I, Extremist, Part IV
By Mitch Berg
With the government’s sudden fixation with violence and terrorism (as defined by Janet Napolitano, at any rate), it’s worth going over what “security” is.
The big picture, of course, is important; government has a constitutional duty to defend the country. It’s one of a very, very short list of duties actually spelled out for a legitimate government in the Constitution; it’s one of the few legitimate reasons any government exists.
Secure the borders? Absolutely. There is not a nation in the world worth the title that doesn’t protect its own sovereignty. There’s a reason for this; we formed a nation for a reason. We intend it to be disctinct from other nations. If tomorrow all of the world’s other nations upheld freedom, the rule of law, the value of the individual, and (after November, 2012, God willing) the free market. Of course, the United States is a nation of immigrants, and indeed we need immigrants to keep rejuvenating this nation; nations with unchanging cultures become ossified and stagnant. But the key is that immigrants must come to the United States, rather than bringing Ireland or Finland or Greece here.
But that’s fodder for the upcoming “Culture” installment.
Protecting us from criminals? Yep. That too. The law-abiding citizen should be secure on his/her property, with his/her possessions, and his/her rights. The law should
Which is where government keeps screwing up. It’s not just governments run by crime bosses and warlords – Russia and Tadjikistan and the Congo – that break this rule. In the UK, a law-abiding citizen who defends his home, property or self from a burglar, robber or attacker with any kind of force frequently faces stiffer punishment than the criminal involved. In Chicago – a city prowled by gangs armed barely a degree behind the Fedayin Saddam fashion curve – the full weight of the city’s legal system waits to fall upon the citizen who dares resist the thugs with a .22 handgun.
Any dictator can make you “secure”; the streets of Rome were safe enough under Mussolini. But that’s not security, any more that a dictator (or university dean) giving you a few minutes to say what you want within a bunch of carefully set-up guidelines is “freedom of speech”. “Security” that exists only at the pleasure and to the purposes of ones’ leaders – masters, really – isn’t security at all. It’s the kind of “Security” that a flock of sheep get when escorted by a pack of wolves; it exists only for the needs of the wolves, not the flock.
“No problem, Mitch. America’s not like that!”
Gun control laws that burden the law-abiding more than criminals – that’s almost all of them – don’t enhance “security”.
Property forfeiture laws that penalize the innocent (which one is supposed to be, until proven guilty) do not make us more “secure”.
Federal “watch lists” that stimatize mainstream (if temporarily out-of-power) dissent make us less secure.
A government policy that is more accomodating to those that would kill us than to those who have defended us doesn’t make us more secure.
That’s what I want; that’s what this nation needs; a government that knows “Security” protects the nation while upholding the citizen.
Wow. I am an extremist!
March 26th, 2010 at 8:54 am
Agreed. So howcum we have 56,000 troops in Germany and 33,000 in Japan? WWII ended 65 years ago, and I’ve been led to believe that we won.
March 26th, 2010 at 9:22 am
Do you feel safer now than you did in 2008?
March 29th, 2010 at 11:33 pm
I felt safe until some unemployed wretch stole my handgun.
March 31st, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Wow, I time-shifted!
March 31st, 2010 at 2:44 pm
We weren’t in a depression in 2008.
March 31st, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Shot In The Dark: Where Miracles are Commonplace.
March 31st, 2010 at 3:12 pm
“Democracies have been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their death.” – James Madison
March 31st, 2010 at 4:45 pm
“With the government’s sudden fixation with violence and terrorism”
Yeah, ’cause that fixation JUST started with Napalitano, I mean, we SURE didn’t create secret prisons, and we sure didn’t say things like Muslims like terrorism previously, and what’s even better, folks on the right SURE didn’t say those kinds of ‘paranoias’ were to be expected/accepted in this new age after “the world changed after 9/11.”
