“I do not say that democracy has been more pernicious on the whole, and in the long run, than monarchy or aristocracy. Democracy has never been and never can be so durable as aristocracy or monarchy; but while it lasts, it is more bloody than either. … Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. It is in vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy. It is not true, in fact, and nowhere appears in history. Those passions are the same in all men, under all forms of simple government, and when unchecked, produce the same effects of fraud, violence, and cruelty. When clear prospects are opened before vanity, pride, avarice, or ambition, for their easy gratification, it is hard for the most considerate philosophers and the most conscientious moralists to resist the temptation.” – John Adams
“A Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.” – John Adams
I have bookshelves filled with books I haven’t read yet. I’m a collector of books who doesn’t have much time to read but plans to spend my waning years catching up on all the reading I’ve been unable to do while working, blogging, and raising a family. Still, I always have one or two books on my nightstand being read in fits and starts. After finishing a Grisham novel, I sought another book to occupy my time from my living room bookshelf. I grabbed Rise to Rebellion, a Jeff Shaara historical novel I had purchased at a used bookstore in Wildwood, NJ many years ago.
I don’t know why I chose that book from the dozens of options on the bookshelf, but it seems to have been a wise choice given the current state of affairs in the world. I always find the wisdom and courage of our founding fathers to be a beacon of light in the darkness slowly engulfing the world as we approach the denouement of this Fourth Turning, the fourth, and hopefully not last, in U.S. history. Probably without knowing it, most of Shaara’s historical novels revolved around events during the first three Fourth Turnings.
It started with his father Michael Shaara’s brilliant 1973 Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Killer Angels, and Jeff’s bookend novels Gods and Generals (1996) and The Last Full Measure (1998) to complete the trilogy. They captured the essence of the Civil War Fourth Turning. Then he captured the spirit of the American Revolution Fourth Turning with Rise to Rebellion and The Glorious Cause. And then he attacked the World War II Fourth Turning with his four-part series: The Rising Tide, The Steel Wave, No Less Than Victory, and The Final Storm. The novels documenting the glorious victories, tragic losses, heroes, and villains of this Fourth Turning are yet to be written. What will be written depends upon the actions we take or don’t take during the remaining five or so years of this period of Crisis.
You never know how or when your words or actions will have an impact, but if you remain resolute and true to yourself, maybe even after death your words can provide inspiration for future generations. Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels was rejected by 15 publishers, received mixed reviews, and even after winning a Pulitzer Prize was still a commercial failure. He died in 1988, a broken man, dismayed his novel never received the notice it deserved.
Five years after his death his book was adapted into the epic film Gettysburg, and his novel was propelled to number one on the NYT bestsellers list, 19 years after its publication. Jeff had been a coin dealer, but after the success of the movie and novel he was approached to continue the story, his father had started, despite no background in writing. He took up the challenge and has had a prodigious career bringing history to life for millions of readers. You never know when life will offer opportunity or thrust you into a cataclysm.
What struck me as I read Rise to Rebellion, capturing the time period from the Boston Massacre in 1770 to the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, told through the eyes of John Adams, Ben Franklin, George Washington, and British General Thomas Gage, was the extremely long odds of farmers, merchants, shop owners and tradesmen successfully defeating the greatest empire in history and their professional army. The chances of these undisciplined, underfunded, under armed militiamen, led by George Washington and a few professional officers, of winning their independence from an imperial empire and an army and navy unmatched on earth was virtually nil.
It’s the kind of perspective valuable at this juncture of a Fourth Turning, rapidly accelerating towards conflict against a seemingly invincible arrogant Deep State imperial empire. The odds are heavily against those who have refused to knuckle under during the covid scam and continue to oppose the government’s efforts to disarm us and destroy the moral fabric of the nation.
From their writings and correspondence at the time, utilized by Shaara in his novel, you realize Adams, Franklin, and Washington were all reluctant revolutionaries. Firebrands like Sam Adams and Patrick Henry had no doubts about going to war. Adams and Franklin did everything in their power to defuse the brewing conflict over many years. Adams even defended the British soldiers accused of murder during the Boston Massacre and got them acquitted by an American jury. Franklin spent years in London trying to negotiate on behalf of the colonies, while constantly being ridiculed, scorned, and humiliated by arrogant parliamentarians and an ego-maniacal king.
When chosen to lead the Continental Army, Washington was hesitant to accept the position. He didn’t believe the martial skills he gained during the French & Indian War were sufficient to lead a ragtag army of militia misfits against the greatest military on earth. These men did not conclude a military revolution was necessary to end the British tyranny lightly. After much soul searching and angst, they realized there was no choice. They had been pushed far enough and it was time to push back. They also knew if they failed, they would hang.
