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The Price of Liberty (washingtonpost.com)If you think government is useless, evil and unnecessary, ponder those pictures of looters in Iraq ransacking homes, hotels, even hospitals. Feel for that sobbing official of the National Museum of Antiquities, aghast at the destruction of irreplaceable historical artifacts by an angry mob.
The lesson the looters teach is basic, and it is usually ignored: The alternative to tyranny is not the abolition of government. Absent a government committed to the protection of rights, there are no rights. Without government, individuals have no way to vindicate their rights to property, to basic personal liberty, to life itself. You know, sometimes E.J. says some smart things. I just wish he wasn't so much of a pansy about it. This column is just a smart, common sense reminder of very basic things that most people should know, but some conservatives don't seem to realize. There's nothing revolutionary in it, and I think most of us could agree with it. The problem is - E.J. Dionne is arguably the most "Liberal" member of the Washington Post's columnists. National debate in America has so stagnated that it's become a tug of war between the right and the center. We hear people talk about cutting taxes all the time. And we hear people talk about how it's dangerous to do that when we have a budget deficit. But where are the crazy red-eyed marxists screaming "Fuck the Rich! Tax the hell out of 'em!"?
Anyway, I don't mean to disparage E.J., I usually like his work (although he's no Paul Krugman), but seriously - is this as far as the left can go these days? What Liberal Media?
posted by
Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 12:03 PM
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