Oftentimes, you have to take your political allies where you can find them.
Example: I’ve given up on big-L Libertarianism. The people of this country have had 30 years to get to know the Libertarians, and the results have been about the same as the pimply-faced Chess Club geek askng the Homecoming Queen out for an evening of Dungeons and Dragons.
Doctrinaire Libertarians can keep slamming their foreheads against the wall if they like. Me, I choose — like the much more successful Green Party — to pick up allies on an issue-by-issue basis. And — unlike the Greens — to always have an eye on liberty and victory.
Distasteful? Oftentimes, yes. Successful? Sometimes. Which is about as often as anyone can hope for success in politics.
In this new World War we’re in, there are four camps. Nice guy that I am, I’ve provided easy-to-remember labels from them, and I’ll list them in order from left to right:
“It’s all about OIILLLL.”
“Terror War OK, Iraq War bad.”
“Never surrender.”
“Nuke’em all, and don’t let even God sort’em out.”
It’s a simplistic list, sure. Some people nuance-istically straddle two (or more) groups. You’ll find me in the Never Surrender camp, but it’s hard not to respect folks in the group just above (and to the left) of mine. While I think they’re mistaken, at least they seem to understand that there is a real war on. The two extremes piss me off.
The Left extreme, for reasons I’ve gone into again and again. So many times, and in so many ways, that I won’t even bother linking to my own posts on the subject. Readers here, whether they agree or not, already understand.
And while I usually believe, as I said, in taking allies where you can find them. . .
. . . allow me right now, definitively, to disassociate myself from the Right extreme, too. Here’s what got me ranting:
A national Islamic antidefamation organization called Friday for the firing of Boston talk-radio host Jay Severin after he allegedly suggested in his afternoon talk show that the United States should “kill all Muslims.”
The statement — made during Severin’s show Thursday on WTKK-FM — was allegedly part of a discussion about how Severin believes Muslims want to take over the world, said Rabiah Ahmed, a spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
She said he then remarked, “I’ve got an idea, let’s kill all Muslims.”
I’ve got an idea, let’s hand out Boeing 737 training manuals to al Qaeda, and give them free box cutters, too.
Severin is just one of many Not Ready for Prime Time radio hosts. But in the comments section here, I’ve seen his type almost every day. And if what I’m about to say insults you, then so be it.
The people who agree with Severin are the same people who think:
We can close our borders without losing our freedoms.
We somehow have the military might to reshape and reform the entire Muslim world.
Nuclear weapons can be tossed around like so many bottle rockets.
It’s high time to bring back the draft.
National security always trumps individual liberty.
Islam is a bastard religion.
What do all of these thoughts have in common? Disdain. Disdain for human life, for human liberty, and for the few things left in this nation still worth defending.
Want to nuke every enemy? Go to hell.
Want to be the cause of a Holocaust greater than Hitler’s? Go to hell.
Want to enforce your religious beliefs on other people, just because they’re different? Go to hell.
Want to end what America is, just to keep where it is? Go to hell.
Allies like those, I don’t need and I don’t want.
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