Wilhoit’s Law is the snippet of the following comment that is most commonly quoted. The whole thing is worth the read. I miss blockquote.
26
Frank Wilhoit 03.22.18 at 12:09 am
There is no such thing as liberalism — or progressivism, etc.
There is only conservatism. No other political philosophy actually exists; by the political analogue of Gresham’s Law, conservatism has driven every other idea out of circulation.
There might be, and should be, anti-conservatism; but it does not yet exist. What would it be? In order to answer that question, it is necessary and sufficient to characterize conservatism. Fortunately, this can be done very concisely.
Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit:
There must be in-groups whom the law protectes but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.
There is nothing more or else to it, and there never has been, in any place or time.
For millenia, conservatism had no name, because no other model of polity had ever been proposed. “The king can do no wrong.” In practice, this immunity was always extended to the king’s friends, however fungible a group they might have been. Today, we still have the king’s friends even where there is no king (dictator, etc.). Another way to look at this is that the king is a faction, rather than an individual.
As the core proposition of conservatism is indefensible if stated baldly, it has always been surrounded by an elaborate backwash of pseudophilosophy, amounting over time to millions of pages. All such is axiomatically dishonest and undeserving of serious scrutiny. Today, the accelerating de-education of humanity has reached a point where the market for pseudophilosophy is vanishing; it is, as The Kids Say These Days, tl;dr . All that is left is the core proposition itself — backed up, no longer by misdirection and sophistry, but by violence.
So this tells us what anti-conservatism must be: the proposition that the law cannot protect anyone unless it binds everyone, and cannot bind anyone unless it protects everyone.
Then the appearance arises that the task is to map “liberalism”, or “progressivism”, or “socialism”, or whateverthefuckkindofstupidnoise-ism, onto the core proposition of anti-conservatism.
No, it a’n’t. The task is to throw all those things on the exact same burn pile as the collected works of all the apologists for conservatism, and start fresh. The core proposition of anti-conservatism requires no supplementation and no exegesis. It is as sufficient as it is necessary. What you see is what you get:
The law cannot protect anyone unless it binds everyone; and it cannot bind anyone unless it protects everyone.
Why don’t some Democratic men in good shape impersonate these goons and publicly “arrest” Trd Cruz. Throw him to the ground. Zip tie him. Photograph it all- the fucking lecture them.
the ones that need to be arrested, put in chains, dragged through the (streets) courts and thrown in jail are tRUMP, Miller and tRUMP's entire cabinet along with the despicable 6 on the SCOTUS, AG Pam(Scumbag) Bondi, DHS Kristi (cosplay) Noem, Tom (POS) Homan, SoD PeePee and all the rotten GOP's in Congress ....this fascism being implemented by tRUMP and his cronies was always part of the project 2025 plan for the tech bro, billionaire, oligarchy, extreme right religious christian nutjobs, takeover of our government.....and now with the illegal use of his brown shirt, jack boots private militia, made up of pardoned J6 insurrectionists, proud boys and maga cult sycophants, who are not actual law enforcement agents but criminal vigilantes, with no badges, warrants and masks working for the government, tRUMP has his own tools of lawless enforcement, bypassing all the laws of the constitution and giving a great big FU to the courts, knowing they don't have the enforcement capabilities to enact on their rulings....90+% of which have been against tRUMP.....With what seems to be the courts not being effective and now with his using the US military against we the people (my biggest fear), the military looked to be one of the last lines of defense we have. The only thing left is the people of this country rising up in massive force against this because, except for a handful, the Dems have been nothing more than limp dish rags that I don't see much help coming from them.... tRUMP's 1st coup barely failed 4 years ago and now is trying to finish the job.....all the talk of important issues like inflation, jobs, real attempts to help solve immigration, voting rights, racial equality, climate change, supporting Ukraine, stopping the genocide in Gaza, reforming the SCOTUS, getting corp & dark money out of politics, developing clean energy and a laundry list of other issues important to myself and I'm taking a wild guess most other people in the country, seems to have fallen by the wayside because of this constant barrage of day after day insanity coming from a totally dysfunctional creature that has been like this his entire life...only now with his increasing dementia day by day, he's becoming so delusional, his oval office sycophants are able to totally control him.....as long as tRUMP can grift, steal and gain personal riches for himself and scum family and looking like a strongman in the eyes of his peers (Vladie, Victor and his love letter writing BBF Kim) while tearing down democracy here at home and around the world with our allies...he's good to go with his cronies creating crisis of distraction day after day.......Apologies for the tl'tr rant....this article of people just getting assaulted and abused is really pounding on my last nerve.
