by Peter Bjorn Perls
What keeps a lot of people back is that they have too much to lose from an upheaval of the existing, mostly peaceful, order of things.
The essence of the matter is that, to gain freedom, there must be some sacrifices, especially in the short term.
Assume a rebellion, either in the UK or US or wherever. It could have many consequences, both on the high-up political level (fx. by the national guard or army being sent into quell a rebellion), but the most felt change in the everyday for regular people will be the loss of amenities taken for granted.
Thank about the goods you use everyday, and would have to find alternatives for: Water in the tap, working toilets, garbage disposal, convenient shopping with an abundance of foods, drinks and “fun goods” available to you at minor expense. Electricity! No electricity means no computers, no internet, no Tv with associated sitting on the couch with a cold beer to relax from the day’s toil, no easy cooking, no electrical lighting. Everyday transportation – automotive transportation is taken for granted, and so is the supply of it’s lifeblood – gasoline.
All these things have solutions that are either obvious, easy, or not too hard to fix with cooperation in small groups (i’ll post that separately, this is getting too long). The point is that all these little things PILE UP to become a seemingly un-scaleable wall.
For those directly on the government payroll, either as “Public” employees or on welfare handouts, well, no need to explain that is there?
There is the very real possibility of engaging in rebellion that the “authorities” will crack down hard and physically on you and your compatriots. Bodily harm is probably assured, and actual death is possible.
There is the social aspect; as much of society is lulled into the dream of democracy-end-of-history and democracy-is-good, anyone who vocally, visibly and clearly shows disdain and rejection of that mindset faces ostracism and oodles of abuse.
(In this regard, i would wish the Randians had more balls to turn words to action, because they don’t seem to give a shit about their critics. As far as political fundies go, they are an example of what the leaders of a rebellion in these times of mental sheepism need to be – staunch and uncompromising).
If rebellion and secession is to become reality, what you must ALL ask yourselves is:
How much of the stuff I have today, which I take for granted, am I willing to give up, to gain freedom and more control of my future life?
If the answer is that you don’t want to lose your goodies, even for a short time, then I’m sorry to say that the respondent is not suited for anything more than couch rebellion, and leave the actual uprising to those that have nothing left to lose (but this also means that those who were unwilling to make a sacrifice for their freedom and freedom of others, won’t have much to say in future societal arrangements, and rightly so).
