A Philosophy - If You Can Get One (repost)

The Germans of the Weimar period were increasingly frustrated, angry, disgusted with the “system,” and ready for change. So are Americans. The Germans, following their intellectuals, were disgusted with what they regarded as reason and freedom, and they were ready for Hitler. The Americans are disgusted with unreason and statism; but they are directionless. Without intellectual guidance, they do not know what went wrong with their system or how to prevent the country’s disintegration and collapse.

Thus, by default – despite the profound differences between Americans and the pre-Hitler Germans – the similarities between the two nations, the similarities between their intellectuals and the social trends they shape, are growing. The most ominous aspect of the trend is that, if it is not reversed, it will ultimately change the character of the American people. It has already begun to do so.

The philosophy that shapes a nation’s culture and institutions tends, other things being equal, to become a self-fulfilling prophecy: by creating the conditions and setting of men’s daily life, it increasingly establishes itself as an unquestioned frame of reference in most people’s minds. A society shaped by altruism, for instance – a society of chronic, politically enforced man-eat-man policies in the name of “the public welfare” – leads many of its victims to feel that safety lies in flaunting public service, that selfishness (the “selfishness” of others, who are draining them) is a threat, and that the solution is to urge and practice greater selflessness. A society shaped by collectivism, in which the only effective means of survival is the group or the state, leads many to feel that the ideas and the personal independence appropriate to an individualist era are no longer possible or relevant. A society shaped by irrationalism – a society dominated by incomprehensible crisis and inexplicable injustice and the constant eruptions of a senseless, nihilist culture – leads many to feel that the world cannot be understood, i.e, that their own mind is inadequate, and that they need guidance from some higher power.

Thus, corrupt ideas, once institutionalized, tend to be continually reinforced (the same would hold true of rational ideas); and the unphilosophical men, however decent their own unidentified premises might be, eventually succumb. Across a span of generations they gradually relinquish any better heritage. In part, they are yielding to the explicit ideological promptings of their teachers and the universities. In part, they are adapting resignedly to what they have come to accept from their own experience as the facts and necessities of life.

The American spirit has not yet been destroyed, but it cannot withstand this kind of undermining indefinitely. If the United States continues to go the way of all Europe, the people’s rebellion against the present intellectual leadership will be perverted, and re-channeled into an opposite course.

Nonintellectual rebels cannot challenge the fundamental ideas they have been taught. All they can do by way of rebellion is to accept a series of false alternatives urged by their teachers, and then defiantly choose what they regard as the anti-establishment side. Thus, the proliferation of groups that uphold anti-intellectuality as the only alternative to today’s intellectuals; mindless activism as the alternative to “moderation”; Christian faith as the alternative to nihilism; female inferiority as the alternative to feminism; racism as the alternative to egalitarianism; sacrifice in behalf of a united nation, as the alternative to sacrifice on behalf of warring pressure groups; and government controls for the sake of the middle class, as the alternative to government controls for the sake of the rich or the poor.

The type of mentality produced by these choices – activist, religionist, racist, nationalist, authoritarian – would have been familiar in the Weimar Republic.

If it happens here, the primary responsibility will not belong to the people, who still reject such a mentality and are groping for a better kind of answer. The responsibility will belong to those who banished from the schools all knowledge of the original American system, and who would have finally convinced the nation that men’s only choice is a choice of dictatorships.

No one can predict the form or the timing of the catastrophe that will befall this country if our direction is not changed. No one can know the concatenation of crises, in what progression of steps and across what interval of years, would finally break the nation’s spirit and system of government. No one can know whether such a breakdown would lead to an American dictatorship directly – or indirectly, after a civil war and/or a protracted Dark Ages of primitive roving gangs.

What one can know is only this much: the end result of the country’s present course is some kind of dictatorship; and the cultural-political signs for may years now have been pointing increasingly to one kind in particular. The signs have been pointing to an American form of Nazism.

If the political trend remains unchanged, the same fate – collapse and ultimate dictatorship – is in store for the countries of Western Europe, which are farther along the statist road than America is, and which are now obviously In the process of decline and disintegration. (The Communist countries and the so-called “third world” have long since fallen, or have never risen to anything.) A European dictatorship need not be identical to an American one; dictatorships can vary widely in form, according to a given people’s special history, traditions, and crises; in form, but not in essence. Most of the East is gone. The West is going.

A German intellectual made the following statement after the Nazis fell from power.