At this point, anyone you know who is in ICE or CBP is part of this- be it your friend, brother, sister or lover, neighbor or what have you. They are all complicit.
O Ceiling Cat, please help Anonymous or some such group Dox those mutherfuckers so hard that they spend every waking hour looking over their shoulder for the rest of their fashy lives.
It happened fast, all right. And very predictably. And the ethically depraved pricks who voted for Trump this time around, knew just what they were voting for. They wanted it. May they be the next ones to get pounded by ICE Cossacks some morning when the said Cossacks are feeling brisk, not that it'll console me much. Too many innocents getting grabbed of U.S. streets.
I ask again, because I don't know the legality. California has thousands of crimally convicted inmates, illegal immigrants, who are serving terms in California prisons and will be deported when they serve their sentences.
Why isn't ICE seizing those convicts, already given due process? We have convicts. Send them to Dump's El Salvador rent-a-gulag.
They cost far more than English-speaking convicts to house and maintain, and ICE wouldn't have to run through fucking melon fields to chase down men and women who bend their backs all day so that their kids can go to college someday. Give me a fucking break!
I posted earlier and have not heard whether this could be a solution to this state's (nation's) short-term nightmare.
Sort of. AB32 was held inapplicable to federal facilities, and ICE is currently working on turning the recently closed California Coty facility into a private immigrant detention center.
Are these ICE agents who keep getting dangerously assaulted former soccer players? Soccer players are known to take a dive and claim injury when someone brushes past them.
Well-known head of a vineyard management business in Oregon arrested by ICE and dragged off to detention (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/19/oregon-vineyard-manager-arrest-ice). Like wine? Or any other agricultural product? Then maybe not deport the people who are essential to making it? Note also: "The Ice official told me they are under no obligation to tell the family or the attorneys of the detainees that they have been apprehended, or that they’ve been moved to another state, to another facility, or that they’ve been deported." Um, if this is not illegal, it should be.
Options? Knowledge of history will answer that question.
The difficult answer is "What is the best reaction for those opposing, right now?" Some would say that a drawn out process of wearing them down and non-violent resisting will most effectively build the largest coalition. History also has many examples of movements against authoritarianism that were crushed because anger and foolishness made them leap too soon.
Wilhoit’s Law is the snippet of the following comment that is most commonly quoted. The whole thing is worth the read. I miss blockquote.
26
Frank Wilhoit 03.22.18 at 12:09 am
There is no such thing as liberalism — or progressivism, etc.
There is only conservatism. No other political philosophy actually exists; by the political analogue of Gresham’s Law, conservatism has driven every other idea out of circulation.
There might be, and should be, anti-conservatism; but it does not yet exist. What would it be? In order to answer that question, it is necessary and sufficient to characterize conservatism. Fortunately, this can be done very concisely.
Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit:
There must be in-groups whom the law protectes but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.
There is nothing more or else to it, and there never has been, in any place or time.
For millenia, conservatism had no name, because no other model of polity had ever been proposed. “The king can do no wrong.” In practice, this immunity was always extended to the king’s friends, however fungible a group they might have been. Today, we still have the king’s friends even where there is no king (dictator, etc.). Another way to look at this is that the king is a faction, rather than an individual.
