Sniperism

by William Norman Grigg

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Yes, the onslaught continues in the comment thread below my year-old piece on Chris Kyle. Here's the most recent exchange. My comments are identified with my initials:

Commenter:

"Depravity" is a word that would apply to only the very worst governments – Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, North Korea today. And the word "Incurably" just reinforces it, meaning not only is it depraved, but there is no hope of ever fixing it.

WNG:

When viewed from the perspective of those against whom its power is deployed, the regime in Washington should be considered the "very worst government" in the world today – at least in terms of its ability to inflict misery in geographic terms.

In terms of concentrated viciousness, North Korea is obviously worse – but its evil is contained. That regime isn't able to kill people half-way around the world by remote control, for example, nor does it have the means to occupy so much of an acre beyond its borders.

Bearing in mind the scope of the evil we're discussing, let's turn to your next question:

Commenter:

Given that, I must ask the obvious question – if you truly believe what you wrote above, why are you still even living here? Move to Canada, Australia, New Zealand. Unless you think they are more depraved yet, in which case, your cynicism has reached a level of total perfection.

WNG:

Why would you see such a choice as a reflection of the "cynicism" of the expatriate, rather than a demonstration of the failure – indeed, the evil – of the government that has driven him to leave the country he loves? There are thousands of Americans who are being driven to leave this country every week, most of them because they can no longer stand having their honestly earned wealth plundered by Obama and his comrades.

Expatriation is of limited practical value when you're confronted with a regime that claims the world as its natural jurisdiction. I'm reminded of an observation from Edward Gibbon's history of the only previous imperial power to which the Regime in Washington can be compared:

"The empire of the Romans filled the world.... The world became a safe and dreary prison for its enemies.... To resist was fatal, and it was impossible to fly....`Wherever you are,' said Cicero to the exiled Marcellus, `remember that you are equally within the power of the conqueror.'"

Incidentally, "cynicism" originally referred to the view that human actions reflected individual selfishness – or what James Madison called a "defect of better motives" on the part of people in public office. Our original constitutional system, therefore, was itself an artifact of educated and principled cynicism, was it not?

The post-constitutional government that impudently rules us must – and will – collapse. It is irremediably vile and entirely unsustainable. In the meantime, however, I have no intention of allowing the criminals who are running it to drive me out of the country that I love, or to allow them to commit atrocities – supposedly in my name – without condemning what they do.

To digest the matter into the language of a meme: Why should I leave, when they're the ones who are screwing things up?

Commenter:

When guys like you and Ron Paul start to sound a lot like Noam Chomsky, you know something screwy is going on!

WNG:

Here's another possibility: Guys like us are sufficiently wise to eschew the sophomoric fallacy that the truth of an idea is dependent on the identity of he person who expresses it. To the extent that Chomsky supports the non-aggression principle, defends individual liberty, and examines official policy accordingly, he is to be commended.

Operating briefly within your own premises, I'd suggest the following experiment:

Translate my positions, and yours, into German, and consider how they would sound if they had been offered in, say, 1941. My views would survive that transposition quite well. Yours would not.

"But that government was uniquely evil!" you will protest with the dubious advantage of hindsight, and from the perspective of someone who is not the immediate target of its criminality, thereby missing the point entirely.

February 9, 2013

William Norman Grigg [send him mail] publishes the Pro Libertate blog and hosts the Pro Libertate radio program.

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