Building Gods: Silly Subjectivists and Their Civil Masters by Chris Zimmerman

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Zonkers : One Thread

  Building Gods

Silly Subjectivists and Their Civil Masters

by Chris Zimmerman

Of all the ridiculous things Republicrats have said to me in defence of the various violations of our inalienable rights they commit on a daily basis is that government, as an elected body, has the power to define what is a crime and what is not.  Thusly, when Osama flies a plane into the World Trade Centre, it’s a murderous act of terrorism, but when an innocent Afghan child catches a cluster bomb in the teeth, it’s “collateral damage” and morally condonable. 

When you stop to take a look at that absurd, but widely believed piece of Big Brother propaganda, you’ll be shocked to learn just how dull the people who vote in elections in this, and your, country really are.  There are two very big problems with this wholly illogical belief:

Firstly, in order for any one thing to be morally right or wrong, it must be absolute.  Murder, for example, can’t only be wrong depending on which side of the fence you are on.  To put it in perspective, ask the average Neo-Con flag waver if he considers the death of an Afghan civilian to be murder, and he’ll spout off about the greater good and “collateral damage.”  However, try flipping the tables on him.  Ask if he’d feel the same way if he were the innocent civilian in question and you’ll hear his story change.  This obvious hypocrisy is rampant in American voting and ideals.  How can a person or group (e.g., the US government) claim that murder is only wrong when it affects people they are sympathetic to?  Any logical person can clearly see that this is morally bankrupt.  This subjective morality is the belief system subscribed to by a majority of Americans and Canadians, despite the fact that it is really not a system of moral beliefs at all, it is actually a belief structure based on the lack of morals.

Secondly, it implies that politicians, simply by the merit of having had their names written down on a ballot, now have gained some sort of moral superiority over the rest of us.  As if these men, no different from other men, have somehow been elevated to the position of moral arbiter.  It’s a little thing I like to call “building Gods.”  Here in the “free” world, we seem to think that a person can be made into a superior moral being simply by getting other people to vote for him in an election.  This is a dangerous belief--a blind trust in government officials so deep that people actually trust them to tell us what is right and wrong.  Contrary to popular belief, the government doesn’t know what’s best for us.  The government is just men, more often than not, corrupt men who have something to gain at our expense.  These men are just as fallible, if not more so, then the average Jane or Joe.  They are certainly not fit to arbitrarily decide which actions are moral and which are not, and yet, they do, every day.  Their double standards are everywhere, and what’s worse, are enforced at the point of a gun.  How can a conservative possibly claim that it’s not murder when those innocent Afghans are killed?  How can a liberal tell me with a straight face that there is a difference between muggers and the IRS, besides the Gucci shoes (paid for with my money, of course)?  Political power starts at gunpoint.  If politicians were really right, and they really knew what was best for you, why would they need to force you to listen to them?  No one I know has ever had to shove a gun in my face to make me take some good advice, but they have when they wanted to take my wallet.

Personally, I’m tired of letting these buffoons dictate the way I live my life by way of coercion.  I’m even more tired of hearing their mouthpieces tell me that it’s for my own good, and that government is on a higher moral level then me.  Funny, because I’ve never stolen anybody’s wallet or killed anyone’s kids.  Of course, who am I to claim moral superiority over the government?  Nobody elected me to the post. 

February 27, 2002   

Chris Zimmerman is an 18-year old part time insurance broker, part time university student and full time Radical Capitalist Activist.  Unfortunately, he lives in the totalitarian state of Canada, where up to 52% of his meagre earnings can be shipped off to his friendly federal government, for which he will be provided with a wack of useless social programs which he never uses.  He hates conservatives almost much as liberals, and hates partisan loyalty even more.  Visit his website.

Receive  Strike The Root via email


-- Anonymous, February 27, 2002


Moderation questions? read the FAQ