Friends In High Places
Why it's a good thing!
The Right has a serious, though understandable, concern with Op Sec. It’s good that so many people are concerned about it because it keeps movements from being collapsed from the inside or framed for things by federal agents. At the same time, it’s gotten so bad for many people that having any connection to any government agency, state or federal, whatsoever is makes someone a “Compromised Jewish Glowie” or something like that.
This issue is closely related to the Boomer/Normiecon phenomenon of yelling “FED!!!!” any time Right Wing activists with good physique show up. There is also a close relationship with the classic “Nothing Ever Happens” Chud that lurks in the comment section of every news reel. That is to say, all of these issues stem from an overarching fear of winning that resides in the subconscious of many Right Wing aligned people. However, much has been said on that topic by other people and I don’t intend to reiterate; it’s just important to note the underlying cause.
Thankfully, we don’t really see this aversion to institutional power among the leaders of the broader Right Wing. Most of the leaders of the Right Wing understand that we can’t make any progress without some sort of institutional power. But few of them really know what is needed for the Right to grow and consolidate its power. Some, like BAP, say that being friends with the local Sheriff is paramount, which is close but not quite enough. Nick Fuentes thinks being gay and annoying on Twitch is good. And of course, there are plenty of Right Wingers who play a major role in the culture war.
It’s important that Right Wingers not shy away from governmental positions. It’s good to be cautious of likely hostile agencies, but it’s not good to shun potential allies that have the power to protect you. It’s true that we need a solid presence in the culture war so as to shift the Overton Window, but this is a gradual and long term process, and also does nothing to provide insurance in the short term.
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I think a lot of this fear arises from excessive paranoia. For example, it’s one thing to call a CIA agent a Glowie, but it’s an entirely different thing to call some state court officer who likes racist memes on Facebook a Glowie. In general, I don’t think it’s really the best idea to be overtly and inherently hostile to the state government, unless you live in a major city with a strong liberal presence. Even in states like California and New York, if you live in a more Right Wing area (read: rural) then you’ll probably find some sympathetic actors who resent the liberal neighboring government.
Being “friends with the Sheriff” is a step in the right direction towards short term safety for burgeoning movements, but it isn’t as protective as you might expect.
The smartest thing you can do is to do a bit of research on local jurisdictions so that you have an understanding of who your enemies are and who is a possible ally. For most movements, the largest thing you need to worry about is your Judicial District (the collection of Counties/Parishes that the elected District Attorney presides over).
You can expect consistency within the same Judicial District, because the District Attorney has the ability to chose what charges to press and what charges to drop (Prosecutorial Discretion). When you hear news stories about how some prosecutor has decided not to enforce certain crimes (most infamously petty shoplifting, but more commonly things like weed and abortion laws), this applies to the entire Judicial District which could be anywhere from 1 to 7 counties.
It’s worth noting that having a Judge friend can accomplish something similar, though without the same consistency. Judges generally have specific Courts that they preside over, so their direct influence is limited. Of course, they can ask other Judges for favors, and often do, but that’s inherently less consistent. It’s also ideal to simply never let the case get to Court, which is easier to accomplish if the DA is friendly than if a Judge is friendly.
You can see where this becomes very useful. Imagine that instead of deciding to leave petty shoplifting unenforced, maybe the District Attorney decides to leave the charges against you and your activist friends unenforced. Conversely, if you know that the DA refuses to prosecute abortion cases in states where abortion is illegal, you probably won’t get any help from him since he’s signaling deep liberalism.
This is not to say that you shouldn’t be on good terms with local law enforcement, like the Sheriff and the Chief of Police, but they aren’t as important to protecting you and yours as the District Attorney is. Police officers can add all the charges they want, but they can’t prosecute them. It is solely up to the DA’s discretion to actually press criminal charges. This is also not to say that you shouldn’t be on good terms with the Assistant District Attorney’s, since they will generally be the ones who actually prosecute the cases in Court, but their boss is who really matters here.
The core problem with stopping with the local Sheriff is that it doesn’t cover all bases. Most areas will have up to three different “cop” agencies that operate independent of each other: City Police Department, Sheriff’s Department, State Troopers (or State Police). It’s obviously much more simple to be friends with the DA than it is to be friends with only the Sheriff and have to make sure you stay out of the jurisdiction of State Troopers or City Cops while you conduct activism. But even beyond that, there are more than just police officers that can add charges to you.
Let’s say, hypothetically, that you end up becoming friends with the Sheriff, Chief of Police, and the Highway Patrol Director to the point that any charges against you from those agencies would be immediately dropped. You are not, however, friends with the DA such that he would not prosecute you. What happens when you find yourself fined by Animal Control every week for something inane, simply because the Mayor is trying to harass you but knows the police won’t do anything? What happens when the Game Wardens do the same? What about the myriad of other agencies that can bury you in a stream of fines and fees at the whim of some hostile local politician?
These fees could conveniently disappear at the whim of the DA, but there isn’t anything your cop friends can do themselves.