by Max Barry

Latest Forum Topics

Advertisement

Post

Region: Capitalist Libertarian Freedom Region

Rothbardian fantasy

Once more unto the breach (or something like that)....

Reed audio wrote:

However, even here (on the issue of firearms) you say some really weird things.

For example Mr Hitler certainly did not "relax" firearm regulations in relation to JEWS - which is the point that Stephen H. and others make in relation to the National Socialist regime (that it targeted Jews to be disarmed - and then, mostly, murdered).

Okay...I've come across two different versions of this one. The first runs something like 'Hitler took away people's guns when he came to power', and is clearly factually wrong. The second is the one that you cite, which gets the historical facts right but then spoils things with a ludicrous counterfactual- that if Jews hadn't been disarmed then somehow they could've resisted the terrifying Death Machine that was the Third Reich.

Reed audio wrote:As for your comment "I don't" in relation to regarding the Second Amendment (drawn from the old British Bill of Rights of course) as important. Was that a typo? I am a terrible typist - so I am in no position to gloat if it was a typing mistake (as I most likely make a thousand typing mistakes for every one you make).

You can not seriously think that the Second Amendment is NOT important, can you?

What about the First Amendment (freedom of speech - with no small print qualifications making it meaningless, as in European Constitutions) is that not important?

No, it wasn't a typing error (although I suppose it could've been- my typing skills are pretty bad too). I'll explain what I meant in more detail.

The Second Amendment is clearly very important to a great many Americans (both pro and anti). Gun ownership is also very important to very many Americans, although you can have widespread gun ownership without the constitutional guarantee (as in Norway or Saudi Arabia). Guns are an important part of American culture, as can be seen in films, novels and so on. If private gun ownership weren't permitted, the US would be a very different place. Therefore, the Second Amendment is important in a number of ways.

However, I don't think that the 'right to bear arms' is a fundamental human right, and I don't think that the Second Amendment makes America any more or less free. As I hope I've made clear, this doesn't mean that I'm in favour of gun control. It doesn't even mean that I don't think it's an important issue- just that it isn't an important issue with respect to civil liberties.

Supporters of gun ownership sometimes claim that the 'right to bear arms' has a 'knock-on' effect in that it supports other freedoms- 'guns make you free'; 'an armed people is a free people' and so on. I have yet to see any cogent arguments that this is the case. This is another way in which the Second Amendment isn't important- it does precisely nothing to bolster important liberties, such as freedom of speech.

Reed audio wrote:I was joking about Spider Sense - I am not really Spiderman (or the grandfather of Spiderman - actually the "real father of Spiderman" is a private joke when you look up the person who actually created the character, it was not Stan Lee, it was an American Objectivist S.D.). But perhaps I should not have been joking.

You're not really Spiderman??? That's terrible news. I was hoping to rely on your superpowers to defend us all come the NS Zombie Apocalypse. I guess I'll have to ignore the whole thing instead.

Reed audio wrote:Someone who does not understand that the United States is special (exceptional) and that the survival of the West is bound up with the survival (indeed constitutional restoration) of the United States, has got a lot to learn. Although (of course) all of us have a lot to learn - I am sure there are vast areas of important knowledge of which I know nothing.

The United States is in political and cultural decline and has been for a long time.

If Britain vanished tomorrow it would be very sad (alas the world deprived of ME - how terrible, oh dear, how sad, never mind), but Western civilisation would survive. If the United States collapses the West will fall - fall into a new Dark Age or be overwhelmed by the forces of evil. The West may fall so much that it will be as if it never existed at all, the very principles themselves forgotten from the world.

That is why the United States (its survival and the struggle for its restoration - for the reversal of its decline) is exceptional - in the sense of being exceptionally important.

I've never denied that the US was exceptionally important- a corollary of its size and power (economic and military). In fact, I said as much in one of my earlier posts. What I take issue with is the idea that it's exceptionally free and/or democratic when compared to other western nations.

The US and Europe are in relative economic and military decline. India, China, Brazil and a load of other smaller countries (Turkey, South Africa, Argentina...) are rising, and this isn't going to change. Inevitably, they will have more influence on the world in future years, and America and Europe will have less. It's something that we're just going to have to get used to.

The idea that the US is in some sort of absolute (as opposed to relative) decline is much less convincing. America has changed, is changing, and will continue to change. Some of the changes are good- anti-drug laws are being eroded; homosexuality is much more accepted; the internet has enhanced the ability of individuals to express their views. Other changes are bad: government surveillance is more widespread; the rich/ poor divide has gotten a lot bigger; the internet has spread a great deal of disinformation, making crackpot views more widespread (e.g. 9/11 conspiracy theories). As for 'constitutional restoration'- I suspect that represents a desire to return to a past that was never really that pretty (Jim Crow Laws, anyone?).

To be honest, I think that you're worrying about the wrong continent. The EU is in bad bad trouble on all fronts (hubris -> nemesis); fascist-type movements are becoming more popular in many European countries; Russia has resumed its traditional role as an expansionist autocracy. In some ways the EU collapsing would be a good thing, but mainly it would result in chaos, which is almost always bad. I have a horrible feeling that the poo is going to hit the fan on this side of the Atlantic. The US, however, seems to be in much better shape.

ContextReport