Thinking more deeply about the whole retorsion vs. reprisal and 11.3 referring to the laws of warfare manual...

The founding of this republic was upon the notion that LAWS, not men, should be sacrosanct. That is, when laws are properly instituted through the appropriate channels so that it reflects the will of The People (not just a majority at the time), then we must adhere to the laws as if our very survival depends on it. Because it does.

Our Founding Fathers did a comprehensive survey, of such a depth and honesty that I doubt we will ever be able to do it again. (Similar to how the council that put together the KJV did a better job than any modern council can do, partly because of the needs of the time and the expertise that was available that just doesn't exist anymore.)

Their findings, broadly summarized, were that:

• Governments constantly shift between different forms. Democracies tend to Monarchies, Monarchies tend to Aristocracies, Aristocracies tend towards oligarchies, and oligarchies tend towards democracies.
• Each government form has its bonuses, which in certain conditions make them more desirable than other forms. But each form also has severe limitations.
• In all cases, governments fail to do what they are supposed to do, which is to secure the rights of individuals.
• The closest we ever got in history is when we had governments that were comprised of multiple forms in competition with each other. IE, Rome's republic, where you had a dictatorial consul and the aristocratical senate but you also had democratic elements, along with the ability of the wealthy to do pretty much as they pleased, even raising armies if the occasion warranted it.
• Thus, the system of checks and balances. We are a government made of parts set in opposition to each other, and only when the rights of the individual were being protected could the parts come into alignment and interests meet.
• However, the Founding Fathers warned us that even our government would eventually fall to corruption and not just fail in its mission, but become antithetical to it. The Founding Fathers left no good solution, except vague directions such as watering the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants and patriots from time to time.

The genius of The Plan is that we don't need to go to mass warfare to protect the republic and restore it to its original purpose. The founding documents are indeed good enough, and only in extreme circumstances should they be set aside temporarily. Those extreme circumstances include warfare.

What's become clear is that we are at war, and the nature of the enemy isn't well-defined (at least for the mass public.) We call it the "deep state", but really it involves foreign and domestic actors either using or being used by foreign and domestic governments. What is clear, however, is that they do not swear allegiance to the constitution or our founding principles. That is enough to label them an enemy and to wage war on them.

Of course, you can't just declare war willy-nilly. There are rules for this sort of thing, rules that congress and the president have agreed to, and written down in the warfare manuals. The MOST CRITICAL aspect of such a war is that the military does not declare itself a government in the United States. Every step of the way, they must act according to the laws of our nation, so that we remain a nation of laws and not of men.

It is extremely tempting to just name someone dictator, either temporarily or permanently, and just let that person try and pull us through this crisis. However, history shows us, again and again, that certain crises are WAY BEYOND the capacity of an individual to solve, and what ends up happening is you go from one dictator to another, until the entire nation collapses because there is no longer any governing force that can unify the nation together. The Roman Republic devolving into a dictatorship and eventually falling apart is evidence of this. There are numerous other cases.

I think what will surprise people the most is when politicians, public figures, etc... get named as national enemies as their crimes are exposed. It's not just stealing elections -- these people have been subverting the United States, attempting to overthrow the constitution and our rule of law. Whether they are working for a foreign power or not is moot -- the ideas they espouse make them foreign, as our constitution is what defines our nation-hood. Absolute loyalty to it on the part of government figures is essential and no coup can be initiated unless it is started constitutionally.