{"id":1096,"date":"2019-09-05T20:40:02","date_gmt":"2019-09-05T20:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jack-donovan.com\/sowilo\/?p=1096"},"modified":"2021-12-24T17:25:04","modified_gmt":"2021-12-24T17:25:04","slug":"the-bill-of-rights-is-what-matters-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jack-donovan.com\/sowilo\/2019\/09\/05\/the-bill-of-rights-is-what-matters-now\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bill of Rights Is What Matters Now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I don\u2019t write about politics much these days. I don\u2019t believe anything anyone says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politicians are playing a game with each other, and everything they say or do is a chess move. If a politician told me that the sky was blue, I\u2019d wonder why <\/em>he wanted me to believe the sky was blue, or which politician he was trying to get to disagree with him so that he could try to make them look like an idiot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a few decades, reporters were classical \u201cliberals\u201d \u2014 the kind of people who cared about truth, freedom of information, and the free exchange of ideas. The kind of people who opposed book burning and knew the history of the First Amendment. At least, it seemed that way. Maybe more people just bought into their industry self-talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s \u201cnews entertainers\u201d are the used car salesmen of truth. They act like your friends and sell you whatever \u201ctruth\u201d profits them most. I stopped watching and reading and writing about \u201cthe news\u201d years ago, because I got tired of helping them talk up their lemons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most state institutions and publicly-traded corporations are run by mobile careerists without much skin in the game. They think and act in the short-term \u2014 for the quick bonus, raise, or resume bullet point. Whatever programs or innovations they promise will be left to languish as soon as they receive credit for them and turn their attention elsewhere. Everything is a hustle for rootless Nietzschean  \u201cLast Men<\/a>\u201d navigating morally with no true North \u2014 no \u201cthou shalts\u201d \u2014 only an ever-changing landscape of trending moral buzzers in a great game of Operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, I\u2019m skeptical of the view that we\u2019re living in some kind of \u201cend time\u201d or cyclical inversion of all righteous values. People have always carried signs saying \u201cthe end is near.\u201d Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn\u2019t. Our golden perception of the past is colored by its most successful myth-makers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve heard that my secret \u201cmaster plan\u201d is Evolian<\/a> but the truth is that I\u2019m tired of hearing about the Kali Yuga<\/a>from fans of that time-traveling love child of Jordan Peterson and Dr. Strange. Maybe it\u2019s the end of some grand historic cycle. Maybe it isn\u2019t. Maybe it gets better. Maybe it gets much, much worse<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Practically speaking, this is a narrative choice\u2026a question of frame. Is the narrative serving you, or are you serving the narrative?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe we\u2019re all just guys, living in time, and things were never that great for most people. Maybe it\u2019s not so melodramatic, and we\u2019re not that special. Maybe we\u2019re not tiger cowboys giddy-upping though a dark age of desolation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s concentrate on the present reality \u2013 because it is all we truly know<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see some of the same problems and dangers, right now, in this <\/em>time, that you see. And I share many of the same concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I often find myself in conversations with thumotic<\/em><\/a> men who are looking for a cause. They want to be sent \u201cto the front.\u201d But the conflicts that concern them have no front. Protest marches are for the most part performance art for college girls and memelords and 20th Century political LARPers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

America is dying on the inside. Its external enemies are comparably inconsequential. The next \u201cwall\u201d or middle eastern adventure won\u2019t stop the whimpering death of freedom or the progressive emasculation of men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no political \u201ccause\u201d to join that has any legitimate potential \u2014 just a handful of doomed demagogues and hopeful trust fund tyrants frantically scrambling to scribble their names into the history books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I respect Donald Trump as a man<\/em>, and I\u2019ll admit that I\u2019d rather<\/em> have him as captain on this sinking ship than any of the other options I\u2019ve seen presented. However, in accordance with my 2016 prophecy<\/a>, it\u2019s become increasingly obvious that he can\u2019t \u201csave\u201d America and he\u2019s not going to \u201cmake it great again\u201d in the way that many men wanted him to. He\u2019s not riding a dinosaur and he\u2019s not going to break the wheel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vitu\u00f0 \u00e9r enn \u2013 e\u00f0a hvat?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t want to see good men \u2014 men who have promising futures and who could still raise good kids \u2014 throw their futures and their Y chromosomes away on lost causes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you make war with the whole world, the whole world will make war with you. And in that scenario, frankly, I don\u2019t like your chances. Sure, doomed causes are romantic and Germanic, but hold your horses and reign in your Todestriebe<\/a>, <\/em>Captain Save-a-Civilization. Odin also said that, \u201cNo good can come of a corpse.\u201d (H\u00e1vam\u00e1l <\/em>70-71)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have always been aspiring maestros waiting in the wings, hoping to conduct the bass drums of your anger to drive the fury of their own symphonies. Take care, fellas. Make sure it\u2019s a piece worth playing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re honest with yourself, the future of Western Civilization is probably way above your pay grade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best thing you can do for yourself and for the world right now is to take control of the things close to you, within your own perimeter and direct sphere of influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have the power to set boundaries and set an example and control the culture within that sphere. That\u2019s your<\/em> fire to tend. Stop worrying about all of the flickering myriad fires yonder and concentrate on your own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m friends with a lot of men who genuinely believe in what America represents to them. They often say, \u201cI don\u2019t agree with what you\u2019re saying, but I\u2019d fight for your right to say it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That demonstrates strength of character. However, it can also be a weakness. Especially when the people in question are advocating against freedom of speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karl Popper wrote about an oft-quoted \u201cparadox of tolerance\u2026<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.\u201d<\/p> – Karl Popper<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

If freedom means to you, as it does to me, \u201clive and let live, but stay the fuck off my lawn\u201d \u2014 then you can\u2019t in good conscience advocate the suppression of anyone\u2019s <\/em>speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What you can do is draw a hard line socially, in your own life, with people who do<\/em> advocate censorship of opinions they don\u2019t like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe that people should be able to say, write and believe whatever they want. And I should be free to entertain their viewpoints or ignore them completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you can\u2019t be ok with that \u2014 if you\u2019re such a bitchy, passive-aggressive little tyrant that you can\u2019t sleep unless you can use someone else\u2019s power<\/em> to control what other people say, write and think \u2014 then we have a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you think censorship is cool, then fuck you. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

People can say and believe whatever they want, and I have no choice but to tolerate them in the world or this country \u2014 I wouldn\u2019t want it any other way \u2014 but I don\u2019t have to tolerate them in my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t want to control you, but if you want to control me, then fuck you. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t control what publicly traded corporations do. Many of them (like Gillette, for instance) may be quietly acknowledging behind the scenes that trusting the marketing advice of people in the urban left affirmation bubble isn\u2019t as profitable as they thought it would be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if you\u2019re an independent contractor or small business, and you\u2019re advertising that you want the government (or corporations) to censor ideas or ban firearms, then I\u2019m not going to hire you for freelance work. I\u2019m not going to patronize your business if I have another viable option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t want anything to do with people who want to target other groups of people. I\u2019d rather be \u201cpro\u201d something than \u201canti\u201d anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you\u2019re pro-freedom, let us all know, because I\u2019d rather support you. I\u2019m just one guy with a small business and a modest income \u2014 but there are a lot more men like me than the media wants you to believe. They\u2019re just not standing in the street screaming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a neutral, public space that I can\u2019t control, I\u2019m never going to be rude or obnoxious, because that\u2019s not how I was raised or who I am. But in my personal life, I\u2019m done pretending to be friends with people who think it\u2019s their job to mommy adults. I\u2019m not going to show up at your event and smile and nod. I won\u2019t break bread with you. The things you want are non-negotiable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m done being nice to people who want to control me. It\u2019s about time these people started feeling the cold shoulder and exclusion that they threaten everyone else with. It\u2019s time that they felt some real pushback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are the kind of steps you can take to control your social environment \u2014 your own world. To tend your own fire and expand your personal influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few months ago, someone pointed me to an issue of Foreign Affairs<\/em> titled, \u201cThe New Nationalism.\u201d Various authors weighed on on the good and evil and, often, the inevitability<\/em> of some kind <\/em>ofnationalism. If you have a nation at all, it has to have some kind of identity and purpose. A nation needs a story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past, nations formed or invented a common history, usually based on shared culture and ancestry. America never really had that. Germany has a distinct culture, language and heritage with ancient roots. So does France and Sweden and Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People traveled to America from all over Europe, and eventually the world, seeking freedom and opportunity. America is a frontier nation that became Empire, but what Americans share is the story of America\u2019s founding, its guarantee of freedom and its spirit of innovation and adventure. American culture has long been meritocratic and animated by a rugged individualism \u2014 a break from the old world culture of nobility and entitlement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A contemporary American Nationalism can\u2019t be about race or entitlement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it can and should be about freedom and individual sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