Caveat meet Emptor
Mitch, fact is, you righties got a thing for talking up how bad the government is (Yet you are blind to the excesses of business or your own complicity in “Big Brother”) – but certainly, if some pretty sizeable percentage of wing-nuttery land (like the 45% of Republicans who either aren’t sure or believe Obama was born outside the US) – well if some sizeable percentage think they should be ready to take up arms because of the gasbag comments of folks like Bachmann, heck, you’re certainly not to blame.. nope, after all, you didn’t endorse the same kinds of conduct which you object to now (when Bush was President) and you certainly don’t have double standards to worry about.
March 31st, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Yeah, ’cause that fixation JUST started with Napalitano, I mean, we SURE didn’t create secret prisons, and we sure didn’t say things like Muslims like terrorism previously, and what’s even better, folks on the right SURE didn’t say those kinds of ‘paranoias’ were to be expected/accepted in this new age after “the world changed after 9/11.”
Caveat meet Emptor
Non, meet sequitur.
Leaving aside the fact that there is no way to compare government actions with those of groups of people, let’s be completely clear here: beyond a few “estimated” ill-tempered email messages, there has been NO violence from the Tea Parties. All of it – all the chargeable threats, all the thuggery – has come from the left. Every bit.
Mitch, fact is, you righties got a thing for talking up how bad the government is (Yet you are blind to the excesses of business
Again, you’re incorrect (or just a little myopic): we realize that the worst excesses of business are almost aways inextricably tied with government actions.
No double standards here.
And you really need to get on-topic.
March 31st, 2010 at 4:52 pm
I feel safer than I did in 2008. There has been some progress in our efforts against the islamo-terrorists; we have some recent successes in Afghanistan; we are finally closer to getting out of Iraq.
Could you kindly elaborate Mitch about the federal (or any other level) watch lists that are stigmatizing main stream dissent? I would presume you are not inlcuding the wack-a-doodle militia movements that see the second coming of god in their pancakes, and are armed and ready to initiate battle with the US Government?
How do you feel about the planned heavily armed militia march on DC on April 19th, the anniversary of McVeigh and his militia-affiliated buddies blowing up the federal building in Oklahoma?
March 31st, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Ahh…teh peevee crawls in…ass, meet nozzle.
March 31st, 2010 at 4:54 pm
ROFL – I hadn’t even read this when I wrote “A shot in the right direction” earlier today. Good timing………
March 31st, 2010 at 4:55 pm
I feel safer than I did in 2008.
Of course you do, dear. Since January, Peebo mandated that Victory gin will only be produced 150 proof.
March 31st, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Terry – how do you know the person who burgled your house was unemployed? Did they catch the criminal? just wondering.
I forgot to mention that I also feel safer because there is a competent person in the important chair in the white hosue, one who isn’t likely to involve us in elective conflicts, over-stretching the resources of our armed forces in lengthy wars.
Sweet Slo-mo, I rarely drink or swear, and never do either to excess, but you just continue to enjoy your surreal fantasy world.
March 31st, 2010 at 5:25 pm
“Because it is the right of all people to keep and bear arms, we fully support the peaceful carrying of firearms where allowed by law. However, because Washington DC’s overly oppressive laws prohibit carrying firearms in public, We cannot promote or condone carrying firearms at the march in Washington DC (DON’T DO IT!)”
“How do you feel about the planned heavily armed militia march on DC on April 19th….” Heavily armed huh.
“Second Amendment March is a grass-roots organization that is pulling together Second Amendment supporters across the United States for a peaceful march in Washington, D.C, our nation’s capital. We welcome ANYONE who supports the right to keep and bear arms, regardless of political leanings, gender, race, religion, etc. We also welcome both gun owners and non-gun owners alike!”
Militia huh
“On April 19, 1775, British and American soldiers exchanged fire in the Massachusetts towns of Lexington and Concord. On the night of April 18, the royal governor of Massachusetts, General Thomas Gage, commanded by King George III to suppress the rebellious Americans, had ordered 700 British soldiers, under Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith and Marine Major John Pitcairn, to seize the colonists’ military stores in Concord, some 20 miles west of Boston. ”
Wait…..something ELSE happened on that date that might be relevant to a 2nd admendment gathering?
