We Are All Out Of Boxes

Original Content | 11/12/2022 | By Laz A. Mataz

[Lazamataz]

It has been said before, by many people, that there are four boxes in politics: The Soap Box (or expressing yourself), the Ballot Box (voting), the Jury Box (legal challenges to bad voting or speech suppression), and the Cartridge Box (the use of firearms).

The Soap Box has been squelched by an unholy alliance between government and social media (and search engines), although Elon Musk may rescue Twitter. So, the Soap Box is mostly gone.

The Ballot Box has been diminished, almost to the point that it doesn't even matter any more. This has been done through a combination of Democrat voter fraud and superior tactics in ballot harvesting and early voting.

The Jury Box seems to be nearly impotent, inasmuch as the SCOTUS refuses to touch national elections, and won't interfere in government / business alliances to suppress free speech.

So we are left with the Cartridge Box. But even there, I don't see what we could do.

There is a longstanding Journalist premise that in any article, you should speak about WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE -- and if known, WHY. So let us speak to the WHAT. Yes, we all have guns. What do we do?

WHERE do we assemble? If we congregate at one location, weapons of area destruction ensure we are hamburger. If we go the anonymous resistance cell method, today's surveillance capabilities (and the infiltration that follows) renders us ineffective.

Besides, WHO do we attack? I feel going after individuals or institutions, even political types, makes martyrs of them and villains of us.

It’s not so much the HOW. Even if they took every gun away, the level of technology available to many people, makes everyone very dangerous. The problem is WHAT and WHO and WHERE.

There’s also a level of WHY. I know WHY. But in this context, the WHY refers to resolve and motivation. There is one fellow I know, a dead-eye shot. Very good. But when things went south in 2020, I contacted him, and he responded he was standing down. “If y’all can’t even vote right or stop the fraud, why should I stick my neck out?”

I think the WHY is the most important part: Motivation. Tanks could not stop the revolution during the collapse of the Soviet Union. The people had had enough. Those that were in the tanks, joined the side of freedom.

If you convince a critical mass people that ‘enough is enough’, and you convince them all to act, there is nothing that can stand before them. It’s like that old Conan movie, the “Riddle of Steel.” Steel is not strong. Flesh (and the willingness of the flesh to act) is STRONG.

That’s why the indoctrination of our youth is so dangerous. That’s why suppression of content and information is so dangerous. That is why our most important fights are to preserve free speech, to educate our young, and to continue to share ideas among ourselves.

[ought-six]

“The best shot is to be in a survivable location where there is easil accessed potable water, good soil, and a long growing season.”

The problem with that is there will be a hell of a lot of people with the same idea, many more than the “survivable location” can support.

It’s better to defeat the opposition before the exodus to that land of milk and honey becomes not just a traffic jam, but a seething, uncontrollable and violent mass.

If you have ever read Twain, recall his description of Noah and his ark.

From Twain’s “Letters From the Earth,” wherein he describes Noah’s attempt to collect a representative pair of all the creatures of the world, which was his duty, per the orders from God, we find this passage:

“However, the thing that really and finally and definitely determined Noah to stop with enough species for purely business purposes and let the rest become extinct, was an incident of the last days: an excited stranger arrived with some most alarming news. He said he had been camping among some mountains and valleys about six hundred miles away, and he had seen a wonderful thing there: he stood upon a precipice overlooking a wide valley, and up the valley he was a billowy black sea of strange animal life coming. Presently the creatures passed by, struggling, fighting, scrambling, screeching, snorting — horrible vast masses of tumultuous flesh! Sloths as big as an elephant; frogs as big as a cow; a megatherium and his harem huge beyond belief; saurians and saurians and saurians, group after group, family after family, species after species — a hundred feet long, thirty feet high, and twice as quarrelsome; one of them hit a perfectly blameless Durham bull a thump with its tail and sent it whizzing three hundred feet into the air and it fell at the man’s feet with a sigh and was no more. The man said that these prodigious animals had heard about the Ark and were coming. Coming to get saved from the flood. And not coming in pairs, they were all coming: they did not know the passengers were restricted to pairs, the man said, and wouldn’t care a rap for the regulations, anyway — they would sail in that Ark or know the reason why. The man said the Ark would not hold the half of them; and moreover they were coming hungry, and would eat up everything there was, including the menagerie and the family.”

