It’s not just the news, it’s not just the markets, something is deeply wrong in our society.

As panic ensues due to CoronaVirus fears we can see how a broken society seems to behave. Many have seen the videos of fearful people flooding stores and emptying shelves of toilet paper, some getting in fights to try and fill their carts. Why toilet paper of all things? Because an ungrounded society teetering on the edge perpetuates a cycle of madness. Maybe one person in a panic bought a lot of toilet paper to prepare to quarantine, others saw the panic buying and felt like they too must stock up on that item. Others still saw videos online of the panic and have the compulsion imprinted on their own minds.

Will these people need this much toilet paper, and is that item more important than food, water, or medicine? No.

The panic itself has become the virus.

And like the CoronaVirus, irrationality can spread from person to person, transmitted over the airwaves and ethernet cables.

A society with strong cultural institutions and a foundation of self-reliance does not panic in this way. Look to the sinking of the Titanic. As the great ship went down the band still played to keep the mood orderly and calm, men assisted the women and children onto the lifeboats and some of the richest, most powerful men in the world bravely sacrificed their own lives to rescue others. In a similarly dire situation today, do you believe that people would behave chivalrously?

It’s times like this when people look to authorities and institutions for stability and security. People will turn to their churches, employers, and of course to politicians and government. In the book “The Great Degeneration,” Niall Ferguson explains how the modern failure of our institutions has led to the cultural rot we see today.

Our government has proven itself to not only handle panic incompetently, but to use it as an opportunity to usurp the people’s rights and to commit great acts of evil.

In the aftermath of 9/11, the federal government passed the Patriot Act that overturned American’s 4th Amendment rights. It in no way made us safer, but it did give the government something tha it always wanted, the power to spy on it’s own people. Not long after, the government used the terrorist attack as an excuse to invade the nation of Iraq. The war, being premised on a lie, led to the deaths of a million people and the destabilization of the entire region.

After the financial crisis of 2008, the federal government intervened to bail out it’s favored banks to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. It also began printing money at an unprecedented level and handing it out to it’s cronies in secret. Do you think that the government didn’t want to become more powerful or didn’t want to spend more than ever?

While you tighten your belt and sacrifice during times of hardship, the government always fattens itself at your expense.

Let’s also not forget in Richmond before the VCDL Lobby Day rally, Governor Northam declared a state of emergency and illegally banned weapons from the capital grounds. It’s obvious to all that the ban was the plan from the beginning, the state of emergency was simply the excuse to achieve it.

Today Governor Northam has declared another state of emergency over the CoronaVirus. What rights will he strip away this time?

The Militia Renaissance is one major step towards a renewed culture of trust and order.

The militia’s extremely local nature gives quick peace and responsiveness to the people in need when government feels immeasurably distant and disconnected.

Our own Virginia Constitution explains that the militia is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state. This is particularly true in a time of chaos. The police and the military answer to the government, a seperate entity from the people, and their actions are always to defend the State against the people. Often we see the government instructing its own forces to pull out and not defend the people when we need defense the most.

During the LA riots of the 90’s the police and national guard were nowhere to be found, but it was Korean store owners who camped on top of their stores with rifles to defend Koreatown from the violent mob. In a time of panic, they naturally became the militia.

When the government levies of New Orleans broke and tens of thousands of people risked death or the chaos of the mob, it wasn’t the national guard that was the first to respond, it was the Cajun Navy, ordinary men of purpose who felt called to action. They too became the militia.

We need the militia as a backstop for chaos, as a place for those inclined to action to put their efforts. We need the militia to be a warning against a tyrannical government who would use any opportunity to expand it’s power and cancel your liberties. We need the militia to bring calm and orderliness to a panicked people and to those who would lash out.

As our governments hide and our schools close, now, more than ever, we need the militia.