I've sent my message twice so far, send yours to wake up Congress. I don't want them "representing" me with freedom restrictions. How about you? -LexTitan D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h Today, we roll out a new kind of campaign. We call these campaigns, "Strike at the Root" campaigns, as in . . . "There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root." -- David Thoreau These "Root" campaigns will be defiant statements by free people against the encroachments of government. We aim to change the political environment with these campaigns. We want to penetrate the Congressional echo-chamber with messages they aren't used to hearing. The success of these campaigns will be based, in large part, on your evangelism. We need you to share these messages and campaigns with others. Our first "Root" campaign deals with how an overblown fear of terrorism leads to a bigger, more intrusive, and less focused government . . . Quote of the Day: "Courage is grace under pressure." -- Ernest Hemingway Subject: Please participate in our "I am not afraid" campaign Terrorists aim to cause fear, and by feeling fear we've given them what they want. We believe it's possible to win the war on terror instantly. All we have to do is stop being afraid, and stop acting out of fear. This makes sense not only in terms of defeating the terrorists' intentions, but also in terms of managing the terrorist threat. To us, America's fear of terrorism is like a cat being afraid of a mouse. Actually, it's worse than that, because all the terrorists in all the world amount to no more than an anemic mosquito on the snout of a whale. The fact is . . . We're in far more danger from our own cars than we are from terrorism. Nearly 800,000 people have died in car accidents in the last twenty years. During that time there have been exactly 2 Islamic terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, with less than 3,000 total fatalities. That's more than 200 TIMES as many Americans dying in their cars as at the hands of Islamic terrorism. And yet . . . We've turned the whole world upside down in response to the two terrorist attacks. We've launched a pre-emptive invasion, created vast new bureaucracies, shredded the Bill of Rights, compounded regulations, spent hundreds of billions of dollars, and disrupted travel and commerce. But no one is suggesting that we do 200 times as much to address the driving risk, which is 200 times greater. Can we conclude from this that American's are brave when it comes to their cars, but cowardly when it comes to Islamic terrorism? We think the proper conclusion is that Americans have VASTLY OVERREACTED to the threat of Islamic terrorism, and that the politicians have encouraged and exploited this overreaction to expand the power of government. If Ernest Hemingway had the right definition of courage -- "grace under pressure" -- then our country has shown little grace in the face of not much pressure. To us, the official government War on Terror amounts to one giant national cringe. We can do better, with less effort and more grace. There is really only one way to win a war on terrorism. Stop being afraid! Achieving this victory does not require large armies, pre-emptive invasions, illegal spying, torture, detention camps, Kangaroo courts, or multi-billion dollar Congressional appropriations. Neither does it require us to shred the Bill of Rights or the Geneva Conventions. All it requires is a little backbone. And a little common sense. The minute the first politician proposed the first imposition on the Bill of Rights, or the first call to invade Iraq, or the first request for large new bureaucracies to fight the anemic mosquito, the terrorists won, and we lost. And they've been winning, and we've been losing, ever since. Can we stop being afraid? Can you? Here's what it means to not be afraid, here's what it means to fight a real war on terror, and here's what it means to win that war, instantly . . .
"I am not afraid of terrorism, and I want you to stop being afraid on my behalf. Please start scaling back the official government war on terror. Please replace it with a smaller, more focused anti-terrorist police effort in keeping with the rule of law. Please stop overreacting. I understand that it will not be possible to stop all terrorist acts. I accept that. I am not afraid." You can add to this any additional points you would like to make in your own words, criticizing one or more elements of the official government war on terror. Next, you can take a step to deal with the underlying problem that enables politicians to work their mischief: public hysteria. We need to recruit massive numbers of Americans to win the war on terror instantly, through our "I am not afraid" campaign. After you've sent your message to Congress, please tell other people about our "I am not afraid" campaign using our Tell-a-friend mechanism, or you can forward this Dispatch to others. You can send your "I am not afraid" message here. Thank you for being a DC Downsizer. Jim Babka President DownsizeDC.org, Inc. D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h CONTRIBUTE to the Electronic Lobbyist project http://www.DownsizeDC.org is sponsored by DownsizeDC.org, Inc. -- a non-profit educational organization promoting the ideas of individual liberty, personal responsibility, free markets, and small government. You are encouraged to forward this message to friends and business associates, and permission is hereby granted to reproduce any items herein as long as attribution is provided for articles and the subscription instructions above are included. |
Posted by oxfnord
at 1:00 AM EDT
Updated: Monday, 10 September 2007 1:21 AM EDT