As the core proposition of conservatism is indefensible if stated baldly, it has always been surrounded by an elaborate backwash of pseudophilosophy, amounting over time to millions of pages. All such is axiomatically dishonest and undeserving of serious scrutiny. Today, the accelerating de-education of humanity has reached a point where the market for pseudophilosophy is vanishing; it is, as The Kids Say These Days, tl;dr . All that is left is the core proposition itself — backed up, no longer by misdirection and sophistry, but by violence.
So this tells us what anti-conservatism must be: the proposition that the law cannot protect anyone unless it binds everyone, and cannot bind anyone unless it protects everyone.
Then the appearance arises that the task is to map “liberalism”, or “progressivism”, or “socialism”, or whateverthefuckkindofstupidnoise-ism, onto the core proposition of anti-conservatism.
No, it a’n’t. The task is to throw all those things on the exact same burn pile as the collected works of all the apologists for conservatism, and start fresh. The core proposition of anti-conservatism requires no supplementation and no exegesis. It is as sufficient as it is necessary. What you see is what you get:
The law cannot protect anyone unless it binds everyone; and it cannot bind anyone unless it protects everyone.
Here’s how we stop the kidnapping machine for good— in the most peaceful way possible. It also takes away Trump’s war on America optics:
Nazis, if they aren't then they should prove it.
Not only that but every single one of these incidents are close quarters actions, so why the fuck are they all running around with assault rifles?
This isn't Fallujah - yet.
I am old enough to remember when the right wing cried every day about masks during Covid. Apparently ICE has no problem breathing through them now.
Why don’t some Democratic men in good shape impersonate these goons and publicly “arrest” Trd Cruz. Throw him to the ground. Zip tie him. Photograph it all- the fucking lecture them.
the ones that need to be arrested, put in chains, dragged through the (streets) courts and thrown in jail are tRUMP, Miller and tRUMP's entire cabinet along with the despicable 6 on the SCOTUS, AG Pam(Scumbag) Bondi, DHS Kristi (cosplay) Noem, Tom (POS) Homan, SoD PeePee and all the rotten GOP's in Congress ....this fascism being implemented by tRUMP and his cronies was always part of the project 2025 plan for the tech bro, billionaire, oligarchy, extreme right religious christian nutjobs, takeover of our government.....and now with the illegal use of his brown shirt, jack boots private militia, made up of pardoned J6 insurrectionists, proud boys and maga cult sycophants, who are not actual law enforcement agents but criminal vigilantes, with no badges, warrants and masks working for the government, tRUMP has his own tools of lawless enforcement, bypassing all the laws of the constitution and giving a great big FU to the courts, knowing they don't have the enforcement capabilities to enact on their rulings....90+% of which have been against tRUMP.....With what seems to be the courts not being effective and now with his using the US military against we the people (my biggest fear), the military looked to be one of the last lines of defense we have. The only thing left is the people of this country rising up in massive force against this because, except for a handful, the Dems have been nothing more than limp dish rags that I don't see much help coming from them.... tRUMP's 1st coup barely failed 4 years ago and now is trying to finish the job.....all the talk of important issues like inflation, jobs, real attempts to help solve immigration, voting rights, racial equality, climate change, supporting Ukraine, stopping the genocide in Gaza, reforming the SCOTUS, getting corp & dark money out of politics, developing clean energy and a laundry list of other issues important to myself and I'm taking a wild guess most other people in the country, seems to have fallen by the wayside because of this constant barrage of day after day insanity coming from a totally dysfunctional creature that has been like this his entire life...only now with his increasing dementia day by day, he's becoming so delusional, his oval office sycophants are able to totally control him.....as long as tRUMP can grift, steal and gain personal riches for himself and scum family and looking like a strongman in the eyes of his peers (Vladie, Victor and his love letter writing BBF Kim) while tearing down democracy here at home and around the world with our allies...he's good to go with his cronies creating crisis of distraction day after day.......Apologies for the tl'tr rant....this article of people just getting assaulted and abused is really pounding on my last nerve.
