Every Good Man’s Calling: Part 1

Have we seen our last tyrant?

I have asked this question to countless people. Have we seen our last dictator? None could say with any confidence that we have seen our last dictator or tyrant, who in their power might possess malintent. And if we can not, with strong confidence, show evidence that we have routed authorities' ability to abuse their power, we must ask ourselves how we might deter this terrible possibility. 

It is so easy to forget the repeated warnings of our shared past. Each generation born of peace forgets anew this timeless lesson that has brought defenseless populations to their knees. Over time many become more likely not to trust their own neighbors more than a government that does not possess any amount of fairy dust exempting them from their human condition. 

Thankfully when a tyrant has arisen in our modern era, freedom-loving men and women have risen up to pay any price to stand against that oppression. And in this nation, we have so far kept any overt hot-war tyranny across oceans.* This distance heavily contributes to our forgetting of the most awful cyclical routine by those who have great power. 

• *Remember: the subversion of cold-war-style tyranny is ever and always before us and around us… make ready.

Parallel to our forgetting lay the fruits of this short-sightedness, our lack of conviction that it is up to us, our lack of will to do anything about it, and our lack of determination to prevent the catalyst of every tyranny:

• The disarming of its victims. 

Certainly, most who advocate for the most consequence-ridden catalyst of genocide do so with the most well-meaning of hearts. School shootings, mass shootings, murder, etc. Who wouldn’t have an emotional reaction to these evil and horrifying events, who wouldn’t want to stop them once and for all?! But there is the issue when we react only with emotion and not with our Sovern mind, we set ourselves and others up for a larger and more serious failure. Those who, with the most loving and well-meaning hearts, advocate for the disarming of individuals should take time to answer this question. Who has committed greater crimes? Individuals, or Governments? And then consider this second question. What happens to a powerful murderous Individual or Government when there is no one there to stop them?

• An evil & murderous individual no matter how powerful has millions and billions of other individuals who might raise up and stop them. An evil and murderous government with great power that does not have a good and dangerous rival in their way could commit atrocities that would make the horrors of Joseph, Adulf, and Mao seem insignificant and forgettable. Never Again looks like something. And it isn’t giving our ability to be dangerous to the most consistent and repeated destroyer of human life, liberty, and property: Government.

Both foolishness & evil have never understood good and dangerous men. Together they can not begin to comprehend having strength without using it to strong-arm those around them. That is why fools pursue weakness and call it safety. That is why evil underestimates goodness, it is why evil overplays its hand. It is why they see the peaceful Lion not for what it is, but for what it is doing, laying at rest, going about its business, and caring for its family. And because of this misunderstanding, evil historically mistakes goodness for suckers, forgetting the resolve and strength within righteousness. In its misunderstanding, evil treats the Lion like it is not even there; like jackals & hyenas, they “get closer and closer and bolder and bolder, till one day, that lion gets up and tears the shit out of everybody, runs like the wind, eats everything in its path.”* 

The linchpin is for us, the good men of our time, to grow an ever-increasing amount of wisdom that we might see the truth of the matters before us, therefore disallowing them to get to the point of awful consequence. Manifest weakness attracts it, our projected strength keeps it at bay. The longer the lion waits to deal with the threat, the greater the cost to his kingdom. And like lions we must display our strength, being open and showy about it. Strong, good and dangerous men tend to hide their diligent stewardship of violence. No more. With wisdom and humble clarity, we must move the Overton window, me must make evil fear again.

We must remember, it is up to us to recognize the signs of destruction as Winston did, and call the foolishness of Neville out for what it is, pathetic childish weakness.

The good news is that good men are awakening and casting off the delusion that someone will do it for us. From the most ancient of days and forevermore, it is up to us. We are casting off the mantle of a child that looks to another man to protect his own girlfriend, wife and family. We are bringing back the nobility of being vast men who are both learned and daunting. We are starting to see that strength actually looks like something.

I am here to tell you today. You are not gentle if you do not possess wrath; you are soft. If you haven’t a propensity for excellent violence, you do not exist as a gentleman. Because a gentleman, with diligent stewardship, upholds the great tension between warmly uplifting their fellow man and rage, a rage, rage against the dying of the light.**

If you are not dangerous in your goodness, you exist at the whim of others.

You are only in charge of what you yourself, others that you trust, might collectively protect.

In your goodness, your ability to bring safety is directly correlated to your ability to bring violence.

Every good man is called to steward their ability to be dangerous. When times try men’s souls, it is up to us. Always has been. Ever will be.

What are you waiting for, your bloodline looks to you. 

*Quote is Christopher Walken’s speech from: Poolhall Junkies

**Do not go gentle into that good night: By Dylan Thomas

Hold Tension, Be Vast.

Remember, restoration alone brings victory.