America\u2019s founders created the Bill of Rights, because they understood the danger of unchecked state power. The lived in a world where people competing religious groups spent generations murdering and trying to control each other. Actual<\/em> witchhunts are part of early American history. The founders lived in a world were political imprisonment and execution was a real threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you think a 21st Century state with access to drones and facial recognition technology doesn\u2019t need to be checked and will by some miracle behave more benevolently than all of the human governments that have ever existed, you\u2019re dangerously foolish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The original Bill of Rights is the only thing preventing a completely Orwellian police state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you think you know anything about what goes on in Europe, you\u2019re wrong, because they don\u2019t<\/em> have the same protected freedoms. Their \u201cnews\u201d is already<\/em> state-sanitized propaganda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to live in a country where people are arrested or disarmed at gunpoint for expressing an unpopular or unsanctioned viewpoint, under the auspices of \u201cpublic safety\u201d \u2014 then fuck you<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bill of Rights is what matters now. It\u2019s the only thing standing between us and a corporate police state. It\u2019s the only thing standing between the government monitoring you and controlling what you can and can\u2019t say. Without the original Bill of Rights, America stops being free. It might as well be China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t care where you stand on most issues \u2013 you benefit from the ability to be able to express your opinions and spread information that may not be mainstream. And that only works if you\u2019re willing to protect the speech of people who disagree with you. If you think that you\u2019ll be able to influence a state with unchecked power, or that you\u2019ll always be on the right side of their sanctioned \u201ctruth,\u201d then you\u2019re wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

America is a messy, diverse, divided nation. We can agree to disagree on a lot of things. The only political cause I really care about now is The Bill of Rights. I think it\u2019s something a legitimate majority can get behind. A cause that should matter to all races and religions. As long as the integrity of the Bill of Rights remains, everything else is still up for debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re looking for a cause or a \u201cfront\u201d to go to, I believe that this is the front of our time. This is not a war to be fought with guns \u2014 in fact, please fucking do not<\/em>. (Like most gun owners, I\u2019d love to be in a locked room with one of these sad boy shooters.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start with your world. Take a stand in your own home, with the people you know. And put your money where your mouth is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re going to draw a hard line in your own life, draw it here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These things are non-negotiable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo by Grey Pines Media<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

THE ORIGINAL BILL OF RIGHTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

AMENDMENT I<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AMENDMENT II<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AMENDMENT III<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AMENDMENT IV<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AMENDMENT V<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AMENDMENT VI<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AMENDMENT VII<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AMENDMENT VIII<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AMENDMENT IX<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AMENDMENT X<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If America is about anything, it’s about freedom. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":885,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[24,29],"tags":[74,35,30,31,72,32,73,34],"class_list":["post-1096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-journal","category-reader-favorites","tag-1a","tag-1st-amendment","tag-2a","tag-2nd-amendment","tag-america","tag-bill-of-rights","tag-freedom","tag-freedom-of-speech"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t