J'Accuse

There has been a lot of criticism of LewRockwell.com on FreeRepublic, an ostensibly conservative discussion site. Much good comes out of that site, including excellent coverage of the latest war. Patriotism is considered de rigueur there and many of those who post are quite conversant with the constitution.

Others have never heard of it. LRC is referred to by some Freepers as a "blame America first" site. They are correct in supposing that LRC writers including myself are not gushing over the Republican Party. It is flawed thinking however, to suppose that we are by default, supporters of the left and are not patriotic.

I’m tired of taking this on the chin, and for several reasons. First, I was myself fighting communists when many of these guys were potty training. I’ve seen Communism up close and personal – with me it’s not just dislike of a political system – it’s hatred for a devilish secular heresy and yes, I believe this heresy, this dreadful murderous communism has come to America.

Giving a blank check to government is the quickest way to find ourselves under the shadow of the gulag and that won’t be pretty. I base this conclusion on a consistent pattern of government support for policies that harm America.

So I’m firing back with an accusation or two of my own and for reasons that should be obvious I chose to title this after the famous case from the end of the nineteenth century where the French government protected itself by blaming an innocent man for an act of treason committed by another man, a man who was in government. They were afraid it would make the government look bad. What could be worse?

That innocent man, Alfred Dreyfus, was falsely accused of treason, and wrongly convicted and sent to Devil’s Island. A guilty man went free because of his support for a corrupt government. A writer named Emile Zola made this a cause celebre when he wrote J’Accuse, an indictment of the government – ultimately Dreyfus was released, but not before Zola was accused of libel and spent ten years in exile. Justice was not the issue – Zola had dared to question the government and government had chosen Dreyfus as a scapegoat which was to have been the end of the story in their minds.

Lets consider the issues and use the facts to consider if government deserves our unswerving support.

Government most certainly did not make America great. We are, or were, great because of what we as Americans did, what we built and produced, and what we believed. We as a people were fairly devout and honored God, family and country. We worked hard and earned money that we kept for our own families. When the government clinched its fist against the Southern states there was a fringe benefit – the income tax. American no longer had control over their own finances. World War I, that least necessary of wars, sealed the tax in gold and FDR brought us the glory of income tax withholding. Nixon took us off the gold standard without so much as a "by your leave." Are we truly free when these people can take our money and use it to finance an agenda of which we do not approve? Is it unpatriotic to state the facts?

At this point in time we are in a bad recession and a war simultaneously – Yet this recession would be over if government would stop stealing our income, and that the war would be over if we would start hitting the real targets. We are not living the dream the founders had for us – it has turned to a nightmare.

I’m supposed to unconditionally support the government whose school system teaches about homosexual perversion as natural but declines to teach American history. I didn’t make this up – it’s your government folks – I start complaining when you question my patriotism because I don’t support this kind of nonsense.

Thanks to Planned Parenthood, NOW, and other extremist hate groups, our society, encouraged by government muscle, slaughters over a million babies a year. Our schools have drugged over half, yes that’s half, of the male children that attend. The teacher’s unions, who just happen to own the Democratic Party, are a treasonous cultural Marxist organization and we have surrendered our children to their tender care.

We are often reminded that it is remiss to criticize government in time of war. What has government done with it’s freedom to strike at will?

In the Persian Gulf War we had the spectacle of US troops replacing the gold faucets on the Kuwaiti Royal Family’s bath tub while acting as security guards for George Bush I and his oil buddies but where was the threat to American security?

They lured the Kurdish resistance to Sadaam Hussein out in to the open with calls from Bush to "rise up against the tyrant." Bush then allowed Sadaam to slaughter them with his gunship helicopters. Meantime, we’re flying operations Iraq for violating the no-fly zone and have kept it up for ten years. It is just me? Can’t you see this is not only wrong but downright stupid?

Next stop Serbia where Christians were bombed to protect Islamic terrorists and drug dealers – people whom the government has characterized as our enemies and enemies of freedom it self. We still have soldiers in Yugoslavia protecting these bums as they purge Kosovo of Serbians – even though we supposedly went there originally because of the horrors of ethnic cleansing! All this murder and then it turns out there was no holocaust, no rape camps – it was all propaganda. I’m unpatriotic because I don’t fall for these shameful lies?

Our government has been playing patty cake with these terrorists for years. As of three months before nine one one they sent hundreds of millions of our money to the Taleban and have yet to be called on it. They are now bombing the heck out of that same Taleban without comment on the former support extended to them. It’s unpatriotic we’re told, to bring that up.