THAT is what you could expect to encounter in your escape to a “survivable location.”

[goodnesswins]

I would like to see truckers stop delivering to places like DC, Seattle, Raleigh, LA, etc for a couple weeks...but they gotta eat and pay rent...

[Responsibility2nd]

The answer is very simple.

As America has devolved into a Banana Republic, we will fight like the do in South America or Africa.

Guerilla Warfare.

[grobdriver]

Personally. I believe Unintended Consequences is a good guide. Replace ATF with misbehaving election officials, no matter what level.

Might help restore the Ballot Box.

[Grampa Dave]

https://westernrifleshooters.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/b704c7856fb8ff92.jpg

[goodnesswins]

Friend of mine is on school board..large district...she has been thru hell...as a conservative she was targeted. Conservatives Running for office these days find it is VERY difficult.

[CapandBall]

Another “box” you might consider…
The Cash Box: Meaning don’t give money to people who hate you,
also patronize people who are allied with you.

[SisterK]

Amen
there is so much peace in the God box
it’s almost home

[qaz123]

It would seem so.

Reasons, I think.

1. We don’t play by the same set of rules as they do.

2. It is painfully obvious that Conservatives deal with law enforcement they are dealt with differently and more harshly as say, ANTIFA and BLM. BLM guy, Sullivan, provided video of Ashli Babbitt being murdered, stated that they were going to take over the Capitol and he’s a free man.

3. Conservatives have stuff to lose. Sh*tbags on the Left don’t care and in some cases will be rewarded.

[al baby]

Like Uranus ?

[ProgressingAmerica]

"However, when we do protest, even in large numbers, we are mostly polite and ineffective."

Wha? This sounds quite confused.

Arguably the two most effective protest movements of the last 50 or so years are (first) the ones led by Phyllis Schlafly - which were all peaceful - and she and her followers alone (*F) defeated the ERA. (Equal Rights Amendment) On what planet would you say that's ineffective?

And then there's been the (second) March for Life, which sought and achieved the abolition of Roe V. Wade. I'm still struggling to find the ineffectiveness, but I'm finding plenty of peacefulness.

Lucy, you's got some 'splainin to do!

Activist Phyllis Schafly wearing a "Stop ERA" badge, demonstrating with other women against the Equal Rights Amendment in front of the White House - https://www.loc.gov/item/2011648744/

Why would you denigrate such successful conservative actions as these? It is clear, the evidence is in. By far the most successful/effective conservative actions are peaceful.

*F - Schlafly had zero help from the GOP, the media, and obviously the DNC. She was literally alone and only had millions of other moms to help her out. And she WON. She blasted them all.

[ProgressingAmerica]

* Correction. Schlafly and the March for Life’ers have been and were both peaceful and polite. And they won. They are great models to follow for success.

[generally]

JMO.

The ballot box is working - backed up by the cartridge box.

Furthermore, the ballot/cartridge combo is in the process of cleaning up the soap box and jury box.

The first 3 boxes have been rigged for decades. We are in the middle of a (mostly invisible) war, backed up by the cartridge box.

WW2 wasn’t won in a day. Nor was it over the day after D-Day. We are still in for some turbulent times, just as we were in WW2 post D-Day. But the tide has turned.

Those who are squawking about the lack of a Red Wave have fallen for yet another Deep State propaganda campaign, designed to gaslight and demoralize you. Trump endorsed candidates have about 227 - 21 record so far. That is amazing by any standard.

The Deep State is stalling the vote count in an effort to dilute the victory celebration. Also to distract us and to give themselves more time to figure out how to cheat. They are failing.

