More than six years have passed since Aaron Zelman
and I wrote Hope, a novel about the first libertarian
president of the United States.
Find Hope at http://www.jpfo.net/filegen-a-m/hope.htm
.
In our book, Alexander Hope, Vietnam veteran, retired computer
magnate, history professor, and author, was elected in 2008 after
the
incumbent Republican Vice President, running for the presidency,
was
arrested for child pornography, and the Democratic candidate,
a United
States Senator and former First Lady, was killed in a horrible
highway
accident.
Since that time, as the playwright Edward Albee put it, there's
been a lot of blood under the bridge. Certain things have happened
--
like the disaster at the World Trade Center -- that we couldn't
have
anticipated. Other things have happened -- like the not-so-gradual
Nazification of a once-free America -- that we worried about,
even
then.
Naturally, the question arises, what would Alexander Hope be
planning to do, in the light of current events, if he were elected
president. Some things have changed and some haven't. Some things
never change -- the insatiable appetite of conventional politicians
for money and power -- and would have to be dealt with right in
any
case.
If Hope had been President on September 11, 2001, he would have
chosen a very different course than the one that was followed.
As a
teacher (and student) of history, he would have realized that
the
traditional nation-state, as we know it, is a dying institution,
and
it's certainly no longer the only kind of player in the international
arena.
Whether we like it or not, there are plenty of organizations
out
there, some better, some worse, not affiliated with any government,
that are nevertheless thoroughly capable of changing the course
of
history, and there will be more and more of them as time goes
by. This
is the new historical reality, and it must be respected utterly
if we
genuinely desire to survive and prosper, as individuals or as
a
civilization.
If we are to believe all we've been told about it (admittedly,
that requires quite a stretch) the attack on the World Trade Center
was not an act of war between nation-states, but an act of individual
criminals, working together as one of those non-governmental groups
I
mentioned. Had it been dealt with as such, we might even have
had the
cooperation of nation-states like Afghanistan and Iraq in tracking
the
surviving conspirators down, and the whole world wouldn't be mad
at
us.
Also, we wouldn't have wound up with the U.S.A. Patriot Act,
the
Department of Homeland Security, Abu Graib, or the vile travesty
at
Guantanamo -- not to mention thousands of dead Americans and hundreds
of thousands of dead Afghans and Iraqis who might otherwise have
been
our friends. But to be fair, in the book, Hope "was"
elected in 2008.
That's where he should start, with the current mess we find ourselves
in.
From the beginning, to instill in Americans an understanding
and
appreciation of what their country is all about -- an understanding
and appreciation that has largely been denied them by the public
schools -- President Hope would declare and observe Bill of Rights
Day, December 15. However he would never attempt to take it over
-- or
permit it to be taken over -- in the manner that corrupt politicians
and bureaucratic slugs with their police state mentalities have
seized
the 4th of July in so many places across the nation and strictly
forbidden any unauthorized exercise of individual rights during
a
proper, government-approved celebration of freedom. (And before
anyone
mentions it, as far as safety is concerned, fireworks should be
regulated only by tort -- lawsuits -- in a sane, loser-pays legal
environment.)
His first day in office, Hope would issue a series of Executive
Orders.
To start with, all firearms laws, of all kinds, at any level
of
government would be null and void. Any law forbidding or regulating
the ownership of firearms or related items such as ammunition
would be
null and void. Any law forbidding or regulating the carrying of
firearms, openly or concealed, would be null and void. Any law
forbidding or regulating the purchase of firearms -- even by mail
--
would be null and void. Any law forbidding or regulating the import
or
export of firearms would be null and void. Any law forbidding
or
regulating the manufacture and distribution of firearms would
be null
and void.
Similarly, all laws, at any level, requiring licensure or any
other government permission to own, carry, buy, sell, deal, import,
export, manufacture, or distribute firearms would be null and
void,
and all registries of weapons kept by government would be ordered
destroyed.
Like it or not, that's what compliance with the Second Amendment
requires, and while it's true that the Ninth and Tenth Amendments
reserve certain rights and powers "to the people and to the
states,
respectively", under Article 6, Section 2 <http://tinyurl.com/agch4>,
they do not include any power to nullify individual Constitutional
rights. Hope -- who, the Secret Service notwithstanding, carries
a gun
himself -- would make this issue a priority because, unlike most
other
politicians, he trusts the people (and it's important that they
see
that he does), and that must includetrusting them with the means
of
self-defense.
More orders would suspend any and all government activities
that -- in his view as one sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution
-- are forbidden under the first ten amendments to that Constitution,
the highest law of the land, commonly known as the Bill of Rights.
