A MESSAGE FROM THE PUBLISHER
As you may know already, I am not a religious person. I believe in
the value of looking at the world as it exists in objective reality,
forming tentative conclusions based on my observations (rather than on
what I wish were true or what some "authority" tells me), and, when
possible, testing those conclusionsto destruction, if necessaryin
order to form revised conclusions. The process goes on as long as I
live.
Sound familiar?
It's a system of epistemology (the philosophical study of how we
know what we know) called science and despite what flat Earthers and
evolution deniers claim to the contrary, that's all there is to it.
It's the most effective way to find out about the world. It's why we
live in houses instead of caves, ride engine-powered wheels wherever
we go, eat strange and wonderful food from all over the world, and
live four or five times longer than our not-so-remote ancestors. You
don't have to be a scientist to employ, and live by, the scientific
method.
It's why I'm writing this essay on an impossibly sophisticated
little machine, sending it wirelessly to a device in the other room,
from which it will go by wire and satellite to our esteemed editor,
who will send it to you the same way, for you to read on another
impossibly sophisticated little machine. Nobody ever prayed computers
or the Internet into existence, and no sky-ghost had a hand in their
creation.
Sorry, folks, it's not my intention to offend anybody, but I have
had to listen to contrary opinions my entire life, and it's my turn
now.
I get annoyed whenever somebody who admits, in effect, to seeing
fairies at the bottom of his garden, lectures me on how this is a
Christian country, founded and fought for by Christians. It simply
isn't true. The Founders were an interesting mixture of individuals
that included Christians, but also included deists, agnostics, and
atheists. America wouldn't exist today as an independent entity if it
weren't for a Jew, Haym Saloman, who raised funds needed to fight the
Revolution.
The First Amendment was written to make religion irrelevant in
politics (not in everyday non-political life). The Founders had seen
too many countries in which that wasn't the case, and the misery,
torture, and death it invariably engendered. We're in grave danger of
going through all that anyway, thanks to a vicious new religion called
environmentalism, in which Original Sin consists of exhaling carbon
dioxide.
Conservatives often smirkily point out that the phrase "separation
of church and state" doesn't appear in the Constitution or the Bill of
Rights, but "only" in the writings of Thomas Jefferson. What they
don't tell you is that the Bill of Rights was written by James Madison
expressly to satisfy doubts that his friend Jefferson had about the
advisability of a strong central government. It's largely the product
of the thoughts of Jefferson and that "nasty little atheist" Thomas
Paine.
But enough of all that. I don't care about anybody's religion as
long as they keep it in their pants. I have many Christian friends.
Whenever Marshall Fritz and I were together, he liked to spar about
religion. That's how I decided that if I were God, and someone decided
to believe in Me on the basis of Pascal's Wager (look it up), I'd send
the cowardly four-flusher straight to Hell. Good thing I'm not God,
hunh?
I also have Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist friends I value,
as well as agnostics and atheists (not too many deists these days, I
guess).
Be that as it may...
Almost every civilization in human history has had a midwinter
holidaya time when somebody finally said, "I'm sick of this lousy,
miserable, depressing weather, let's light some candles, maybe even a
bonfire, roast something large, get drunk, and sing and dance!"and
the earliest such holiday that my research has disclosed so far is
Zagmuk.
Zagmuk commemorates the triumph of the Babylonian god-king Marduk
over the Forces of Chaos (so I guess Marduk was an early incarnation
of Maxwell Smart). I suppose that it's possibleno, it's absolutely
inevitablethat earlier people, perhaps Homo neanderthalensis, or
at least the inhabitants of 8000-year-old Catalhoyuk, beat the old
Babylonians to this idea, but for now, what we've got is Marduk and
Zagmuk.
So, in whatever manner you choose to celebrate it, a very Happy
Zagmuk to you and yours, from me and mine. And because those ancient
Babylonians apparently drank beer and wine, we hoist a bowl to you!
Like Marduk, may we all overcome the Forces of Chaos in the year to
come!
L. Neil Smith
Publisher and Senior Columnist
The Libertarian Enterprise
SEZ THE EDITOR
Well, 2008 is just about used up. Next comes 2009. And we will continue
fighting entropy and working to achieve the promise of the American
Revolution. It's the least we can do. Helping us is an option
http://ncc-1776.org/donate.html
but not a requirement. Y'all be good, ya heer?
Ken Holder
Editor
editor@ncc-1776.org
P.S.: don't forget our Publisher's Note: A Call For "Papers"