The ballot box is still a huge problem, but the patriots are exposing election fraud and anyone who is not brain dead can see it. I am quite confident that hard evidence exists. I believe there will be many prosecutions. But that is not enough. We need to fix the corrupt system to prevent future fraud. It can never be fully eliminated, but as the current system stands, it is begging for fraud. I believe we are in the process of a massive uprising demanding secure elections. In fact, I was in the process of writing to my state Governor and legislators about that exact topic when I got distracted by FR pings. Don’t worry, that’s next on my to do list.

During the Trump administration, much of the corrupt judiciary was cleaned out. If it hadn’t been for that, we’d be in deep trouble now. The job has not been completed, but we got a good start during 2017-2020.

So before any of you spread doom and gloom, you should ask yourself what are you doing about it? Whining? Posting? That is not fixing the problem.

Take action.

1. Become an election officer or poll watcher.
2. Become a precinct committeeman.
3. Write, call, and email to your Governor and your state legislators demanding secure elections
a. Paper ballots. No electronic machines.
b. Clean the voter rolls.
c. any other measures that you see are needed. Could include NO same day registration, no DMV registration, careful vetting of citizenship before registration, no foreign language ballots, etc.

[Big Red Badger]

I’m a fan of Apocalyptic movies and you are describing “The Road” or
“Soylent Green” which I’m
watching now.
.
We will envy the Dead.

[generally]

And one more thing for my list -

Demand Election Day voting in person. No more election week, election month.

Absentee ballots should only be allowed for a very limited number of reasons (such as military stationed out of state/country).

[familyop]

The Internet squawk box is a funny one. It’s full of fake outrages and faraway outrages. I’m outraged by the fake outrages and faraway outrages that have nothing to do with me.

If all of the politicians decide to squawk about fake and faraway outrages, I’ll dedicate myself on election day to exclusively doing things for myself and real friends.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

If it really gets that bad (if it’s not already), El Salvador under President Bukele appears to be a good option. Other Americans have moved there already.

[Nifster]

Paz’s usual thoughtful column. Well said

[who_would_fardels_bear]

On several occasions I have lauded the actions of Schlafly, the Moral Majority, and the Christian Coalition.

I had a long post in another thread which seems to have been deleted where I listed all of the times that conservatives successfully held back the progressive wave.

However, in the long run all of those efforts have failed.

What the liberals couldn't get by passing the ERA, they successfully got by expanding the definition of Title IX.

The temporary successes of the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition in getting DOMA passed, was defeated by the Supreme Court.

The Right to Life movement did eventually eliminate Roe v. Wade, but we still have 50% or more of Americans who believe that abortions are basically OK, and now we have kicked the hornets nest and blue states will now make it even easier for those in red states to get abortions... even for free perhaps.

It must also be pointed out that it was most likely not the protests that won the day, but the arguments. Schlafly made the correct claim that if the ERA passed and men and women were to be viewed as equal before the law, then it would make gay marriage legal. This went right through the empty brains of most Americans. Instead, the point that resonated was the fear of women being drafted into the military that won the day for Schlafly.

The gay rights agenda was forever on the move as more and more letters were added to the acronym. There were even "conservatives" OK with "civil unions" thinking that would halt the movement.

The abortion situation is now very problematic. The real reason it is wrong is because a human life is ended. However, now we have the weird situation where fetuses may or may not be considered human depending on where they are located geographically. We also know that very few Americans will ever go so far as to make abortions illegal for cases of rape or incest. So very few people really deeply understand what fetuses are, or if they do, they are in denial.

I disagree with those who claim that conservatives never put up a fight, but I also disagree with those who claim that those past battle victories are worth celebrating since we seem to be losing the war. Yes, those who fought the good fight deserve our respect, but we shouldn't kid ourselves that because they succeeded in the past, that there will be others in the future capable of equal success in the future.

[WXRGina]

Related ping.