https://americanmind.org/salvo/revolutionary-necessity/
It was suggested by the editors that I focus on the following section of Slack’s book.
The only force that can oppose this servitude is an armed citizenry with a stake in society, angry about its managed decline, and insistent upon its rights. Thus the kleptocrats’ fear is an armed citizenry above all, and they seek to register, then confiscate, AR-15s to render the people defenseless against state coercion. Such tyranny could trigger open conflict—Americans own some 500 million firearms. And while the Left celebrates revolution, its marchers have never seen the systematic ordering force of conservatism when prodded to destruction. The Left can claim control of the bureaucracy and military command, but of actual fighting forces it holds few—it has alienated local police and the 3.3 million veterans who have returned from recent imperial wars. The Right, after such a long train of abuses, must confront whether it would be willing to leap into the revolutionary abyss. This willingness and preparedness for war may be the way to prevent open conflict, to force a common recognition of some table of values, of inalienable rights not subject to negotiation.
My own writings on the current crisis of the American regime have not exactly been bashful. Yet in reflecting on this passage I’m reminded of what Thomas Hobbes said when he read Benedict Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise: “He has outthrown me a bar’s length….”
I agree with Michael Anton that the regime would like nothing better than to instigate a violent incident by “ultra-MAGA insurrectionists” in order to justify a harsh crackdown; therefore, don’t give them any excuse. Slack himself makes this point eloquently when he observes, “while I sympathize with any defense of natural right, I also fear it.” A civil war today would pit “city against country, neighbor against neighbor, in the aisles of grocery stores, restaurants, and churches…. I still hope that we can appeal to genuine nationalism, celebrating America’s principles and its remarkable achievements, rejecting a false patriotism and tribalism.”