4GW Comes to Ferguson

Last week, Fourth Generation war paid a visit to Ferguson, Missouri. I am not speaking of the rioting, looting, and burning; elements in the black urban community have for decades used any incident as an excuse to riot. There is an element of 4GW in other blacks lining up with the looters and arsonists against law enforcement, even though it is their own neighborhoods, stores, and even churches that go up in flames. But what happened in Ferguson was much more powerful than that, in terms ofthe future toward which it points.This time, when the state failed to perform its duty of protecting persons and property, armed volunteers did so in its place.A story in the Sunday, November 30 New York Times, "On Rooftops of Ferguson, Volunteers--With Guns," has major significance for the arrival of 4GW in this country. The Times reported that

Under the auspices of a national group called the Oath Keepers, Mr. (Sam) Andrews accelerated plans to recruit and organize private security details for businesses in Ferguson, which are receiving the services free. The volunteers, who are sometimes described as a citizen militia--but do not describe themselves that way--have taken up armed positions on rooftops here on recent nights...On its website, Oath Keepers released a recruiting message to "all skilled veterans and patriots" and asked them to "grab your gear and start rolling toward Ferguson..."That some business owners accepted aid from a group regarded by some as an anti-government militia is a testament to the rawness of emotions here...

To use one of John Boyd's favorite phrases, that is very interesting. To the best of my knowledge, it is the first 21st century case in the U.S. of a militia stepping in to keep order when the state fails. It is what we see happening regularly in other parts of the world where the state has disintegrated, but I did not expect it quite so soon on our own soil.If we wish to halt the rise of militias here, we need to focus, not on the militias, but on the reason they arise: the failure of the state. As Hobbes reminds us, the state came to be for only one reason: to maintain order, i.e., safety of persons and property. When the state is no longer able  or willing to do that, other entities must take its place. The first requirement of any society is order, because without order life is nasty, brutish, and short.Just ask small business owners in Ferguson what happens without order. The Times quoted one of them, Mr. Davis Vo, owner of a Chinese restaurant, saying "When they're here (The Oath Keepers), there's definitely a weight lifted off of our shoulders. I'd be lying if I said otherwise."There is no question that last Monday, the state failed in Ferguson. The Times quoted the mayor of a local community that was damaged Monday night as saying, "The governor said himself, I think on TV, that the businesses will be protected by the National Guard during this situation. Unfortunately, that did not happen until Tuesday. But we were expecting it to happen on Monday."The more interesting question is why the state failed. The proximate cause is probably the Governor's reluctance to make a decision. But behind that, at the moral level of war, lies something more powerful, something that points to more failure by the state to maintain order.The Establishment's official narrative concerning so-called "black rage" is that it is an understandable response to racism, injustice, and oppression. In other words, morally, the looters and arsonists are in the right. If that is the case, how can the state, which is run by the Establishment, not be hesitant and reluctant in its response? At the moral level, the state has emasculated itself.That narrative is bunk from beginning to end. Cops' suspicion of blacks, especially young black males, is a direct function of their crime rate. The  black rate of violent crime, most committed by young black males, is twelve times the white rate. In Ferguson, the white cope was fighting for his life against a young black male who had assaulted him, trying to grab his gun. Had he succeeded, that white cop would now be dead and no one would have heard of Ferguson, Missouri. The murder of a white cop by an armed black is strictly local news.Blacks call for justice, but justice is based on facts. If blacks want to be treated by police the same as whites, they need to bring their crime rate down to that of whites. Until they do, treating them differently is a necessity.If the state is not to see more 4GW from non-blacks as they move to defend themselves from black violence, it needs to respond differently than it did in Ferguson. Once the grand jury had reported, the facts of the case were clear: the cop was in the right and the black who assaulted him had gotten what he asked for. That is justice. No manifestation of "black rage" should have been tolerated. Had I been Governor of Missouri, I would have ordered the National Guard to round up some Civil War cannon from town greens and museums, load them with grape and point them down Ferguson's main street. A whiff of grape is the traditional answer to rioters, and I suspect it still works. Looters and arsonists would have been shot on sight.Until the state is once again willing to do its job, the rest of us, like Mr. Vo, will welcome the Oath Keepers. And 4GW will have found a new home.