express concern that I may fall victim to ATF retribution or FBI miscalculation. There is, in fact, little I can do about that, for that move is up to them. Like Luther, here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. There are no free lunches. It is what comes of being a free man. Or as my Grandpa Vanderboegh used to say in an imitation of a cartoon character, "You pays your money and you takes your chances."

But I was reminded this week that no man is an island, entire of itself. On my trip to the post office box, I was rewarded, in addition to statements from Social Security and the power bill, a single anonymous envelope. It was postmarked from somewhere in Oklahoma. It said this in handwritten block letters, spelling and punctuation as written:

Sir,

I have read you on the internet and believe in what your doing. One day the ATF will come to count coup on you & take your head. I promise to take One hundred heads for yours.

Cheyenne 0317/8541


There is a small, delicate ink drawing on the bottom of the sheet, showing what appears to be a coup stick crossed with a tomahawk and over-arched with what I'd guess are eagle feathers. 0317/8541, for the uninitiated, are the current and former MOS numbers for a Marine Scout/Sniper.

One hundred heads. I sat in the car, reading and rereading this piece of paper, touched by its simple sincerity. I have no doubt the man means what he says. I also have no doubt that a Marine scout/sniper has the skills to take a hundred heads if, God forbid, this should come to guns.

I shared this with a friend yesterday, and he had only this comment: "A hundred heads properly targeted could finish this thing." Indeed.

On the assumption that Cheyenne is reading this, I would like to tell him this:

I do not ask you to take those hundred heads, sir, but I appreciate the commitment to our common cause that such a promise implies. I do not know what the future may bring, but if it should be grim I merely ask that you get the right hundred heads.

In liberty, and with gratitude,

Mike Vanderboegh
III

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Remember, we are talking about the war initiators here. The war makers. Not the useful tools who carry out the policy but the policymakers themselves, and the people who manipulate them.

On what basis does anyone believe that the top of the food chain will be accessible to mere groundlings?

Especially after the first kinetic impeachment, the SES will be mainly in the Green Zones and screened by a very large and well-resourced FBI/Secrets/contractor cadre with a pretty damned effective air/Z axis element.

It's fine to have a contingency plan for use if one of the cards in the Scoundrel's Deck appears in one's field of view.

But if one wants to win the upcoming North American war games, the brass ring is in convincing those who serve the oligarchs that they -- the useful tools -- will pay the butcher's bill for their masters' schemes.

After all, it will be the useful tools who will be delivering the actual jackboot to us, our families, and our country.

A simple rule: they who do not act in accordance with their Oaths have self-selected for participation in various physics experiments.

Period.

Solzhenitsyn had it right:

"And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward."

Do we -- the readers of this blog and our serious-minded friends -- love freedom enough?

The Bad People have assessed the field, measured their opposition, and decided that we do not.

And if we fantasize about surgical strikes at Politburo ministers and their masters as the only moral means forward, we are utterly and completely lost.

With respect,

Despairing

neal said...

There are valid arguments on both sides of this, the being Mike's post and the comment left by Anonymous.

The puppet masters for the most part are the super rich, and often foreign born. They are far far away and out of our reach should the excrement hit the fan.

We may be able to take out a few puppets, but the truly higher ups would indeed be well guarded and protected.

Our only chance would be to take enough pawns, those at the local levels who do the grunt work, to make them think twice about obeying any more suicidal orders.

In other words, this would be a door to door resistance, with each person making their own stand.

Whether sufficient numbers of citizens have the willingness to take that stand yet remains to be answered, it is what I believe will decide the outcome of any future event.

Anonymous said...

Of course 'Despairing' has a point in that the movers and shakers have the resources to retreat behind No-Go zones and hordes of hired security; however, they can't stay there indefinitely.

Their main weakness lies in their false world view of the United States in which they are the chosen, meant to rule over us peons. Being an egotistical ass-wipe constantly fawned over by ass kissers and indulging in drinking the kool-aid with other deluded ass-wipes means being incapable of correctly assessing your threat environment, and when that happens you die.

Hired security will only get you so much, there are only so many well trained and capable shooters out there, and their background and training is such that many of them are patriots. They got their training and experience in the service of their country because they were brought up to honor their country and way of life and are willing to put their lives on the line in its defense. Just because they move from a military environment to a higher salary job in the private sector doesn't make them any less of a patriot. The majority of the men at this level will Not obey their wannabe 'masters' orders if push comes to shove. In fact, these wannabe masters in their quest to hire the best protection have actually put themselves in dire peril as they have hired many who would gladly put the bullet in them if they ever expose themselves as being involved in an overt attempt to overthrow the US of A.

