I don't believe it's the government per se which is the enemy.
I believe it is the Ruling Class currently infesting our government which considers us their enemy.

I believe in shrugging to communities of like minded individuals, not digging a hole in the ground and hiding.
Shrugging, when you get right down to it, is at the heart of Constitutional Federalism: distinct Petri dishes of "democracy".

Leave.
Let them figure it out for themselves... or not.

I had a lot of friends and family back in The People's Republic of Connecticut who were shocked that I actually did what I said, and left.

I would suggest looking into a Free State Project.

Also, just because the Ruling Class dismisses our Constitution, does not mean that it is invalidated.
It is only invalidated if we join them in dismissing it.

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.” Thomas Jefferson - See more at: http://batr.org/solitary/090503.html#sth...

The government is people. We often forget that those people are our neighbors, our relatives, even our family members.

As to losing friends, maybe they weren't so much friends as they were acquaintances, but there are new friends to be found.

It certainly is a chilling thought. The current regime in Washington is the more immediate danger, but the entities of entitlement will continue to be alive and well even if they are ousted from power. They'll always be baaack. If this November doesn't get them to be the minority in both house and senate then it is too late in any case. We're just flapping our lips. If it comes about that more conservative types win in '14 and get the presidency in '16 there is a glimmer of hope.

The moochers never go away, they just regroup. They are already deeply into the education systems and hard at work subverting children. Without looking it up, I think that around 45% of people are employed by the government in one way or another and Washington, D.C. provides the highest incomes of any other location. Lots of work to be done. Can it happen? Maybe, if we tirelessly keep working at it. If not, and Atlantis is the major effort, then be prepared to be an enclave in a long regressive civilization.

There is a difference between the principles of governance and the people in charge of implementing the policy. I still believe in the original principles this nation was founded on, but I believe that the people in charge of safe-guarding those principles have perverted and warped them so that the operational principles of our current government no longer reflect the founding principles at all.

Any government that doesn't restrict itself to the legitimate role of furthering and protecting the individual rights of the people is indeed an enemy.

You've been watching "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," I see. In the climactic scene, Peeta Mellark shouts to Katniss Everdeen, "Remember who the real enemy is!" Whereupon she changes the plan by the electronics genius to electrocute the non-allied Tributes with a wire conducting a lightning strike their way. Instead, in a twist on Ben Franklin's lightning experiment, she shoots an arrow into a dome. An arrow carrying a wire from a tree due to get a lightning strike. Thus carrying the war to the enemy. Literally.

That aside: there would seem to be three parties:

1. The government,

2. The body of voters who keep electing a government that will give them free soup and free stuff of other kinds, and

3. The real ruling class, the james Taggarts and Orren Boyles and Wesley Mouches and Floyd Ferrises, who manipulate Class 2.

John Galt, in his speech, mobilized the last of the like-minded. But is that enough? Can we pick off some adherents of Class 2 above by reminding them Class 3 might help them cope with poverty but will never get them out of it?

I agree with DrZarkov. We are not in a tribal society; we should refrain from thinking in tribal terms. The fact that these people were friends for 15 years may mean that you were deceived by them for a long time...or it may mean that you had - and still have - a lot in common. Except politics.

This is my case with many of my friends. If I get my chores done today (moving 6 large bookcases upstairs by myself), then I will be going to a party tomorrow. Pretty much everyone there is a flaming liberal. They know my ideology. So far, this has not been a problem. (I have known most of the folks there for 20 years plus...I know, not very Californian of me to have long term friends...)

In such an environment, I chat happily about advances in the technology of medicine, they talk with me about aerospace and physics and lasers. Then we discuss heraldry, strategy, renovations, martial arts, linguistics, primitive textiles...There is a lot we have in common. If the topic of Obama comes up, I say, "Ya'know, it is a hell of a thing to think that all that History will say of you is, "The important thing about Obama is that he was the first black president of the US." "

I will add that did my friends reject me for my political beliefs, I would consider it their responsibility to mend the breach.

Jan

The national media is the enemy. Statists such as Obama, Clinton, Reid, Boehner, Pelosi, etc. do exactly what you expect from communist`s,marxists, socialists, etc., But, they are ONLY successful if the media, who is the only " institution" named for protection in the Constitution, is derelict in their DUTY to inform the people with simple and complete facts. That they act willingly against the people through lies and selective reporting to support an ideology, is nothing short of treason.

Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude. Tocqueville
Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom. Tocqueville
I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America. Tocqueville
I don't think it can be better said, in answer to your question, than Tocqueville says it in these three quotes. In simpler terms it is the age old question concerning the relationship between chicken and egg.