March 31st, 2010 at 5:28 pm
I feel safer than I did in 2008. There has been some progress in our efforts against the islamo-terrorists; we have some recent successes in Afghanistan; we are finally closer to getting out of Iraq.
Thanks entirely to the fact that Obama repudiated the proposal that got him elected, and continued the post-’06 Bush strategy. Yep.
Could you kindly elaborate Mitch about the federal (or any other level) watch lists that are stigmatizing main stream dissent?
Really?
I mean, are you serious? Or were you otherwise occupied all of last year?
John Hinderaker spelled it out pretty well, as did I, way back when; it was in all the papers. It said in as many words that mainstream conservatives – 2nd Amendment activists, pro-lifers, tax protesters, property rights activists, Tenth Amendment activists, immigration reformers, and veterans needed to be watched because they were “prone” to violence.
I would presume you are not inlcuding the wack-a-doodle militia movements that see the second coming of god in their pancakes, and are armed and ready to initiate battle with the US Government?
DG, put down the chanting points.
People have a right to freely assemble. It’s of no matter to you if they carry guns, provided they do it legally. And we still have freedom of religion, by you and your leaders’ gracious leave and, let’s not forget, the Constitution.
Expect a larger post on this tomorrow or Friday.
How do you feel about the planned heavily armed militia march on DC on April 19th, the anniversary of McVeigh and his militia-affiliated buddies blowing up the federal building in Oklahoma?
Congratulations; you’ve been sucked into the latest disingenuous, context-challenged Big Left chanting point! I see that a YouTube video has been circulating, and getting a bunch of leftybloggers’ undies in a petulant knot. Not sure that I can, or need to, speak for everyone that puts a grandiloquent “plan” on YouTube. The “plan” has all the weight of my “planned” weekend getaway with Rachel Weisz.
By the way, April 19 is also the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, which is a lot more germane.
At the risk of foreshadowing my upcoming post, though – what if there was a genuine peaceful demonstration of armed Americans on Washington? Say, organized by the NRA for regular citizens (who, legally, are “the Militia” in the US? Provided no laws were broken (and of course, carrying a gun in DC would itself break at least one law, so the group would have to stop in Virginia, unless we dwelt in a pure hypothetical in which the DC goverment gave an armed demonstration permit), I’ll bet this much:
– there would be NO violence
– the group would be better-behaved and more civil than ANY
comparably sized left-leaning demonstration
– there’d be almost no trash along the route
– the left would have an aneurysm, and work overtime to smear
the assembly, although that’s not a big reach, considering that’s
what they do to EVERY gathering of non-liberals.
And the fact is, government should know that The People have the ultimate power, and not in some dozey theoretical sense, either.
Hypothetically? It’d be a great thing.
March 31st, 2010 at 5:30 pm
There are those who talk up how bad big government is, and stage rallies, and have “mean” signs and even carry guns legally. And no one is arrested and property isn’t damaged.
And there are those who talk up how bad evil business is…and wear black hoods, smash windows, attack vans and buses, throw bowling balls through Army recruiting windows (oops – they hate government, too!) and invite bouquets of tear gas. And these would be people on the …. gee, I can’t think of the word. That’s probably because right now I’m trying to recall the last time a Tea Party rally got tear-gassed.
March 31st, 2010 at 6:06 pm
I think Doggies claim “I feel safer than I did in 2008” is pretty revealing, since Iran is about two years closer to possesing deliverable nuclear weapons today. I wonder what color that sand her head is buried in.
March 31st, 2010 at 7:55 pm
“That’s probably because right now I’m trying to recall the last time a Tea Party rally got tear-gassed.”
Be careful what you wish for…
March 31st, 2010 at 8:36 pm
I found an interesting read at AL Daily today:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/andrei-loshak/kafka%E2%80%99s-castle-is-collapsing
It’s an essay, translated from the Russian, about how trying to live and prosper in Russia today will drive a person insane.
I liked this passage (sorry for the length):
People have an in-born ability to self-organize to solve their collective problems. The goal of the socialist state is to destroy this ability. No one must be allowed to believe that there is an alternative to oppression and robbery by the ruling class.