There most assuredly are some top notch shooters out there who are willing to sell their souls for the things of this world, but they are in the minority. When folk like that are in a face off with others of equal skill they will simply fade away because they are only in it for the money and all the money in the world does them no good when, as Mike says, they are dead, and they know it.

Mike is correct when he says if you can get the opposition's attention and make them realize the price they will have to pay is their lives, then you have altered the situation considerably. The only way they can proceed is if they believe they can successfully effect a massive pre-emptive strike and reduce the opposition to the point where they are no longer a threat. As Mike has written in Absolved, that is a very likely scenario; however, real world events such as Ruby Ridge, Waco, etc. have demonstrated the complete incompetence of these hired thugs. If they are ever faced with a real threat they will get wiped, as Mike has described so well in his book.

There is a real chance that in the not so distant future it will come down to armed conflict in the streets. I have no doubt as to the eventual outcome, because I understand the difference between a shooter for hire and a man doing what he does for love of country. In spite of the horror of a civil war it is probably best that it comes because the entrenched criminal thugs who have controlled our country for so long can not be removed any other way. So be it.

bacsi

Anonymous said...

Even a rabbit will bare it's teeth and come at it's aggressor when cornered and given no other option but to fight or die. That is the natural law. It is given by the Creator naturally wherein self-preservation and love of offspring is instinctual. It is the same with animals as it is with man. With man alone however there is the addition of charity, natural affections and official duties which impose a moral obligation to defend others as well as ourselves and our offspring. Morality therefore dictates that we must follow the unattempted actions of Solzhenitsyn's lament should such aggression come knocking at our doors. I cannot speak for others, but in this part of the country where we cling to our God and our guns, I assure you all, there is more rabbit in us than sheep.

The boldness of these evildoers make it obvious that they believe they have the assurance of success. Let the surprise be theirs.

illspirit said...

"And THAT is what they fear. The ending of their existence. That, and that alone."

If you put it in practical terms, yes, but this is but a symptom of what tyrants (and their cheer-leading enablers) really fear:

Responsibility.

The tyrannical looter sends others to steal from you not just out of fear of death, but so they can shift the blame when things go wrong. Be it a bloodbath like Waco, or just failing to collect enough plunder.

The moochers who votes for the looter do so because they want you to take responsibility for their well being.

In either case, death is just one more thing they will inevitably blame on someone else.

So how do you deny such an enemy freedom of movement? Stop producing things for them to steal. Force them to face the responsibility of paying for Leviathan.

If you can afford to do so, quit your job or close your business, move out to the country (if you're not already there), and produce/barter only what your family needs to live. If you're absolutely stuck in a job somewhere, do the bare minimum to not get fired and volunteer nothing which will generate new taxable revenue.

For any threat of resistance to be credible, the best place to start would be demonstrating that we will no longer work to pay for the very system which we would be resisting.

Who is John Galt?

jon said...

On what basis does anyone believe that the top of the food chain will be accessible to mere groundlings?

so. you admit there is a chain.

"Of course 'Despairing' has a point in that the movers and shakers have the resources to retreat behind No-Go zones and hordes of hired security; however, they can't stay there indefinitely."

behind?

power is grasped at by those who fear that another will exercise it first. this is the mentality of insecurity, of one who cannot learn to live in liberty. fear is the mind killer, and doubly so for such as these.

while it's true that, as MBV says, "They cannot wield power if they are dead," it is also true that nobody can be paid enough to be shot dead from a kilometer away. especially once their replacements start getting the picture that their charge was never the intended target. likewise, a near miss on a v.i.p. naturally imparts infinitely more fear for him than an ineffective hit: will they ever know for sure it wasn't a miss? will they be able to fill the vacancy in their security detail? show me one who wields power in that condition, and i'll show you someone whose own oligarchy is going to hang them out to dry.

tyrants belong to the not worth it contingent of pissants. they would crumple into themselves, emotionally and psychologically wrecked forever, if they had to live with half the fear we proletarians do of them. remember that.

Anonymous said...

Law degree from a top level university… studies in the socialist hell of Europe… black belt in Hapkido with knife and small arms combat focus... (no profile) trainer of SWAT and Special Ops personnel… daily life with Browning prodigy 1911, FAL & semi-auto shotgun… seeking to develop my skills out to destiny distance with a bolt – looking for an instructor that has the intensity… where the Scouts stop, me [sic] and my kind begin… 100 heads… some at a distance… some up close and personal… narrow minded collectivists vs. lovers of liberty... I know both sides well… hatred of the socialist enslavers is underestimated in the halls of power…

Public record floor plans…

Destiny awaits us all…

III

Anonymous said...

