Feb 15 2008
Berkeley against the Marines
I know many conservatives and many conscientious bloggers have gone after the Berkeleyites for their hostility toward the Marine recruitment center. It has been long known that radical, totalitarian Leftists reside in that little cubbyhole of the universe.
Their hostility toward our men and women in arms is well known; in fact, their claim to fame is their constant rallies and protests over every minutia of Leftist ideology. And, you know, I’m fine with that, as long as they conduct themselves in a democratic manner that reflects the conduct of our great Republic.
An ignoramus, if they are such a person, can believe any number of things, and it is their sovereign right as free-willed individuals to do so. What one believes is between them and Almighty God and no amount of legislations can be levied against them for their error in thought.
America’s business is not the business of thought-control and goose-stepping collective state ideology. It is to build damns, build roads, protect and defend the country against foreign incursions, etc. There is nothing extraordinary about what I’m saying. This is simply the basic function of government.
However, I do have issue with what happened at Berkeley this past week. Berkeley’s City Council was re-evaluating their decision to kick US Marine Recruiters out of the city, which was based on the presumption that the US military could go recruit elsewhere. America’s a big country and the military’s over funded anyway.
Well, during their deliberation in the council, two demonstrations occurred. One in support of the original decision to kick out the Marines; the other in support of the Marines themselves. I saw a news clip of these protests in the morning on Wednesday, I think, and what I saw was just shameful.
A middle-aged to elderly woman was telling the camera how a Berkeleyite assaulted her and torn her US flag from her. She thought she’d come out in support of the US Marine Recruiters; the anti-Marine Berkeleyites, however, had other ideas.
It is one thing to believe in Leftist ideology whose basic tenet is that the United States is a force of evil in the world. It is quite another thing to force others to believe in the same thing. From their actions and a litany of others throughout the latter half of the twentieth century to now, it is clear that Leftists (as opposed to the run of the mill liberal) do not believe in self governance, nor do they believe in the free exchange of ideas. Ironically, this is the very thing they proclaim to want: the freedom of ideas.
Please do note, that these people aren’t the pacifists they claim to be. They are not opposed to violences if it furthers their cause, and they employ brownshirt tactics if it gives them the edge. It seems that they are against the United States and they are using the US military, or the Marines in this instances, as proxies to vent their distaste.
I have not met a Leftist who wasn’t angry, and the majority of them that I’ve known are certainly not pacifists.