Lessons From the Apaches

My last two articles, judging from the volume of email I got, were very well received. People want to know how history, like the seasons, tends to happen in cycles and patterns that are somewhat predictable. When it comes to the United States government repeating history, that is easier to predict than the weather. One thing I touched on in a previous article is the fact that the West, and the United States government who pulls the entire West along like a child pulls a toy wagon, is unable to understand the concept of tribal violence. In truth, tribal and clan violence has not changed, as far as motivations for it go, in several thousands of years.

First, let us understand that this violence in the Middle East is not actually created by the religion of Islam. People have mistakenly imagined

Geronimo had already seen the United States government betray his people under the guise of a “peace talk”. Geronimo and his men went out and proved that the United States military could not defend Arizona and New Mexico. Stagecoaches and freight wagons were attacked and burned. Stagecoach way stations were raided and burned. Ranches were raided and burned. People killed all over the place. The modern equivalent is attacks upon airliners, buses, trains, airports, and train stations. Basically, Geronimo was able to bring safe travel to a standstill in Arizona. The United States military would arrive after the fact to write up the casualty reports. Sound familiar?

But understand this: If one takes into account the entire “settlement” of America and let’s say it began in 1700, it took the United States government and the British government before it about 190 years to fully defeat or get a surrender from every Native American tribe. The Spanish government and Mexican government in the Southwest failed to be able to defeat the Apache and then it took the United States government decades to finally get a surrender from them. That’s pretty impressive. It seems to me that the United States government has got a long road ahead of it in the Middle East. Historically, we’re only dealing with the Powhatan Confederacy right now.

What the United States government fails to see is that tribes are not impressed by governments. Why? They don’t really need governments. They have a system of codes and taboos enforced by social values instilled from birth. Commerce is simple: trade, barter, and currency backed by some tangible object be it gold or wampum. Their markets truly are free, therefore, they don’t need much to survive. They don’t collect taxes. When tribes coalesced into civilizations, they often failed as did the Anasazi and the one based at Cahokia because the governments became too big to sustain. That’s also why large caliphates finally failed in the Middle East, too.

Make no mistake, what we are seeing is only the beginning. The United States government is stuck this time, however. They’re not going to be able to sell smallpox infected blankets to the Middle East. They are not going to be able to shoot all the buffalo and starve them into submission. They’re not going to be able force them all onto a reservation. The Middle East knows that. They can hold out for hundreds of years, and they will. For one thing, they’ve seen that treaties from the United States government aren’t worth the paper they are printed on, just like United States currency. Then there’s also the matter of revenge and blood price has not been paid. How can you think you can sit down to a peace talk without even presents to give to the tribe and clans? That has to happen first! Gifts must be made and not just some bogus “Freedom Medal” the U.S. government stamps en masse from a zinc-copper blank.

What does history say? It says prepare for these attacks to continue for at least twenty years, possibly two hundred. Look, the entire Middle East is awash with weapons and ammunition. In some places, it is a standard of exchange used in barter transactions. And the government is going to defeat them how again? Right, they can’t. There is no military solution. The only true solution is to sit down, give gifts, and find out what the blood price is. Pay it and let the Middle East live the way they wish to! It works for them, okay? We have no right to say our “way of life” is better and force it on them at gunpoint! Otherwise, the need to exact a life for a life will continue. You can thank the United States government for getting this whole thing started with their foolish idea to “bring democracy” to tribes who existed without it for thousands of years. Great going, Great Father.

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