In today’s New York Times, Bill Clinton once again tries to tie the Oklahoma City bombing to those of us who hold “the belief that the greatest threat to American freedom is our government, and that public servants do not protect our freedoms, but abuse them.”
Of course he sort of proves those of us who do believe such things right by continually using April 19 to tie us to a deranged murderer instead of acknowledging, taking some responsibility for, or expressing any remorse whatsoever for another anniversary we observe today: the Clinton administration’s slaughter of 76 people, including 20 children, at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco. Waco gets all of a sentence in Clinton’s op-ed.
Wow. Bill should have checked his calendar a more closely before hitting the "send" key on that one.
Clinton's NYT OpEd is nothing more than the latest step in the administration's opposition demonization program: The Tea Party protesters are all racists. Opposition to The Obamessiah is unpatriotic. How could you dare say that you want the President to fail. If you oppose The Teleprompter Jesus, you're encouraging irresponsible behavior.
Well, good luck to 'em. They're going to need it. Here's something else from Balko's site: A Pew Research survey that goes all the way back to Ike. It charts the level of "trust in government".
As a libertarian, of course, you want to see this line dipping on down into the single digits until government is trusted with nothing more than roads, sewers, protecting the borders, and selling raffle tickets for their annual fund-raiser.
Back to Balko. Here's are his closing paragraphs:
The thing is, Mr. Former President, if I may address you directly, is there are far too may public servants who, as you put it, “do not protect our freedoms, but abuse them.” I document them every day on this site. And so despite your admonition, I will continue to criticize them for it. And when, for example, they out and out murder innocent people in the name of a senseless, wasteful, and fundamentally illiberal policy (a policy, incidentally, that you enthusiastically support, despite your admission that you yourself have broken the country’s drug laws), I’ll go ahead and, to borrow your word, demonize them for it.
And you know what? I won’t feel the slightest tinge of guilt about doing so. Nor will I feel the least bit of responsibility for acts of anti-government violence, past or future, even when they’re committed in the name of one or more ideas I might otherwise endorse.
Because fundamentally and categorically, I repudiate the use of force and violence to impose my beliefs, political philosophy, or policy preferences on other people. Until you can say the same thing, Mr. Former President (and we both know you can’t), you can spare me your goddamned lecture.
1 comment:
Of course distrust of government is healthy and good for America, as we both know. But I wonder if the population of these polls thought (or if the questioning went like) - "I distrust the government to do all of those things, like regulating the economy, or creating jobs and bombing enough Arabs to keep us safe." I think many people distrust the government and are looking for that 2,329 page Bill to pass that puts an awesome all encompassing program that will do all of the above and restore America's faith IN GOVERNMENT.
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