Neutrality has been the fallacy of people through all ages of time. They think or perhaps more accurately hope that by staying out of the fracas they can avoid any of the pain and reap all of the benefits. As the government of this nation repeats the errors of every other government throughout time, people should realize that there are no conscientious objectors. Somewhere, on both sides, there is someone thinking that if you are not with us you are against us, and they will hold you accountable for the sins of others around you.
The great principle on which our civil society exists is the freedom to choose. One forgotten freedom of the First Amendment is free association as long as that organization does not infringe upon other rights or threaten to undermine the Constitution. You can choose; you must choose. It need not be today, but there are tens of thousands of folks joining the NRA not because they own guns or like them but because they believe they one day may want that right or require it. At the same time, the enemies concentrate that hatred on people who advocate the Second Amendment because they claim those advocates are predominately white and stupid. They have already said you are racists. They have already made you the enemy unless you agree lock, stock and barrel with them.
History is replete with examples of people who mistakenly believed that everyone could be Switzerland without realizing how Switzerland maintains their neutrality. Switzerland is one of the most mountainous nations on earth and populated by a people who are all required to learn to use a weapon and to own one, not unlike the 13 Colonies prior to 1776. Just because you are not doing anything doesn’t afford you protection. When the Goths sacked Rome, they killed people at random including the women and children, the rich and the powerful; they were just there to get paid. When the British marched on Concord, they shot people in the back on the porches of their own homes despite the fact that their victims were complying with the order to disperse. In the end, women and children are not protected because they may grow up to challenge the conquerors. And before people of differing melanin contents than I protest, the savagery of Africans against subjugated women knows no comparison in my ancestry. Only the Aztecs were more savage. The best defense against evil people with guns is for good men to arm themselves in kind.
Neutrality is a huge gamble. In many ways it resembles a Russian Roulette in which they hope that the round in the gun of the invading army will be one who does not decide they are guilty by association. It will depend. You might be fortunate to see the mutual deference depicted in Saints and Soldiers where Deacon and Rudi both spare each other, but that’s unlikely. It’s possible that the British Officer will only want to quarter his troops in your home and not take any other liberties. Colonel Chamberlain knew that when he received the mutinous 2nd Maine deserters he could shoot them, but that if he did he could never return to Maine, and so he opted against it. Perhaps as in Saints and Soldiers Airborne Creed the Fallshirmjaeger Commander will treat your wounds until the armor arrives to relieve you. Not everyone is so lucky. The civil war was the last time when people could expect to surrender and be treated fairly, but even then it wasn’t always the case.
More often than not, the opposite is true. When the Mayor of Innsbruck was forced to greet the Nazis and opted against the salute, he was shot dead on the spot by the SS. Look at Captain Blood wherein Peter Blood is condemned to the block and then the plantation not because he was part of Monmouth’s revolution but because he treated men who were. Those who are not for them will be against them. Then there is The Scarlett Pimpernel, where you could be condemned to the guillotine just for not being a “friend of the republic” even though history has shown us that Robespierre was a tyrant. During our Revolution we were fortunate because the British army was largely commanded by gentlemen who abode by the rules of war. The enemy today is different; they care nothing for you or the people hurt by their schemes. Largely they lack the collegiate congeniality of Chamberlain and the courtliness of Cornwallis, choosing instead the savagery of Sherman.
The time to choose is soon upon us. It is not about left or right, up or down. It is about Tyranny or Liberty. You can either join with those who are for freedom or you can be the enemy of freedom. The enemies of freedom will not give you a pass. They will kill your sons, enslave your daughters, raze your homes to the ground, take all your goods, and leave you bereft like the British did to the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Switzerland is an abnormality. You can be denounced at any time, not just for hiding Anne Frank, but for knowing who is hiding her or not accurately inquiring or because you are neighbors with the family secreting her. Your churches, the pins on your lapel, and your civic memberships will not protect you when the army comes through. Their job is to kill people and destroy stuff, and they do a smashing job at it. Tanks do not discriminate. They drag down the innocent with the guilty, and no reason is given or needed.
Disney depicts this in a way that speaks truth. Captain Hook tells the lost boys that you can join up and become a thief and pirate or walk the plank. The choice is up to you, but there is no middle ground. In fact, if you were there during the Great War, that was the worst place to be- in no man’s land! Not choosing is a choice. If you are actively advancing a thing or towards a thing or idea, then it is what you have chosen. Declaring a major differs greatly from taking classes that will complete the requirements. Maybe you’ll be lucky. Maybe the roulette will land on 2 in green, but it’s very unlikely. Now is the time for choosing while you still have a choice.
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