comment. What, me? How did a mainstream reporter even know of my existence, and what could I possibly say about a shooting a thousand miles (and a whole world) away? But I didn?t have to ask what made him think of me.
Famous First Words
In 1996 I scrawled a pair of sentences that resonated with a lot of freedom activists.
quote:
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America is at that awkward stage.
It's too late to work within the system,
but too early to shoot the bastards.
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Since then, I've heard those words quoted thousands of times. I've watched people argue about whether it is or isn't "time." Whenever some new government abuse makes the news, someone is bound to wisecrack, "Is it time yet, Claire?" Most alarmingly, I receive occasional glassy-eyed e-mails from strangers assuring me that the instant I issue the order, my Faithful Self-Appointed Lieutenant will remove any nearby oppressors from the face of the earth. (No such orders shall be forthcoming.)
Morally, of course it's time to shoot the bastards.
Obviously, I voiced something a lot of people have been thinking about. Four years have passed since I flippantly said it's too early. Is it time yet to shoot the bastards? At least it seems time to take keyboard in hand and give a straight answer -- yes, no, maybe and whatever turns your crank.
Yes
Morally, of course it's time to shoot the bastards. It has been since long before I wrote those sentences -- before I learned my ABCs, before anybody reading this was born.
It was time the first day the first court upheld the first blatantly unconstitutional law for the sake of political expediency. It was time the first day the fedgov got the notion to use regulations or executive orders to control We the People, rather than merely the internal workings of agencies. All the abuses since - ninja raids, confiscatory taxation, rules too obscure to comprehend, bullying bureaucrats, millions imprisoned for victimless crimes, burgeoning nanny state, ever-increasing centralized control - are government gravy. The truth is, morally it's been "time" since at least Lincoln's day. And it's time now.
It was time the first day the first court upheld the first blatantly unconstitutional law for the sake of political expediency.
It's past time, since all those earlier Americans failed to get out the tar, the feathers or the M1 Garands because they were too quiescent, or too persuaded that justice would prevail. Or because -- like us -- they valued due process and knew the chaos that disregard for it could bring. Or because -- like us -- they feared the personal consequences. Or because -- like us -- they weren't ever sure whether that moment was the right moment.
Whenever it becomes impossible to get justice or have freedom "within the system" of course it's morally right to fight back. Even Gandhi recognized that, saying:
"He who cannot protect himself or his nearest and dearest or their honor by non-violently facing death, may and ought to do so by violently dealing with the oppressor. He who can do neither of the two is a burden."