In 1770, Franklin was 64 years old, suffering from gout and bladder stones. With life expectancies of less than 40 years in those days, he had far outlived most, while accomplishing more as a scientist, writer, publisher, and statesman than almost anyone in history. He had every right to just live out his remaining years in peace and tranquility. But instead, he risked it all on helping birth a new nation, using all his wisdom, guile, and political acumen to help guide the younger revolutionaries Adams, Jefferson, Washington, among others.
He was 70 in 1776 when he signed the Declaration of Independence and died in 1790, shortly after the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1789. He spent his twilight years working tirelessly to birth this Republic. As I and many others enter our 60s, it feels like it is too late for us to make a difference in helping change the course of our troubled nation. But Franklin should be an inspiration to all real patriots fighting impossible odds to try and defeat an arrogant brutal regime bent on crushing those who believe in freedom, liberty, personal responsibility, and a Constitution written in the blood of patriots 250 years ago.
When narrow minded linear thinkers scoff at the notion of the common people rising up and taking down a corrupt, evil, traitorous government, which no longer works in the best interest of the people, but for their own enrichment, I must anchor my thinking in the cyclical nature of history and inevitability of the existing social order being swept away in a river of blood during Fourth Turnings. The acolytes of the regime in political offices, government bureaucracy blood suckers, the media propaganda outlets, the woke military, and corporate boardrooms scoff at the thought of losing their wealth and power.
They control the narrative. They control the technology. They control the government. They control the media. They have superior firepower in the hands of their police and military mercenaries. Their hubris knows no bounds. Their comprehension of history and human nature is non-existent as their sociopath desires overwhelm their ability to think critically and see what lies ahead.
No matter how far advanced the world has become technologically over the last 250 years, one thing never changes – human nature. Technological progress has certainly made it easier to kill each other today than during the American Revolution. “Smart” phones, the internet, and 70-inch HDTVs have made it far easier to amuse and distract ourselves, and effortless for Bernays’ invisible government to control and manipulate the masses through propaganda and psychological exploitation, as proven by the last three years of this fake covid crisis. As Huxley pointed out, technology is just making us go backwards more efficiently.
“Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.” ― Aldous Huxley, Ends and Means
Technology hasn’t made us smarter. Technology hasn’t made us kinder. Technology hasn’t made us less violent. Technology hasn’t made us less likely to kill or wage war. Technology hasn’t made us safer. Mankind is just as prideful, greedy, wrathful, envious, lustful, gluttonous, and slothful as they were in centuries past. Human nature never changes; therefore, we can analyze the actions of King George, Lord Dartmouth, General Gage, and other key characters of the American Revolution Fourth Turning to assess how Biden, Schumer, and Miley will react and over-react to events unfolding during this Fourth Turning.
There are numerous parallels between the political, societal, and military dynamics of the American Revolution Fourth Turning and our present day Fourth Turning, which is accelerating towards its bloody climax, yet to be labeled by future historians – if there are any historians left to write the history.
“Once vigorous measures appear to be the only means left of bringing the Americans to a due submission to the mother country, the colonies will submit.” – King George III
“A traitor is everyone who does not agree with me.” – King George III
The attitude and actions of King George III and his parliamentary aristocracy leading up to and during the rebellion are consistent with the attitudes and actions of our current day monarch – Joe Biden – and the Deep State ruling elite who lord dominion over us lowly peasants. It was duly noted King George battled bouts of mental illness from 1765 until his death in 1820. He lorded over an empire constantly at war in Europe and North America.
His empire was deeply indebted and sought to fill the treasury through taxing its far-flung colonies across the globe, without allowing those colonies representation in Parliament. When faced with resistance and dissension from America, his response was dismissive and threatening. In 1775, after the initial hostilities around Boston, the Continental Congress was still split between war and reconciliation. John Dickinson, the Loyalist delegate from Pennsylvania, wrote the Olive Branch Petition seeking reconciliation with the Crown.
King George’s unequivocal Proclamation For Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition declared war upon the colonists and proclaimed the members of the Continental Congress to be traitors and conspiracists. He left no room for negotiation or compromise. Were these words written by King George, or the arrogant war-mongering toadies in his court who didn’t have to do the marching and dying on battlefields on another continent. The derision and threatening language are eerily reminiscent of another dictator’s speech 247 years later, ironically given bathed in blood red in front of Independence Hall, where the founding fathers had held their rebellious proceedings.
