Dean Esmay thinks I'm an asshole ... which is fine as far as it goes. However, if I'm going to provide fodder for his fine blog, Dean's World, I rather think I'm entitled to pursue a little reciprocal linkage goodness for myself. I've maintained a link to his site since about the time I set up my own blog; but he seems to prefer to route all of his references to me through Professor R.J. Rummel's blog (which I agree is worth referencing frequently). How to go about it? Well, thank God and Six Apart for trackback.
A few comments and correx:
Mr. Esmay refers to me as a "Libertarian." That's a proper noun which refers to a member of the Libertarian Party. I'm not a Libertarian (any more -- used to be). I'm a libertarian. The LP is one "branch" of a larger, loosely defined libertarian movement. As Mr. Esmay notes in a somewhat sidewise manner ("'Res publica delenda est?' Yeesh."), I am an anarchist. With respect to partisan politics, I am now a Democrat.
Mr. Esmay's post has appended to it some interesting reader comments:
"Masked Menace" says "So much for 'give me liberty or give me death.' Dr. King said that a man who has nothing he's willing to die for is not fit to live." He follows it up with a mangling of my favorite Sam Adams quote.
Dear Mr. Menace: No, it's "so much for 'give you liberty, as defined by me, whether you've asked for it or not (and whether the people who are expected to finance the venture want to do so or not) -- and if your death results, well, I guess that just sucks for you, doesn't it?'" I note that Mr. Menace thinks enough of the "animating contest for freedom" to mouth off on a blog ... but apparently not quite enough to pick up a rifle and walk point on a patrol in Mosul.
"Foobarista" refers to "pacifist libertarians." Not being any such animal, I'm not sure if he's referring to me or not, though. Suffice it to say that my ten years in the Marine Corps (infantry, 0341, 81mm Mortars), my Kuwait Liberation Medal (four months in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait with my reserve unit, and another two on volunteer extension with a provisional rifle company), etc., should put the lie to any inference that I'm a "pacifist."
Steven Malcolm Anderson says "I, for one, prefer to die on my feet than to live on my knees." I have to wonder, then, why he's on his knees in front of a statue of Woodrow Wilson instead of on his feet in, say, Fallujah.
Finally, "bob" at The Breakdown Lane trackbacks -- or is that tracks back? -- to Mr. Esmay's posts with a reference to a "robust debate between two academics," presumably one of which is myself. Sorry to disappoint, bob, but I'm not an academic. Offhand, I have at different times been a dishwasher, produce clerk, gas station pump jockey, Marine, boat builder, telemarketer, bouncer, bartender, forklift driver, bookstore manager, carpenter, fry cook, business supply clerk, furniture builder, assembly line worker, janitor, miller, campaign manager, writer and editor ... but I'm a college dropout and I don't teach (except to homeschool my 6- and 4-year-olds). I occasionally go back and take a class that I find interesting, but a sheepskin isn't high on my list of priorities.
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Technorati tags: Politics, Libertarian, Anarchism, freedomism
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