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Hell No We Won't Go: The Shoe's on the Other Foot
by Jeff Fullerton
[email protected]

Attribute to L. Neil Smith's The Libertarian Enterprise

A few weeks ago a dear friend sent me a link to a site that had a video of troops staking out a group of insurgents or terrorists hiding out in a grove of trees. It starts out a bit long and boring if you don't fast forward to the part which is close to the end where an A-10 Thunderchief/Warthog swoops down and drops a load of cluster bombs which transforms the target area into a raging inferno. My friend told me in the body of the message that the results pretty much says 'there's no one alive in there anymore'. He was in awe of that magnificent warplane which with its Gatling gun and bombs is more or less hellfire on the wing. And he said that our enemies now and well into the future best not cross the line.

"Beautiful like thunder ; the sound of Freedom".
So it was said.

Yet I could not help but find it somewhat disturbing; considering there are people in the government who would consider some of their own citizens the bad guys and would happily roast them alive in a grove of pine trees or our own houses for that matter.

Also I could not help but recall back in the 'good old days' when the ultra—leftists used to scream bloody murder that "Bush lied and people died"! Yet all along would never have any problem using that kind of power themselves to crush those they deem undesirable or a threat to their rule.

The following week I spent a lot of time on another story I have been working off and on since last Fall. To the expense of everything else. I was on that good of a roll and as I speak: current events threaten to outrun the storyline and could even complicate publication with Woodrow Wilson Jr. trying to drag us into World War III.

Yes, that seemed to be the big news of the week. And then came the real icing on the cake when I followed up on a topic a local talk show host talked about that morning. Repeated in turn by Glenn Beck and others through the day. [link]

Kind of disturbing, don't you think? ; on top of the fact the government has been buying up ammo & I can't seem to get 22LR for love or money and now they are beating the drums of war to escape accountability for the mess they have made with the economy—they are trying to turn our own military against us. Doubly disturbing when you take into account the kind of power on display in the video from the first link and the fact that our government has fired on its own citizens before—like Douglas McArthur who ordered troops to shoot at the Bonus Marchers who had the nerve to demand the compensation they were promised for service in World War I in the middle of a depression. To think, even the Progressives actually cared somewhat about fiscal discipline back them. Today the current political class would happily give them whatever they wanted and more ; if they thought it would buy votes!

There is much more to talk about and a lot to do and we are running out of time. Which brings me to the topic which almost became the title of this essay: "Right Wing Hippies".

Right Wing Hippies?
That's a common impression many people get of Libertarians. Like I did when I was younger and I got my hands on a copy of "Robert J. Ringer's : "Restoring the American Dream". The platform Libertarian movement of the late 1970s to which I first glimpsed in the pages of that book (along with vague recollection of someone representing the party as a guest on Phil Donahue) that seemed like a weird hodgepodge of planks from both the left and right. Drug legalization. Gun rights. Pro-Choice, pro-capitalism and anti-war. A bunch of pot smoking, gun loving hippies who didn't like war. Took a while for that to make sense and even longer to understand why it was a good thing. Especially when it came to the anti-war part. The statement by Ed Clark—the Libertarian Party presidential candidate in the 1980 Election (and I think the guy on Donahue); that he would have no foreign policy was a non—starter for me back then. Sounded too much like a suicide pact back in the day when the Soviet Union was rattling its sabers and Jimmy Carter was trying to look tough by signing the bill that gave us decades of commercials urging young men to register with Selective Service; because "it's the law".

Kind of like the statement demanding a response on the envelope of the census form I got and have been flumdiddling with for a week or so.

Speaking of—the current president now seems to be back peddling a little in favor of going thru congress. That after being rejected by the British and other European powers—except the French who are on board (go figure!) and the whole thing is beginning to look like the situation in 2002—and the Republicans I'm guessing are going to sign on like the Democrats did to curry favor with voters. John McCain is definitely in and at points leading the charge. And of course the leading rationale; it's for the children. Just what we need—yet another war with the nation on the verge of fiscal ruin and this time a strong possibility Russia and China may jump in. And then all bets are off.

