Placing Faith

I didn't watch the Presidential candidates debates, nor do I plan to watch them in the future. I have seen snippets of them, tho. It's virtually impossible to avoid them these days when you visit a libertarian site or blog. Someone is sure to have a link, an embedded video or the like, touting the victories of the the "libertarian" Republican candidate Ron Paul and his opponents.

It's practically a love fest on the part of many folks. Sure, he's less distasteful than Adolf Rudy Giuliani, Tom Tancredo or Floppy McRomney and he says things that many libertarians agree with. In the end, tho I cannot help but think that he wants to rule from the White House throne just as much as the others. Perhaps he would be a more benevolent ruler, (if he had more than a snowflakes chance in Hell of being elected), than the other candidates from the right or left sides of the aisle, but he wishes to be a ruler nonetheless.

I cannot help but envision the Paul Presidency, should it somehow be allowed to occur. It would be one of impotency, for the most part. Congress and the Courts would block everything coming from his executive branch. He would undoubtedly block most things coming from the Congress, but would likely find that he faced a united, bipartisan front from both sides of the Boot On Your Neck Party. His vetoes would be overturned on a regular basis by the powers that be, setting records that would keep the folks at Guinness busy for years. There would certainly be no return to a Constitutional form of government, (no matter what his vociferous followers think), that will never be allowed to transpire.

For the faithful out there Dr. Paul is a candle in the gathering darkness and they are flocking to his light in the hope that something will come of their efforts. Struggling against the darkness is natural, but futile in this case. If it instills some modicum of hope in them, for the short time he is allowed to call himself a Republican candidate, then I wish them the best in their endeavours. While hope is said to spring eternal in the human breast it is also said that we should put not our faith in rulers, regardless of how benevolent they may seem.

It's past time that we began to create our own lights in the gathering darkness. Therein lies our best and brightest hope.

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Ron Paul, Libertarian, Hope

Gone And Soon To Be Forgotten

While I'm not doing a happy dance, I am certainly not saddened by the news that Jerry Falwell has at last parted this mortal coil. For too many years we had to continuously hear the vitriol issue forth from this theocratic totalitarians mouth. Here we have...had...a person who would have gleefully watched as gay and lesbian Americans were marched off to camps. Non-Judeo Christian faiths would have followed closely in their footsteps, no doubt. He would have liked nothing more than to see this country turned into an American theocracy, with hand picked Christian politicians at the helm. A world in which we would be told what to watch, read, listen to and believe by "true believers" would have been his preferred world.

The sad and frightening part is that he wielded more than enough influence to walk the halls of power in Washington, DC and influenced a great many people in the Boot On Your Neck Party, regardless of which side of the aisle they stood on. We will likely still be feeling the effects of this man's political meddling for many, many years to come. Falwell, his Republicrat allies and his followers have shaped the modern form of the right side of the BOYN Party, much to the detriment of those who truly love liberty and freedom. Falwell, his movement and his followers are largely responsible for the current political landscape being inflicted upon us.

Now that the head of the serpent has been removed we shall have to see where we go. Will we see a demise of the religious rightist movement, at last? A move away from theocracy and Christian fundamentalist inspired politics? We can only hope. Politics is a nasty business, at best. Mixing it in with Millenarianism makes it vastly more dangerous and distasteful.

Nehemiah Scudder has left the room and we are all a little better off for it.

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Libertarian, Jerry Falwell, Politics

The Government Moves Fast

When it wishes to, that is. It looks as if Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Knight is going to be discharged again. In what appears to be a retaliatory move for speaking out about being gay and being recalled to service in the US Navy the US Navy has announced that they are now going to "fire" him for being gay.

WASHINGTON, DC – The United States Navy has informed Petty Officer Second Class Jason Knight that it intends to fire him under the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law just weeks prior to completing his one-year commitment. Knight, an openly gay sailor, was recalled to active duty in June 2006 and recently completed a tour of duty in Kuwait, where he was open about his sexual orientation with his command and fellow sailors. Knight told his story last weekend in the newspaper Stars & Stripes and was notified yesterday that he will be receiving an honorable discharge from the Navy based, in part, on his recent media interviews. Knight was scheduled to end his commitment on May 28, 2007, but will face early dismissal because he chose to go public about his experience.

This is a sad commentary on the US military and their stance towards gay and lesbian Americans, but shows without doubt the ability of the military to move quickly when they're being shown up. If FEMA had been able to respond even a fraction as quickly as the Pentagon did in this case, the the government response to the devastation of the Gulf Coast would be a distant memory by now.

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Libertarian, Iraq, Gay Rights

Don't Ask, Do Tell?

Well, it looks like the powers that be in the Pentagon are so desperate for warm bodies that they are recalling people to duty whom they have previously discharged for being gay.

On his wedding night in July 2004, then-Petty Officer 3rd Class Jason Knight finally accepted a truth he had fought against for years: he was gay.

Almost immediately, he moved to get his marriage annulled. He apologized to the woman he’d married. And when it came time to explain his changing circumstances to the Navy, he left nothing out. Under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, he was quickly discharged from the service.

But now — whether through a clerical oversight or what some claim is an unwritten change in policy to keep more gay servicemembers in the ranks at a time of war — Jason Knight is back on active duty.

How bad must things be in the military that this is occurring? Under normal circumstances I would applaud the decision the allow any gay member of the services to be allowed to serve, (if they wished), but given the current state of affairs in the military this should be cause for concern. Obviously things have deteriorated to the point where the Pentagon is blatantly violating their own regulations in order to meet manpower needs. There can be little doubt that this, combined with other recent events such as lowering standards for admission into the services is a strong indicator that things are much worse than we might have thought. Things are likely to become much worse.

Mr. Knight likes being in the Navy and hopes he can stay beyond his 365 day recall, but the spectre of a return to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" discharges hangs like the Sword of Damocles over his head. As a now openly gay member of the military he serves at the pleasure of those above him. While we may hope that this does signal a change to a more enlightened and liberty oriented policy, the reality is likely a symbol of the continuing degradation of the US military in Iraq. Hopefully, Mr. Knight will see his dream come true and he will be the first of many openly gay soldiers and sailors who will get to serve out their terms. My most fervent wish is that they get to do so in a new peacetime force, far from the fields of war.

Technorati Tags:
Libertarian, Gay Rights, Iraq, Iraq War