Could We Lose a State?

There are those in Vermont who are pushing for independence from the "American Empire".

If the vast majority of Vermonters wishes to go their own way that is their right (but I doubt that it is a majority).

However as I read their manifesto I am stunned.

Radical Nonviolence and the Power of Powerlessness

Author: Thomas H. Naylor

Body:

1. Human killing is an act of nihilism.
2. Violence begets more violence, not the other way around.
3. By whose authority other than the law of the jungle do those who kill or sanction killing set themselves up as prosecutor, judge, and executioner?
4. War is the ultimate form of having—owning, possessing, controlling, manipulating, and killing.
5. Just as active participation in the death of a human being is an expression of life’s meaninglessness, so too is the passive approval of state-sponsored executions, wars, and military combat.
6. Wars and executions in the name of the state occur when our sense of community gives way to our pagan lust for revenge—a lust firmly grounded in nihilism.
7. Might doesn’t make right.
8. There is no such thing as a just war.
9. Wars are about money, power, wealth, size, and greed.
10. Wars are fought not to achieve social justice, but to serve the interests of political elites pretending to be patriots, who demonize their alleged enemies so as to manipulate their minions into sacrificing their lives for false ideals.
11. Those who fight in wars are either conscripted to do so or duped into doing so by people of the lie.
12. Nations which amass military might always find a way to use it.
13. The risk of war increases in direct proportion to the military power of the state.
14. Wars cover up a plethora of political and economic problems by deflecting public attention away from the real issues.
15. Make love, not war—share power and reduce tension.
16. Nonviolence is a proactive approach to conflict resolution that goes straight to the heart and soul of power relationships and demands strength, courage, and discipline, not just idle pacifism.
17. Radical nonviolence can undermine power and authority by withdrawing the approval, moral support, and cooperation of those who have been dealt an injustice. It derives its strength from the energy buildup and very real power of powerlessness.
18. Effective nonviolence must be thoroughly grounded in the will to win. It involves repeated confrontation, bobbing and weaving, engagement, and eventually complex negotiations.
19. Nonviolent rebellion involves denunciation, disengagement, demystification, and defiance.
20. Rebellion provides us with the faith to create meaning out of meaninglessness, the energy to connect with those from whom we are separated, the power to surmount powerlessness, and the courage to confront death.

Rebél Thomas H. Naylor March 28, 2007

I suppose that once they . . . umm . . . gain their independence (assuming they do) will they elect Barney the Purple Dinosaur as their president?

This is most juvenile worldview I have ever seen. Except for the terminology, this sounds like the platform of a first-grader running for president. If we are nice to everyone, they will be nice to us. It is crystal clear that the grown-ups are not in charge of this operation.

The whole thing kind of flies back to Thomas Sowell's latest column where he says.

To a small child, the reason he cannot do many things that he would like to do is that his parents won’t let him. Many years later, maturity brings an understanding that there are underlying reasons for doing or not doing many things, and that his parents were essentially conduits for those reasons.

The truly dangerous period in life is the time when the child has learned the limits of his parents’ control, and how to circumvent their control, but has not yet understood or accepted the underlying reasons for doing and not doing things. This adolescent period is one that some people — intellectuals especially — never outgrow

It's clear that some "intellectuals" in Vermont need to grow up. Far too many of America's problems come from people who are listening to people like him. The world really is a dangerous place full of people who want to kill us because we are not like them.

Somewhere today, I forget where, I read an interesting thought. It was words to this effect: Modern liberal pacifism is the gentleness and mercy of Christ without the wisdom of Christ. I think that pretty well sums it up.