Insanity on top of insanity—in case they've forgotten: we owe the Chinese a lot of debt! Sadly, from the mouths of babes; even Nancy Pelosi's 5 year old grandson demonstrates more wisdom than America's political class. But I'm sure by time he comes of age he will be sufficently dumbed down or brow beaten by his elders into conformity with the party line.

Must say—even more amusing was John Kerry being heckled by some left— wing moonbat who probably supported him in the 2004 Election. There's an eerie weirdness about it too as apparently the current Secretary of State and former Senator and presidential candidate has apparently at long last found "the right war" to support and now it seems the shoe is on the other foot. And it looks—by the content of recent news and talk radio that the Tea Party may be on the way to becoming the next anti-war party. Hell no we won't go and that could apply to Obama Care and so much else they are trying to ram down our throats these days. And maybe it's time for the Libertarian party to get out there with them too; instead of trying to be like the Republican Party who are well on their way to becoming the Whigs.

So we may differ on a few issues—but overall we want a country more like the one as it was in the days of Thomas Jefferson; that thought it was a good idea to avoid foreign entanglements. TJ may have gone to war against the Barbary Pirates but he had a specific goal of putting a stop to the piracy and hostage taking and did not commit to a host of never ending nation building schemes. They will lambaste us for being isolationists—so let it be! Have you seen the rest of the world lately?

And in Syria there are no good guys. Just a ruthless tyrant on one side who is willing to gas his own people to stay in power and the side that we are going to support; the rebel opposition who are the terrorists! Much like the ones our government has supported across North Africa during the so-called Arab Spring that gave us Benghazi and burning churches and genocide against the Coptic Christians in Egypt.
Can you say train wreck?
And they are about to do it again.
Unless we stop them.
And we had better—because this time the stakes are much much higher. Our world are facing the prospect of a war that must be prevented. A global conflict of the magnitude far exceeding World War II—which will be a horrible waste of human life—along with time, energy and material wealth that a free people in time of peace could spend on far better things. If such a war escalates into a nuclear exchange between superpowers—we are talking—if not mass extinction of the human race— a new dark age far worse than the one that followed the collapse of the Roman civilization—more tragic than the burning of the Library of Alexandria; need I say more?

And I will.
This article was submitted for publication in the last edition of this newsletter and apparently didn't make the deadline. And maybe for good reason because it needed some editing—which may have a lot to do with trying to throw something together at the last minute and staying up all night to do it. Last time I do that—famous last words! Also the delay may have been either good luck or divine providence; as this week the leaders of Tea Party groups across the nation—in addition to organizing bus trips for the upcoming "Stop Obama Care rally are sending out memos urging the members to write to their congressmen and senators urging them to not authorize military intervention in Syria. Which makes it even more obvious that the two issues are related. The President and his party are looking to exploit war as a game changer because the chickens of their domestic policies are coming home to roost and their backs are against the wall.

So maybe, just maybe: all may not be lost after all. At best the Warmongers will be dealt a stiff defeat in congress. At worst, they may win or just go ahead anyway—a lot like the city government of Pittsburgh went ahead with its plans for a publicly funded stadium after the proposal was rejected by a majority in a referendum—but at least we get to see who the back stabbers are.

My two senators: democrat Bob Casey & republican Pat Toomey are likely to go soft on this issue as well as the Speaker John Boehner who was said by one of the local Tea Party members attempting to contact him— to be "Caving" which struck me as somewhat odd. For a minute I was kind of astonished that the current "House Squeaker" would have such an adventurous hobby! He looks way too soft for that. Then it occurred that it has nothing to do with crawling around underground to explore caves and everything to do with his habit of giving in and surrendering at the drop of a hat and letting those who were counting on him for leadership in a time of crisis—down.

He definitely needs his feet held to the fire. And a lot of other republicans—save John "McShame" who is apparently too far gone on the way to the Dark Side. The stakes could ultimately mean nuclear war. And the democrats who used to beat us to death with that same scenario whenever they were out of power need to be reminded too.

Hell No, We Won't Go!
The shoe's on the other foot now!

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