WHEREAS Many of Our Subjects in divers Parts of Our Colonies and Plantations in North America, misled by dangerous and ill-designing Men, and forgetting the Allegiance which they owe to the Power that has protected and sustained them, after various disorderly Acts committed in Disturbance of the Public Peace, to the Obstruction of lawful Commerce, and to the Oppression of Our loyal Subjects carrying on the same, have at length proceeded to an open and avowed Rebellion, by arraying themselves in hostile Manner to withstand the Execution of the Law, and traitoroursly preparing, ordering, and levying War against Us.
AND whereas there is Reason to apprehend that such Rebellion hath been much promoted and encouraged by the traitorous Correspondence, Counsels, and Comfort of divers wicked and desperate Persons within this Realm: To the End therefore, that none of Our Subjects may neglect or violate their Duty through Ignorance thereof, or through any Doubt of the Protection which the Law will afford to their Loyalty and Zeal; We have thought fit, by and with the Advice of Our Privy Council, to issue this Our Royal Proclamation, hereby declaring that not only all Our Officers, Civil and Military, are obliged to exert their utmost Endeavours to suppress such Rebellion, and to bring the Traitors to Justice; but that all Our Subjects of this Realm and the Dominions thereunto belonging are bound by Law to be aiding and assisting in the Suppression of such Rebellion, and to disclose and make known all traitorous Conspiracies and Attempts against Us, Our Crown and Dignity.
AND We do accordingly strictly Charge and Command all Our Officers, as well Civil as Military, and all other Our obedient and loyal Subjects, to use their utmost Endeavours to withstand and suppress such Rebellion, and to disclose and make known all Treasons and traitorous Conspiracies which they shall know to be against Us, Our Crown and Dignity: and for that Purpose, that they transmit to one of Our Principal Secretaries of State, or other proper Officer, due and full Information of all Persons who shall be found carrying on Correspondence wit, or in any Manner or Degree aiding or abetting, the Persons now in open Arms and Rebellion against Our Government within any of Our Colonies and Plantations in North America, in order to bring to condign Punishment the Authors, Perpetrators, and Abettors of such traitorous Designs.
Given at Our Court at St. James‘s, the 23d Day of August, 1775, in the Fifteenth Year of Our Reign.
God Save the King.
The symbolism of Biden making the most divisive presidential speech in history at the most important location in the founding of the United States, Independence Hall, with blood red lighting and soldiers in the background was as clear a declaration of war against half the country as King George’s proclamation in 1775. Biden spewed hatred and vitriol towards the 74 million Trump voters, essentially proclaiming them traitors and insurrectionists. Biden and his handlers, who wrote the satanic verses demagoguery delivered by Biden, clearly were threatening to use the military against their opponents and use any means at their disposal to retain their power.
Their illegal incarceration and persecution of average Americans who sauntered around the Capital taking selfies, instigated by dozens of undercover FBI agents trying to provoke violence, is proof they have declared war. The barrage of frivolous lawsuits and criminal charges against Trump by the Biden regime and their Deep State acolytes is a blatant attempt to use the power of the State against a political opponent.
“MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards — backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love. They promote authoritarian leaders, and they fan the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country.” – King Joe I – September 1, 2022 – Independence Hall bathed in blood
“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic. MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. MAGA Republicans look at America and see carnage and darkness and despair. They spread fear and lies – lies told for profit and power.” – King Joe I – September 1, 2022 – Independence Hall bathed in blood
Another quote from Dementia Joe (aka Pedo Pete per Hunter) references Thomas Jefferson saying the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time by the blood of patriots and tyrants. It seems Joe knows he is the tyrant in this scenario, as he threatens to use F-15s against his political opponents. Whether we are talking 250 years ago or today, it always comes down to guns.
“I love my right-wing friends who talk about the tree of liberty is water of the blood of patriots. If you need to work on taking on the federal government, you need some F-15s. You don’t need an AR-15.” – King Joe I – January 17, 2023
Animosity between the Crown and the colonists had been brewing for a decade. The Boston Massacre didn’t start the revolution. The Boston Tea Party didn’t start the revolution. The Intolerable Acts of 1774, which were designed to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party, was the trigger for all that followed. When you treat human beings like dogs, beating them, starving them, and caging them, you better be prepared for them to bite back. John Adams realized the time to act was upon them.
