Most people just want to be left alone to lead their lives without unwanted interference. They want their liberty. Governing structures can reduce their liberty. But government can also offer something in return (favors, benefits, safety etc.). The police can offer safety. But it can also take safety away. The police can become a threat (fines, arrests, punishment, death) instead of a benefit. So...too many laws become too many threats, too much discontent. Governing structures becomes problematic once enough people choose to actively challege them. The killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin finally caused widely held discontent to explode in anarchy and spread to other cities. George Floyd was a black man. Black Lives Matter gained wide political support for civil disobedience and allowed Antifa to undertake acts of lawlessness. Former CIA Spook Warns "The Violence Will Get Even Worse"...“BLM and Antifa want a civil war.” 

An insurgency is a violent rebellion against authority. (click here) Insurgents seek to nullify/degrade existing governing structures holding societies together and replace them. People's war, also called protracted people's war, is a Maoist military strategy. (click here) The foco theory of revolution via guerrilla warfare: Che Guevara's experiences surrounding his rebel army's victory in the 1959 Cuban Revolution. (click here)

This nation is the result of such a rebellion.

Counter-insurgency

To understand counter-insurgency, one must understand insurgency to comprehend the dynamics of revolutionary warfare. Insurgents capitalize on societal problems, often called gaps; counter-insurgency addresses closing the gaps. When the gaps are wide, they create a sea of discontent, creating the environment in which the insurgent can operate. (click here)

Police abuse is not the only gap seperating government from the governed. There are others like the widening gap between the rich and poor; mass unemployment; a shrinking economy, growing illegal immigration to name a few. All are oppurtunities for insurgency.

How to respond to an insurgency? Mao said only 5% of the population needs to be willing to act against the governing structure to achieve a successful revolution. Presumably, a simlar number would be needed to counter such a threat. But how would that be accoplished?

Insurgents target government leaders (mayors, police, officials); functions (law & order, administration, education); resources (buildings, equipment, government workers). So counter-insurgents must defend those assets and attack those of insurgents. The cost and complexity of defending government targets is reduces when fewer of them exist.

Insurrection at the individual level might take the form or a contract dispute. Suppose your property was confiscated by someone, or a tenant refused to pay rent, and the law could not, or would not, protect you from loss? The lease is the social contract (government). What is your recourse? Submit and take the loss? Or resist losing? In the absence of law what is left but force? What forces can you muster to support *and win* your cause? Can you prevail without help? Or will neighbors or friends speak for you? To paraphrase pastor Martin Niemöller: "Who will speak for you?" Who will volunteer to act with you in mutual interests? Who will prevail? Who has the will to win?

In a libertarian community government would have fewer functions, functionaries and targets to defend from insurgent attack. What would be the 'gap' in a community where people volunteer to police themselves - a volunteer police department? Where would insurgents look for support or assign targets when community administration is done by community volunteers? In an ideal voluntary (libertarian) community there is no distinction between the government and the people. The people are both the governed and the government. So there can be no 'gap'. Insurgents can't hide in the community. Attacks from outside the community are ordinary war, not insurrection. That simplifies the conflict considerably.

A volunteer government may not be practical in large communities. But the gap between people and government can still be repaired/reduced/ eliminated when government and governed speak for and stand in support of each other.

What about a professional non-volunteer police force? Once it comes under attack by insurgents will you "stand" with the cops in mutual interest? The cops can't win against insurrection without help any more than you can. Shrink the gap by 'standing' with the police. Get deputized and help defend what is attacked or expect to lose it. If the mayor is intimidated/threatened will people stand in mutual support or lose the mayor to the insurrection? Don't stand behind the mayor. Stand in front and protect the mayor. If stores are threatened stand with business people in mutual support or lose the service? All are parts of the community. Join in mutual support or the community is lost to the insurgents. Act or be acted upon. In concert with others, destroy their ‘will to win’ before they destroy yours.

Examples of the failure to act include:

Mafia

Drug cartels in Mexico

See related:

National Neighborhood Watch

Mutual Aid

Posses

Vigilantism

Vigilance committees

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