From - Mon Jan 18 18:46:03 1999 Path: news.clark.net!europa.clark.net!198.138.0.5!newshub.northeast.verio.net!nntp.giganews.com!nntp1.hal-pc.org!news.hal-pc.org!not-for-mail From: Che'Gu Maru Newsgroups: austin.general,ca.general,houston.general,dfw.general,dc.general Subject: America's Enemies Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 10:35:32 -0600 Organization: Houston Area League of PC Users Lines: 74 Message-ID: <36A362D4.65B311FA@mail.hal-pc.org> References: <36962AA8.A93C378D@thetable.org> <3696B7DB.722D7D1C@thetable.org> <36a9e215.2471494@news1.cheetah.net> <36975ADD.EDE77BC0@thetable.org> <36981EB8.F6567A08@thetable.org> <36987ADC.30DC@spambad.yahoo.com> <3698C980.9594FC56@thetable.org> <#2UgqWMP#GA.320@upnetnews03> <36995C6D.67EE4599@thetable.org> <36aafe65.5032804@news1.cheetah.net> <369A205A.C8B49B2A@thetable.org> <369b276b.1098402@news1.cheetah.net> <369A9D94.147F8E1C@thetable.org> <#RBlyPdP#GA.170@upnetnews03> <369E7119.9CD70C96@mail.hal-pc.org> <369EE8A0.A554C6E4@mail.hal-pc.org> <369F92EF.B497F0BC@mail.hal-pc.org> <77rd2h$akf@bgtnsc02.worldnet.att.net> <36A1485B.B8EA8C2B@mail.hal-pc.org> <77to8a$cjc@bgtnsc03.worldnet.att.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: 206.180.129.66.dial-ip.hal-pc.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (Win98; I) X-Accept-Language: en Xref: news.clark.net austin.general:135876 ca.general:68846 houston.general:74359 dfw.general:60230 dc.general:86435 Remember Lee Greenwood's song: "I'm proud to be an American, Where at least I know I'm free And I won't forget the men who died Who gave those rights to me. And I'd gladly stand up next to you And defend her still today, For there ain't no doubt I love this land: God bless the USA!" America IS under attack, and it is the absolute duty of all who love her to come to her defense. But I am not referring to the Bin Laudem's or other terrorists; nor do I really worry about Saddam Insane. Neither is this going to a paranoid diatribe against the United Nations, its supposed "black helicopters," the New World Order, or any such thing as that -- although it IS an admonition against some of those who believe in these things. Finally, it is not a criticism of either the Republicans nor on the Democrats -- although it is not either party's finest hour, at least the debacle being played out in the Senate is part of our Constitutional process. The true Spirit of America is embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights of our Constitution. Both of these are under attack by American citizens themselves, both of the right and of the left. Among the worst are the American Nazis and any others who would restrict our freedoms only to those who agree with them, believe with them, and physically look like them. Racism, religious bigotry, and hate-mongering are the antithesis to the Spirit of America and anyone who buys into such things is doing what they can to kill that spirit. But perhaps the worst danger comes from ordinary citizens and politicians who fail to see that what they are doing is itself reducing our freedoms slice-by-slice. On one side there are those who would implicitly restrict our religious freedom by having their own religious tradition taught in the public schools and publically promulgated by government. On the other side are those who would explicitly restrict such freedom by forbidding any public expression of religion by private individuals. Both are equally attacks on our freedom to believe. On the one side are those who would use errors of the past to favor specific skin colors or last names in jobs, school admissions, and the like. On the other are those who would use racist rhetoric to accomplish the same thing, but for THEIR favored group. Any restriction on the rights of Americans to compete for jobs, housing, schools, and so on on the basis of anything other than their own individual talents, knowledge, abilities, and economic resources is a direct assault on our remaining a free people. On the one side are those who would reduce our individual responsibility to nothing by having government do everything; on the other are those who would eliminate our collective duties as a nation so that government would do nothing. The end result of either is the elimination of freedom. Americans -- ALL Americans who are not minors or convicted felons -- are entitled to every right in the Constitution whether we personally like how they use it or not. ALL Americans are entitled to free speech -- even the Nazis. It then becomes our duty to use the same right to cut down their poisonous growth where ever that weed appears. All Americans who are not minors or convicted felons have the right to defend themselves from criminal assault. There is no other way to effectively do that other than by owning a firearm and being trained in its use. Those who would use laws or lawsuits to eliminate this right are implicitly denying us the very right to life which they misguidedly think they would be preserving. The real enemy of America does not live outside our borders, but is part and parcel of ourselves. Only though education and by the exercise of those rights which define American freedom can we ever remain free.