“So instead, you will punish us by reducing us to non-citizens. If there was an argument before about which rights, which privileges we expect to be granted, there is no argument now, no discussion about vague principles. We will have soldiers in our homes; our town, cut off from her source of survival, is plainly under siege.” – John Adams – Rise to Rebellion
It wasn’t until Gage sent his men on a mission to Lexington and Concord to confiscate the guns and ammunition of the colonial militias, the revolution began in earnest. Gun confiscation is always the final straw, which pushes peaceful non-confrontational common men to justified violence, aggressive defense of their liberties, and unrestrained retribution against their enemies. The farmers, merchants and tradesmen, warned of the coming attack by Dawes and Revere, rallied and stood their ground at Concord, and then using guerilla tactics picked off dozens of British regulars during their retreat, inflicting three times as many casualties as incurred. In retaliation the panicked British soldiers burned the homes of non-combatants and killed innocent women and children.
The arrogance of General Gage was again borne out at the Battle of Bunker Hill (most fighting occurring on Breed’s Hill) where his frontal assault resulted in over 1,000 casualties to 450 for the militiamen. If the rebels had not run out of gunpowder, the slaughter would have been worse. The cruel and inhumane burning of Charlestown and Falmouth by the British Navy terminated any possible reconciliation and set in motion a domino effect of events leading to great bloodshed and eventually a humiliating defeat for the British Empire.
Biden and his ruling regime relentlessly threaten and use un-Constitutional means to overturn and render the 2nd Amendment null and void. Every “mass shooting” event is utilized as a means to enact restrictions on the ownership of guns. This despite 90% of mass shootings being committed by young black men against young black men in Democrat run urban shitholes with the strictest gun control laws.
Up until now, those running the show and fearful of the “deplorables” legally owning approximately 400 million firearms, have tried to use regulation, registration, restrictions, and sanctions to restrict the Second Amendment. They have essentially declared half the country rebels, inflaming emotions on both sides with their rhetoric, purposeful non-enforcement of the law, witch hunts against opposition leaders, censorship and cancelling of those on the right, illegal executive orders designed to ignite rebellion, and to treat them like sub-humans.
What they have not dared to do yet, is forcefully attempt to confiscate our guns. That would be the bridge too far, just as the British expedition to Lexington and Concord proved to be the action which generated the violent reaction and subsequent Revolutionary War. When Biden and his cohort of authoritarian governors and mayors attempt to use their police state to confiscate guns door to door, the unanticipated violent response will be heard round the world. The confiscators have names, addresses and families, so they may realize treating their neighbors like criminals may lead to dreadful consequences for them and their loved ones.
The truth is the nation has been in a state of rebellion since the election of Trump in 2016. The divisions within the country haven’t been this deep since the Civil War. Biden’s divisive rhetoric and threats to use the military against his opponents clearly reveals his desire for confrontation. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. believes the country is in rebellion against both parties, while Trump’s words on January 6, 2021, revealed his belief we were already warring tribes.
“I think there’s a rebellion happening in our country now — there’s a populist rebellion — and if we don’t capture that rebellion, for the forces of idealism and the forces of generosity and kindness, somebody else is going to hijack that rebellion for much darker purposes. I don’t think it’s a good idea to say we’re not going to talk to American populists because they’re deplorable. Americans are our brothers and sisters, and we need to listen to them. And their backs are against the wall because of policies that have come from both Republican and Democratic parties.” – Robert F. Kennedy Jr.– May 6, 2023
“Today we will see whether Republicans stand strong for integrity of our elections, but whether or not they stand strong for our country. Our country has been under siege for a long time, far longer than this four-year period.” – Donald Trump – January 6, 2021
The assault on the First and Second Amendments to the Constitution have been persistent and more strident over the last three years. We have entered the more volatile phase of this Fourth Turning where any spark can ignite the powder-keg of animosities, grudges, and disputes opposing forces have been seething over for years. The unbridled censorship unleashed by government conspiring with social media companies (aka corporate fascism) was the initial step in the regime’s plan to control, monitor, and suppress any truth which contradicts the approved narrative.
The founding fathers knew 232 years ago the dangers of a tyrannical government subduing the people’s right to freedom of expression, leading us down a path to destruction. That’s why they insisted on the Second Amendment as redress in case a tyrannical regime needed to nourish the tree of liberty with their blood.
“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” ― George Washington
Once they silence you, they believe they can then disarm you, imprison you in their 15-minute cities, control you by using central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) to restrict your purchases and punish you for social credit score violations, turn off your mandated EV at their whim, monitor your every communication, and essentially treat you like a prisoner in their electronic gulag. Jeff Shaara captured the gist of how all tyrannical governments act throughout history, and today is no different.
