Oct 13, 2020
Today Sam and Dave discuss 4GW, or Fourth Generation
Warfare.
When one discusses the real reason for the Second Amendment – the
right of citizens to defend themselves against a potentially
tyrannical government – inevitably someone points out the stark
difference in firepower between a guerrilla uprising in the United
States and the United States government itself.
This is not a trivial observation. The U.S. government spends more
on the military than the governments of China, Russia, Saudi
Arabia, India, France, United Kingdom, and Japan combined. Plus,
the potential of a tyrannical government is arguably upon us – with
the federal government spying on its own citizens, militarizing
local police departments with equipment and tactics from the War on
Terror, and repeatedly searching Americans, which desensitizes them
to this invasive process.
There is much historical precedent, however, for guerrilla
uprisings defeating more powerful enemies. For instance, the Cold
War saw both superpowers brought to their knees by rural farmers –
for the Soviets, their adventure in Afghanistan against the
Mujahideen, and for the United States, the Vietnam War against the
Viet Cong.
In both cases, nuclear weapons could have been used against the
guerrilla uprising, but were not. Even assuming the use of nuclear
weapons from the position of total desperation, it’s hard to
imagine they would have made much of a difference in the final
outcome of either conflict. Unlike the invading armies, the local
resistance enjoyed both broad-based support as well as knowledge of
the local terrain.
Now imagine such a scenario in the United States. You wouldn’t be
the first person to do so. From
Red Dawn
to James Wesley, Rawles’
Patriots
series, there is a relatively long-standing tradition of American
survival literature about the
hoi polloi
resisting the tyranny of big government, either before or after a
collapse.
For the purposes of this article, consider what a domestic American
terrorist or freedom fighter
(after
all, the label is in the eye of the beholder) organization based on
the militia movement would look like in open revolt against the
United States government. In the spirit of levity, we’ll call them
the
“Hillbilly
Viet Cong.” They would most likely find their largest numbers in
Appalachia, but don’t discount their power in the American Redoubt,
or the more sparsely populated areas of the American Southwest,
including rural Texas.
Here we have tens of thousands of Americans armed to the teeth with
combat experience, deep family ties to both the police and the
military, extensive knowledge of the local geography, and, in many
cases, survivalist training. Even where they are not trained,
militant and active, they enjoy broad support among those who own a
lot of guns and grow a lot of food.
On the other side, you have the unwieldy Baby Huey of the rump U.S.
government’s military, with some snarky BuzzFeed editorials serving
as propaganda.
Could the Hillbilly Viet Cong take down the USG? Maybe, maybe not.
But it’s difficult to imagine that the USG could take
them
down.
Indeed, even with a number of nasty little toys on the side of the
federal government, we live in an age of a technologically leveled
playing field. This is true even when it comes to instruments of
warfare. While the USG has nuclear weapons, it’s worth remembering
that a pound of C4 strapped to a cheap and readily available
commercial-grade drone is going to break a lot of
dishes.
This sort of guerrilla insurgency has a name: It’s called
fourth-generational warfare
(4GW),
and you might be surprised to learn that you already live in this
world.
You can read the full article “Asymmetrical
Warfare and 4GW: How Militia Groups Are America's Domestic Viet
Cong” at Ammo.com.
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