           SOME TACTICAL REFLECTIONS -- PART II
                            ***
[Author's note:  these observations derive from 32 years' 
experience as a libertarian activist as well as a struggle 
against gun control which has lasted almost as long.  I write 
novels and never thought of myself as an aphorist, but these 
seemed to congeal out of thin air after I read a biography of 
Admiral Lord Nelson as part of my research for _Henry Martyn_.]  
                            ***
     The more fundamental position is the highest ground, 
allowing the most "perpendicular" attack.  If he argues politics, 
argue ethics -- things seldom go beyond this stage.  If he argues 
ethics, argue epistemology (look it up).  If he argues 
epistemology, argue metaphysics.  If he argues metaphysics, 
you're up against Darth Vader and you're in trouble.  Switch back 
to politics and accuse him of being out of touch with everyday 
reality.  Or ask him if he's stopped beating his wife.  
                            ***
     Conservatives are accustomed to being called fascists and 
well prepared to defend themselves on that ground.  Liberals are 
used to being called socialists.  Those labels can be switched, 
however, and remain valid and instructive.  It also catches them 
completely unprepared.  
                            ***
     Understand from the minute the fight begins that you're 
going to take damage.  Accept it.  (You'll always suffer more 
from the idiots and cowards on your own side than from any 
enemy.)  Keep your overall goal in mind above all.  Those who 
swerve to avoid a few cuts and bruises defeat themselves.
                            ***
     If you lose, go down fighting.  It costs nothing extra, and 
now and again ...
                            ***
     Know down to the last cell in your body that the other guy 
started it.  He's the one who put things in an ethical context 
where considerations like decency and mercy have no referent.  
The less pity moves you now, the sooner you can go back to being 
a nice guy.  
                            ***
     Otherhandwise, the easiest, most humiliating path to defeat 
is thinking that to beat your enemy you must be like him.  Avoid 
the temptation to set your values aside "for the duration".  
What's the point of fighting if you give up what you're fighting 
for?  If remaining consistent with your values leads to defeat, 
you chose the wrong values to begin with.  
                            ***
     Truth is a valuable commodity which you don't automatically 
owe to anyone.  Remember, however, that lies are even more 
expensive -- they're tiring and costly to maintain -- and even a 
tiny one can utterly destroy you.  
                            ***
     Never soft-pedal the truth.  It's seldom self-evident and 
almost never sells itself.  There's less sales resistance to a 
glib and comforting lie.  
                            ***
     Lies can be custom-tailored; truth comes straight off the 
rack -- one size fits all.  
                            ***
     Those who lead through authority have rivals on whom they 
must expend as much energy and attention as they do on their 
enemies.  Those who lead by example have enemies, but no rivals.
                            ***
L. Neil Smith
Author:  THE PROBABILITY BROACH, THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE, 
HENRY MARTYN, and (forthcoming) PALLAS
LEVER ACTION BBS (303) 493-6674, FIDOnet: 1:306/31.4
Libertarian Second Amendment Caucus
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