He would also halt all activities not specifically mentioned in
Article 1, Section 8, which spells out in some detail the twenty-one
things http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/october2007/141007PBS.htm
government is permitted to do under the law.
It is the President's job to enforce Constitutional
law.
This means that between 70 and 95 percent of all government
activity would stop. All of the parasitic drones occupying cubicles
in
the "alphabet agencies" -- BATFE, CIA, DEA, EPA, FBI,
FDA, OSHA, the
list is endless -- would be required to sit at their desks with
their
hands folded, as investigations reveal whether their past activities
violated the rights of individual citizens. If they were cleared,
they
could go home and start looking for a real job. If not, they would
be
indicted and stand trial, first in criminal courts, and then in
civil
courts. Upon conviction, they would lose their pensions and be
forced
to make restitution to their victims. Many would face long prison
sentences.
If the opposition doesn't like the new President governing by
Executive Order, they can legislatively remove that power and
we all
win.
As Commander-in-Chief, Hope would stop the war in the middle
east,
ordering an immediate pull-out (consistent with Americans not
getting
shot in the back on their way out) not only from Afghanistan and
Iraq,
but from the hundred-plus other countries where we maintain a
military
presence. Hope's enemies would say that it's "cut and run",
whatever
that means. Hope's supporters -- especially those currently in
the
military -- would counter that it's more like finally doing the
right
thing. Brought home, perhaps they could even do what they are
solemnly
sworn to do, which is to protect the nation's sovereignty and
physical
integrity.
Naturally, Hope would shut down the government's secret prisons
and torture mills, and facilitate proper restitution -- paid by
the
jailkeepers, professional tormentors, and the responsible politicians
and bureaucrats -- to their victims. Hope would also likely consider
liquidating corporations like Halliburton and Blackwater -- for
the
monetary sake of which, many investigators maintain, these wars
were
engineered in the first place -- and using the proceeds to reimburse,
to the extent possible, their helpless victims at home, as well
as
overseas.
All of this would be necessary, not just because it's the right
thing to do, not just because it's what justice demands, but because
it might help to begin convincing the world that America's bizarre
fit
of insanity is over, and that -- unless the country is truly in
danger
-- as a libertarian nation, it will dedicate itself in the future
to
noninterference, militarily and politically, and to free and peaceful
trade.
To that tiny handful of genuine criminals out in the world who
really do hate us for out freedom (or, more likely, for the freedom
our culture inspires men and women in other lands to demand and
fight
for) -- a miniscule fraction of one percent of the number that
present
authorities claim to exist -- Alexander Hope would offer two brands
of
medicine:
Remember: a single individual, armed with a small six-shot .22
revolver, could have stopped the 9/11 hijackers cold -- that is,
if we
can believe the story we've been told about them, always a big
"if".
Just think what 200 passengers carrying anything from .22s to
.50
Action Express (and airliner-safe ammunition, of course) would
make of
any would-be terrorists. Come to our country, Hope would warn
them,
intent on doing damage or harm, and face the wrath of a couple
hundred
million free Americans, completely at liberty to exercise their
Second
Amendment rights, armed to the teeth, and ready for any kind of
trouble.
Even if you actually manage to break things or kill people in
our
country, don't expect to be treated as heroes once you get home,
be
prepared to be hunted all over the world, the rest of your miserable
life, by bounty hunters, or even by your own kinsmen, eager to
get
rich.
As for Americans unjustly jailed for violating unconstitutional
laws, Hope would convert the White House into an "executive
clemency
factory", with pardon forms stacked to the ceilings, if necessary,
until the government is fully Bill-of-Rights-compliant and justice
is
done.
All this on his first day in office.
Find Hope at http://www.jpfo.net/filegen-a-m/hope.htm
=============================================================
Four-time Prometheus Award-winner L. Neil Smith has been writing
about guns and gun ownership for more than 30 years. He is the
author of 27 books, the most widely-published and prolific libertarian
novelist in the world, and is considered an expert on the ethics
of self-defense. His writings may be seen on the following sites:
The Webley Page: http://www.lneilsmith.net
The Libertarian Enterprise: http://www.ncc-1776.net
The Probability Broach: The Graphic Novel, Roswell,
Texas, and TimePeeper (August 2007): http://www.bigheadpress.com
LNS at Random (blog): http://www.bigheadpress.com/lneilsmith/
LNS at JPFO: http://www.jpfo.net/filegen-a-m/lneilsmith.htm
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