We at lewRockwell.com have never suggested that the perpetrators of nine one one should get anything but grief. Somehow though, I keep asking myself what bombing Kabul did to further that endeavor? We did after all know about the camps and caves where the Al Qaeda organization could be found. Isn’t the shortest distance between two points a straight line? Not here in never never land.

According to WorldNetDaily.com our willingness to placate our "ally" Pakistan may have allowed bin Laden to escape with hundreds if not thousands of his terrorist gangsters. We heard on TV that Pakistan pulled out it’s own nationals who were fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan while the US unilaterally ceased fire. That’s weird enough for one war but wait there’s more: Al Qaeda may have taken full advantage of this cease fire to get out of Dodge but I’ll let you judge how true this is.

Our one "honest" politician, John McCain, explained on CNN that we had to fight expand the terror war and attack Sadaam Hussein or he would harm Israel. Excuse me, but since when is Israel a part of the United States?

I for one have supported Israel for a long time and that time is about over. Allies that involve us in constant warfare, such as England and Israel, are classic examples of silly Americans propping up socialist countries who want nothing more than to have us under their thumb. Their own cultures live on a thin edge since their socialist systems do not work without somebody to prop them up. Do you like supplying the cash and the shooters for a bunch of socialists? I don’t like it – not even a little bit.

We know with absolute surety that the WTC was taken down by Muslim extremists, mostly Saudis. Yet the "evidence" tape so widely touted by the government turns out to have been "doctored" to avoid embarrassing our Saudi "friends." They are not my friends so whom can they be talking about? And why are the thugs at the airport shaking down granny when they know damn well that seventy five year old white women have no terrorist connections?

Meantime, back at Propaganda Central we are deluged with pro-Muslim nonsense and horrified by having Ramadan celebrated at the White House. Did they ask you if we wanted to become a "multi-cultural" country or did they just decide unilaterally to destroy that nasty old Western European Christian heritage? A heritage by the way that has provided a safety net for minorities for several centuries.

Worldwide, where there are a lot of Muslims there is war and social disorder. And I wonder every day why my government has brought six million of them here to my country, where they are more apt to water down our existing culture than assimilate.

How about government support for the UN? Do the right wing conservatives who are clapping their hands each time new "smart" bomb film is released to the networks wonder why the government is selling our national sovereignty down the tubes to that bunch of clowns in their Halloween costumes? Our government pays most of the bills for an organization that wishes to destroy our sovereignty, and uses our money to do it.

Have you wondered why this government which you claim it is treason to oppose, has failed to defend your borders against one of the largest mass migrations in history? Or do you like having eight million illegal aliens living next door to you?

Do you wonder why George Bush has refused to investigate the crimes of the most despicable criminal to ever hold office, his predecessor?

The reason folks, is simple. The Republicans are up to their necks in it. It’s not about some individual – it is the apparatus. We have a huge government system staffed by people who have an agenda other than ours.

The Constitutional Republic has been stolen out from under us, and much of this conservative posturing is based on wishful thinking. I understand all too well how good it would feel to believe in the Republic again but pretending we are still the America of old is a form of denial. If we want America back we have a lot of work to do and we need to start thinking straight.

I accuse the American conservative movement of capitulating to the neo-cons and giving a despotic government a free pass to give our constitution the coup de grace and create the warfare state they have been longing for. Israel’s cause is now our cause – even though several hundred Israeli intelligence operatives are still being detained in the wake of the WTC attack – some of them arrested before 911 and some immediately after. Here is a link http://www.antiwar.com/justin/justincol.html.

So let me return to FreeRepublic.com and note that virtually every fact I’ve stated here has been stated there. Yet for some at least of the Freepers, there is a serious disconnect somewhere between getting the information and processing it. Some of those folks, and many conservatives nationwide, fail to draw the conclusions that are supported by the facts. We can not trust this government, we should not trust them, and we are running out of time where that will matter because there will be no recourse.

These same folks fuss about gun control – do they think Sadaam Hussein is the one imposing that upon us? Perhaps ATF is part of the "elite" Republican Guard about whom we once heard so much. Or was it those nasty Chinese? Did Osama Bin Laden frame an American citizen for a murder he did not commit – or was that the FBI?

That same FBI which conservatives wish to empower to work in even more secrecy is the one that did that. This violates common sense – it is down right pathological that any one could support those people.

