Posted on 04/11/2002 1:20:01 PM PDT by meandog
Edited on 04/13/2004 1:39:30 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Neil Young has been criticized by liberals for his stance.
Neil Young figured the music world would get on a roll with "Let's roll," Sept. 11's instant catchphrase for U.S. defiance against terrorism.
Amid the glut of musical spinoffs, Young's Let's Roll, a tribute to the passengers of doomed Flight 93, is the only Sept. 11 anthem to seize upon Todd Beamer's last known utterance.
(Excerpt) Read more at usatoday.com ...
Ted Nugent.
In the post that got this non-sequitor started, I said "government" never does any good. You can take that as you wish, but I'll tell you exactly what I meant. Government, though somewhat necessary, is an inherently abusive evil. Good intentions, no matter how well conceived, always spin out of control and, in effect, produce the opposite intent when forced into the black hole of the federal bureaucracy. Social Security and public assistance are two immediate examples that come to mind. Except the current "security" measures are infintely worse: They put incredible power in the hands of police agencies never intended under the Constitution to do nothing but hassle people. And those measures don't even work.
Did you know that undercover agents have routinely carried onto airplanes guns, knives and explosives on since Sept. 11? Did you know that one of the worst offending airports was Pittsburgh International, where every time I board a plane I see no one but old ladies being seached? I suppose that could be construed as "practice" in the event of the need to search a suspected terrorist, but I'm sure the president didn't really want that sort of thing to happen when he set in motion the Patriot Bill--which immediately made thousands of non-citizens and convicted criminals federal employees the moment it went into effect.
And just so you know. I'm not one of the Sheeples. See, I don't serve the president; I serve America. I've given my time in defense of the Constitution, in the face and presence of our enemies, and I'll be right there defending it to the death when the time comes.
While there is no doubt that it must be carefully controlled it is not avoidable.
Ancedotal evidence is useless and anyway how do you know that the public and egregious searching of an obviously non-threat does not disguise the search of a dozen or more suspects who would be screaming "discrimination" or "profiling" if an occassional grandma was not searched?
Many measures still need to be used that will cause the ACLU to complain about the "loss of rights" which could have been used prior to 9/11 and saved lives. Moslems will have to be monitored to prevent mischief and murder, computer searches will have to be easier, phone taps easier etc. Ethnic profiling is a must and should be extensive. Will there be the same protests when the feds round up some of the missing 100,000s of illegal moslem immigrants?
It is either such actions or accept death from the Mindless Murdering Morons of Mad Mo when they decide to mete it out. I prefer to live.
The only good that government does is perpetuate itself. You still don't get it: Government lives independently of the people who set it in motion; it's like AIDS, morphing and thriving and taking advantage and suffocating wherever it goes. It does not uplift the masses or make life or commerce better or provide comfort. It's pretty terrible at providing security, as you can plainly tell from September 2001 and since.
But I'll give you one thing. You're right to fight against the Mo Minions. Because they're all around you. They probably told you how high you could build the fence on your property, and precisely where and where you could not put it. It probably built you a stadium in which you can spend summer afternoons watching people catch pop flies. It probably took half your pay and gave it to your nextdoor neighbor, who'll use it tonight to shoot up, if not at this precise moment. It probably told your children that America is "broken" and needs to fall in line with more "civilized" people in Europe, Asia, and Africa. But, to such a knowledgeable person as yourself, that's all just anecdotal and therefore irrelevant and therefore non-existent.
Keep smoking whatever it is you smoke. It just might set you free.
Study the program of Alexander Hamilton and you might get a clue wrt the productivity of government when properly administered.
Governments grow because more and more rights are claimed by more and more diverse groups of people this engenders laws and courts and programs to deal with the conflicts. When only a few people had the means to enforce their claimed rights there was little need for governments. The rich and powerful just did what they wanted and the rest just had to shutupandtakeit.
How could private individuals have handled the need to force individuals and other governments to allow ex-slaves free exercise of their rights rather than kill and brutalize them by the thousands in the South when they organized politically?
Research by government laboratories has played a major role in new product development for decades now. There would be no Las Vegas without power from Hoover dam nor would the economies of the southern states be as productive without the TVA. There are many other successes due to wise government. But the ideological dreamers just say "Yeah, well but...."
Simplistic solutions are evariably wrong.
Those who created this country, Washington (you would attack him for retreating from the British), Hamilton (he wasn't even born in North America so we couldn't listen to him even if he was the greatest genius this nation ever produced), Franklin (how dare he negoiate with ours enemies), Marshall (just another crypto-fascist to you I am sure), Adams (he believed in a strong government) never had help from such "idealists" who are always too good to get their hands dirty.
The "system" (sounds like the ole commie terminology) I believe in and support is the one created by the American people and the Constitution, not one dreamed up by effete weinies whose ideas are roundly, routinely and totally rejected by 98% of the people every chance they get.
Just who do you support politically anyway? Browne, Phillips, Pat, Keyes, Reed or some other featherweight.
Oh, boohoo I won't get to hear any more of your prime cut humor. Gee, what will I do now? Talk to someone serious?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.