The last time I lived an honest-to-cordwood “country” life was almost 40 years ago. Home was a one-bedroom saltbox house on two acres in southern New England, built on a hand-laid stone foundation in the 1830s. That part of my existence was pretty simple, albeit interrupted five days a week by having to make a living in The Big City.
Sunday mornings, regardless of season or weather, were the best. I’d be up with the sun, perk a pot of coffee, put some music on — usually classical music, believe it or not, ’cause that seemed to fit the setting — and retire to the front porch for a couple of hours’ peace.
These days, whether I’m on the road or planted here in suburbia, I still try to do the same thing — coffee and peace, minus the country ambience. Instead of music, often I’ll surf into Hickok45’s YouTube channel for his regular “Sunday Shoot-a-Round.”
For the uninitiated, Greg Kinman is a slow-talkin’ Kentucky-born gentleman, a 71-year-old retired schoolteacher who goes by the handle of Hickok45. Over the last 15 years he’s posted thousands of videos from his shooting range in the Tennessee hills, attracting seven million subscribers and racking up almost two billion views.
Most of Hickok45’s videos are low-key reviews of various firearms, vintage pieces as well as new models. The weekly “Sunday Shoot-a-Round” feature is even more relaxed, usually running over an hour, a showcase for his humility and libertarian leanings. This morning, between explaining why he no longer actively supports the NRA and waxing cranky about “crazy people,” he fired an old Smith & Wesson Model 13 FBI and a Daniel Defense V7. At one point he raised the AR-15 toward the camera.
“That’s what our Forefathers meant us to have. … The more, the better.”
Every time I watch one of his Sunday videos now I think about The Mountain — not only having a place where Deb and I can exercise whatever we want, whenever we want, but a real chance to get back to my old Country Sunday routine.
Coffee and a front porch will be involved. Birdsongs and the wind in the cedars may be the only musical accompaniment I need.
Not everyone is down with what I have in mind, of course, especially the whole shootin’ thang. That doesn’t surprise me, nor should it, especially in the current political climate. Leftists, liberals and The Coastal Elite always will be enemies of Liberty.
Senator Spartacus, with the support of the usual Democrat suspects, last week introduced anti-American legislation that doesn’t even pretend to be constitutional. If enacted, the “Federal Firearm Licensing Act” would do precisely what the title suggests — establish that “it shall be unlawful for any individual to purchase or receive a firearm unless the individual has a valid Federal firearm license.”
Naturally, this is crisis-as-opportunity at work, anti-Liberty progressives seizing on a moment created by last weekend’s massacre in Buffalo. It’s become fashionable for the Right to respond by criticizing such moves as shameless opportunism, reflexively citing a Chicago mayor’s 2008 assertion that,
“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.”
Whenever I see that reaction from the Right, I wonder when they’ll realize that Churchill said it first. (“Never let a good crisis go to waste.”) The same sentiment is attributed to Einstein. (“In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity.”) Smart and successful people know that opportunism is absolutely essential to getting shit done.
It baffles me why conservatives are so squeamish about admitting that.
The murders in Buffalo are a great example of an opportunity squandered by the Right. Yes, it’s fine to remain respectfully restrained for 24 or 36 hours. After that conservatives should’ve gone scorched-earth on progressives for laws that get people killed.
But no, we get to watch Republicans play defense, terrified that if they stand on actual American principles they’ll be accused of… well, you know.
And by the way, I predict that the GOP will totally blow its opportunity for unprecedented “wave election” gains in November. Democrats, unable to explain, excuse or escape the incompetence of the current occupant of the Oval Office, are serving up the mid-terms on the proverbial silver platter. Inexplicably, however, Republicans act like The Big Win is inevitable, as if the national mood makes taking back the House and Senate automatic.
That’s not how it works — not this year, not ever. Each and every race has to be won, one at a time. They’re gonna fuck that up.
This is why we can’t have nice things.
One year ago today, the sun appeared and we dried out.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB