Title: The Conundrum of JBS Opposition

Original CoS Document (slug): [[https://conventionofstates.com/the-conundrum-of-jbs-opposition|the-conundrum-of-jbs-opposition]]

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Created: 2023-03-12 13:47:06

Updated: 2023-03-29 03:00:00

Published: 2023-03-22 00:00:00

Converted: 2025-04-14T21:23:33.037434879


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I wonder a lot about our most stubborn and hateful opposition. We expect and can easily explain opposition from power-hungry bureaucrats, but what about the people who supposedly share our goal of restraining the power of a centralized federal government and returning to Federalism? \\
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The John Birch Society is a fringe organization that thrived in the anti-communist environment of the 1950s and early 1960s but lost credibility after the McCarthy hearings and the resulting backlash.  

They were ultimately shunned by Barry Goldwater (their chosen hero) and later by Ronald Reagan, and basically drummed out of the Republican Party as too radical and extreme. They have survived by a thread over the last half century – a mere skeleton of an organization on the uber right.\\
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The "why" of what they are doing is not understandable, thus, we must first understand the “how” of what they are doing to get at the “why.”

So how do they operate?

They have no grassroots organization. They have a small membership. They do not have a lot of fundraising capability. How then are they able to be omnipresent, influence legislators, underwrite speaking tours, and cause such disruption?

Money – and a lot of it is coming from somewhere. If not from their membership, then where? I think we know the answer, but the motives are a little mushy.\\
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Certainly, Soros and the far-left disruptors do not like the idea of a Convention of States, but I think it goes deeper than that. I believe they are funneling money to any far-right fringe group who might do their ultimate job for them – inspire insurrection!

Just as they conspired and lured otherwise patriotic people into the January 6th fiasco, they would love to lure some group into firing a shot with an AR-15 in the name of liberty, so that Martial Law could be invoked along with immediate confiscation of “assault weapons.” I actually hear some people who espouse armed resistance, which is exactly what they want. It is a fool’s errand!\\
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The more loons that can be funded and thrive (Proud Boys, Antifa, BLM, JBS, etc.) the better the chance for someone to feel empowered enough to do something really stupid. The left-wing crazies are there to provoke the right-wing crazies. For these groups, the whole idea of an Article V Convention of States is too tame and too much of a constitutional answer - and thus could keep an insurrection from happening.

That is how the funding for the opposition serves two purposes. Stoke the crazies AND stop the constitutional solution!\\
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Of course, the rank and file “Bircher” would not be aware of the larger plan, but someone somewhere in the organization MUST wonder where all this money is coming from, ya think?\\
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It goes back to the same question I always ask. Does the opposition have an alternative solution other than nullification, succession, or insurrection?

Is that the plan? I pray not.