7.4 Cultivating Natural Elites
Rather than denying elites naturally emerging, civil society needs to embrace & reflect genuine exceptionalism through individual merit & achievement. Then ditch the faux elites of the fiat empire.
The fact that politicians, bureaucrats, and the vast array of influence peddling regime supporters scheme against the right to keep and bear arms, while also undermining the definition of militia (or demonize the notion altogether), does not diminish the crucial nature of having the population organized, armed, and disciplined to secure a free state. In fact, it speaks more directly of the need to deflate the power and influence these artificial elites wield in the fiat empire they’ve created for themselves.
Rather than denying the natural emergence of elites, the social order needs to embrace and reflect genuine exceptionalism through individual merit and achievement. In that environment, the faux elites, propped up by perverted law and artificial credit, will no longer hold sway.
Natural elites in a free society, arise at the local level by demonstrating qualities others can recognize, most often through training, competitions, or other practical experiences. On a side note, I’d like to see the rise of a ‘Militia Olympics’ akin to a SWAT Roundup or Tactical Games, where various grass-roots organizations compete for excellence at solving various tactical problems, but I digress.
Contrast this with politicians who merely win popularity contests with rhetoric, demagoguery, and empty promises to provide things they do not possess, or legitimately control (like healthcare, insurance, or pensions). The leaders in a militia, conversely, are freely chosen by the unit members who witness their admirable traits and are therefore willing to follow based on their direct relationship with the leader and their shared mutual contract with each other.
As described earlier, a reliance on the whole body of the people for security and justice does not mean that everyone must become a full-time warrior. The purpose of a ‘free state’ is to enjoy a good life and that requires a division of labor. The key ingredient for securing liberty under law is to deny a ‘monopoly on the use of force’ to any class of individuals in society, particularly those that make their living by expropriating other people’s property through taxation or regulation. Curtailing the political tendency to pervert the law, which also undermines security and justice, requires restricting law to property centric legal standards.
This legal framework significantly alleviates the burdens involved in producing the optimal level of security and justice by eliminating the political caste’s ability to create “pretexts” for power centralization, such as the wars on “drugs”, “poverty”, “terrorism”, “hunger”, or going abroad in search of foreign monsters to slay.
When conforming to the protection of people and their property, along with the enforcement of contracts for the voluntary exchange of justly held property, the production of security will be oriented on social harmony (rather than agitation as it is now) and, therefore, the costs of security and justice services will be tremendously reduced. At the same time, there is a persistent need for round the clock patrol services, criminal investigations, mediation, and restitution collections. Here, again, the principles of property and the free exchange thereof, through voluntary contracts, presents the solution, for it is the free market where consumer demands get satisfied (as opposed to the notoriously inefficient, corrupt, and customer unfriendly conditions delivered by politically manipulated bureaucracies).
By subcontracting out, using clearly defined terms and severability clauses, all the services that the local militia are less inclined (like some patrol or watch services) or incapable (such as computer forensics or chemical analysis) of providing, the people retain control of the use of force in society, and not the political caste. Even “police” and “sheriffs” must be subordinate to the militia in order to secure a free state. Remember, the words “police” and “sheriff” do not exist in the Supreme Law of the Land and, therefore, such tax-funded agencies have no constitutional standing throughout the federation.
This brings us back to remembering that the work must be done at the local level. Righting the political ship at the level of the general government, and even at most state capitals, is infeasible at this point in the stage of political and social decline. Local self-government is the goal, and it is also the most practical point for gainful action.
Think globally yet act locally. The battle for liberty is won on the micro-terrain. It begins in the individual mind.