I decided to move some discussion from this post up to the top level here. Specifically, Watoosh wrote: "Well, if violence is defined as initiation of force (which, of course, presupposes certain property rights), then I think Rockwell is correct..." Well, if we define cats as elephants, then many people keep elephants in their house. More seriously, firstly, violence is not usually defined that way. It's defined as, you know, violence, so that, say, someone may respond violently or non-violently to someone who aggresses against them. Otherwise, it would make no sense to say, for instance, "He punched me, but I did not stoop to violence in response." And, secondly, the libertarian usage of "initiation of force" is very offbeat. If I wander onto someone's meadow, most people would not say I had "initiated force" -- I mean, sure, I used "force" against the earth to push off walking, but that's not force directed against...
My own view is that our best defense against stirring up terrorists and inviting attacks at home would be to bring a good portion of our troops home, particularly from the ME.
ReplyDeleteI share your concern about the militarization (and centralization)of "homeland" security, but note that the units discussed here are not simly troops with guns and bullets, but all would be "trained to respond to a domestic chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or high-yield explosive attack, or CBRNE event".