Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 11:29:21 -0400
To: Matthew Gaylor <freematt@coil.com>
From: Matthew Gaylor <freematt@coil.com>
Subject: A Swiss View: Where to go from here?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

From: "Stefan Metzeler" <metzele@attglobal.net>
To: "cerclehayek@yahoogroupes.fr" <cerclehayek@yahoogroupes.fr>,
  "contraGESSLER@yahoogroups.com" <contraGESSLER@yahoogroups.com>,
  "jneil@mediaone.net" <jneil@mediaone.net>,
  "Liberty Institute" <liberty@giasdl01.vsnl.net.in>,
  "Matthew Gaylor" <freematt@coil.com>,
  "ProLibertate" <prolibertate@egroups.com>
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 10:10:32 +0200
Reply-To: "Stefan Metzeler" <metzele@attglobal.net>
Subject: Where to go from here?

Hello Friends of Liberty,

On these terrible days it's hard to think straight... I'm Swiss, but I'm no
less affected by the events than any American. I was very fond of New York,
where I had spent many months working for great American companies and had a
wonderful time.

I intended to take my fiancee there - maybe on our honeymoon - and show her the
view from - guess - the WTC. All I could do now was show here my old photos of
the greatest skyline that ever was. Here is my great hope: to see Americans
REBUILD the WTC - better and more beautiful than before (with maybe a few air
defense guns added on the rooftop). That would be a wonderful statement of
strength (the act, not the guns), of not letting the bad guys win.

The next thought is inevitably about "payback". Somehow it seems unthinkable to
NOT punish the guys who did this - but oops! the guys who did this are dead
already... were ready to die for stupid believes from the dark ages. They were
able to use some modern technology, but basically they were just a bunch of
barbarians, doing the easiest thing ever - destroy. It is infinitely much
harder to build, to create to preserve live than to destroy, to tear down, to
kill.

Now it's even more important to defend life and to show creativity in how this
is handled. Of course it is not possible to let those who organized and steered
these acts of terrorism get away with it. They'll do it again if given the
chance. To avoid this, not vengeance, require their elimination. The damage
they did cannot be undone, though they should be made to pay for the financial
consequences. Let's hope that whoever did it is really rich. So at this point,
it is imperative to apprehend them and to destroy the source of their 
power. And
to do it while causing the least amount of casualties. At the moment,
reasonable counter measures will not cause outrage, but blind violence will.

Unfortunately, to a large extent, the source of the terror stems from the same
guys who were supposed to protect the people in the WTC. The CIA, far from
promoting American interests, has armed it's enemies. Sure, the intentions were
"good" (to contain Russia), but the methods were all wrong. Their approach is
what makes "military intelligence" an oxymoron. They never tried to understand
the guys they were using or their ultimate motivations. The enemies of my
enemies are not necessarily my friends (cf. the anti-globalization mobs and
government organisations).

It shows that the ends NEVER justify the means! One must ALWAYS act ethically
and consistently or take the unpleasant consequences. One cannot promote safety
through aggression, freedom with a police state, prosperity with socialism.

So while indeed there will be - inevitably - more aggression for now, 
peace must
be prepared. This means that the US government must not do more, but less:

- It must stop bombing foreign countries, especially where no war was ever
declared (Irak comes to mind). No bombing has succeeded in removing Sadam from
power. When a strategy fails, it must be abondoned.
- It must make amends for the criminal acts of the Clinton administration,
especially the random bombings such as in Sudan.
- It must stop spraying crops and arming repressive regimes in Columbia and
other places around the world and drop the entire drug war immediately. What a
waste of resources and human lifes, what massive destruction due to these
misguided fascist methods. Lest the next wave of terrorism should come from
Latin America - much closer to the US, too. (Note: surprisingly, even the
French government considers legalization by now, although it was one of the
strongest advocats of repression).
- It must drop all tariffs and restrictions on trade. Protectionism hurts
Americans as much as potential trading partners. By not allowing poor countries
to export higher-order goods to America (and Europe), these countries are
condemned to poverty, which is the root of evil. When goods don't cross
borders, armies will.

So much also for those who advocate supporting governments at this moment in
time. Considering that governments caused the whole mess, it's a bit like
giving in to terrorism: they do bad things and then they get the reward by
gaining popular support and more power...  unacceptable. Those in government
who committed acts leading to the current situation should be punished and
especially removed from power along with the terrorist organisers.

To answer a message from Freematt's list: of course no serious libertarian is
saying that ALL bad things are done by government. What Libertarians REALLY say
is that people in governments are NO DIFFERENT from people outside government -
except that the bad sides tends to be encouraged by various factors inherent in
the nature and organisation of governments.

Now lets forward to the promotion of safety at home. As most Libertarians, I'm
revolted at the thought that a few barbarians with knives could take over
entire planes with 60+ passengers and crew. The sheep mentality is just
incredible. Why didn't people grab anything - luggage, trays, umbrellas,
Notebooks PCs - and collectively assault those thugs??? This is one of the
disasters of thinking that "government" will take care of everything and of
disarming citizens.

Therefore, I agree and disagree with L.Neil Smith. I entirely agree with him
that people should think of their own safety, as no matter what, there will
never be enough police to protect everyone. But I think it's essentially a
matter of attitude and conditioning more than of carrying a gun at all times -
despite being entirely in favor of the freedom to carry guns.

Yet for various reasons, carrying guns on planes is hardly an option. Think of
air rage and drunks on planes, which have become a major problem for airlines
already now. An enclosed space, such as a plane, combined with phobias getting
the better of some otherwise rational people might create serious problems.
Someone who looses control doesn't consider the consequences of his acts
anymore and might pull a gun even if he risks being shot by other armed
passengers - which could cause further disasters. Not everyone will have
frangible ammo.

So even if in some specific places guns are not allowed, the entire mind set of
people who are used to guns and self defense is totally different. I am
thinking of one school shooting, where the shooter was wrestled down by other
kids who were used to guns. They were able to spot the opening and were not
afraid to jump the bad guy. With passengers like these, knife wielding thugs
wouldn't stand a chance.

In addition, pilots could (and should) be armed, along with other personnel. If
it is acceptable to give up your means of self defense in certain circumstances
(especially on a contractual base), those who take your guns become responsible
for your safety. This is the part that government neglects. It tries to disarm
all citizens even outside of controlled facilities and obviously can't
guarantee their safety.

Just a few thoughts... for however numbing the events of 2 days ago are, life
continues. Libertarians never thought that people are "nice" and that the good
guys will win automatically. We all know that there are a lot of bad, seriously
bad people in this world. The fight will be hard - and continuous. But that's
not a reason to give up.

In Liberty,

S.Metzeler
www.prolibertate.org


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