Parasites of Freedom

Anti-war protesters are in the news a lot lately. Hollywood stars are asking people to sign on to their “Not in our Name” campaign. College students gather, carrying signs that say “No blood for oil” and “No world domination by the U.S.” and “No War Against Iraq.”

The proposed war is not about oil. If we wanted to take over oil fields, we could have easily done it the last time we were in Kuwait. It’s not about world domination. If it were, we could have taken over innumerable countries at any time since 1946, when nuclear weapons technology was ours alone. It’s not even about war against Iraq.

It’s about removing weapons of mass destruction from an unstable egomaniac who brutally kills and tortures people suspected of disagreeing with him, who has used chemical weapons against his own citizens, who has financed terrorists, and who poses a threat to our safety. Saddam Hussein has been told to disarm by the U.N for 12 years. And he has not.

War protesters always come out of the woodwork when military action is proposed, most notably during the Vietnam War. And while that war was controversial for several reasons, the lack of support for those soldiers and the way that they were treated when they came home caused immeasurable psychological damage to the people who risked their lives to fight for our country. Refusing to support our troops wasn’t right then, and it isn’t right now.

Actor Rob Lowe, whom I had previously considered a ‘lightweight pretty boy,’ surprised me considerably in his March 3 Fox and Friends interview. Lowe said that he loves this country, and that he loves the fact that we have the freedom to debate the proposed war on Iraq. Paraphrased, he then said: ‘But when it gets close to time to go, and it’s close right now, it’s time to stop the debate and support our government and our soldiers.’  

Without military action, our children

would now be in Hitler’s youth guard. 

And that’s the bottom line. Even those opposed to war should stop protesting now and support our troops. Especially because those soldiers and their predecessors have made it possible for us to even have a debate about war. Without our military, we would now be Soviet citizens. Or Chinese sub-subjects. Or our children would be in Hitler’s youth guards.

What would happen to student protesters in Iraq? They’d no doubt be machine-gunned and their families tortured and beheaded or put in Iraq’s infamous prisons. The Iraqi military is not devoted to protecting the freedoms and safety of its citizens, but to waging war against Hussein’s enemies.

Stalin called American liberals who defended his Communist regime, who overlooked his murderous purges because they believed capitalism was bad, and who believed that soon everything would settle out and communism could reach its true potential ‘useful idiots’.

Barbra Streisand, Martin Sheen, Ed Begley, Mike Farrell, Ed Asner, and others are using their celebrity status to push anti-war positions. And, inanely, people tend to listen to them. It’s like the “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV” ads for pain relievers. (Or perhaps, ‘I’m not a President, but I play one on TV’: Martin Sheen). Being a well-known actor does not automatically bestow political acuity; it does, unfortunately, bestow often undeserved credence. Saddam’s Useful Idiots.

There’s starting to be a backlash. Even Hollywood producers, probably worried about the bottom line, are telling actors to keep quiet. The American public is getting tired of watching elitists constantly denigrate President Bush and oppose actions necessary to safeguard the country.

It’s time for that backlash to grow. When Rosie O’Donnell (who, with her kids, is protected by armed bodyguards) said that ‘ordinary’ people should not have guns for self-protection, outraged gun owners were successful in having her removed as K-Mart’s spokeswoman. We can do it!

Just Say NO!

When an actor takes a political or environmental stance that you object to, just say no! Tom Cruise doesn’t want his kids to be raised in the U.S.? Don’t go to his movies. Don’t buy or rent the videos or pay-per-views. Ditto for any others whose promote positions you abhor. Go out and buy Tom Selleck (yes!), Mel Gibson (yes!), and Charleton Heston videos and Charlie Daniels CDs. Support those with courage to buck Hollywood political correctness.

Hollywood doesn’t contain all of the Useful Idiots, of course. The ‘human shields’ who traveled to Iraq are upset because Hussein is moving them from hospitals to power plants and military installations. Isn’t it obvious to them yet that Hussein cares nothing for the people of Iraq? And as Rush Limbaugh noted, ‘They’re complaining because a dictator won’t let them do what they want? What did they expect?’

Alex Epstein, in an excellent article in The DeWeese Report, asserted that peace protesters actually cause longer, more costly, and more deadly wars. Peace advocates offer no solution to terrorism and the threats posed by unstable dictators with weapons of mass destruction, he noted. “The most one can coax out of them are vague platitudes (we should “make common cause with the people of the world,” says the prominent “anti-war” group Not in Our Name) and agonized soul-searching (“Why do they hate us?”).”

Epstein continues: “The absence of a peacenik peace plan is no accident. Pacifism is inherently a negative doctrine -- it merely says that military action is always bad... In practice, this leaves the government only two means of dealing with our enemies: to ignore their acts of aggression, or to appease them by capitulating to the aggressor’s demands.”

And the more we ignore them or give in, or course, the bolder and more horrific their actions become. Thus we went from 52 Americans held hostage in Tehran to thousands killed on 9/11. 

“(Pacifism) is the product of...

the commitment to ignore reality.”

Alex Epstein  

“The only way to deal with militant enemies is to show them unequivocally that aggression against the United States will lead to their destruction,” wrote Epstein. “The only means of imparting this lesson is overwhelming military force -- enough to defeat and incapacitate the enemy... And if we fail to use our military against state sponsors of terrorism today, imagine the challenge we will face five years from now when Iraq and Iran possess nuclear weapons and are ready to disseminate them to their terrorist minions...

“The suicidal stance of peaceniks is no innocent error or mere overflow of youthful idealism,” Epstein continued. “It is the product of a fundamentally immoral commitment: the commitment to ignore reality... in favor of the wish that laying down our arms will achieve peace somehow. Those of us who are committed to facing the facts should condemn these peaceniks for what they really are: warmongers for our enemies.”

Our Hollywood pacifists enjoy vast amounts of money made through the American capitalist system, which is made possible because military actions gained and protected our freedoms. (How much do actors in Iraq make? Are there any actors in Iraq?). Our Hollywood pacifists have the freedom to use the media, the Internet, films, television, and the printing press to criticize our country. Our military has ensured that they are not subjects of, and therefore subject to, the instant suppression of criticism that would be enacted by a foreign dictator. These Hollywood activists, those still protesting, and those who oppose war for any reason are truly Parasites of Freedom.

(Alex Epstein writes for the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, CA. The DeWeese Report can be reached at www.americanpolicycenter.org, 98 Alexandria Pike, #43, Warrenton, VA 20186, 540/341-8911.)

(Posted By: Angie Many | 22nd March 2003 | 11:00 PM. )