Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
HIstory Lesson from the Anglo-Saxons
I have recently acquired a copy of The Anglo Saxons – A History of the Beginnings of England 400 – 1066 by Marc Morris. A preliminary perusal brought this comment to light. It is an echo of our current state of affairs. Describing the effect of the withdrawal of Roman forces from Britain, he notes,
“The whole point of the Roman state was to guarantee peace for its citizens with a well-trained army. If that army was absent, or so inadequate that it could not prevent the violent incursions of seaborne raiders, what was the point of paying taxes, or obeying a law that forbade citizens from carrying weapons? Self-defense was synonymous with self-rule. The Britons, says [Greek historian] Zosimus ‘armed themselves and ran many risks to ensure their own safety, and freed their cities from attacking barbarians … expelling the Roman magistrates and establishing the government they wanted.’”
It is easy to see in this the beginnings of the sense of self-government that has always characterized English law and government, and by extension that of the United States. Substitute in this description “police” for “army” and it is clear that the failure of government to enforce the law leads to chaos and the response of the people is to arm themselves in self-defense.
What lessons should we draw from this particular past? With the widespread failure to uphold law, will the people “free their cities from attacking barbarians … and establishing the government they want”? Stay tuned…
- I must note that I have not yet read the full text. It is on my desk awaiting my return to the US in September. Even so, judging by the reviews, it is probably worth your study if you are interested in the origins of our form of government.
Is there anything going on in the United States today that is not explained by the quoted passage?
Failures to enforce our borders and voting standards are grave violations. Failure to moderate spending is arguably so. Our national government refuses many basic duties.
But the refusal of local governments to police their cities against violent predators is especially dangerous. When the threats of government do not outweigh the threats of lawless thugs, citizens lose their fear of government and rule of law becomes a fading interest.
Furthermore, if Democrats persist in their habit of demonizing peaceful opponents, that will end as all movements of tribal hatred have in the past. Cancel culture is just a beginning. The violence that ruined cities in 2020 will come again.
It will be worse with more reaction from law and order advocates as local government policing and judicial actions turn to support lawlessness.
If, in your comfort and success, you abandon your core functions, you will fall. Our most basic core function is the protection of our borders (and thus citizenry) from outside threats. Next is our ability to extend and expand our interests safely outside our borders. Since we are a self-governing people, who believe in the worth and autonomy of the individual first, with the State affirming and supporting that autonomy, our voting system should be the most important and inviolate of all our systems. It should be sacrosanct, practically sacred.
if you abandon these core functions, nothing else matters. Everybody else in the world is pursuing their interests, and most of them are not as nice as we are; they would (will) invade and conquer as soon as they see that we are weak enough to make it feasible. And then it will be over.
I keep wanting to ask the lefties the question Chigurh asked his victims in No Country for Old Men:
“If the rules you followed led you to this, of what use were your rules?”
We won’t need to wait very long to see if this holds up.
The same people who attack the police also want to disarm law abiding citizens. The people who attack whites through CRT think white supremacy is the biggest domestic threat. They’re creating what they consider a threat.
I finished reading the book about 2 weeks ago. It’s an excellent book. The other thing to note is that once civilization was gone, it took centuries to restore. The other thing is they had no border protection, show the Britons were invaded by Scots, Picts, and Saxons. The Britons wound up trying to hire the Saxons to protect them because under Roman rule, no weapons could be carried and they didn’t know how to fight. The Saxons wound up taking the Briton’s money and still pillaging them.
It’s an excellent book, as are the rest of Marc Morris’ books. The one on the Norman Conquest is excellent. And his book on castles is fun.
They know whites aren’t a threat. In fact, they (think they) know the exact opposite – that demonizing straight white citizens carries no risk to them at all.
They’re doing what people of the left always do – divide the community to partition an out-group, then increase one’s own standing in the in-group by attacking them.