The Free View-- weblog of a presidential candidate: Homeschool Showdown, Permanent War

June 20, 2003

Homeschool Showdown, Permanent War

When I posted about the Bryant family's homeschooling showdown the other day, I couldn't get into detail about why I was so proud of them at the time. Now, as often happens, someone else has said it for me. David Limbaugh's editorial in the Washington Times sums it up pretty well. It's about control, among other things.

I particularly like his opening paragraph:

Given the poor academic track record of public education in many areas of this country, you would think the government and education establishment would be a little less arrogant about superimposing their will on home-schooling families who prefer to opt out of their system. But you would be wrong.

The Bryants were on the O'Reilly Factor a couple of nights ago. They did pretty well, and Bill was pretty friendly to them, which he tends to be when he supports the guest's cause.

Completely unrelated to that is Suppose You Wanted to Have a Permanent War, by Robert Higgs of the Independent Institute. I'll let him explain:

I’ll concede that having a permanent war might seem an odd thing to want, but let’s put aside the “why” question for the time being, accepting that you wouldn’t want it unless you stood to gain something important from it. If, however, for reasons you found adequate, you did want to have a permanent war, what would you need in order to make such a policy viable in a democratic society such as the United States?

First, you would need that society to have a dominant ideology--a widely shared belief system about social and political relations--within which having a permanent war seems to be a desirable policy, given the ideology’s own content and the pertinent facts accepted by its adherents. Something like American jingo-patriotism cum anti-communism might turn the trick. It worked pretty well during the nearly half century of the Cold War. The beauty of anti-communism as a covering ideology was that it could serve to justify a wide variety of politically expedient actions both here and abroad. The Commies, you’ll recall, were everywhere: not just in Moscow and Sevastopol, but maybe in Minneapolis and San Francisco. We had to stay alert; we could never let down our guard, anywhere.

Second, you would need periodic crises, because without them the public becomes complaisant, unafraid, and hence unwilling to bear the heavy burdens that they must bear if the government is to carry on a permanent war. As Senator Arthur Vandenberg told Harry Truman in 1947 at the outset of the Cold War, gaining public support for a perpetual global campaign requires that the government “scare hell out of the American people.” Each crisis piques the people’s insecurities and renders them once again disposed to pay the designated price, whether it takes the form of their treasure, their liberties, or their young men’s blood. Something like the (alleged) missile gap, the (alleged) Gulf of Tonkin attacks on U.S. naval vessels, or the (actual!) hostage-taking at the U.S. embassy in Tehran will do nicely, at least for a while. Crises by their very nature eventually recede, and new ones must come along--or be made to come along--to serve the current need.

Third, you would need some politically powerful groups whose members stand to gain substantially from a permanent war in terms of achieving their urgent personal and group objectives. Call me crass, but I’ve noticed that few people will stay engaged for long unless there’s “something in it for them.”

In case you couldn't guess, there's another more recent war that he's leading up to talking about.Read the whole thing. It's worth it, even though it describes a fairly bleak picture. (Well, ok, very bleak.) But, "Know Your Enemy" and all that. Also know that social trends geopolitical trends can be reversed, and laws and leaders can be replaced. All is not lost -- not by a long shot.

I've been adding this site to blog directories and webrings, and gearing up for a round of requesting link trades with a bunch of liberty-related sites. The new rings and blog places are listed on the right in their respective categories. I'm also working on some other website and blog stuff, which I'll unveil here shortly. I've got about 5 or 6 entries on three different blogs in draft mode, too. My open browser situation is getting a little out of hand -- I've got about 50 windows open. I'll be staying up late over the weekend to try and clear my plate a little. So I can heap more stuff on it. :-)

Posted by Lance Brown at June 20, 2003 11:59 PM | TrackBack

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