Monday, February 16, 2009

"Are you guys ready? Let's roll."

We must never forget those words spoken by Todd Beamer as he and his fellow-passengers tackled the terrorists on Flight 93 during that fateful day. The battle against all our enemies (who, rather satisfactorily, tend to unite periodically) goes on.

Claudia Rossett says it for the United States: no, we are not all socialists now. In fact, many of us believe that what socialism has "achieved" at the expense of liberty and well-being, to give power to the state and its minions, must be rolled back.

How much more true is that for us on this side of the Pond, both Britain and the Continent. Time to start rolling and if that leaves Tory Socialists behind, well, that's just too bad.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

More and more I feel that the time for resistance has passed.

We can't even forge a meaningful coalition on principle of mutual respect (see my recent conversation with Shannon Love and his suggestion that atheirst declairing their vews are being "in the face" of their religious neighbors. Widely shared, it seems, by TheBoyz & audience.) With friends like this...

Helen said...

I am not sure that atheism has anything to do with this. You can surely be an atheist, an agnostic or religious and yet believe in freedom. Just why do you want to tell everyone that you are an atheist (if you are)? How is it their business?

As for resistance, it is never too late. Ask the East Europeans and the Balts.

Anonymous said...

Oh, but this point of view is not a popular one here; it is assumed that if you are an atheist - you're automatically a lefty socialist.
As to keeping my atheism to myself...why, exactly? If Catholics are free to walk around with dirt on their foreheads, why should I hide my atheism from public?
It is precisely freedom and individual liberty I was talking about.
To your [rhetorical] question: no, it is not their business. They make it their business, though.

I have no need to ask eastern europeans. I am one. Their resistance had very little to do with actual fall of Soviet Union, and if that latter country would not disintegrated on its own accord, after its own inherent problems, they would still be, nominally, socialistic, and would still lead double-faced life.

As I am afraid we are going to, once again, here.

Helen said...

Well, obviously, I have no idea what your experiences of religious and non-religious discussions have been and cannot pronounce on that.

However, I continue to disagree about the need for resistance and permeating ideas. By East Europeans I really meant just that - Czechs, Poles, Hungarians etc - not Russians, whose history is somewhat more convoluted and less attached to ideas of freedom and, for example, property rights.