“a dangerous thing for any state to maintain its power by plugging up the vent of complaints, stifling the voices of the people. When complaining becomes a crime, hope becomes despair. He finished” ― Jeff Shaara, Rise to Rebellion
Frankly, the odds of defeating such a goliath regime, backed by the Deep State, the largest military on earth, local militarized police thugs, billionaire oligarchs, compliant media corporations, the Wall Street cabal and their central banker puppets, and millions of sheep-like government indoctrinated drones, seem impossibly long. But the truth is, the uni-party inhabiting the swamp in Washington D.C. is desperately attempting to retain control as their last act is looting the treasury, foretold by George Washington over 200 years ago.
The true support of the regime is a mile wide and an inch deep. When the current “non-banking crisis” detonates into a full-fledged panic and vaporizes the 401ks of millions of angry citizens who have already been supremely screwed by the massive Federal Reserve/Wall Street created inflation, the simmering pot will be brought to a boil and all hell will break loose.
The repressed anger created by the totalitarian lockdowns and vaccine mandates, which destroyed small businesses and the lives of millions of good middle-class people, is on the verge of exploding in the faces of the regime. A recent comment on my blog perfectly encapsulates the vengeance which will be doled out:
“I did get fired. Specifically for non-compliance with Biden’s XO mandating the vax for all federal workers/contractors. 6 figure salary gone. Employer matched 401k contributions gone. Had to live most of 2022 off of what I had in savings, $80,000 gone. And now every fucking one of their “mandates” has been rescinded and the WHO has declared the pandemic over. White hot seething vengeance fueled rage doesn’t even begin to describe what I (and millions of others) have boiling deep inside us that we for now are somehow still able to conceal behind a smiling face. When the collapse comes, and it will, hanging is not good enough. I want these people and their families fed to packs of wild dogs.” – Anonymous Commenter on TBP blog
“Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you’re not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. ‘Cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live nor win. That’s just the way it is.” – Josey Wales
We are now in the fifteenth year of this Fourth Turning, with a resolution likely within the next five or six years – good, bad, or disastrous. The Great Depression/WWII Fourth Turning lasted 17 years, while the American Revolution Fourth Turning took 21 years. It is a certainty violent conflict will drive this Fourth Turning to its gripping unknown climax, with both civil and global conflict playing a major role. The men who were pushed too far by the British in 1775 and pushed back had virtually no chance of victory and they won. Will those of us constituting Hillary’s deplorables, who face equivocally long odds, summon the inner-strength, resolve, fortitude, and courage to support and sustain our fellow modern-day patriots in the coming battles for the heart of the nation?
We certainly aren’t going to vote our way out of this, as both parties are captured and corrupt. We’ve been pushed as far into a corner as we can be pushed. And the time for pushing back approaches. The futures of our children and grandchildren will depend on how we respond during the coming trials and tribulations. It will require tremendous sacrifice and cooperation between all generations to accomplish the task of saving this country from the forces of evil currently in control. Once the sword is drawn there will be no turning back or compromise. An elderly Ben Franklin knew what would happen if they failed. The same would apply today – ask the men kept in a D.C. dungeon for the last two years.
“We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” ― Benjamin Franklin
Strauss and Howe provided four possible outcomes to the current Crisis, each more dire than the next. I now believe this outcome is the most likely, unless Biden accidentally pushes the nuclear button, thinking he was just ordering chocolate ice cream with jimmies.
“The Fourth Turning could mark the end of modernity. The Western saecular rhythm – which began in the mid-fifteenth century with the Renaissance – could come to an abrupt terminus. The seventh modern saeculum would be the last. This too could come from total war, terrible but not final. There could be a complete collapse of science, culture, politics, and society. Such a dire result would probably happen only when a dominant nation (like today’s America) lets a Fourth Turning ekpyrosis engulf the planet. But this outcome is well within the reach of foreseeable technology and malevolence.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning
Many have already given up their liberties and freedoms for the promise of government safety and welfare payments, but will ultimately realize they aren’t safe, and the promises were hollow and false. The nation is financially and morally bankrupt, and the fall of the American Empire will be the most spectacular in world history. Thomas Paine never fired a shot during the American Revolution, but his Common Sense became the inspiration for others to stand up to tyranny. We all have a part to play in this historic episode in our nation’s history. If not us, then who? As darkness descends upon our land of liberty, it’s time to light a candle and make a stand against evil and tyranny.
Reprinted with permission from The Burning Platform.
