Whose Side Are You On?

Partisan:

a strong supporter of a party, cause, or person.

We live in an age where being a "strong supporter" of a political party or person appears foolish to those who are paying attention. Parties are either actively working against the interests of their supporters or have no power. You may find a person to be inspiring but that doesn’t mean they possess the power to implement the change you envision, much less achieve any trade-offs that would at least appease you in the short term. Will a person ever come along that you feel confident enough to support in pushing forward your long-term objectives? Possibly. Until then, the idea of the "cause," not a party or person, may be the best motivating factor for keeping your dreams alive.

When you take into consideration the idea of being a partisan for a cause, the fact that there is no one person that you strongly support should not preclude you from forming alliances. You all know my opinion by now: make every attempt to get out of cities and even suburbs and become more independent when it comes to income and food. The regime in charge is our greatest enemy, not because of the existence of the State, but because the people who control the State consider those of us who share the values we do to be the enemy.

In times such as these, if you are not independently wealthy—honestly, even if you are—finding like-minded people to align with is a must. But as I’ve mentioned here before, those alliances must be chosen wisely. Today I witnessed a so-called Libertarian on Twitter championing regime change not only in Iran today but also the CIA coup in 1953. I still see people who say they hate the State defending and walking in lockstep with the cultural "values" this regime promotes. I came to the conclusion long ago that if one’s opinion aligns with that of the CIA or the regime in charge, you must examine the foundation of that belief. We must assume that those who sound sympathetic to this regime, no matter what they may say, are.

Inherent in becoming a partisan for a cause is looking upon those who are not on your side with suspicion. And in many cases, as the enemy. This goes against everything we’ve been taught. Most of us were raised to be tolerant of those with whom we disagree. That has only revealed that those with whom we have been tolerant have no intention of returning the favor. To the contrary, they took power while we sat back and celebrated what good, tolerant people we were. The era of tolerance is over. How that is reflected in your life and your decisions is what you have to figure out.