Examining the Freak Show . . .

[redcliffsw]

American government has become a collection of sordid and dangerous clowns. It was not always thus.
-Fred Reed

Read on:
https://fredoneverything.org/pussy-john-bolton-and-his-codpiece-mustache-examining-the-freak-show/

[Wake-up!]

Fred Reed, the author of this hit piece, seems to have forgotten. The piece has a fun little title, and I was expecting an expose of the demonic state on both sides of the aisle. Fred seems to have forgotten he purports to be a Libertarian. Or, at the very least the most read libertarian website embraces everything Fred writes.

He criticizes Trump and Bolton for being draft dodgers. And blames Bush the Younger for hiding away in the National Guard, as if that were not serving. Like thousands of teens in the sixties and seventies, present company included, Libertarians are generally not supportive of a military draft. That is because Libertarians do not believe in the use of coercion.

Fred, remember what the draft was. It was Uncle Sam holding a gun to the head of a teenager and saying, "Boy, you ARE going to serve. The choice is yours, Boy. You serve in the military, or you serve in federal prison". Now there is a choice. Isn't it reasonable that some of those "Boys' said screw you and refused to be drafted? Found legal ways to avoid serving? Also found illegal ways? Why should that be held against them? If we assign bravery to men facing the killing fields of war, can we not also assign bravery to those who resisted the draft, who were brave enough to deny the government its position of coercion? And accept the consequences? Why are you granting the military state the higher moral ground, Fred? That is not something Libertarians do. Maybe your passionate, emotional displeasure of Trump et. al. has carried you away from rationality.

And if we assign adjectives like coward, pussy, and chicken to draft dodgers, is not also fair to assign the adjective 'idiot', or at least 'knucklehead', to those who went to the killing fields and were pawns of the military-industrial State (present company included)? For what objectives and American values did servicemen die in Vietnam, and the Middle East? To protect us here at home? Don't make me laugh, Fred.

And Fred, what is with your emotional diatribe against Trump? You sound like an Antifa Democrat. You sound like CNN. Granted, he is a narcissist. Can you name a President since JFK that was not? I can name only one, Jimmy Carter. So, Trump is a (real estate) con man because he used legal loopholes in permitting and banking regulations to make money? That's a con artist? I say not. The con is ALL the federal regulations government uses to stifle business. A man, or an organization, that can work within the crazy regulatory framework and develop a $30 million gift from daddy into a world-wide billion dollar business is certainly not a con. Nor ignorant!

So, what are you saying Fred? You appropriately attack Mattis, Pompeo, Gina, et. al. for their war-mongering, sovereign nation-destroying Neoconism. And in the same breath you criticize draft dodgers? Do you fail to understand you carried a rifle in Vietnam because Johnson and McNamara lied about the so-called Gulf of Tonkin Incident? The incident that never happened. But Trump is crazy, and Johnson was not? And Nixon allowed Governor Rhodes to authorize the Ohio National Guard to shoot and kill anti-war protesters at Kent Sate. Yet, Nixon was not crazy? PULEEESE, as Bill Walton says.

Fred, it would be nice for the world to return to some semblance of rationality. I think you would agree with me there. For that to happen, the inflammatory name-calling needs to stop (as do my infammatory rebuttals. I have better things to do.). Let it start with you, Fred. Let it start with Libertarians. Let's not get caught up in the deceitful rhetoric of the Neocons. Let's not get caught up in the politically correct, emotional blood-letting lies of the Socialist Democrats. And, let's continue to point out the fallacies in the politics and sociology of the extremes. Let's attack the untenable political positions without attacking the personality or reputed character of the politicians. That would be a good start. Can Libertarians do so? Can you, Fred? I hope so!

[redcliffsw]

Can't really disagree with your comments.  Fred Reed is a little off-track but he has some good points.  Military generals are mostly all liberals.

Stay right in there.