Date: Sat, 06 Oct 2001 10:41:47 +1100
From: hbone <hbone-AT-optonline.net>
Subject: Re: Different approach to terrorist threat




> Hugh wrote:
>
> "The government we have is our only weapon, we must support it."
>
> Hugh:
>
> Government is such a big word.  Perhaps, the rest of us in our ignorance
> are simply not understanding precisely what you mean.
>From a philsophical point of view, I mean institutions society uses to
protect individuals from each other.  A local version is your Fire
Department.  When you call
you are not inviting them to debate, but to action.  Or the Police
Department.  If  your home is invaded by robbers or killers policemen
respond to your call and capture the attackers.

>
> In the wake of 9/11, our beloved politicians have, with their vast
> expertise and years of experience, made a number of proposals to help
> increase our weal, wellbeing and sense of security in this nation.  So,
> in the interests of clarification, I would ask you if you could be
> slightly more specific.  In supporting government do you mean we should:
>
> 1. Encourage the media to practice greater self-censorship and refrain
> from criticism
No. .

> 2. Curtail the bill of rights in the name of greater security.
Yes, temporarily, for a specific emergency, if that suspension would prevent
someone from crashing a plane into one of the many atomic energy plants and
enveloping a city in a nuclear cloud.  Fear of terrorists has suspended our
rights in boarding airplanes for years. You wouldn't tolerate  a search ever
time you ride the subway.

> 3. Mandate racial profiling.
No.

> 4. Practice British style detainment and questioning of individuals
> without regard to their civil rights.  I don't know their procedure, but
yes, temporarily, if they detain suspects fleeing the scene of the next
terrorist tragedy.

> 5. Sign into law the President's full tax cut package, eliminating the
> current provision that still makes future periods optional.
I don't want the law to pass, but if Congress approves it the President is
entitled to sign.

> 6. Roll back the capital gains tax.
No.

> 7. Endorse the "givings" provisions currently found in the NAFTA
> agreement, so that in the future when laws such as those regulating the
> environment are passed, corporations must be compensated for the loss of
> any future revenue.
No.

> 8. Implement SDI as our best protection against terrorism.
No.

> 9. Pass a constitutional amendment for prayer in the schools and banning
> gay marriage in order to create a spiritual SDI as our best protection
> against terrorism.
No.

> 10. Support our military, regardless of where they go or what they do
Support them, depend on them, depend on the judgment of their leaders,
demand
incompetent leaders be replaced.

> because we recognize in our hearts that they are protecting all of us
> and not just the corporate interests, as those potential terrorists now
> in prison (see #2) once falsely said.

> 11.  All of the above.
>
> Perhaps, if we can come together to reach agreement on what constitutes
> government,
The U.S. Constitution constitues government. Consensus is rarely 100
percent.

 >consensus may be more easily reached.  If this consensus
> cannot be reached, then those nay-saying nabobs should simply remain
> silent in order to promote our greater national unity. Silence is the
> best support this nation has in its continuing fight against terrorism.
> As my mother once said: "If you can't say anything nice about a person,
> don't say anything at all."
>
> Today, that person is our government, over which our dear President,
> like a kind-hearted big brother looks out for all of us,
If representative government is important, if consensus is important, if you
believe the polls, Bush is responding to the demands of perhaps 75 percent
of the those polled.  A much higher percentage than roughly 25 percent of
votes he received before 5 justices elected him.

> regardless of
> their race, color or creed, in these troubled times. As Leonard Peikoff,
> a fellow libertarian like Harry Browne, has put it, anyone who
> criticizes the government right now is really advocating treason.
>
> When the building is burning down, freedom and democracy are simply
> luxuries we must sacrifice in order to maintain the high level of
> civilization and open, plural society we have achieved. Just as they
> don't let homeless people inside Trump Towers, so we shouldn't let any
> terrorists inside America. Anyone who says otherwise is simply
> practicing a form of doublethink and godless atheism.
When the building is burning down, firemen extinguish the fire, rescue as
many as possible, sometimes with the help of  T. C. MITS.
The Celebrated Man in the Street, who might be a rights activist.

> I'd write more, but I have to leave now to attend the Young Republican's
> prayer breakfast meeting and investment club this morning. God bless
> America.
This is inverted but not necessarily perverted humor.
God may hear your prayer and nulllify it by damning America, each and every
one of us,  or toss you and me out of the Garden.

Best,
Hugh