Sunday, January 03, 2016

The Oregon occupation and stand-off


The standoff situation at the National Wildlife Refuge headquarters in Oregon, in support of ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond, is simple and tragic:

What you see is opposing groups of statists squaring off and making threats at each other.

And they are all operating under the same flag. The supposed patriots are waving the flag of those they claim to be upset with- because make no mistake: the US flag, "The Stars and Stripes", belongs to no one but the US federal government.

Maybe, just maybe, once upon a time it stood for something else, but if it did, that ended with the federal defeat of the secessionists in the 1860s. Now the "stars and Stripes" is strictly an anti-liberty symbol of Big Government. One unfortunately embraced by some people who are on the side of liberty. But, I doubt any of those people are participating in the situation in Oregon.

No, there it's just one flavor of statism against another flavor of statism, and they taste about the same to me.

But pro-liberty people will somehow be blamed along with the anti-establishment statists who are actually involved. I distance myself from them.

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2 comments:

  1. I’m always disappointed, as well, when I view these protests that I would otherwise sympathize with, only to see multiple displays of the US War Rag. This indicates to me these are folks that still hold to the “restore the republic” fantasy. Instead, they should be burning these rags and calling for secession- the only political action that makes any sense.

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    Replies
    1. In the event of a shooting war, I still would rather see the ones wearing badges get routed.

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