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Source: THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE http://www.webleyweb.com/tle/ (broken link)
Number 155
January 7, 2002
I Just Don't Want to Die Alone
http://www.webleyweb.com/tle/libe155-20020107-03.html (broken link)
by Joel Simon
Exclusive to TLE
"Why do you do that? What would you USE it for?"
My fellow cubicle-dweller is an interesting fellow. Former Special Forces
grunt, son of a semi-famous actor. He burned out after being seriously
injured in the army, and bummed around Asia doing god-knows-what before
coming back to America. Then he bootstrapped his way to a fairly good tech
writing job at the Silicon Valley branch of a Japanese robotics company. I
feel a certain kinship with him. We've both made some serious mistakes for
which we're paying some very serious prices.
He's single; I'm divorced. He's cynical as hell and so am I. Neither of
us has many friends outside work.
I like him.
And that's why I told him how I spend most of my weekends. And that's why,
when he asked his question, I gave an honest answer. An answer he found
disturbing and offensive. I should have just shut up, or lied.
I shoot. A lot. I have, off and on, for decades. When I'm not shooting,
or working, I'm cleaning up from shooting or getting ready to shoot. When
I'm not practicing with my M1A, I practice with a .45.
Sometimes just for variety I practice with a knife. What little money I
have left after taxes, bills and child support, I spend on food and books
and reloading stuff and surplus rifle ammo. Rarely in that order.
It's not for enjoyment. I tell people (and myself) that I enjoy it all to
pieces, but the truth is I don't actually enjoy it that much. I'm hardly
Jeff Cooper, but I'm at least good enough with a handgun to give a street
mugger reason to regret his career choice. I don't hunt. I'm not planning
a life of crime. So why spend so much time on it?
That's the question my friend asked me. It's the question I used to lay
awake asking myself night after night, already knowing the answer. Along
with, "am I crazy?"
My daughter flew up from LA to visit for a week during the holiday break,
and inadvertently reinforced my reason for shooting so much. It was the
first time I'd been to an airport since the Sept. 11 hijackings. I'd
heard how much worse they'd gotten, but I still wasn't ready for what I
found there:
After buying an e-ticket online, I was required to present proof of my
identity at least three days before the flight or my daughter would not be
allowed to board.
I was forbidden to enter the short-term parking lot until I consented to
have my car searched. I didn't ask whether a cased rifle in the trunk
(legal even in California) would cause the searcher to lose sphincter
control. I just drove away unsearched and came back later.
While standing in the first of several lines in the airport, I noticed:
An Immense Machine scanning luggage for contraband, taking up space once
used to welcome passengers. I thought the large American flag that covered
it was a nice ironic touch.
A colorful illustrated sign listing the sorts of things you could be
arrested for "smuggling" onto an airplane, such as plastic cutlery,
corkscrews, and nail files.
A prominent notice that it was a federal offense not to inform the airline
of firearms in checked baggage, which would of course be discovered by the
Immense Machine. It's not, oddly enough, an offense to HAVE a firearm in
checked baggage. But to be legal, the baggage must receive a sticker that
says, in effect, "steal this bag."
When I arrived to meet my daughter's plane, I was refused permission to go
to the gate. No amount of explaining, arguing, or pleading would produce
an exception to this rule. This "protective" rule required my
barely-teenage daughter to wander alone through a busy airport concourse
until she happened to arrive at the closest location I could approach
without being shot by national guardsmen.
When my daughter and I went to the security checkpoint for her return
flight (you're allowed to escort a child to the gate, but not to pick one
up there), an unpleasant woman with a heavy accent demanded that we remove
our jackets, belts, and wallets and send them through the X-ray
machine. Some passengers were required to remove their shoes.
Venerable elderly ladies were pulled aside for (random, I think) wand
searches. One particular lady - blond, young, heart-breakingly well-built
- received particular attention. She was apparently considered too
dangerous for a mere wand search and needed to be patted down.
After I beeplessly passed through the metal detector, another woman refused
to allow me to pass until I removed my hat. She ran her hand through the
inside, very thoroughly. It's a rather old hat; I have a rather greasy
head. I do hope she enjoyed it.
I looked around and noticed the postures of the national guardsmen who
surrounded the checkpoint. You know: The ones posted at the airports to
protect us from terrorists? They faced inward. Their M-16's, slung at the
ready, were pointed at my daughter and me.
What particularly disturbed me about all this was how cheerfully my fellow
herd members received it.
We seemed to have fallen into a movie about occupied France, and it didn't
bother anyone. I wanted to shake people by the shoulders. Either I was
crazy, or everyone else in the airport was.
