Fremen's blog

THE final cause, end, or design of men (who naturally love liberty, and dominion over others) in the introduction of that restraint upon themselves, in which we see them live in Commonwealths, is the foresight of their own preservation, and of a more contented life thereby; that is to say, of getting themselves out from that miserable condition of war which is necessarily consequent, as hath been shown, to the natural passions of men when there is no visible power to keep them in awe, and tie them by fear of punishment to the performance of their covenants…. - - Read More - -

You may not use this image without permission - it is mine and I plagiarised it all by myself.

I have just been introduced to Charley Reese by way of an article he wrote in the eighties for his column in the Orlando Sentinel. He is retired now, but some of his writing - especially said article - lives on through the internet in various incarnations. As many of you know, I am a strong advocate for We the People taking back the power of our governance from the biggest whorehouse in D.C. and here I have found a brother-in-arms in a "paleoconservative" from Florida by way of Georgia.

I have a sudden and physical reaction to violence. It has gotten to the point that I have a harder and harder time watching even sensationalised Hollywood violence. Violence touches everyone in our society down to the intimate inner dialog that tells us we aren't good enough. Escalation of violence follows an insidious road of power struggles in relationships to opportunistic jabs at co-workers; one-upmanship turns a neighbor into an "other", predatory and threatening - a beginning to the justification of violent solutions to insure comfort.

I have a lot of respect for warriors, and even more respect for warriors who move on in life, obviously culling wisdom from their experience with war. I feel like it is paramount that human beings stop buying into the idea that war is inevitable or natural or judicious in any way. The preparation for the 'inevitable' (which is, I believe, causing) escalation of violence globally costs us as a people so much that we can't even focus on more important tasks at hand. The rallying-cry since September 11, 2001 has been "War on Terror", which has served to tie the hands of Congress and make billions of dollars disappear down a hot, sandy hole far away from here.