The chicken and the egg problem of security

Well, looks like the Black Monday I predicted happened today - the DOW down a whopping 3.5%. Not that I have any stocks, or can really afford to buy them despite their increasing cheapness.

The day is not far off when due to lack of resources (e.g. strong dollars), the government (local and national) will start to falter. The financial and economic bloodstreams are bleeding dry as I write. AIG is going to come back to the government soon for another $60 billion. The government is squandering limited precious resources on bailing out the Wall Street investor class.

When collapse of some kind happens in Minnesota, we the people will be forced to fend for ourselves. We will have to learn to barter, trade, and help each other.

A predator class more localized than Wall Street will soon arise: groups of armed men will steal from our farms and cottage industries, or will demand protection money. The government that remains will be too weak to do much about it - heck, it enabled the looting by Wall Street, why not enable looting by gun-toting warlords?

At some point, the people will be forced to rise up and form some kind of militia or police force to protect themselves. That leads to a chicken-and-egg problem. Right now, the official government would never allow such a force to exist. Oh, sure, you might get away with a neighborhood watch program, but even that is likely to get criticized for being a bunch of "vigilantes." However, at some point the need for protection will become so pressing that we will have to organize.

How do we know when it's time to reconstitute the militia of the people, like the ones that existed during the Revolutionary War? I realize that even broaching this right now would scare or anger most of our sheeple neighbors, but at some point they will be begging for protection.

Perhaps the future leaders of such an organization already exists in the blogosphere, among the preppers? I would say that pure survivalist types will not be very interested in the communal good to this extent. But most of us care enough about our neighbors, and realize that we ourselves need the strength of numbers and community, so that we will be willing to help organize and man a force that exists for the sole reason of protecting the lives and property of the people (that is, us).

John Locke pointed out that when the government ceases to protect the lives and property of the people, it ceases to be lawful. It has ceased to fulfill its function, and may be ignored or replaced.

It is also conceivable that the various state governments, or some of them, will continue to do the right thing and protect the citizens. I hope so. Minnesota should pull all of its National Guard forces out of Iraq, and bring them home to do what they were meant to do.

The history of the National Guard is interesting: the Militia act of 1903 in effect made what used to be the state militias into subservient units of the new National Guard.

It may be time to revisit the issue, because the individual states will likely soon need their militias back - to do what they were meant to do, protect the people, instead of occupying foreign lands.