Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site bmcg.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!bmcg!bprice From: bprice@bmcg.UUCP Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Re: Freedom Message-ID: <651@bmcg.UUCP> Date: Fri, 18-Nov-83 15:14:57 EST Article-I.D.: bmcg.651 Posted: Fri Nov 18 15:14:57 1983 Date-Received: Sun, 20-Nov-83 19:26:30 EST References: <1965@allegra.UUCP> Organization: Burroughs Corporation, San Diego Lines: 115 >>>>>>>>> >From ...!allegra!alan > > The third reason, of course, is the most persuasive to those who > have an intuitive grasp of "freedom". Freedom in the sense that > many of those under the domination of the Central Committee of > the Communist Party hanker for. > . > . > . >Our government is founded on very high, very noble principles. If we >don't live up to them, what are those principles worth? Yes, our government was "founded on very high, very noble principles." Many of these principles, which were once shared by the individuals comprising the nation, have fallen to the wayside. We don't live up to them, and haven't for many more years than either of us have been alive. But those principles are worth far more than the lives of those who have died for them, and more than the lives of us who live for them ("us" includes the likes of rabbit!jj and trc and laura and whoever else I've just offended by omission). It was said long ago that "Eternal vigilence is the price of liberty." The price is steep--so steep that many of you won't pay it: unfortunately, in the long run, "eternal vigilence" is the cheapest price that can be paid. We invite you to join us in this vigil--in what follows, there is an introduction to the vigil, and an indication of the price to be paid. And what do you get, having paid the initiation fee? You get two things: a chance to pay even heavier dues, and the chance to be alive, to live more and better than you can now. Just chances--life is tough and there are no guarantees. For non-nationals of the US: this vigil is not limited to us-- we have and want no monopoly on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Please join us, for it is your world, too. PRIMER ON THE PRINCIPLES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA There are two categories of these principles, which I shall call 1. Survival, and 2. Prosperity. Survival of the nation and of its individual citizens led to the establishment of the departments of war and navy, to administer those groups that the President is the Commander In Chief of. Survival of extraterritorial citizens led the "founding fathers" to send in the Marines, about 1797 or so, when the government around Tunisia could not protect US citizens from resident pirates (Rasuli?). Had they abandoned their principles, or were they fulfilling them then? This same principle applies to the case of Grenada, where the functioning government (Bishop's) was rendered non-functioning, with a band of thugs (wearing uniforms, yet!) holding the people on the island hostage. They had proclaimed themselves the new government, but they weren't acting in accordance with the accepted definition of government. Thus, the US was not acting in disrespect of international law, nor of its principles. If your house catches fire, in your absence, and a passerby calls the fire department: the firefighters are likely to enter your property and cause damage to it by spraying water and chopping holes. Are they trespassing? Grenada was on fire (remember the 22-hr-per-day curfew?); the government was absent (Bishop had been assassinated); and Grenada's neighbors had called on US to play fire department. [shift in tone, since this is net.flame:] So where do you ignorant turkeys get off calling the US in general and RR in particular to task? [so much for the obligatory outburst.] Survival is also the category in which the governing structure of the USA falls. Since democracy has long been known to be an idiotic idea, with respect to survival, the "founding fathers", wisely enough, rejected it. Instead, they structured the government in a complex fashion. In particular, there is the house, each member of which directly represented the individuals of a geographical region; the senate, representing the governments of the states; the electoral college, representing the people and governments of the states; the president (and vp), selected by the (otherwise independent) electoral college with the house as backup. From these primitives spring the judiciary, the military, and the administration: each of these is formed by the president with approval-power vested in the congress. And it all worked quite well, until the electoral college was undermined and overthrown by the political parties, and the senate was undermined by the direct-election amendment (16th?). Now, with the unions in control of the schools, things have really gone to pot: everybody that gets a union education is taught that democracy is magic, and that the USA is proof of its power. Horsepuckey. The category of prosperity is basically the profound principle that "that government governs best that governs least", which was the primary force of the domestic policy of the USA until the establishment of the Federal Reserve System and its consequences, the "Great Depression." Actually, the "Great Depression" was merely a major recession until FDR took office, to use it as an excuse for the greatest vote-buying spree ever recorded. END OF PRIMER, start of editorial [smoldering, only]. Tell me about high, noble principles. Tell me of the evil and danger of substituting for a disabled government, incapable of protecting its citizenry and our own from rampant thuggery. Tell me how evil and cruel Reagan is, for working ever so slowly back towards a war machinery sufficient to prevent a war, and a domestic policy which promotes prosperity, rather than prohibiting it. Tell me all you've learned from your union schools, Rooseveltian newspapers, and power-grabbing television. Then find some other sources of information, ask questions, and find out how the world _r_e_a_l_l_y is. Maybe then you'll be qualified to tell us about these things. This is your initiation fee. When you have started to overcome the damage the nonvigilent have allowed our institutions to wreak upon you; when you are horrified about the things RR is undoing, rather than what he is doing; when you see with near terror the incredible danger of the direction you've gone for the last fifty years; then you will have paid your initiation. When you have done that, when you see most of the disputes on this net to be childish squabbles over trivial non-issues; then you are ready to become a fully human adult, ready, willing, and able to pay your dues, too. Then, and only then, can you really call yourself a man, Alan (mutatis mutandis for you ladies and others not named Alan out there). At that time, you are welcome into the real world. I'm going to be there. I hope there will be a lot more there, too. -- --Bill Price uucp: {decvax!ucbvax philabs}!sdcsvax!bmcg!bprice arpa:? sdcsvax!bmcg!bprice@nosc