March 31st, 2010 at 10:58 pm
This caught my eye:
I forgot to mention that I also feel safer because there is a competent person in the important chair in the white hosue[sic]
To quote Inigo Montoya: “I don’t think that word means what you think it means…”
The Affirmative Action president is as competent a leader as the Taco Bell Chihuahua. And his pratfalls and gaffes have been duly chronicled by Mitch’s co-host, Cap’n Ed @ HotAir: http://hotair.com/?s=obamateurism
Sarah Palin was FAR FAR more qualified to run a country than this tool was.
March 31st, 2010 at 11:19 pm
Oh, no, Bill. She was not.
Because instead of working his way through college, The Resident spent ages 21 through 25 – half a life ago – at one Ivy League school or another, thinking big thoughts. And we all know that getting A’s between the ages of 14 and 18 and going to an Ivy League school is the ONLY real measure of merit.
Let’s keep our perspective, here.
March 31st, 2010 at 11:53 pm
so, Mitch, did your degree come with an expiration date stamped on it, or was it something that prepared you for a life time of continued learning.
No, we don’t know that getting A’s between 14 and 18 and going on to an Ivy League school is the only real measure of merit.
You seem to have ignored any other accomplishments by Obama as well – the difference between being a part time sportscaster in a tiny town, versus being a professor of constitutional law at a major academic institution. Or the difference between leaving your job as governor for……nothing, and leaving your job as senator to become president. Writing three books, or having one that doesn’t stand up to fact checking very well be written for you.
I am not persuaded that Iran is so very close to either nuclear weapons or a delivery system. Even if they are, we are sure a lot safer than if the candidate were in office who sang a parody of the Beach Boy’s Barbara Ann “bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iraaaaan”…and his side kick Caribou Barbie (you betcha! “Death Panels”) Palin. It’s certainly a lot safer to be negotiating the first advance on nuclear disarmament in some 20 years with the Russians as well.
Yes, by all means, lets keep that perspective on “after education” accomplishment.
April 1st, 2010 at 1:24 am
DG, The Won was NOT a “professor of constitutional law.” He was, rather, a lecturer in that field. There’s a huge difference in terms of academic qualifications, responsibilities, work load, etc.
If you read UC’s statement it says that his “Senior Lecturer” title “signifies adjunct status.” I’ve never heard of an adjunct claiming to be a “professor” in any hard science or engineering field; I was an adjunct professor in electrical engineering for a while, so I am familiar with the etiquette associated with presenting yourself as well as the difference in expectations and loads of an adjunct and tenure track professor, which are quite significant. I can’t speak directly to the softer “sciences,” but their treatment of adjunct professors is pretty infamous and one of them would have far less claim to status as a professor.
April 1st, 2010 at 1:30 am
so, Mitch, did your degree come with an expiration date stamped on it, or was it something that prepared you for a life time of continued learning.
My degree, from 25 years ago, hit is shelf life as far as “importance in my life” goes, 21 years ago.
You seem to have ignored any other accomplishments by Obama as well – the difference between being a part time sportscaster in a tiny town, versus being a professor of constitutional law at a major academic institution.
And you, on the other hand, seem to ignore (after having it repeatedly clarified) that he was a lecturer not a professor. And that broadcasting is a difficult job that one gets on one’s merits, rather than the merits of one’s degree.
Or the difference between leaving your job as governor for……nothing,
…other than leadersip of a national political movement and an inside shot at the Senate and/or President. Yep. Nothing.
>and leaving your job as senator to become president.
That’s right. He left it – two years after he took it. After doing a lot less Senate-ing than Palin did govern-ing.
I am not persuaded that Iran is so very close to either nuclear weapons or a delivery system.
Make sure you tell the Israelis. I’m sure it’ll reassure them.
Even if they are, we are sure a lot safer than if the candidate were in office who sang a parody of the Beach Boy’s Barbara Ann “bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iraaaaan”…
I’m not sure how parody songs relate to the issue one way or the other.