”In the early days of Hitler’s regime, he recalled, anyone troubled by the Nazi practices and concerned about Germany’s future was shrugged off as an alarmist. And you are an alarmist. You are saying that this must lead to this, and you can’t prove it. These are the beginnings, yes; but how do you know for sure when you don’t know the end, and how do you know, or even surmise the end? On the one hand, your enemies, the law, the regime, the Party, intimidate you. On the other your colleagues pooh-pooh you as pessimistic or even neurotic.”

One can “know, or surmise the end” by knowing what cause produces what effect, i.e., what factor determines the fate of nations.

Today, the only nation still capable of saving itself, and thereby the world, is the United States. It can do so only by one means.

The Constitution cannot stop the trend. A constitution, however noble, cannot stand the death or eclipse of its animating principle.

The demonstrated practicality of the original American system cannot stop the trend. Practicality as such does not move nations.

The profound differences between America and Germany – the differences in history, institutions, heroes, national character, starting premises - cannot stop the trend. After a century, a crucial similarity began to develop between the two countries, the similarity of basic ideas; and this one similarity is gradually overriding, subverting, or negating the differences, and consigning their remnants to the dead end the unappreciated, the undefended, the historically impotent.

There is only one antidote to today’s trend: a new, pro-reason philosophy. Such a philosophy would have to offer for the first time a full statement and an unbreached defense of the fundamental ideas of America.

The same German intellectual quoted above, looking back at Hitler's rise to power said,

What caliber did you get?

I picked up a used P230 in .380 for $225.00. As a matter of fact I just returned from the range with it.

Now no knocking my choice of caliber ya' hear?

At 21 feet I can put the whole mag in the K5 area of a police sillouhette target strong hand, and 4 out of 7 in the same area weak hand.

I bought it because it's small and very concealable. It slides right into my fanny pack and 2 spare mags fit quite easily into my pants pocket.

In this manner I can completely comply with IL laws which say that any firearm must be 'unloaded and completely enclosed in a case' yet be available for use in about 5 seconds. Not ideal, but it's the best I can do right now.

I also took the opportunity to put a few hundred through the new Springield XD-45 compact I picked up last month. I put a LaserMax on that one.

The XD is one sweet shooting little pistol. It ate everything I fed it from hardball to 185 gr HP's, to 200 gr HP's, and 230 gr HP's flawlessly.

It ain't as perty as a 1911, but it's got some neat design features. In the 'compact' configuration it holds 10 rounds of .45 ACP. But with just a mag change it becomes a full size 'Service' model holding 13 rounds.

At 35 feet using the laser I can keep that entire mag inside an area the size of my hand. At 21 feet, well it ain't even fair.

4 guys and one young lady wanted to shoot it. I told 'em as long as they were feeding it their ammo to have fun. I wanted to work with my new OSIGD pistol.

The 230 ate hardball just fine. I also put a box of that Glaser Powrball through it. Not a single hiccup.

I'm going to retire the Bulldog as my "Best I Can Do Right Now" carry piece and use the Sig. I know the .44 spl has a lot more ooomph to it, but the semi-auto Sig is much faster to load.

The ballistic tests on the Glaser ammo seem decent enough considering the cartridge. I'll take 8 to 9 inches of penetration with reliable expansion.

Now all we have to do is get the lawsuits filed to bring IL into compliance with the Heller decision and we'll have open carry. After all, Justice Scalia did specifically point out the "AND BEAR" portion of the 2nd.

And the Editorial Board of the Trib are not only treasonous, their f****** stupid, too. They don't realize that repealing the 2nd would have absolutely NO effect on the fact that I have a right to arms.

But I'm going to stop by Colonel McCormicks mansion this afternoon and see if he's reached 30,000 rpm in his grave yet. Were he alive he'd fire every single one of 'em.

I'm going to pen a review of the Springfield and post it here. I'll ping you to it when I've got it finished.

Best,

No fuss over the caliber from me. My 'summer carry' is a good old (or maybe it's guten alt) Walther PPKs. Sure, it's a piece of finicky German engineering. Run a couple of mags through it and it's ready for a cleaning if you want it to function reliably. And when you take it down for a thorough cleaning, do it in a large plastic bag or a class 10 clean room, as you will never find some of the little springs that are bound to pop out and fly God knows where.

Having said all of that - the PPKs has such a natural point in my hands that I could put one up a perp's nostril at 15 feet easily. Milk jug sized objects are dead bang gone at 30 feet. So the point is that the accuracy and the handling go a long ways towards making the .380 a an effective caliber for soft targets and up close and personal. Especially with the right ammo. That same is why your SIG is such a gem. If I had the spare change, I'd love to have one for myself. SIGs are utterly reliable in ways that the Walther is not, especialyl after the first two magazines. I've run thousands or rounds through my 229 in .40 with nary a hiccup.

