TAKE ACTION
Prepare Yourself First —–
If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening my axe.
— Abraham Lincoln
As mentioned in the narrative of the Mission Statement portion of our home page, politics is the struggle for power to make binding decisions over society. Additionally mentioned is the phenomena that the struggle seems now to have turned into war; war with the ultimate object of, not whether, but how taxpayer’s money is to increasingly and increasingly be distributed to other citizens and entities (unions, political groups, racial groups, businesses, etc).
For too long our individual political struggle or war has been “contracted out” by us by default. Too many Americans have failed in their obligations as citizens of a Constitutional republic, leaving those in what can best be described as a professional political class to, not lead, but rule. And as radio talk show host and author Mark Levin says, our “rulers” have over the 20th Century until now implemented a “soft tyranny”. Levin also describes the present situation as a “cold civil war”; with one side basically for freedom and liberty and the other for ever burgeoning government with hardly any limits on its reach and power.
If you have decided to pick a side in the above described struggle or war, your first duty as a “warrior” is to prepare yourself. To be an effective warrior, new muscles must be developed and the use of new tools must be learned. Furthermore, you must have a foundational knowledge about why you must fight. Ask and answer these three questions: First, what do I really believe in? Second, why do I believe what I believe? And finally, do I really believe that what I believe is true? We are sure that once you ask and answer those questions, you are or are well on your way to becoming a meaningful specific, a person with core beliefs and values. If you haven’t then you are and will continue to be a glimmering generality: (1) someone easily influenced and goes along with the crowd; (2) someone subject to fads and personalities rather than to principles and values; and (3) someone who is always under the circumstances and rarely takes charge to become and live above the circumstances.
And make no mistake. The circumstances now are dire. Dire for us and our children and dire for not yet born Americans. So prepare. Prepare to be over and to shape the circumstances, not always be under them. Become the kind of American that can truly say: “I would rather die on my feet, rather than live — under the circumstances — on my knees.” We need to fix our Nation; and the first step to restoration is to learn and be confident of how our Nation was intended to look, operate and, yes, feel. Otherwise, we will be like a mechanic or a furniture restorer who has no manual or no idea what the original is supposed to look like and operate and what the parts are and how the parts are supposed to fit together. So begin your quest by learning and committing yourself to answer the question: How should things be? For once you ask and answer this, you’ll become ready to be an informed and skilled observer or watchman. A new 21st Century guardian that can sit on a wall, develop a sound and relevant orientation toward what you see, decide to attack or defend, take aim, and….well, you get the point.
You OODA. Does Your OODA Loop or Cycle Work For You Or Against You?
We as mainstream and traditionally oriented Americans and our way of life is being attacked. Attacked by a relentless minority of big government Statists that exist under a variety of labels — Liberals, Socialists, Secular-Humanists, Communitarianists, Marxists, Communists, and, yes, Progressives. While vast numbers of Americans were asleep (“contracting out”) and not manning the walls of our fortress of principles and values, the attackers got inside our OODA Loop. The result? While we did not take effective actions to defend and relentlessly improve our house and our position, the Statists certainly did. But what is OODA, the OODA Loop, and how does it work.
Origin of the OODA Loop. A few decades ago a U.S. Air Force senior officer came up with a construct or model of how one military force can overcome another by disrupting the way the opponent makes and executes effective decisions during war. The officer also postulated that operation of a better functioning OODA Loop by one force against another can be a combat or force multiplier — accomplishing more with less. Most of us have heard the old saw, “Getting there the firstest with the mostest!” Well, that happens more likely than not because “firsters” see “there” as the proper place to go and acted to actually go “there” faster. “Firsters” Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act faster. This is a truism whether we are talking about war, business (buying and selling), boxing, and even politics. Now let’s look at the functions in the cycle or loop, see how our loop has been disrupted, and how we can henceforth better our own decision and action processes and, as a people and Nation, become “firsters” again.
1. Observe. Being able to see or observe what’s going on is the first function necessary to make effective decisions and take effective action. If one is not exercising this function continually, forget about someone pulling the wool over your eyes, for the wool already covers them. The word for that state of affairs is ignorance. Any favorable outcome of a decision based on ignorance is just pure luck. And we can certainly see now, that in the realm of politics, the not so favorable outcomes for many years now have resulted from ignorance. Too many citizens weren’t watching and, frankly, too much was seemingly deliberately hidden from our “routine” view (by the so-called Legacy Media). We as Americans were passively looking at an illusion of information and perhaps feeling satisfaction — in our blindness — that we were informed enough. But some of us slowly learned that the illusion was a lie and susceptibility to the lies were by commission (by those outside ourselves) and omission (what we failed to do on our own). The consequence? A blind orientation facing toward evil (calamity) instead of being repulsed and taking action to turn our backs, confront it, and/or defeat it. As it stands now, are we not painfully aware of the price we may have to increasingly pay for our failures to see (observe) and develop an orientation away from what should have been obvious (easily observed)?