I accuse American conservatives of shortsightedness, and of a lazy man’s approach to patriotism. Some of you seem to view the culture war as the media against us and our protector, George Bush. I should think by now you’d have worked through the connection between government and media. They share an agenda, they are implementing it and we are straining at gnats while swallowing some mighty big camels.

I accuse American conservatives of taking the easy way out – it’s fun to shout "Rah Rah" when the terrorists get a bomb on their heads – I like it myself. But to pretend that this government should get our unequivocal support is a dangerous fantasy. Just ask your child if he is allowed to mention the "C" word in his government school. You know – "Christmas?" Chances are he is not. That wasn’t some foreign aggressor who foisted the cultural Marxist agenda on our taxpayer-supported schools. Who is the real "enemy of freedom itself," if not those who are destroying it systematically?

I accuse Southern American conservatives of tolerating disrespect for your ancestors and your heritage, collaboration with a wicked and heathen occupier and abandoning your God given task of being the conscience of this Republic. If I am wrong – then explain to me why the flag of the Confederacy no longer flies in America? There was a time when even Northerners stood up for the flag, which as a shared memory had helped re-unite us after the War Between the States. Now the cultural cleansing is in full gear and our shame is that it has been successful.

I accuse conservative Christians of pursuing aims like the support of Israel and the Drug War which have hastened the collapse of our Republic. Blue Laws made it clear to everyone in America that you can pressure government to impose your will on other people. You have put social agenda ahead of the Gospel and your personal politics over the intent of the Republic. Time spent in pursuit of political goals from a pulpit is time stolen from Christ and His Gospel. Let the laymen handle it. To the American soldiers who in the midst of all this insanity, are doing an ugly job that has to be done, I salute you all and wish you a Merry Christmas – and particularly Captain Larry and his Marines, and Major Kirk and his MPs. They are in Cuba and Kuwait respectively and they deserve better backup than they are getting from us. They are prepared to die for our freedom – shouldn’t we at least fight for it too, here on the home front? To the enemies of freedom, and of Western Culture, I wish you confusion and despair, that you might see the error of your ways and we might be protected from the horrors you are unleashing upon us. I pray that God will fill you with His grace that you might have eyes to see and find true repentance and the joy of His salvation.

And finally, to the folks who murdered those people in New York – I hope that Santa comes down the chimney soon…

Mr. Peirce fought with the Rhodesian freedom fighters (the Ian Smith side, of course).

Kinda funny timing, given that with the slow collapse of the Kibbutz system, the rise of the Likud over the labor party and the arrival of a number of more market-inclined immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Israel is less socialist than it ever has been and continues to move in a free market direction.

I'm sorry. Just where were the Taliban's government offices?

Seriously, I dislike the Marxist teachers unions, the IRS, and the rest of the statist bureaucratic religion, as much as Michael Peirce. But one of the legitimate roles of the federal government is national defense. The U.S. was attacked and the U.S. responded. Just because I think the U.S. government is doing a good job in its legitimate role doesn't mean I'm giving it "unequivocal support" in all areas.

If it weren't for the fact that "Celtjew Libertarian" matches my realworld initials, I'd be about ready to drop the "Libertarian," in favor of "Individualist."

"No, I post because they have something to say which at least some freepers might want to hear."

It would be a shame to see FR become a "rah-rah" site for the GOP. Believe it or not, there are those who probably love this country as much as anyone who do have differing viewpoints. As much as Geo. W. Bush is an improvement over scumbag Xlinton (and he IS), it still should not be considered "unpatriotic" to criticize policies his administration is pursuing. After all, are we not still considered a "constitutional republic" and not a monarchy?

Some good points were made in the article, such as this one:

"Next stop Serbia where Christians were bombed to protect Islamic terrorists and drug dealers – people whom the government has characterized as our enemies and enemies of freedom it self. We still have soldiers in Yugoslavia protecting these bums as they purge Kosovo of Serbians – even though we supposedly went there originally because of the horrors of ethnic cleansing! All this murder and then it turns out there was no holocaust, no rape camps – it was all propaganda. I’m unpatriotic because I don’t fall for these shameful lies?"

Why are we in Sebia, anyway?

I like to hear all points of view. This is one of the benefits of living in a country where we still can. As far as refuting most of the concerns of people that are worried about the loss of our liberties, I can't in good conscience, say they are wrong.