That same is why your SIG is such a gem. If I had the spare change, I'd love to have one for myself.

They had the Sig for 225.00 and a Colt Mustang for 575.00. Now I really would have preferred the Mustang, but for the price it was the Sig hands down.

Did a couple double taps with it at about 10-12 feet. Ever shot a winner, man. Now the Sig has seen a bit of use and there are some wear marks on it. But the smith who looked at it said it's just some honest wear.

He did say that I shouldn't try to put any fancy hollow points through it as that model doesn't really like much more than an round nose FMJ configuration. Hence the Powrball ammo.

Put a whole box of that through it and it ran fine.

As Shrek said "That'll do Donkey."

My best to you and yours my friend. We dodged a real bullet the other day.

I wish I'd thought to say something so cogent and I can't right now recall the Freeper who did. But the post of the week was "What you can barely hear over the wailing of the liberals is the sound of tens of thousands of safety catches quietly being re-engaged on rifles all over the country."

That about sums it up.

Take care.

This is the type of peeps we need to worry about.

Would that it were true. Fact is, we have all but lost the cultural battle to incessant busybodies who think their highest calling in life is advising others how to conduct their lives; all the while striving to eliminate competition of every type, at every level. Think about that and the ramifications. What happens to the achievers? The ones that can move the culture forward instead of backward.

These busybodies are latter day marxists who applied Gramscii's principles to a fault. Maybe it's because we didn't see it coming; that we thought we were invulnerable to the seduction of socialism. The notion that we were safe from "attack" from abroad left us with a false sense of security? So it would seem "The Long March Through the Culture"(Institutions) has probably succeeded beyond their wildest dreams and very likely, ahead of schedule. Gramscii, you'll recall, offerd this alternative to communism's brute force style, when he correctly noted that America could not be beaten by conventional means. And so, "The March" began...

I've said it before, and I believe it moreso today, the cultural busybodies have the upper hand when dealing with their enemies -- us. The nature of do-gooders is such that they feel compelled to run the show; conservatives, on the other hand and for the most part,just want to be left alone to go about their lives without interference from government.

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." -C. S. Lewis

How to beat 'em? IMO, it's unlikely they can be beaten at their own game, which leaves few alternatives. If fact, maybe just one -- they have to be eliminated. But will conservatives take up arms to eliminate the threat? Or is it possibly too late for that even?

Edge of the abyss bump.

So it would seem. We have lost the war of words because it had become their turf. The language of the tyrants and their enablers tickle the ears of the unwashed. I'm afraid it's all over but the shooting. Whether THAT will actually happen or not is an academic exercise that will gain us nothing either. Even so, I'm not sure there are still enough able bodied men who care enough for the country and its founding ideals to take up arms and defend it. My generation of boomers, though willing for the most part, is fast becoming unable to answer the call. I get winded walking out to my mailbox and back so any bad actors would out of necessity, have to come to me. Could happen...

As you probably know, the following generation(s) have been steeped in collectivist ideals and utopian group think for decades. The good news for them is, they will never miss the personal freedom and liberty we grew up enjoying because it has been exorcised from their psyches. Besides, the responsibilities required for self government and the duties self discipline and self sufficiency are such a bore. Just ask any of 'em...

Peikoff, purist that he was, would probably reject Trump, and he certainly have nothing to do with the mass-murderer wanna-be Hillary Clinton.

Paralyzed by his own orthodoxy, sad to say.

Which doesn’t necessarily make him wrong in his observations.

As I said in an earlier comment on this article,

“The problem is that by refusing to think, or philosophize, we arrive at the likes of Obama followers-worshipers. They’re all willing to hand it over to him - to hand over their own intellectual and spiritual sovereignty. History is very clear on the outcome.”

“They’re looking for Utopia. What they’re going to get is hell.”

And here we are.

He can see farther ahead than us because he thinks in principles, therefore he accurately can predict, based on a candidate's stated ideas the grave mistakes that will be made. In principle, Trump *is* going to take us down the road to who knows where because he is a man of action. He doesn't integrate his ideas, nor does he hold a philosophy that has any consistency. As you know. Heck, I lived for a decade in his city and know what Republicans there are like—like Giuliani who cleaned up the streets and made things livable again. But they usually are more like Kennedy Democrats on social issues, which I prefer. Trump is cut from the same cloth, is a pragmatist.

But my reason for being a Trump fan is his breaking the apologetic p.c. mold and because he loves America, period. If I have to endure another 4 years of anti-Western diatribes, I'd rather move to Galts Gulch, wherever it is!

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