This is a classic disinformation tactic: Suggesting that the person who identified the problem must also solve the problem, otherwise they should not be taken seriously. This is called “deflection.” Often solutions to economic and social decline require that masses of people become educated on the threats so that they can organize to make changes, and that requires talking about the problems. Talking about the danger IS the solution (to a point).

In terms of direct conspiracy and tyranny, the solution is usually war and the elimination of the cabal behind the agenda. That requires talking about the problem and inspiring people to organize for the fight.

But what happens when you finally have the numbers to do something? I would partially agree that the conservatives, libertarians, independents and moderates that make up what I call the “Liberty Movement” tend to talk a lot more about the problems, to the point that solutions become lost in the fervor of discussion.

After nearly 20 years writing for the movement I have noticed a consistent pattern – When I publish an article identifying a concerted attack on the US economy, for example, the audience numbers run high. When I write an article about methods for preventing collapse, such as independent barter markets and localized production, the traffic is cut in half. The truth is, real solutions are not sexy, they are scary.

People can become addicted to watching the system break down and I realize it’s hard to look away from a train wreck. But when it comes time to doing something about the mess and make some hard decisions a lot of people run away. This has to change.

It is with this issue in mind that I am launching a series of articles focusing ONLY on solutions. These are not silver bullet solutions; they will not save people from struggle or hardship. They will not end the globalist empire with a single calculated social shift or technological innovation. Such solutions do not exist and anyone who claims otherwise is either ignorant or a fraud trying to lure you into complacency. The real solutions require hard work, sacrifice, courage, tenacity and above all, risk.

If a solution to tyranny and collapse doesn’t scare you at least a little, then it’s probably not a legitimate solution.

And, if there is one solution that has been demonized more than any other in our modern era, it’s the citizen militia. It’s hard to think of a greater taboo, a more sneered at and disdained concept than the militia, and that’s on both sides of the political aisle. Many leftists hate the militia because they fear it; many Republicans hate the militia because they think it makes them look “extreme.” Sorry sunshine patriots, but if there was ever a time for extreme measures, it is now.

Maybe it’s a matter of public conditioning? Militias are the villains in every movie, every TV show, every book and comic book. Articles in every major publication warn year after year of militias as the dark underbelly of American culture; a mode of organization for “racists” and “fascists” and most of all “terrorists.” They are the bad guys, right? Who wants to be seen as a bad guy?

So, conservatives and libertarians stumble around trying to come up with ways to organize a physical defense against the encroachment of authoritarianism without actually calling these efforts a militia. It’s understandable; the M-word has a stigma that was carefully crafted by the media over the course of decades.

Say you are starting a “neighborhood watch” and people listen with an open mind. Say you are starting a militia, and people see images of fat rednecks playing Batman in the woods with their buttcracks hanging out (rednecks are some of my favorite people, by the way). They shut down immediately, and they might not even know why. It’s because they have been trained to react this way.

There’s a reason why civilian militias were one of the first constitutional protections dismantled and rearranged by our government. Sadly, starting with giving the president the ability to call on state militias as a means of suppressing domestic rebellion through the 1800s, then slowly erasing militias altogether and replacing them with the modern National Guard though the Dick Act of 1903 (The NG is now nothing more than another branch of standing military and not a true militia).

An armed and most importantly TRAINED civilian population operating outside of federal oversight is a threat that no oligarchy would ever voluntarily allow. It is the ultimate wrecking ball against government corruption. This is why the 2nd Amendment has already, to some extent, been neutered.  It has lost one of two vital parts: Gun rights are still present, but citizen organization is gone. Without both elements the country will never be truly secure and free.

The reason the modern establishment media has been so hostile to the militia concept is because they fear patriot organization more than anything else. They want people isolated from each other, focused only on their own preparedness efforts but constantly vulnerable due to their limited ability to project defense or offense. If you are alone, your circle of security is your house and your front door – you are doomed. If you are part of a militia, your circle of security is your town, or your county, or perhaps even your entire state. You now have a chance to survive and stay free.

