End the War on Freedom

Over the weekend, I read A Way to Be Free, The Autobiography of Robert LeFevre, Volume Two, The Making of a Modern American Revolution. This book is purportedly available for less money as a download from pulpless.com, but I couldn't get their e-commerce site to work, so I bought the paper copy. The book takes a while to get started, but is worth the time. I wish I could have gone to a class at Mr. LeFevre's Freedom School, which he established north of Colorado Springs, about 150 miles south of where I was living at the time. There's so much here that it's hard to capture much in an excerpt, but this is Bob's advice to his son about dealing with the draft for the Vietnam War (Chapter CII, pp. 479-480):

"The government," I said to Tom, "is an agency of legalized force. It has exhibited skill and efficiency in only one area--that of collecting whatever it wants from the populace. There are three things government traditionally takes away from the people over whom it exercises coercion. It takes their money and we call it 'taxation.' It takes their property and we call it 'eminent domain.' Or, it takes them as people. We call this a 'draft.'

"As you know, I disagree with the government's power to do these things. But I concede. The government is lot bigger than I am and I have never found a way of successfully preventing the government from getting what it wants.

"The government takes my money. It is a tax. I disagree with its power to do this; but I do not question the reality of that power. So, despite the fact that I disagree, I pay.

"Fortunately, at the moment, the government doesn't want any land or other property I have. If it did, it would file an action against me and would take what it wants. Of course, it would pay me. But it decides how much I am to be paid, and then taxes me and everyone else to make up the sum.

"You might look at this as another form of tax to be paid in a person's right to own, but nonetheless, a tax.

"In your case, the government has decided that it wants you. What recourse do you have? First, you can flee to another country. If you do, you are paying the tax in lost opportunity and possibly lost citizenship. Or, you could become a fugitive and live clandestinely. That, too, pays the tax. You would live like a hunted criminal constantly looking over your shoulder. That is, as I see it, a rather high tax.

"Thirdly, you can let the government do as it pleases with you. That, too, pays the tax. Fortunately, the government does give you a small "out." You could declare yourself to be a 'conscientious objector.' As I understand it, and the rules change all the time, your claim might be disallowed. If past experience gives any clues here, you would probably still be drafted. You would merely be permanently assigned to every kind of dirty job the military can dream up, but you would not be assigned to a combat outfit.

"Or, the government gives you the 'oppotunity' of 'volunteering' (under duress, of course) for one or another branch of the services.

"In short, Tom, the government has levied a tax against you which it insists that you pay by services rendered. It gives you a few choices about what kind of service, but you will either pay by fleeing or you will pay by choosing your service. Failing any of these, the government will simply kidnap you (legally, of course) and put you wherever it pleases.

"Now, it is the task of a prudent man to pay no more tax than necessary. Pay you will! I'm sorry. I have no method in mind where you can avoid or evade payment. You'll pay. And it is your judgement that must prevail, not mine. Whatever your decision, you will have to live with it.

"If you expatriate yourself, that is the cost you will pay. If you become a fugitive, they you pay that cost. If you take C.O. status and succeed in it, you'll pay that way. And if you 'volunteer' or not, you'll pay that way. Pay you will.

"My advice to you, and the only advice I can offer is this. Think through your options, and then take whatever course of action is the least costly. To you, of course."

Tom listened carefully and made up his mind. He enlisted in the Coast Guard, a non-combatant branch of the service. So, he was at sea on the icebreakier, Glacier, at the time of our move to California. He had been living away from home ever since 1965.

Angel Shamaya at the Arizona Daily Sun - Privacy threatened - a response to an editorial by Alan Dershowitz. Mr. Dershowitz supports a National ID. Mr. Shamaya, of course, is dead-set against it. Bravo, Angel! [kaba]

The Libertarian Enterprise has a new issue, "War and Death". Articles I liked:

• Letter from E.J. Totty - A response to Mr. Westmiller's missive, which I didn't bother to look up.