2. Orient. Recall that in the second paragraph above the need was emphasized for you to become a meaningful specific (one with examined values and principles) rather than a glimmering generality kind of person. Consider another old saw: There are three kinds of people. Those who make things happen. Those who watch things happen. And those who ask, “What happened”. The first kind observed something, developed an orientation or meaning within themselves about what was observed, decided to make something happen, and then made it happen. The second kind saw, but remained a spectator; remained unmoved to action in the short term and perhaps only gained a memory for later use or maybe even later mental examination. Finally, the third kind was totally detached from what happened as it was happening. He, by omission, let what happened happen unknowingly. “The bus home passed by, but I was in the tavern and lost track of time. But why get on that boring ole bus when I can have fun drinking.” Because of the latter’s orientation toward drinking, more than being oriented toward the pleasure of going home, the bus passed by. In the political struggle, there are unserious citizens that see and complain and complain, but they never develop an understanding within themselves that some kind of personal action is required. They have knowledge but lack sufficient understanding, motivation, and orientation to action. Some even rationalize their inaction. “Let George do it. Leave me out. All politicians are crooked. Those who vote and actually think things are going to change are suckers.” But to the awake and serious, those who are principled meaningful specifics, siren calls to action (such as “change”) with no justification from what should be (from tried and true principles and values) are met by a critical orientation which may even engender opposition — action — to unfounded “change”. In struggle, in war, it is not enough to just observe. A warrior must orient him or her self to quickly ask, “What does I see mean in light of what I believe and am doing? Does what I see require me to change my course, to do something? What should I decide to do?” If one has no core beliefs or values from which to develop a sound orientation toward life, that person will be swept up and his fate will be decided by others who won’t necessarily have his best interest in mind. Your ability to Decide and Act for yourself greatly diminishes as you are always under the circumstances.
3. Decide. Without a conscious effort to observe and without a core set of values and principles to help set one’s orientation toward what happens, one’s course in life will be characterized as one which is lived under the circumstances and controlled by someone else. The capability to genuinely make decisions that are prescient and relevant is greatly diminished. It’s like being placed in a box with walls steadily closing in and options for movement diminishing. The name for that kind of place is jail or prison. Imagine a person who has raw high intelligence, but refuses to observe, refuses to think about what is observed, and refuses to make judgments about what he or she observes. Such a person is no better than an animal which only satisfies physical needs and operates or decides by instinct — by that which has been already biologically decided. If something you have observed upsets your core values and principles and you know the situation begs for action or change, deciding what to do and how to do it is not done instinctively. Even professional fighters — as practiced and honed as they are — use the OODA Loop. They just do it much faster. Once you feel something needs to be done, research and analyze and evaluate options and then — above all — choose the option that is both right and reasonable FOR YOU. Right in terms of your personality and core values and principles. Reasonable in terms of resources required (time, money, travel, causing a negative effect on other endeavors, etc.). And during your research, you may find out that someone is already doing what you think you need to start doing. If that’s the case, join an already existing “posse”. Don’t reinvent the wheel. And by all means, “posse up” and spread the effort and expense. On the right of this page are many already formed “posses”.
4. Act. Continuous and relentless action usually requires good planning. Just as the OODA Loop is a model that can be used to depict how you determine when and what Actions are needed, the Vision – Strategy – Programs – Projects – Tasks (VSPPT) Model can help you identify what you’re going to do (long, medium, & short term and immediately) and how you are going to do it — the Tasks that need to be done. Lastly, continue to evaluate what you’re doing and don’t get caught in an activity trap. An activity trap is when lots of resources are being used and lots of work or activity is being done, but the product or desired result is not achieved. Evaluate.
Conclusion
Opponents to Freedom and Liberty have disrupted their opposition’s OODA Loop — our OODA Loop. In fact, for a long time all they had to do was keep us from seeing or observing. Our history has been obscured from us and our children such that we cannot develop a proper orientation (outrage?) over what they’ve done. And reporting of current events has been done in such a way that process, rather than issues or principles, is emphasized. We have been and still are regularly exposed to inconsequential “news” (Lady Gaga, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Sports & Sports figures’ salaries, Celebrity exploits & sex lives, and other “fluff”) even while there are two Theaters of War, threats at our border, threats internally, economic threats and far reaching joblessness. Meanwhile, our President and our media seemingly “fiddles”. But as we inculcate ourselves more and more with what is right and true and increasingly observe and become wiser in spite of traditional media, we must no longer tolerate within ourselves and our families an animalistic kind of blissful ignorance and non-judgmental attitude. We can no longer let our judgment (orientation) and our willingness (deciding) to act be disoriented, delayed, clouded and confused. We can no longer be the kind of people who, by virtually standing for nothing, will fall for anything. That is a certain course to Tyranny. It is time to Know. It is time to Be. It is time to Do. It’s time to lead. Better to die on our feet, than live on our knees!
