Remembering Gullibility
# Mark Twain - The War Prayer - So, today is supposed to be the day we honor the soldier. Many modern-day soldiers fight with honorable intentions, but only because they're gullible, and have allowed the politicians to lie them into fighting for myths. So read or re-read Mr. Clemens' reminder of what it is we're asking for when we ask God to give us victory in war. And weep for every young man who was ever killed in a far-away war. Weep that his life was wasted, wasted to fill the coffers of gummint goons who do not deserve to draw breath.
# Jim Davies at Strike the Root - A Rational Memorial Day - why government is not useful for either defense or its management. And since defense of individual liberty is supposed to be the reason we have government, there's no reason for it to exist at all. And there's most certainly no reason to travel thousands of miles to die for it. [root]
The greatest honor we can do for the American war dead is to get our brains in gear.
There's a circular argument circulating, and it urgently needs to be unspun: it holds that citizens owe a duty to fight the government's wars, because government exists mainly to defend the citizens. Let's leave aside for now the other few "justifications" for government to exist; they don't amount to much anyway.
The fiction is and always has been this: tolerate, feed and obey us, then we'll defend you.
Did you notice the perfect circularity there? The promise is that A will defend B - which of course it is manifestly incapable of doing - and the duty is that B will leap to assist A in defending B. Uh? What was that again?
The obvious truth, which we have uncovered in less than four short paragraphs, is that A - a government - appears on both sides of the equation and can therefore safely be taken out of it. B is going to have to defend B anyway (should defense be needed) and so A's role is entirely superfluous.
# Bob Newland at The Libertarian Enterprise - Matthew Ducheneaux Dies - an impassioned plea, on behalf of Mr. Newland's dead friend, for legal medical marijuana. [tle]
# Mike Hoy at Loompanics - Why Corporations Are Not People, And The Unsavory Consequences of Pretending That They Are - Mr. Hoy asks why "Libertarians", principled supporters of individual rights, are so quick to support the world's most powerful collectives.
Plainly put, corporations are anti-American. They are anti-individual. The word "corporation" does not appear in our Constitution. Large institutions of all kinds (both government and business) were suspect in colonial and early America. In fact, the Boston Tea Party was not a protest against taxes, but direct action taken against the East India Company, which represented the commercial interests of the British elite.
It was not until 1886, after a series of cases brought by lawyers representing the expanding railroad interests, that the Supreme Court ruled that corporations were "persons" and entitled to the same rights (actually more) granted to individual people under the Bill of Rights. This sinister ruling, discussed by Thom Hartmann in his 2002 book Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and The Theft of Human Rights (Rodale Press) has led to the corporate dominance of the individual -- a thoroughly un-American state of affairs. As Hartmann points out, the largest transnational corporations fill a role today that has historically been filled by kings. They control most of the world's wealth and exert power over the lives of most of the world's citizens. And they pretty much own the U.S. government: the revolving door between corporate boardrooms and the top echelons of all recent administrations is no secret.
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I wonder how many rank-and-file "Libertarians" are aware of this. Reading "Libertarian" propaganda indicates either that they are unaware of the statist nature of corporations, or are deliberately avoiding the issue. They always write as if corporations are the same as individuals. In fact, because of the separation of "ownership" and control, managers of corporations have more in common, as a class, with government bureaucrats than they do with individuals.
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So, what is to be done? Damned if I know. I don't have any platform or program, except to honestly admit that corporations are not people, and that it is as insane to pretend they are as it is to pretend that a coat hanger is a vacuum cleaner. It is "Libertarians," the self-styled defenders of individual rights who ought to be taking the lead in formulating "what is to be done."
# Claire Wolfe & Aaron Zelman at Amazon.com - RebelFire: Out of the Gray Zone - Claire and Aaron's new book has appeared at Amazon. They currently list it as "out of print", but that should change soon. I posted this review:
Jeremy is trapped in a distopian future. His every move is tracked, via the chip in his arm. The level in his bloodstream of his required medications is checked regularly. RebelFire, his favorite band, his link to the spirit of liberty, has disappeared from his Player. He can no longer practice his art. He is only sixteen years old, but he must escape.
Claire Wolfe and Aaron Zelman tell of Jeremy's journey, warn of the darkness of our possible future, and remind us of the importance of dreams, of decency, of will.
RebelFire: Out of the Gray Zone is a page turner from beginning to end. A frightening prediction of where America is headed. And the conclusion blew me away. Tears and sobs. Joy and hope. Wow!