It’s certainly a lot safer to be negotiating the first advance on nuclear disarmament in some 20 years with the Russians as well.
Which should have been called the Moot Treaty.
Yes, by all means, lets keep that perspective on “after education” accomplishment.
I do!
Obama is a terrible president, he’s the most underqualified person ever to hold the office, and if he didnt have demigoguery going for him he’d still be a ward heeler in Chicago – not that he hasn’t brought Chicago ward-heeling to DC.
Let’s just agree to disagree. Obama isn’t as smart as Bush was, in any of the ways that actually matter.
April 1st, 2010 at 2:22 am
Obama could have been a tenured professor, if he’d been willing to write and publish. He wasn’t.
Instead he aimed his sights on being state Senator from a corrupt district in a corrupt state. The man knows his limitations, even if 53% of the electorate does not.
April 1st, 2010 at 8:21 am
Call Barak Obama a constitutional scholar because he read aloud at Harvard and you must call me a surgeon because I visited a hospital.
Call Barak Obama an author in the face of considerable evidence that his books were ghost-written by a terrorist (including a confession by the ghost-writer himself) and you concede Obama is no better writer than any other politician who uses ghost-writers.
April 1st, 2010 at 9:17 am
You seem to have ignored any other accomplishments by Obama as well
I think they’ve been cataloged, the left just can’t see them.
Antagonized Great Britain to the point that they are rethinking the “special relationship” with the US
Insulted the Prime Minister of Israel
Pissed off the Canadians of the Arctic Circle negotiations
Continued to allow illegal aliens to pour through a swiss cheese border
Done more to nationalize private industry than FDR ever dreamed, while claiming not to be a socialist
Completely effed up the situation in Gitmo, because he is incapable of formulating a coherent policy
But on the bright side, Fidel Castro love, love, loves Obamacare!
April 1st, 2010 at 9:19 am
being a professor…..at a major academic institution.
LOL!
So, if PZ Meyers gets bored with wiping his ass on consecrated hosts and drowning zebra fish in ethyl alcohol to see if it hurts them (turns out, it does…who knew?), he’s good to go for the Tic nomination for Preznut…
Pfffft.
Have another Victory gin, dear.
April 1st, 2010 at 11:05 am
Thank you swiftee, I’m going to enjoy that comment all day!!!
April 1st, 2010 at 1:44 pm
“you righties got a thing for talking up how bad the government is”
Peevish Boy, Tuesday April 13th is Thomas Jefferson’s birthday.
April 1st, 2010 at 2:00 pm
And that broadcasting is a difficult job that one gets on one’s merits
Mitch, remember Keith Olberman was a sports broadcaster on an even bigger network than Palin.
Unfortunately, Prof. Myers would direct almost all federal spending towards creating a navy of cyborg squid, so he won’t get my vote.
April 1st, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Olby was a sportscaster – and, while he wasn’t everyone’s cup of Schlitz, was a good one who went far on his merits.
April 1st, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Olby was a sportscaster – and, while he wasn’t everyone’s cup of Schlitz, was a good one who went far on his merits.
And if he was smart, he’d look from whence he came…
http://www.shotinthedark.info/wp/?p=9786
April 1st, 2010 at 2:59 pm
Before he went off his meds…
April 1st, 2010 at 4:04 pm
“cyborg squid” – If they can they make it taste like regular squid, bring it on!
April 1st, 2010 at 6:00 pm
krod, Thomas Jefferson isn’t an important historical figure.
Just ask the Texas State Board of Education.
JPI, unfortunately they’d taste like squid and motor oil.
April 2nd, 2010 at 3:13 am
Jefferson? That’ll be the slave-owning Jacobin who waxed rhapsodic on the wonders of the french revolution.
I hate Jacobins.
April 2nd, 2010 at 10:26 am
If you quote T-Jeff around the liberal Tics they will scream “threats”… “threats”… “threats”
April 2nd, 2010 at 10:29 am
Soon followed by:
…“please send in a donation to help the Tics deflect these “threats”… …and pay no attention to the economy, stupid Useful Idiot.”