Happy Independence Day to all, But Platt, you give too much primacy to the military in enforcing the ideals of our freedom.
Values, is the binding force of a community or a nation, and the military or police should enforce or defend the laws of history according to those values; never in isolation or in its own self-interest. Thats what Pirsig meant. Before the battle is fought and after the dead are buried, the rest of us are the ones who have to live with the consequences of what we do. The soldier, with great respect, is only one of us doing our biding. Best regards Khoo Hock Aun On Sun, Jul 5, 2009 at 8:26 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi All, > > In the U.S. today we're celebrating the birth of our nation as documented > in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. During the day > I was reminded of Pirsig's prophetic words in Lila: > > "All the laws of history, all the arguments, all the Constitutions and > the Bills of Rights and Declarations of Independence are nothing more > than instructions to the military and police. If the military and police > can't > or don't follow these instructions properly they might as well have never > been written." (Lila, 24) > > What prompted me to remember this passage was the following from > our local paper today: > > Freedom Isn't Free > > It is the veteran not the preacher who has given us freedom of > religion. > > It is the veteran not the reporter who has given us freedom of the > press. > > It is the veteran not the poet who has given us freedom of speech. > > It is the veteran not the community organizer who has given us > freedom to assemble. > > It is the veteran not the lawyer who has given us a right to a free trial. > > It is the veteran not the politician who has given us the right to vote. > > > To many Americans and others around the world, past and present, > the values described above are the highest values of all. To ensure their > continuance our military and police risk their lives every day. To me that > is the meaning of the 4th. > > Regards, > Platt > > > > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ > -- [email protected] 6016-301 4079 Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
