The Time is Approaching
by Kathryn A. Graham
kate@ozarkmountainmagic.com

Exclusive to TLE

I haven't written much for The Libertarian Enterprise lately. I always feel that I am preaching to the choir here. TLE readers are already, as a rule, my friends, and certainly my allies. You know how I feel about what is happening to my country, right? By and large, you also agree with me on what to do about it, right? Therefore, you already know what I am going to say, at least most of the time.

This is going to be the exception that makes the rule, my friends.

Up until now, I have always been careful about what I have said in any public forum. I have remained scrupulously within the laws on such things as sedition, and confined myself to discussing legal methods of redressing our many grievances against our government. With deep regret, I am forced to tell you today that I no longer believe that legal and non-violent methods of achieving change will be possible. A very large number of lawyers have been working for more than two hundred years to make it impossible, and I believe that they have succeeded.

Yesterday, I was doing my daily reading of the various news sources that I peruse for information on a regular basis. In Capitol Hill Blue, I stumbled onto the following:

In November, Capitol Hill Blue revealed a private GOP memo, circulating among top Republican operatives, "suggests that a new attack by terrorists on U.S. soil could reverse the sagging fortunes of President George W. Bush as well as the GOP and "restore his image as a leader of the American people."

I honestly don't know how I missed the above back in November, except that I was working three jobs at the time—launching an Internet business, writing screenplays, and working as stage crew for a theater here, which consisted of a very physical job for two shows per day, six days per week. I was definitely short on sleep and short on time for doing such things as reading the news. I have seen it now, however, and in light of the recent audio tape released by the elusive and ghostly Osama bin Laden, numerous red flags have just been run sky high on my mental flagpole.

In a word, we are about to get another major dose of smoke and mirrors. And it is dead certain to be a lethal dose for somebody.

Put another way, if you live in a major city, such as New York or San Fransisco, it might be extremely prudent to consider moving somewhere with a much lower profile in the immediate future. I doubt I need to say more on that subject.

If this happens, or perhaps I should say when this happens, all bets will be off. There are still a few honest (relatively speaking) men and women who work in government, but I am absolutely certain that they are misguided enough to believe that the real authors of this disgusting act must remain a secret from the American people. Oh, I'm sure they will act, now that they are certain of who is orchestrating this stuff. Cheney may have a heart attack. Bush may overdose on cocaine. You may see a rash of questionable "accidents" throughout the neo-con ranks. You can bet, though, that mainstream America will never be told in plain English what has been done to them—and, without that, there isn't the smallest hope in hell that we will ever see any kind of accountability at the top again. Pandora's box is wide open, and it's all downhill from here.

I am certain that most of mainstream America would consider these "accidents" and a partial rollback of anti-terror legislation under a new administration an acceptable solution. I do not! Deadly precedents have been set with the presidential executive order and now with the "signing statement." Future presidents will use them. Nor do I believe that hiding the truth from Americans in a paternalistic way is ever right or justified. I have been doing some very nasty soul-searching since I read that paragraph, wondering if my motive is revenge. I do want my pound of flesh plenty badly, and I freely admit that, but I am convinced now that this is not my primary motivation. In brief, my motivation is simply that I no longer care to live in the world that even our few "friends" in government wish to build—namely one that will amount to a popularly elected dictator every few years.

I have a problem, however, one shared by all of TLE's readers. I have nowhere else to go, and I doubt I need to tell anyone here that I have strong moral and ethical objections to falling on any kind of a real or figurative sword. I do understand perfectly now why my ancestors chose to emigrate to this continent. Unfortunately, I have no such option available to me. No new frontier exists on this planet today—at least no frontier with even remotely friendly real estate. There is no possibility for me to leave this planet within the lifetime remaining to me. I'm just flat out of options. And I will not be a slave, no matter how "they" choose to disguise slavery.

So my back is against the wall now, and I sure as hell know I don't need to tell anyone what happens when you corner a desperate animal. No matter how diligently we try to tell ourselves otherwise, human beings are nothing more than unusually intelligent animals. Over the past few years, I have made a personal point of devoting what time I could to training myself in certain martial skills, hoping against hope I would never, ever have to use them. I no longer have the luxury of clinging to that hope, and whether you know it yet or not, you don't have that luxury either. Nor do I need to initiate force. Apart from the obvious fact that my government has already done the initiating, and in spades, I am utterly certain that the conflict will come directly to me—and fairly soon.

What is coming now will eventually come to all of us, and whether you can admit it to yourself yet or not, the only thing you can still do is prepare. There is a period of waiting still left to us—whether short or long, none of us can know—before it gets here. If you must sell your life, don't do it cheaply. Do all that you can to learn and prepare, and do not move too soon. I cannot urge this strongly enough. This waiting is the toughest thing any of us have ever done. I told the man I love with all my heart and soul just last night that the past four years have aged me at least fifteen years, and I was not exaggerating. Waiting is, however, utterly necessary, and we must endure it with what patience we can muster. Whatever slim chance of success we might ultimately have absolutely depends on it. Not only is initiating force morally and politically wrong—it is also stupid. The defender always has the tactical advantage.

I wonder if my ancestors knew how unlikely it was that they would win their struggle against their King George? More than two hundred years later, I certainly know in my deepest bones how utterly minuscule my chances are of actually surviving the coming struggle with our modern King George. Oddly enough, that very final realization did bring me a certain amount of peace last night, and I actually slept fairly well, all things considered. Humans are extremely adaptable animals. Once an unpleasant fact has been accepted, we can generally find some way to deal with it and cheerfully get on with what remains of our lives, as I am quite happily doing right now. My physical and emotional stress levels this morning have been lower than they have been in many years, which has quite surprised me. This coming struggle is what I honestly feel I was born for, and in a strange way, this is what I have been preparing myself to do for most of my 51+ years. I can see no reason to go into an emotional tailspin just because I've finally and irrevocably accepted that rather obvious, if unfortunate, fact. It's time to take a deep breath, let go of what I cannot change, and just surf the wave.

It is my intention to keep writing, as I know I can reach more people in that way than I can face to face. The difference is that my writing will be more honest and will no longer take care not to cross legal lines. If others of like mind are willing to seek me out, I will attempt, after a reasonable effort to establish their bona fides, to make plans with them for what I see coming to this country. Please use encryption—my public GPG key is published. Meanwhile, I will certainly continue with my life and career. Any financial success I achieve will be applied to future preparations.

To quote Mal, in the feature movie SERENITY: "I aim to misbehave." Big time.

Finally, there is something very important to me that I would like to say to each of you, while I still can do so freely. In the years since I took up political activism, it has been my pleasure to meet, both in person and on the Internet, some of the finest and most courageous human beings I have ever known in my entire lifetime. Whether we stand back to back one day, or we perish in different places and times and virtually unknown to one another, I can never regret having conversed with any of you, and I will be proud to stand beside any or all of you when that right day does come for us. In my own heart, which is all that really matters, I will never be alone again, and I thank you for that.

Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps enough of America is already roused that we may have a chance to build a truly free country here, or perhaps we will have just enough time left to thoroughly rouse our fellow countrymen before all hell breaks loose. If so, I will be honored to shake your hands on the other side of future conflict, but either way, I will never forget you. Any of you. I hope that enough of you will survive to bring your ideas to the table and help to build a lasting freedom after the coming hell.

Molon Labe!

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