"Hired security will only get you so much, there are only so many well trained and capable shooters out there, and their background and training is such that many of them are patriots."

And there's the rub.

I would say that they would get their shooters from third-world shitholes like Zimbabwe, Nigeria, etc. Countries with no cultural connection, who's government wouldn't care if lots wouldn't be coming back.

And they would work cheap: 10k a year, food, board, weapons.

Oh, and any loot taken, excluding firearms; although the gangster government would likely want a share of that.

With that said, it would backfire: what do you think that a hungry fighter from Nigeria would think of a lazy inner-city dweller with bling?

They would think "food", and act accordingly.

And the survivors of such things would be ripe for recruitment into the hopefully active resistance.

Happy D said...

Hey may I point out that just about every one in a so called green zone is a legitimate target of war. The green zone itself may even become a legit target.

So they are not safe there. a whole range of tactics opens up including old fashioned siege warfare.

Just a thought.

Anonymous said...

I too think the top movers and shakers in a tyranny will be largely inaccessible.

However, to increase security such that that is the case, means even more intolerable infringements on the people - which will reduce the legitimacy of government in their eyes. Legitimacy is also something the ruling class craves, since it is the veil that hides their parasitic nature from the people.

They may be able to shelter themselves, but 99.9% of the country will belong to us.

Anyway, if I'm not mistaken, a large number of Roman emperors were killed by their own praetorian guard.

Oh, and the useful tools and mid-level bureaucrats will be fair game, too. They make the same sorts of calculations that their masters do. They can't wield power if they are dead.

Fat balding caver said...

Indira Ghandi ended up giving the go ahead for the Golden temple in Amritsar to be stormed.

I forget the details of whether the "Extremists" had lured her into the action, or whether her administration was trying to "make a point".

The point is her Body Guards were devout Sikhs. Mrs Ghandi moved from the seat of power, into the ashtray of history.

Despite having Romanian friends, I cannot spell their dead dictator's name.

Who gave orders for him to die? some say Illiesco (spelling -Iknow), the dictator had become a danger to his cronies, and they rid the world of him, to save their own corrupt skins.

Whether it is through patriotism or cowardice and greed, Those who start civil wars are at risk from those closest to them.

word check says bilessn. alternative says grated

Anonymous said...

Everyone is accessible, if you are willing to pay the price to get to them. There will be no place to hide, when this starts.
I'm an old jarhead. If we want you, we will find a way to get you. Remember, we were taught the mission comes first, even before getting back.
When the mission is cutting the head off the hydra, it may take some time, but that will be one dead hydra.
Semper Fi
Molan Labe
III%

cmblake6 said...

Indeed, putting them in fear for their lives will be far more productive/less costly in the long run. Assassination would but grant martyrdom to these slime. A few will need to be made aware of their mortality. Once the knowledge is sufficient in DC, there should be change.

Ace said...

At their core, I don't think the "tyrannical executives" are as afraid of death as you might think. Their goal, their underlying morality, is one of sacrifice; it's a steady march toward the destruction of others, as well as of themselves.

The key for those of us who resist collectivism is to somehow avoid the tidal wave of destruction that they will bring onto themselves; to survive long enough to pick up the pieces afterwards.

Anonymous said...

Killing people is not the winning strategy.....you target their ability to make war....You kill a pilot and they have a replacement tomorrow.....you kill a 25 million dollar f-16 and that HURTS.

VAN said...

Anybody thought about the army Obummer could raise at the drop of a hat. No need to pay, train or arm them. Simply throw open the gates of all the prisons and let it be know the inmates can rape, pillage and burn to their hearts content. Does two things, gets most people screaming for protection and keeps us busy trying to stay alive and protect our families and reach other.
Those in the protected areas would feel nice and safe and they would be for a while,but sooner or later the piper will have to be paid.

Anonymous said...

Van ... You said "Anybody thought about the army Obummer could raise at the drop of a hat. No need to pay, train or arm them. Simply throw open the gates of all the prisons and let it be know the inmates can rape, pillage and burn to their hearts content. Does two things, gets most people screaming for protection and keeps us busy trying to stay alive and protect our families and reach other.
Those in the protected areas would feel nice and safe and they would be for a while,but sooner or later the piper will have to be paid."

I would assert that that would seal the fate of the tyrant and all of his quislings. It would increase losses for the op good guys, but I doubt as much as you imply. The end benefit for that price would be that when it was over, all of those bad guys would be gone, as well as the tyrant and His followers.