  If this nation of ours were to mind its own damned business, and not allow the whore of commerce to seduce the power elite into subjecting foreign peoples to merciless wars of attrition, and for which said whore subjugates, corrupts and violates said foreign lands while touting the threat of unrestrained military act, why then the only thing we'd have to worry about would be the local idiots. But then, if everybody was allowed to pack heat, the idiots wouldn't be of much concern either. (Sorry for that run-on sentence!)

• Letter from Willy Star Marshall - Mr. Sebastian may have the real reason the U.S. government is attacking Afghanistan.

  I would like to propose that this "war" which so far has no proper and descriptive moniker be refereed to as the "Pipeline War".
  
  Simple descriptive and to the point. After all its what it is really all about - piping oil and gas through Afghanistan.

• Letter from Willy Star Marshall - Mr. Marshall is marketing a Pork-Based Anti-Terrorist spray at www.abomination.tv. I haven't watched his QuickTime commercial yet.

  Don't fear terrorists... Send them to HELL!

• Letter from Jim Davidson - after a prelude graphically describing the barbarity of the U.S. government since the war of northern agression, Mr. Davidson makes it crystal clear that he believes the time to shoot the bastards is long past.

  It isn't molasses and feathers. The proper material to use is tar, heated until runny. If you have extra left over, pouring it down the throats of the traitors wouldn't bother me a bit. The blood of tyrants must be shed. Whenever you're ready.

• Letter from Stuart Sanders - Mr. Sanders does not recite the Pledge of Allegiance. He has written his own version as a short way of explaining why:

  My Pledge:

  I pledge my support to the Constitution of these United States, and to the republic which it defines, sovereign states, united in common cause of Liberty and Justice.

  Explaining to them that 'allegiance' means fealty and loyalty - which cannot be given to a symbol, except as a shortcut to a person or group of people - helps them understand why I pledge my 'support'. I contrast the Constitution, which is defined and understandable, against 'the Flag', which means whatever the government chooses it to mean.

• Letter from L. Neil Smith - Mr. Smith derives a German word for "Office of Homeland Security". Heil Georgie.

  Heimatlandsicherheitsdienst.
  
  It's a barnyard term, of course.
  
  Bring your own Vaseline.

• Letter from Scott Bieser - Mr. Bieser has stopped using PayPal because of something he read here. He now uses Yahoo!PayDirect as his fiat-cash service.
• A Half-Hearted Kind of War by Vin Suprynowicz - Mr. Suprynowicz is still lamenting the fact that the U.S. can't seem to fight a full-out war. I don't believe the Afghanistan war will do any good, even if fought correctly. Encouraging U.S. residents, all U.S. residents, to be armed to the teeth and trained in the use of those arms (creating the well-regulated militia that the second amendment deems "necessary to the security of a free State) may defeat the terrorists. Dropping bombs on people half a world away and forbidding sharp objects on airplanes will likely just encourage them.
• USA, RIP by Jim Davidson - Mr. Davidson believes that the U.S. as a republic died in 1868 with the ratification of the 15th amendment, normally called the 14th amendment. He gives a long-winded and entertaining, though depressing, history of its birth, death, decomposition, and zombification (is that a word?).

  A recent issue of The Libertarian Enterprise included the following dateline: "October 22, 2001 ... I Hear America Dying."
  
  Sorry, guys. That isn't the sound of America dying. That's decompositional gas built up in the lungs, being released as one jackbooted thug after another treads on the body.
  
  America as a concept of free people living in harmony is alive and well. As a constitutionally limited republic suitable for governing a free people, the USA is dead. It is now suffering the indignities of the descendants of the maniacs who killed it.
  
  In recognizing the significance of the United States, it is appropriate to find words for the tombstone. I'd like to put forward an argument for birth date and death date. During the course of this argument, the body of this essay will constitute an obituary, which should help in the grieving process. At the end, a brief epitaph.

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