There will be people who argue that a militia solution is impossible because in order for such groups to be constitutionally legal they must be approved by the state government they reside in and operate at the whim of the White House. This is only if we were pursuing a “constitutional” militia; I think that ship sailed a long time ago. If the establishment has no respect for the original intent of the constitution, then we can no longer play by the same rules as our forebears. We have to organize outside of the lines.

Militias need to exist whether they are approved or not. Cooperation at the state or county level should be pursued, but this is dependent on the honor of that particular local government. If they are not cooperative and are not honorable then citizens will have to organize anyway.

I do foresee some red state governors taking action to form militias. I’m not the type of person that thinks every single political leader is “controlled.” If that were true then all the red states would have continued the covid lockdowns and tried to enforced vaccine passports as the blue states did. Instead, they fought back. I’ll give credit where credit is due.

If any liberty minded governors are reading this now, I would suggest that they seriously consider stepping up efforts to bring back the militia system in their state. These groups are going to form eventually anyway, adding some legitimacy through the state would defuse a lot of conflicts in the future. And I’ll tell you this, if you truly believe in freedom and the American ideal, there WILL come a time when you will have to lean on the common citizenry to maintain the security of your state. Not just from corrupt adversaries at the federal level, but from foreign invasion (or illegal immigration) as well as rioting and looting by leftist groups within your own cities. Don’t wait until it’s too late.

If a state government is not willing to back legally recognized militias, then it may be possible to organize at the county level. I would even say that the first county government to do this will start a firestorm and hundred of other counties will follow their example. All it takes is one to step forward. The same goes for state militias.

What would be the purpose of these militias? To act as a deterrent to forces with ill intent, first and foremost. We cannot allow the federal government and establishment elites to hold a monopoly on the ability to project power. If we do, then the country will be enslaved. And though I have faith in the power of asymmetric tactics, the 50 million+ gun owners now active in the US could be far more effective if they were working together to utilize those tactics. They would certainly offer a much more imposing obstacle to the elites.

Deterrence is the best possible defense. When that fails, better to have friends than to be alone.

Secondly, there is ample defense training going on all over America and there are millions of serious shooters here. Dare I say, there are more serious shooters here than in all other countries combined. And by “serious shooters” I mean skilled and dangerous shooters that can do extensive damage to an enemy. However, there is virtually no large unit training going on right now; everything is aimed at personal defense and sometimes small unit tactics. Militias would be useful in teaching Americans how to fight as a larger force if necessary.

Of course, that would be “paramilitary training” and that would be “bad,” but who cares? The optics are becoming less and less important as the system degrades and crisis rises. Finally, I think it’s time to draw the line in terms of the course our country is going, and establishing militias is a solid way to send a message.

For those waiting on civic solutions, I’ll just say that political efforts rarely bear fruit. One surprising exception was the resistance to covid mandates – It’s a good thing we had so many conservative governors willing to end the mandates and stop the madness at the state level. So yes, voting can do some good, but it should not be relied upon to save us. There needs to be organization beyond political parties into the realm of active problem solving and security. Millions of citizens sitting around doing nothing while waiting 2-4 years to drop a ballot in a box is NOT a solution to our current predicament.

The old disinformation arguments will surely surface in response to the militia idea – They will say that a militia wouldn’t stand a chance against a tyrannical government backed by a modern military and that your “AR-15 is useless against an F-16.” The Taliban in Afghanistan has something to say about that delusion, just as guerrilla groups have had something to say about it for generations. There’s not a military on the planet that can take on 50 million+ gun owners, they would run out of ordnance long before patriots ran out of people.

But beyond that, we have to ask the question yet again: Why are they so intent on removing 2nd Amendment rights and stopping the return of militias if these things are not a threat to their power? If gun owners could be wiped out by a handful of drones and tanks, then why haven’t they done this already and rounded us all up? The reason is clear – Because if the establishment starts that fight, they know there’s a chance they could lose. If they are afraid of unorganized and isolated patriots now, imagine how afraid the technocrats would be if we reestablished militias.

Article cross-posted from Alt-Market.