At this point, anyone you know who is in ICE or CBP is part of this- be it your friend, brother, sister or lover, neighbor or what have you. They are all complicit.
I have so much RAGE! What can make this STOP? NOW!!!
Poor gestapo babies, being resisted all the time. Oh, how ghastly for them.
Let us pray,
O Ceiling Cat, please help Anonymous or some such group Dox those mutherfuckers so hard that they spend every waking hour looking over their shoulder for the rest of their fashy lives.
Amen.
Maybe truckloads of people should follow them everywhere
It happened fast, all right. And very predictably. And the ethically depraved pricks who voted for Trump this time around, knew just what they were voting for. They wanted it. May they be the next ones to get pounded by ICE Cossacks some morning when the said Cossacks are feeling brisk, not that it'll console me much. Too many innocents getting grabbed of U.S. streets.
I ask again, because I don't know the legality. California has thousands of crimally convicted inmates, illegal immigrants, who are serving terms in California prisons and will be deported when they serve their sentences.
Why isn't ICE seizing those convicts, already given due process? We have convicts. Send them to Dump's El Salvador rent-a-gulag.
They cost far more than English-speaking convicts to house and maintain, and ICE wouldn't have to run through fucking melon fields to chase down men and women who bend their backs all day so that their kids can go to college someday. Give me a fucking break!
I posted earlier and have not heard whether this could be a solution to this state's (nation's) short-term nightmare.
"Why isn't ICE seizing those convicts, already given due process? We have convicts. Send them to Dump's El Salvador rent-a-gulag"
Why would you propose anybody be shipped to El Salvador?
I don't advocate for that at all. But if they're in prison now, send them to the prison Dump (US) has contracted for.
The convicted illegal immigrants will be deported when they complete their sentences here anyway.
Because they are already making money for the profit prison system and therefore won't boost those quota numbers they are striving for?
California doesn't have for-profit prisons, though shipping them off to Texas or Louisiana helps boosts their bottom lines.
Not sure my Gov would go for it, but they're feds and he's a hated measly governor of a hated blue state, so..?
Sort of. AB32 was held inapplicable to federal facilities, and ICE is currently working on turning the recently closed California Coty facility into a private immigrant detention center.
So I stand corrected. It's California City not far from EAFB. And doesn't exclude other fed facilities. Bummer.
Holy shit. I've split the last 40 years of my life between California and Nevada. A dual (duel?) citizen of sorts. I need to refocus on California.
So the Fed prison in Herlong could become ICE? Sorry I didn't look to see where Coty is before replying.
So Coty is Oklahoma??
What are you referring to?
Anyone??
If I knew.. but, a fine idea. We scream into the void
Without consequences these illegal acts won't stop.
Fuck these fuckers into the Sun- ACAB
That is all…
Are these ICE agents who keep getting dangerously assaulted former soccer players? Soccer players are known to take a dive and claim injury when someone brushes past them.
the whole thing is "teatro" meant to intimidate
Well-known head of a vineyard management business in Oregon arrested by ICE and dragged off to detention (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/19/oregon-vineyard-manager-arrest-ice). Like wine? Or any other agricultural product? Then maybe not deport the people who are essential to making it? Note also: "The Ice official told me they are under no obligation to tell the family or the attorneys of the detainees that they have been apprehended, or that they’ve been moved to another state, to another facility, or that they’ve been deported." Um, if this is not illegal, it should be.
Habeas Corpus, anyone?
It's illegal. We don't have anyone enforcing those laws right now.
Which leaves the citizenry with what options? I thought there was something about resisting an occupying force in your constitution?
Make no mistake, these creeps are low-fi stormtroopers beholden to a fascist administration.
Options? Knowledge of history will answer that question.
The difficult answer is "What is the best reaction for those opposing, right now?" Some would say that a drawn out process of wearing them down and non-violent resisting will most effectively build the largest coalition. History also has many examples of movements against authoritarianism that were crushed because anger and foolishness made them leap too soon.