Why do you hate Freedom?

http://monasticmumblings.typepad.com/monastic_mumblings_a_fria/

Q: How many George W. Bush Administration officials does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: None. There is nothing wrong with the lightbulb; it’s condition is improving every day. Any reports of it’s lack of incandescence are totally unfounded, and the result of delusional“ spin” assaults from the fanatic,  elitist, liberal media. That lightbulb has served honorably, and anything you  say undermines the lighting effect and dims it’s ego.  Why do you hate freedom?

Stolen from furrbear

(no subject)

Stolen From stilghar

( Written by Libertarian writer and former U.S. Senate candidate Lewis Napper )

(no subject)

(This article was originally posted on Sept. 12th 2006, here is the original article on kaysho's LiveJournal)

"My mother, drunk or sober" by kaysho

Since yesterday was September 11th, some of the talk came around to what, as responsible citizens, we should be doing to assist the War on Terror.  In a direct sense, obviously the answer is "not very much", since most people aren't in a position to grab a weapon and get on a plane to Afghanistan (and that might do more harm than good in a lot of cases, anyway).  So the consensus was that we should, well ... "support" it.

Now of course I support fighting terrorism, not only on the general principle that people who kill other people need to be prevented from doing so; but also because 11 September 2001 drove home the point that, if someone has a weapon and says that he intends to kill you, you might be wise to try to shoot him first.  But aside from that, what exactly does "supporting the war" mean?

The place where I work is populated by a significant number of men aged 40 to 60, who combine the "rally round each other in the face of the enemy" male warrior mentality that has driven military units since the dawn of organized warfare with the conservatism of someone who has been around the block a few times.  Their answer to that question, broadly speaking, was that supporting the war meant not criticizing it, because dissent merely handed ammunition to the enemy.

Ah yes, the classic argument of dictators everywhere, that dissent is treason.

If one opposes a war, it is obviously possible to go too far in that opposition.  One can think that a war is unwise or not in the national interest, or that it is being handled in a way that will cause an undesirable outcome, and not translate that into, "I should support the enemy."  But rational debate does not, and should not, end just because the Man in Charge grabs a gun and heads for the front; and patriotism does not demand silence.  Far from it: as G.K. Chesterton said, "'My country, right or wrong' is a thing no patriot would ever think of saying except in a desperate case.  It is like saying, 'My mother, drunk or sober.'"

America is a country that was founded on dissent, on the idea that just because there was an established way of doing things didn't mean that there wasn't a way to do them better.  In most times and in most places, people have been ruled by someone who gave himself power either because he had the most weapons or because he could convince the people that some divine power wanted him to rule.  The United States resurrected an idea that hadn't been applied on any large scale since classical times ... the idea that governance did not require a god-emperor or a king who ruled by divine right, but simply for the people to select one of their own to govern them because they think he'd do a good job at it.  And while a god or a god's appointee has the presumption of being always right, an ordinary man can do wrong (and indeed, will sometimes do so no matter how competent or well-intentioned he is) ... and it is the duty of his fellow citizens to point this out.

In a tyranny, dissent is treason.  In a republic, and in America, dissent is patriotism.  Silence in the face of wrongdoing is treason to the very concept of what America is.

I am a citizen of the United States and am pleased to be so.  I support the government of the United States taking the necessary actions to insure that my fellow citizens and I come to no harm at the hands of others, because that's one of the reasons we have a government in the first place.  Where I think that that government's actions are beneficial to that end, I will support them, and I will say so.  Where I think that that government's actions are detrimental to that end, I will oppose them, and I will say so.  And my opposition does not mean that I do not love my country or that I wish it harm, but rather that I want it to be better.

"My country, right or wrong" has led to so many disasters as people of good faith were afraid to speak up, afraid of being labeled as traitors or hauled off to prison because they dared to say that perhaps the Man in Charge wasn't doing the right thing.  If sometimes I oppose the actions of the Man in Charge, it is not from a lack of patriotism.  It is, rather, that I think my mother is drunk, and it is my duty to try to take away the bottle.

Dissent in America will never be treason.  If it ever comes to that, if it ever comes to the point where Americans are afraid to criticize their officials or to suggest that America could be better served by other leaders or other policies, if the government of the United States ever becomes little more than a gun to the head of the people, demanding unquestioning obedience to the will of the god-emperor ... then there will be no America left to commit treason against.