Attribute to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

“This was that Paladin, good Aymon’s seed,
Who Mount Albano had in his command;
And late Bayardo lost, his gallant steed,
Escaped by strange adventure from his hand.
As soon as seen, the maid who rode at speed
The warrior knew, and, while yet distant, scanned
The angelic features and the gentle air
Which long had held him fast in Cupid’s snare.”
—Orlando Furioso, Canto 1, 1532

What the world needs are paladins. A paladin is any heroic figure, male or female, armed and armoured, willing to ride into danger to defend the good, the poor, and the distressed.

My first efforts in this area centred around the “ Sovereign Mutual Aid Response Teams” or SMART. These teams, several of which were organised in 2011 & 2012, are still operating in some cases. A member of my particular team was in distress in Texas recently, and I took a car that I wasn't using to lend to her, along with a gasoline credit card, for several months.

Why are paladins needed? The world is a crazy and dangerous place, and nation states are coming unhinged. People need role models, examples to emulate, and help.

A great many people need a great deal of help. There are hundreds of poor people in my new home town of Dayton who live in homeless shelters, along with hundreds who live on the street or in other situations. These are people crying out for help, suffering in winter, and not always getting the help they need.

They are poor because taxation is theft, because the system is unjust, because bankers do not use honest weights and measures (a dollar is 371.25 grains of silver as defined in the 1792 Mint Act, but go redeem a dollar for that amount of silver from a banker please, I'll wait here while you try), because usury (rates in excess of 425% are allowed on payday loans in many places) abounds, and because the bankruptcy laws have been eviscerated to generate wider debt servitude.

Paladins are needed because many people are denied the right to keep and bear arms. In major cities in the United States like Chicago, Baltimore, and DC, the possession of arms is strictly limited and thoroughly infringed. In many countries, like Japan and England, gun ownership is outlawed and even knife ownership is restricted. Paladins are needed to defend others against crime, oppression, brutality, and terror, often inflicted by the purported “government” of the district where people are being exploited.

Paladins are needed because truth, honour, and decency demand justice, rectitude, and purity. People who care should help one another.

Whether you call your group a “search and rescue ” operation, or a local constabulary, or motorcycle dragoons, or a mutual aid response team, it makes good sense to organise with friends, neighbours, and people you know from far and near. People working together gain raise bail, find lawyers, defray legal costs, search for lost people or pets or livestock, help with medical bills, and do all the things that individuals alone are sometimes very hard pressed to do. If you can help, think about who you'd be willing to help, and get together on a plan to be helpful to one another.

Now, here is a code for the paladin that I am:

      A paladin believes in honour, truth, justice, and defending those who are defenceless including children from all forms of outrage.
      A paladin believes in keeping and bearing tools for these purposes, including tools for communications, search, rescue, transportation, and resources such as money.
      The paladin that I am believes in the Lord our God, YHWH the Lord of Hosts, and the Messiah Jesus Christ, including the comforter the Holy Spirit.
      As a member of the Religious Society of the Friends of Truth, I believe in ongoing revelation, in simplicity of dress, integrity of speech, plain language, sincerity, peace, and cornucopia. Like all other Quakers, I am against war and against slavery.

That's my code. You need not have the same code as me, in whole nor in part. Pick out your own code. Believe as you wish to believe. You need not be led by me, nor by anyone. Choose for yourself. Live your own life. Work with whom you would. Nobody needs to plan your life as a paladin. Nobody needs to tell you what to do. A part of every day, you choose for yourself without being supervised or bossed around. How would your life be if you lived that way all the time?

Would you even paladin?

And if you would, would you get in touch with me? See ResilientWays.net for more information. We might work together to help others.

Jim Davidson is an entrepreneur, storyteller, space enthusiast, author, and public speaker. He has been a paladin since a game of Dungeons and Dragons in 1979.