L. Neil Smith's

The Libertarian Enterprise

Number 54, August 31, 1999
"We didn't start the fire ..."

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"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."

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L. Neil Smith, Publisher [email protected] John Taylor, Editor [email protected]

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Editor's Notes
by John Taylor
[email protected]

... but when we are gone
Will it still burn on,
And on, and on, and on ...
-- Billy Joel

          What must the collectivists think?

          They pooh-poohed black helicopters and used them as a symbol of "right-wing paranoia" -- at least until they were conclusively proven to be quite real, along with all the curious and frightening maneuvers associated with them.

          They pooh-poohed the cold, calculated murders of Sam and Vicki Weaver, and treated the massacre as a rallying cry for anti-militia hate groups and Nazi-like "undesirables" lists, even after the government coughed up $3 million, as if that would make things right.

          They pooh-poohed the Branch Davidians as a gun-nut cult that self-immolated in a fiery Jonestown-like orgiastic suicide ritual. They maintained the blatant fiction that "law enforcement did all they could, held off as long as possible, contributed not one FMJ or pyro to the crisis ..." Now it looks as if that Big Lie is about to escape the custody of the Texas DPS, thanks in large part to the persistence of Mike McNulty and others.

          When I saw "Waco: The Rules of Engagement" the first time, I wrote David Hardy (if you don't know him yet, you will!) and told him that not only was I certain (call it intuition) --

          -- that those flashes at the rear of the compound were gunfire and not "sun glinting off objects on the ground" -- a fiction that the feral government, as far as I know, still advances -- but, more shocking to me,

          -- that I would be willing to bet that those shooters were not FBI, but JTF6 (Delta). It's strictly a gut feel, but I've stuck to it all along, and I still do. Now it looks as if there may be a crack in the ferals' "Posse Comitatus" assertions as well. Only time and perseverance will tell if this most damning revelation of all proves true as well. If it does ...

          What will the collectivists say then? Will there be any broad-based outrage, or will the vast majority of Americans sleep through this one as well?

          Where are the anti-government activists of the '60s? Where are the self-sufficient; the anarchists; the anti-authoritarian; the advocates of self-expression, free speech, laissez-faire "lifestyles"? Why is today's "Left" so pro-control, pro-war, pro-censorship? Who are these people? If the government had done in the '60s or '70s what they did at Waco (think Kent State times 20!), the demonstrations would probably still be ongoing.

          For that matter, if Clinton had been a Republican, elected in 1968 and re-elected in 1972, what would the "Left" have been saying? What would a Democrat-controlled House and Senate have done? What would have been the flavor of the coverage by television, newspapers, and news magazines?

          Perhaps this time the fire will burn brighter; perhaps this time the fire will take hold and sweep across the nation; perhaps this time the fire will re-light the torch which will, in turn, illuminate once again the darkened corners of our nation.

          Liberty!

Table of Contents

1. Darn These Inconvenient Revelations
                  by Vin Suprynowicz

2. An Open Letter to Jay Simkin and Alan Rice
                  by L. Neil Smith

3. Letters to the Editor
                  by Our Readers

4. Wo Sind Deine Papieren?
                  by Scott Paul Graves

5. Star-Spangled Jellyfish: An Open Letter to Colorado (and other) Republicans
                  by L. Neil Smith

6. The Velociraptor and Guns
                  Jonathan R Taylor

7. Fact or Phobia on Guns: The Choice Is Ours
                  by Vin Suprynowicz

Back to The Libertarian Enterprise 1999 Issues.