"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, Publisher [email protected] John Taylor, Editor [email protected]

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Editor's Notes
by John Taylor

          For what must be the umpteenth time ... a few sad, shabby, shopworn lessons from the past month or two:

          1. "Using a gun in the commission of a felony" is a hollow charge -- the felony itself is the crime (and then if and only if the felony involves the actual infringement of one individual's rights by another).

          2. "Enforce existing gun laws" is not a pro-gun stance, unless you agree that the current 20,000 laws are constitutional and proper.

          3. A legislator who proposes a "less stringent version" of an unconstitutional gun control law is not an ally, cannot be trusted, and is just as much in violation of his oath as the one who proposes a more onerous gun control law.

          4. A gun rights organization that accepts a compromise of individual liberty -- whether it involves a gun control law or not -- will betray you sooner or later, and almost certainly already has.

          5. Any advocate who tells you that they have a strategy for dealing with gun control but won't publicly spell it out in detail either doesn't have a strategy ... or does have one that has already sold you out.

          6. Anyone who tries to work with a legislator who has betrayed you in the past is either dangerously naive, hopelessly desperate, or is in the process of betraying you.

          7. The "Heinlein Rule" doesn't apply with legislators or gun rights organizations. In those cases, "once is happenstance, twice is enemy action". There is no "three strikes" leeway. Anybody can make a mistake; but there can be no tolerance for those who make the same mistake again.

          8. Anyone who on the one hand asks you to respect individual liberty, and on the other hand asks you for money so they can protect your rights, either doesn't understand the unbreakable link between individual liberty and individual accountability ... or hopes that you don't.

          9. Anyone who tells you that you must support one party over another regardless of that party's actions ...
Anyone who tells you that you must support one candidate over another because he is not as bad a Constitution-mangler ...
Anyone who tells you that a covert traitor is somehow superior to an overt traitor ...
Is a fool.

          10. Anyone who accepts a "reasonable" amount of infringement of his liberty is a frog in a simmering pot.

          11. Anyone who labels you as an extremist for opposing incremental infringement of a right doesn't believe in that right at all, doesn't want you to exercise it, and will lie to you repeatedly about his true position.

          12. Most legislation proposed "for the children" ... isn't. Furthermore, it is almost always based solely on hysteria, illogic, and outright falsehood.

          13. As long as the bulk of the citizenry believes that government is in place to do something for them, there will never be any meaningful reform. Furthermore, government's power will continue to increase at (at least) geometric rates.

Table of Contents

1. Thirteen Questions for George W. Bush
                  by L. Neil Smith

2. A Plea To My Military Friends
                  by Victor Milan

3. The New Provos
                  by Andy Barniskis

4. Swing!
                  by Casey J. Lartigue Jr.

5. To Prevent A Life Of Crime, Buy Your Kid A Gun
                  by Vin Suprynowicz

6. The Anti-War Movement, An Anti-Statist Model
                  by Michael R. Allen

7. Letters To The Editor
                  by Our Readers

8. The Compassionati Speak
                  by Mike Arst

9. Twenty To Life
                  by Jonathan Taylor

10. One Step At A Time
                  by Bruce Elmore

Back to The Libertarian Enterprise 1999 Issues.