I see more encroachment on our freedoms all the time. This has been an incremental thing, similar to the advances made by socialism.

The thing that worries me most, though, is the self-inflicted censorship that a lot of people do in the form of criticism without questioning facts or arguments to support their criticism.

The chicken herd mentality that has given us hate crime legislation and regulations against profiling has had its effect on our entire population.

I commend you, Ada, for any article you wish to bring and support the concept of: You provide, I'll decide.

I haven't seen any movement to free market since Bibi was kicked out. He tried not only to move away socialism but also away from being a US client state. We didn't like that and sent snakehead over to fix it.

I'm sorry. Just where were the Taliban's government offices?

What did the Taliban have to do with 911? I thought al Qaeda was the chief suspect and Usama was their prophet.

Only problem is that the Afghans didn't attack us. Saudis did.

If it weren't for the fact that "Celtjew Libertarian" matches my realworld initials, I'd be about ready to drop the "Libertarian," in favor of "Individualist."

The Libbies seems to be in disarry. About the only thing they agree on is drugs, which is ungood.

What did the Taliban have to do with 911? I thought al Qaeda was the chief suspect and Usama was their prophet.

The Taliban have been working with and protecting al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Only problem is that the Afghans didn't attack us. Saudis did.

Only problem is the Saudis who attacked us were headquartered in Afghanistan with the Afghanistani government protecting them.

No, you're posting this because you think that everyone on Freerepublic should have the same mindset as Peirce. What enriches Freerepublic is the diversity of opinion. What I resent is being told how to think by someone who has been richly and deservedly criticized on FR.

Well, lets make a deal. I won't tell you what to think if you won't tell me what to think :-)

While the article makes some good points, it shares a common characteristic of the material from the Rockwell site: shrill stridency.

I'm a libertarian (non-party: been there, done that, dressed the wounds and moved on), and I find that I'm much more conservative than most people, including most Freepers, who call themselves conservatives. Conservatism, of course, isn't a political posture but a high respect for that which has been proved to work, and a healthy skepticism toward panaceas presented in a flurry of hype. A panacea can be an idea, a process, a person or a party. Those who look to any of these for salvation from our political and social difficulties are accepting the short end of a big bet.

I'd thought I'd find some commonality of values here, including the traditional conservative emphasis on politeness, but much of what I see suggests that, as on the Left, a lot of folks on the Right aren't really interested in discussing anything with anyone. Either agree with them, or get out.

If I could wish for one thing for the coming year, it would be a nationwide restoration of civility: the determination to maintain high standards of courtesy even under conditions of disagreement, and to snub those who flout those standards. That wouldn't be a panacea either, but at least it would lower the volume enough that those of us who'd like to talk about our differences of opinion would have a chance to do so.

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit the Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com

Thanks for posting this here. Don't pay too much attention to the danes and catspaw's on this site and their loathing for anything not FR. It gets rather funny when you can tell by the jist of an article, who will post replies and what venom they'll spew forth before you even get down that far on the page. Want to irritate these sorts?, keep posting articles such as this one and their venom will flow. Post anything that slights the percieved "Right" and duck for cover.
Live Free or Die. Blackbird.

Only problem is the Saudis who attacked us were headquartered in Afghanistan with the Afghanistani government protecting them.

The Taliban were funded by OBL and his supporters to the tune of at least $100 million, to impose their rigid interpretation of Islam upon the country, and to train a multinational core of al Qaeda members, some of which stayed in Afghanistan (the "Arab" Afghanis) and some of which went back to their countries of origin or other countries from which they could plan, and in some cases, unleash their terrorism across the world.

The relationship between OBL & al Qaeda and the Taliban was symbiotic.

Let the crazy man rant and slowly, carefully make your way out of the room. Don't make any sudden motions and be ready to fend off an attack. When you have cleared the room, close the door, turn the key and push the bolt shut. Then notify the someone on the staff.

It's not that Pierce is wrong about everything. It's that his rant throws together so many different things in such a cockamamie mess, that it's hard to know where to begin, or how to respond.

The Rockwellite is defined by being against a lot of things. Maybe he's right in being against some of them, most of them, or all of them. It's not clear that it adds up to a coherent philosophy, policy or approach. And throwing everything that one's against up on the page isn't any recipe for a coherent article, either. A crazy man can do some harm to good causes. As with so many Rockwell articles, this one has exactly the opposite effect to what the author probably intended.

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