It is all tit for tat depending what sort of people are in control of the government. IMO, before when he was a socialist indoctrinated community organizer, the Chairman-In-Chief considered people who think like us to be his enemy. When I first heard him call me his enemy a few years back, that is when I realized he and his supporters were my "enemy" by that name. It all became perfectly clear. Virtually a declaration of war.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_YbX9QF...

I still have some liberal friends and relatives who communicate with me, so let me share the rules of the game: find common ground, mostly on libertarian issues like personal privacy, if you can't avoid discussing such things; when someone throws out an obviously inflammatory comment, respond with a neutral comment, like "that's different"; avoid personal jibes or name calling, and just laugh when they throw such things your direction. Keeping the relationships personal and social helps to keep the dialogue open, so that when they show signs of waking up, you can be there to help guide them.

For the most extreme cases, it still helps to keep contacts. Better to know what your enemy is thinking than to be surprised.

If TSHTF, we'll need to be able to help each other. Becoming a hermit is counterproductive. Societal breakdown will move in favor of those most prepared, and better to have allies than enemies.

See the following on my website, "America's Enemies" : http://www.straightlinelogic.com/straigh...

the answer to the last question is for our population to become educated about our past and taught to think. based upon that I do not believe we can stop the demise.
the answer to the other 4 questions is exactly what you have stated that the government and those who support it are the enemy of the rest of the population of the country.

Both
Both
Yes, worse
Both
Wake people up..TALK...prepare

Stupidity is our enemy.

And, that has nothing to do with whether or not somebody agrees with me. People can't form sentences anymore. So many people are looking at their smart phones that when the traffic lights turn green around here the cars all just sit there. We're doomed...

BOTH! Excellent synopsis!
The danger is not those that continue to support a government that is opposed to We The People... the danger is those of We The People who do not recognize that threat and therefore do not take action to prevent it. They are ignorant of the reality of the situation. Does that make them the enemy? No! But it certainly does make them complicit with the enemy.

This comment is much closer to how we need to view the steady march to a statist takeover of our representative republic as created by our founders. These liberal politicians don't offer the greedy constituency of the left anything that they don't demand of them to begin with.

The government's policies are a direct reflection of the desires of it's population. I submit that the real enemy, is the one's seeking entitlements. It seems that we are rapidly approaching, (or have surpassed) the time in which the takers have the majority. I don't believe that anyone that does not own property, should have the right to vote. If that were the case, we would love the policies and our government, because it would serve US, (not them)!

The people will vote themselves into slavery, whether out of greed or ignorance (or both) it is difficult to say. Only when the shackles are slipped on, only when there is the midnight knock on the door, will they wake up. Atlas Shrugged probably had the right idea as a fitting conclusion--a strike. Not a bad literary device, but highly improbable in the real world.

While those who support our oligarch government are "enemy combatants" our worst enemy is the apathetic fools who are too lost in their own small considerations and self-aggrandizement to have an educated opinion and who fail to strive for what in their opinion, is the common good.
Buttrock Obummer's 'Landslide' [The mendicant media's term, not mine.] was composed of a ill-gotten majority made up of 47.3 percent of eligible, registered voters.
Therein is our most severe difficulty are the disenfranchised voters who are too caught up in their own concerns to, if they have an opinion, vote.
If we could franchise the disinterested majority none of the criminal proceedings conducted by Capital Critters Class in Washington and other places would occur, being watched, and knowing it, they would be much more likely to vote their conscience, not the 'party line.'
When asked, "What sort of government is the convention debating?" by a woman, he answered, "A Republic, madam, if you can keep it!" and therein lies the challenge, for the electorate has largely fallen asleep, and therein is the solution, we must wake them up.

How is treason defined today. Under old standards the Prez and his cabinet (mostly Muslins) would be considered treasonous. They do NOT support the ideals on which this country was formed, the seem to seek to destroy it. If they are not the enemy, who needs an enemy. Russia, what difference between their government and ours, except the names. I ff those who support current government refuse to be educated, then yes, they are traitors as well.
I have had some apathetic friends who say send only happy e-mails, and yes, I drop them. On the other hand, if I see a spark of interest in being educated, I can wean them into the full truth. It is a slow battle, fought one person at a time, but not doing so is a gloomy alternative.

I'm still to be convinced whether or not the US can be redeemed (and I don't mean in the religious sense).

The government has grown beyond all constitutional limits and needs to be rolled way back, *and* as someone says in Part 2, they have gone out of their way to make everyone a criminal, so they can persecute whom they want. So unless and until there's real, major reform, we all do need to stop cooperating with law enforcement in any way. Also, never call them for any reason.

A real "Galt's Gulch" in the sense of a country where we can build our thing would be a better answer, but there isn't any. Yet.

In the meantime, yes, remember who the real enemy is, but not to try to get even. Just to avoid helping them is enough for now.