The attempted killing of The Donald last week brings to mind an old political aphorism.
Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun (枪杆子里面出政权). The phrase was coined by Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong. He first used the phrase during an emergency meeting of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on 7 August 1927, at the beginning of the Chinese Civil War. His actions through that war and victory over the Chinese Nationalists and totalitarian, authoritarian, and murderous rule of the Chinese empire demonstrated the accuracy of his observation.
As has virtually every war and election and change of government in human history.
Political power is exercised by government – and factions and individuals in power in (and through) that government. Whether it is claimed to be a democracy, a republic, an empire, a monarchy, or whatever. And whatever it actually is. Most lovers of liberty understand the fable of the two wolves and the ewe voting on what’s for dinner.
It is one of the foundations of government that clearly identifies government as evil. A fact that dates back 6,000 years of human history. True, it would have been “political power grows out of the point of a sword” before AD 1300. Or the point of a spear. Or even something to do with the right-sized rock. But it is based on the threat and use of force.
Again we note the classic foundation of true libertarianism: the non- (or zero-) aggression principle. The murderer in Pennsylvania, despite his relative youth, was taught Mao’s principle and sought to follow it. Oh, possibly not intentional, and given the state of education in these States today, he probably didn’t even know who Mao was. We doubt he ever saw or heard of Mao’s Little Red Book.
(If you want your own copy, visit here. It is the 1966 edition, or close to it. The one that one of us (here at TPOL) was given in a cute little plastic red cover, about 3 x 4 inches, to study to better understand the threat of Communism back in the 1970s. No doubt your email and name and address will be automatically added to several databases. But hey! If you read these commentaries you are probably already on them. FBI, CIA, FSB, MI-5, Google, etc.)
But someone taught the killer that. Someone endued him with enough fear or hate and ideas of glory or influence to get him to plan and act. He was not born a killer. His parents probably did not raise him to be a suicidal assassin. God did not predestine him to do this and die on a rooftop. The schools he attended, the adults who directly taught and mentored him, his employers and friends certainly did not have his actions (and fate on this earth) as a goal of their interactions with him.
But somehow and somewhere, he learned things that led him to do this. Whatever his motives were, his environment was certainly part of reasons. Was it the media? Was it the politicians? The pundits? The celebrities? The educrats and public school teachers? (We assume he was not homeschooled or a student of private schooling. Otherwise the media would have trumpeted that as much as they did his registration as a Republican.) Was it never-Trumpers in the GOP? Was it the governments of his county and State and in DC? Only the Lord knows.
But it was some or all of these. He was a product of his upbringing, his environment, and the perverted political landscape of Pennsylvania and all the States. Many people had influence on him and molded him into a killer. (Yes, there is a possibility of mental illness and chemical- or drug-induced madness; but we also understand that such things can only reinforce what is already in a person’s mind and soul.)
What are YOU and I teaching and passing on to our peers, our children, our grandchildren? What is our neighbor? Our neighborhood? Our community?
But just as important, what are the schools, the media, the politicians, and the government teaching? Mao was worshipped and followed by millions of Chinese people who did unspeakable things on his orders and instigation. Things they were unlikely to have been taught by their families. The same can be said for the Germans inspired by Hitler, the Russians motivated by Lenin and Stalin. And on and on. Are we letting our young people be the next person to invade a school, get on a roof, find a window in a warehouse, or pilot a plane into a skyscraper?
Think on these things.
About TPOL Nathan
Follower of Christ Jesus (a christian), Pahasapan (resident of the Black Hills), Westerner, Lover of Liberty, Free-Market Anarchist, Engineer, Army Officer, Husband, Father, Historian, Writer, Evangelist. Successor to Lady Susan (Mama Liberty) at TPOL.
The Price of Liberty 
Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun
The attempted killing of The Donald last week brings to mind an old political aphorism.
Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun (枪杆子里面出政权). The phrase was coined by Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong. He first used the phrase during an emergency meeting of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on 7 August 1927, at the beginning of the Chinese Civil War. His actions through that war and victory over the Chinese Nationalists and totalitarian, authoritarian, and murderous rule of the Chinese empire demonstrated the accuracy of his observation.
As has virtually every war and election and change of government in human history.
Political power is exercised by government – and factions and individuals in power in (and through) that government. Whether it is claimed to be a democracy, a republic, an empire, a monarchy, or whatever. And whatever it actually is. Most lovers of liberty understand the fable of the two wolves and the ewe voting on what’s for dinner.
It is one of the foundations of government that clearly identifies government as evil. A fact that dates back 6,000 years of human history. True, it would have been “political power grows out of the point of a sword” before AD 1300. Or the point of a spear. Or even something to do with the right-sized rock. But it is based on the threat and use of force.
Again we note the classic foundation of true libertarianism: the non- (or zero-) aggression principle. The murderer in Pennsylvania, despite his relative youth, was taught Mao’s principle and sought to follow it. Oh, possibly not intentional, and given the state of education in these States today, he probably didn’t even know who Mao was. We doubt he ever saw or heard of Mao’s Little Red Book.
(If you want your own copy, visit here. It is the 1966 edition, or close to it. The one that one of us (here at TPOL) was given in a cute little plastic red cover, about 3 x 4 inches, to study to better understand the threat of Communism back in the 1970s. No doubt your email and name and address will be automatically added to several databases. But hey! If you read these commentaries you are probably already on them. FBI, CIA, FSB, MI-5, Google, etc.)
But someone taught the killer that. Someone endued him with enough fear or hate and ideas of glory or influence to get him to plan and act. He was not born a killer. His parents probably did not raise him to be a suicidal assassin. God did not predestine him to do this and die on a rooftop. The schools he attended, the adults who directly taught and mentored him, his employers and friends certainly did not have his actions (and fate on this earth) as a goal of their interactions with him.
But somehow and somewhere, he learned things that led him to do this. Whatever his motives were, his environment was certainly part of reasons. Was it the media? Was it the politicians? The pundits? The celebrities? The educrats and public school teachers? (We assume he was not homeschooled or a student of private schooling. Otherwise the media would have trumpeted that as much as they did his registration as a Republican.) Was it never-Trumpers in the GOP? Was it the governments of his county and State and in DC? Only the Lord knows.
But it was some or all of these. He was a product of his upbringing, his environment, and the perverted political landscape of Pennsylvania and all the States. Many people had influence on him and molded him into a killer. (Yes, there is a possibility of mental illness and chemical- or drug-induced madness; but we also understand that such things can only reinforce what is already in a person’s mind and soul.)
What are YOU and I teaching and passing on to our peers, our children, our grandchildren? What is our neighbor? Our neighborhood? Our community?
But just as important, what are the schools, the media, the politicians, and the government teaching? Mao was worshipped and followed by millions of Chinese people who did unspeakable things on his orders and instigation. Things they were unlikely to have been taught by their families. The same can be said for the Germans inspired by Hitler, the Russians motivated by Lenin and Stalin. And on and on. Are we letting our young people be the next person to invade a school, get on a roof, find a window in a warehouse, or pilot a plane into a skyscraper?
Think on these things.
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About TPOL Nathan
Follower of Christ Jesus (a christian), Pahasapan (resident of the Black Hills), Westerner, Lover of Liberty, Free-Market Anarchist, Engineer, Army Officer, Husband, Father, Historian, Writer, Evangelist. Successor to Lady Susan (Mama Liberty) at TPOL.