Posted by Liberty [Liberty] on October 26, 1999 at 08:06:18 {c/rgKhj4NcMwiuh6GymAdHqlgCajU.}:
Hi Covert.this is (as per your request)a response to musing on politics from a while back. I hope your bombastic tone was mostly there to get a rise out of me. In any case, thanks for giving me a chance to talk to you. First just let me say that the whole politics thing was just my response to someone's post about our(ex-J.W.) post-J.W. political leanings. I answered because I thought the post writer was interested in what people who once hated and refused political activity(us J.W.s & ex-J.W.s)now were into since we were now free to be active in this realm. I answered honestly and respectfully and then was attacked by the person who had asked for the information and then attacked by you as well. I know politics and religion are touchy subjects but jeez,calm down. I don't want to sound like a cry baby but shouldn't I be free to have an opinion and be treated with respect. The person who started the thread was a proud Socialist,a philosophy I am very much opposed to,yet I did not use his thread to attack his beliefs, I just answered the question.
But I'm a big boy and things can get rough here on H2O so I should have expected the hostile responses. As I recall my response to you delt mainly with explaining Libertarian philosophy since I gathered from your post that you were unfamiliar with my beliefs. I too would not fight for our current Imperialistic U.S. government and President-Emperor. Libertarians are opposed to most current U.S. policy including our intervention in the affairs of others by use of military force. We are against forced military service(the draft)and all forms of forced service to any government. In short,if it is not 100% voluntary then Libertarians are against it.
I also wish to clarify that I do not worship the Founding Fathers and leaders of our rebellion against Britain. I merely respect their ideals as spelled out in their writings,which are largely ignored by the current U.S. government. Our current government cynically uses the Founding Fathers without believing in their philosophies and would prefer we worship them rather than understanding them. The founding Fathers were not perfect they were just people like you and me with all the same flaws and weaknesses. They were,however,educated in the Age of Enlightenment and their ideas are the culmination of a tradition of reason and science as opposed to religion and superstition. The history of Libertarianism is much more than the Founding fathers and includes the writings of many Enlightenment philosophers who sought to know more about human nature and how to build systems more suited to reality rather than religious concepts of how man is supposed to be. The principles of freedom of religious belief,freedom of speach and press,economic freedom,rights to self defense and arms,and freedom from forced imposition of other's ideas (including majorities) and preservation of a free market of ideas and free market economy are the basis of Libertarianism. The freedoms you and I enjoy here on H2O are expressions of that tradition, even if we don't like what others say it's the price we pay for our own freedom of expression. Above all, tolerance, even when we disagree, is a hall mark of liberty. This is everything J.W.s are opposed to and I am not surprised many J.W.s and even ex-J.W. are still hostile to these ideas because we come from a totalitarian mind set imposed by the Watch Tower Society and its ancient fascist God. I'm just another ex-J.W. trying to cleanse my mind of these primitive and narrow minded concepts who struggles every day, just like you, to find the real truth. May you continue your journey in peace. Liberty