Later that afternoon I went to the range and burned through over 100 rounds
of .308. Just gotta get those groups smaller from the prone position.
All of which leads me back to my friend's question, and to the bleak and
offensive way I replied to it:
"I only expect to use it once," I told him.
"I fancy myself an honest man. I've never intentionally harmed an innocent
soul, and I've never stolen so much as a slice of bread even when I was
broke and hungry. I obey every law I can bring myself to, sometimes at the
cost of self-contempt. But there are some things I CAN NOT do, and someday
those things will be demanded of me. Then I'll be branded a dangerous
criminal. And someone will come for me, and I'll resist. Then the
shooting will start, and I'll likely be killed. I just don't want to die
alone."
"Are you telling me," my friend asked, "That you'd shoot some poor
pimple-faced grunt just because he was ordered to be the first one through
your door?" I recalled that my friend had earlier said that he was assigned
to "counter-terrorism" work in the Special Forces, and that his training
had more to do with breaking down doors than storming bunkers. I looked up
and met his eyes.
"I have to take the consequences of my choices," I replied, "And he has to
take the consequences of his."
I wish I could believe that the original intent of our republic can be
restored. I really do. Not long ago I re-read El Neil's and Aaron
Zelman's book Hope. I leaned back in my chair and tried to retreat into a
fantasy of what it would be like to have someone like Alexander Hope as
president, providing a way for us to restore our liberty while punishing
those guilty of stealing it from us. I just couldn't do it.
No president like that will arise. Americans won't rise up, either, even
when it's too late. In the unlikely event we do organize for revolt, we'll
lose. Since I can't imagine living in the future America I envision, I
expect to die. And when I die, I don't expect to be surrounded by
friends. So enemies will have to do. I just don't want to die alone.
some would be on the side of the goverment and some would be on the side of the patriots.
you have to remember that soldiers say the oath to protect and defend the Constitution, and they take their oaths alot more seriously than politicians do.
they mean it.
most military take a oath to the Constitution but few actually know what the Constitution stands for.They only know that they are taking a oath to defend "America" and to take orders from superiors and the president.
People in the military are no different than the people on this forum that there are different thoughts on things.While a soldier may know a illegal order when given to him and may refuse the soldiers are rarely told why to do something they are just told do it.
Some would not fire on American civilians,but some probably would because they are taking orders and are not in a position to ask why.
I would be careful even suggesting anything armed. This is the Internet but you can be reported to the FBI for what you write in a forum. So, partner I will not participate in your discussion & caution you to be thoughtful in what you write.
Hey big brother fascist FBI. Come and get me. I'm waiting...
We have a civilized society and a government that responds very easy to change without the use of any force or illegal action.
But voters, and people in general, need to get more educated on the issues, as it stands, once again issues are not making the headlines.
Voters have the ultimate power and to this date the vote has counted.
So why bother with all the hoo-rah of violence when all someone has to do is rally voters and get them to understand that yes, economic issues are much more important than gay marriage, foreign policy is much more important than if the eprson smoked dope in college 3o years ago.
Am I the only one that sees a major conflict of interest is state controlled education?
As a free people we get to vote in socialism if we want to.
well yes and no.
Democracy is a form of mob rules,the majority making doctrine on the minority.That's why we have a bill of rights and 3 branches of government to keep it in check and cancel out each other in a sense.
Just because a majority wins or a certain party is in power they don't have the authority to do "whatever they want".
Democracy is a form of mob rules,the majority making doctrine on the minority.That's why we have a bill of rights and 3 branches of government to keep it in check and cancel out each other in a sense.
Just because a majority wins or a certain party is in power they don't have the authority to do "whatever they want".
I understand your point. I doubt that socialism is unconstitutional though. If it's constitutional we can vote it in, if it's not we can't.
I'm talking socialism in the economic sense of course.
seriously. When our currency fails? When the bureaucrats socialize healthcare? When the supreme court rules the DC gun ban constitutional? When the government defaults on social security and medicare benefits? How much longer will we take violations of state's rights, private property rights, privacy rights, and our nation's sovereignty?
The founding fathers were up in arms over a small tax on imported tea. Where's the civil disobedience at? Where are the protests? Where's our Boston Tea Party? Is America too apathetic and/or spineless to make a stand? Will we submit to fascism and totalitarianism of the federal bureaucracy? Or will we rally as our founding fathers did in an effort for our God given liberty? Who will make a stand with me?
Now is indeed the time, but people are too busy watching tv e.tc..
There are always the ones that say "so what?"
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