A letter to the Armchair General - PLEASE READ

[Frodo_Baggins]

A letter to the Armchair General

Dear General!
Today, anybody with half a brain knows that freedom in the Western world is in danger (the trouble is, rarely does anybody with half a brain have any connection to power). All over the world, from Washington, D.C. to Jerusalem, politicians think up new ways to abuse you, your rights, and your dignity. From the Clinton “Assault Weapons Ban” and to Aaronishky rooting for increased search and seizure powers, the gun banners, the drug prohibitionists, and the Ashcroftist “terror-fighters” are after our collective ass. And with every day that passes, it gets only worse.
Tell me, have you ever stopped and looked at the screen and asked yourself – How can they do it? How do they get away with it? How do they manage to pass such nonsense into law and policy, again and again? And you shrug, and blame the uninformed and the careless majority that takes the abuses for granted, and the corrupt media, and the evil politicians, and move on with your life. Well, let me tell you that: that might be all true – but that was always true, and it will be true forever. The media were as corrupt during the time of Mahatma Gandhi and MLK, and those people made a difference. The majority was as indifferent in 1775, and Jefferson made a difference. And certainly the politicians were just as evil in Warsaw, 1943.
The uninformed are not to blame – they simply don’t know. But there is someone who bears responsibility for the sad state of affairs. It’s you. You have known about all of the abuses, the killings, the prisoners – and you chose to hang a poster on your wall declaring how you support freedom – and move on with you life.
You have chosen to swear at the television when the FBI burned the Branch Davidians alive, go and see a movie when Aaron Zellman was working on Innocents Betrayed, and stay home with your girlfriend when Ale Yarok activists were handing out election leaflets. You neighbour is not responsible for not coming, General. He doesn’t KNOW freedom is in danger. You are.
Every day, thousands of people are killed, imprisoned, beaten up by police due to the War on Drugs/Guns/Prostitution or some other sick excuse the politicians dream up to take away YOUR right to choose. General, in Canada, the LUFA recruited thousands of people for peaceful resistance. Where were you?
Let me tell you a short story, General. In Auschwitz, the Nazis killed something like two thousand people a day. Every day by which Allied victory was postponed was death to two thousand people. Today, the same is happening. The anti-freedom politicians are killing and imprisoning people every day – in Colombia, in America, in Israel. Waco, Thailand, Tel-Aviv – the war on freedom rages on. And if, because of you, the war rages on for one extra day – those people will suffer. And it will be you responsibility.
Do something general. Fight for the cause you support most – ending the drug war, supporting the right to bear arms, freedom of speech – but fight for it, General. Do something. Otherwise, when freedom wins – it might just turn out to be a day too late for someone.