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FROM MOUNTAIN MEDIA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED FEB. 24, 2002
THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz
'The blaze of truth and liberty may at first dazzle and bewilder ...'
In response to my Feb. 10 column, "Airline security and my 'attack on
free enterprise,' " in which I answered those who contend air travel in
this nation is still a "free market" industry by threatening to start
selling stock in Air Ganja (the nation's only all-armed, all-smoking
airline), my friend Rabbi Reuven Mermelstein of Jews for the Preservation
of Firearms Ownership wrote in:
"Hi, Vin: Rolling on the floor laughing at the thought of chaos at 35,000
feet as
a cabin loaded with loaded pot and hash smokers smokes each other during
the melee of attempting to smoke one terrorist!
"Nice try, though. I may bill you for new keyboard, as I dumped coffee
all over this one while in the throes of hysterical, body wracking
merriment. :-) You're the best in the journalism business, though I
suspect you could turn your talent into a regular (and more lucrative)
routine at any hotel in Vegas. ...
"Best regards and keep 'em coming ...
# # #
I replied:
Hi -- Actually, I suspect a more likely response might well be, "What, he
wants to go to Cuba? Heyyyy, Cuba's pretty this time of year. Far out,
dude."
Which is why we just (start ital)might(end ital) want to seat the
amphetamine and cocaine users up in First Class, instead. :-)
More seriously though, my model -- adults could legally possess and use
any drug (up to and including cocaine and opium) and carry any weapon --
held true on every train and stagecoach in this country from the 1600s
right up through the 1930s, and guns could be freely carried on all our
aircraft well into the 1960s -- I've spoken to hunters who remember how
helpful the stewardesses could be in helping them stow their hunting rifles
in the overhead bins, with no concerns about whether they had cartridges in
their pockets.
So, if wild gunfights are the necessary or likely outcome of "allowing"
such liberties ... why are the histories of this nation not full of such
accounts? Why did foreign visitors both before and after de Toqueville find
this one of the most peaceful nations on earth -- reporting how astonishing
it was that an unescorted young woman could travel the length of the wild
and wooly Mississippi river without the slightest fear of being accosted.
Again, recall that it was (start ital)perfectly legal(end ital) for every
traveler she encountered to be in possession of both a bottle of tincture
of opium and a loaded pistol ... nor is there any evidence that this
conjunction was rare -- opium and marijuana were the most commonly sold and
prescribed medicines in all western nations for centuries.
Might it be that instead of assuming, "Some armed federal cop or marshal
will take care of it; that's his job" (as many correspondents are now
advising me on this very issue) the average American figured, "Dammit, I'm
armed, and I'm going to take care of this. Dare to insult a woman in the
presence of (start ital)gentlemen(end ital), will he?"
Once we start picking and choosing which God-given rights we shall allow
the government to turn into "conditional privileges ... just apply for your
license and permit and pay your fee" ... those bureaucrats have the
darndest habit of eventually getting around to limiting the very right
(start ital)we(end ital) cherish most. And by then, as the Rev. Niemoller
warned us, there may be "no one left to speak up."
Yes, to our modern ears, a description of true freedom sounds bizarre,
foreign and frightening. My, what a good job our government schoolmarms
have done! But as the abolitionist Macaulay advised:
"There is only one cure for evils which newly-acquired freedom produces,
and that cure is freedom. When a prisoner first leaves his cell, he cannot
bear the light of day, he is unable to discriminate colors, or recognize
faces. The remedy is, to accustom him to the rays of the sun. The blaze of
truth and liberty may at first dazzle and bewilder nations which have
become half blind in the house of bondage. But let them gaze on, and they
will soon be able to bear it ...
"Many politicians of our time are in the habit of laying it down as a
self-evident proposition, that no people ought to be free till they are fit
to use their freedom. This maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story,
who resolved not to go in the water till he head learned to swim. If men
are to wait for liberty till they become wise and good in slavery, they may
indeed wait forever."
Do you mean to argue that today's populace, accustomed to having the
nanny state tend to their needs but not to being held accountable for their
actions, can no longer be trusted to know how and when to use drugs? Then
how would you refute those who say that today's Americans -- like the happy
but irresponsible black folk stereotyped by Mr. Macaulay's opponents -- can
no longer be trusted with the use of weapons?
Best Wishes ...
Vin Suprynowicz is assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas
Review-Journal. For information on his monthly newsletter, "Privacy Alert,"
or on his latest book, "The Ballad of Carl Drega," write Privacy Alert, 561
Keystone Ave., Suite 684, Reno, NV 89503 -- or dial 775-348-8591.
Vin Suprynowicz, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved,
as a rule the majority are wrong. The minority are right." -- Eugene V.
Debs (1855-1926)
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and
thus clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an endless series
of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." -- H.L. Mencken
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"They that would give up essential liberty for a little temporary safety
deserve neither
liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin 1759
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