War Is Never Imperative

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Fri, 28 Feb 2003 13:00:00 GMT

I had a couple of pound containers of powder that were almost empty, varieties that I didn't intend to replenish (yeah, I know, you're not supposed to mix batches, so sue me...), so I took them out in the driveway last night with the kids. I poured powder into our wood stove ash bucket, and Christopher dropped in a lit match. The flames went up about two feet. Whoohaaaaaaa! We were able to do this six or seven times before the powder ran out. Lights looked green afterwards for a while. Smokeless powder burns fairly slowly out in the open, so there was no feeling of danger at all, but it was great fun.

EzEz e-gold's Center of Liberty looks worth investigating.

Yahoo Groups - Forum for the discussion of Awdal, its economy and people - another potentially interesting place.

David Wiggins at Strike the Root - Journal of a "Model Officer" - the story of a West Point graduate who figured out the lie of war and opted out. Bravo! [rrnd]

At 27 years of age, after years of learning about militarism and imperialism from the inside, I had realized the truth behind the lies and propaganda.

War is never imperative, it is always a matter of choice. War is never more than an option taken by military and political commanders. In this sense, war is a cost-benefit analysis. Our authority figures use religion, propaganda, bigotry, racism, and appeals to our sense of nationalism and patriotism in attempts to con us into assisting them in these schemes, or at least voluntarily taking part in them.

...

Once the loss of innocent life was justified, any atrocity could be rationalized. That allowed the genocide; the same concept by which all war is fought, by which all genocide occurs. 100,000-340,000 children will starve to death and die of preventable disease this year as a direct result of the U.S. bombing of Iraq. This is in addition to the hundreds of thousands of other deaths as a result of the war, the suffering and disease and starvation, and destruction of homes, property and the environment.

James Tooley at The Spectator - A lesson from the Third World - people in Africa and India aren't just complaining about the low quality of their public schools, they're doing something about it, creating affordable private schools that are thriving and profitable.

Justin Raimondo at Antiwar.com - Neo-Napoleonism, neoconservatism, and neo-communism: peas in a pod - you can't force people to change their government. [rrnd]

Is it just a coincidence that the President's speech to the American Enterprise Institute, in which he outlined an ambitious strategy of "democratization" in the Middle East, was delivered on the anniversary of the day Napoleon escaped from Elba? On Feb 26, 1815, Bonaparte slipped past his guards on the rocky little isle and returned, in triumph, to France. One hundred days later, he faced his Waterloo.

The ideas in Bush's speech are not just wrong: they are dangerous. Democracy can no more take root in Iraq than palm trees can grow on the moon. The Enlightenment bypassed the Middle East completely, and to embark on a military crusade to impose liberty, property rights, and the rule of law is a fool's errand. No wonder this President has taken it up with such alacrity.

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Quotes

Government doesn't work. Never did. Never will. Can't. But there are lots of good people. Love them.

-- Bill St. Clair

The Atlanta Declaration

Every man, woman, and responsible child has an unalienable individual, civil, Constitutional, and human right to obtain, own, and carry, openly or concealed, any weapon -- rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything -- any time, any place, without asking anyone's permission.

-- L. Neil Smith

Reread that pesky first clause of the Second Amendment. It doesn't say what any of us thought it said. What it says is that infringing the right of the people to keep and bear arms is treason. What else do you call an act that endangers "the security of a free state"? And if it's treason, then it's punishable by death. I suggest due process, speedy trials, and public hangings.

-- L. Neil Smith

A Penalty Clause for the Bill of Rights

Any official, appointed or elected, at any level of government, who attempts, through legislative act or other means, to nullify, evade, or avoid the provisions of the first ten amendments to this Constitution, or of the Thirteenth Amendment, shall be summarily removed from office, and, upon conviction, deprived of all pay and benefits including pension, and sentenced to imprisonment for life.

-- L. Neil Smith

Based on 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, and some of its own empirical work, the panel couldn't identify a single gun control regulation that reduced violent crime, suicide or accidents.

-- John Lott, commenting on the National Academy of Sciences report on gun control laws.

Who is a libertarian?

Zero Aggression Principle ("Zap")

"A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim."

-- L. Neil Smith

(Formerly called the "Non-Aggression Principle", or "NAP")

Why Did It Have to be... Guns?

Make no mistake: all politicians -- even those ostensibly on the side of guns and gun ownership -- hate the issue and anyone, like me, who insists on bringing it up. They hate it because it's an X-ray machine. It's a Vulcan mind-meld. It's the ultimate test to which any politician -- or political philosophy -- can be put.

If a politician isn't perfectly comfortable with the idea of his average constituent, any man, woman, or responsible child, walking into a hardware store and paying cash -- for any rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything -- without producing ID or signing one scrap of paper, he isn't your friend no matter what he tells you.

If he isn't genuinely enthusiastic about his average constituent stuffing that weapon into a purse or pocket or tucking it under a coat and walking home without asking anybody's permission, he's a four-flusher, no matter what he claims.

What his attitude -- toward your ownership and use of weapons -- conveys is his real attitude about you. And if he doesn't trust you, then why in the name of John Moses Browning should you trust him?

-- L. Neil Smith

Concise

"Tell me," I was once asked, "What do you think about gun control? Give me the short answer." To which I replied, "If you try to take our firearms we will kill you."

-- Mike Vanderboegh

Also from The Atlanta Declaration:

... like going to the bathroom, breathing, eating, sleeping, or making love, it turns out that self-defense is a bodily function one cannot safely or effectively delegate to a second party.

-- L. Neil Smith

This does not mean that "Marijuana should be available by prescription." It means that morphine sulfate should be available in five pound bags at the supermarket for a couple of bucks, like sugar... but probably in a different aisle, to avoid confusion.

-- Vin Suprynowicz

If you refuse to pay unjust taxes, your property will be confiscated. If you attempt to defend your property, you will be arrested. If you resist arrest, you will be clubbed. If you defend yourself against clubbing, you will be shot dead. These procedures are known as the Rule of Law.

-- Edward Abbey

The state can only survive as long as a majority is programmed to believe that theft isn't wrong if it's called taxation or asset forfeiture or eminent domain, that assault and kidnapping isn't wrong if it's called arrest, that mass murder isn't wrong if it's called war.

-- Bill St. Clair