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Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Not in your name?

Many of the anti-war protesters has been carrying placards with the slogan ‘Not In My Name’. Well if you voted in the UK, regardless of whether it was for Labour or Conservative or LibDem, then you gave your consent to the system which taxes me without my consent, so I suppose I am robbed in ‘your’ name. I was disarmed (by a Tory government) and forbidden to effectively defend myself in ‘your’ name. My rights to own property and control my own labour and capital are abridged into meaninglessness in ‘your’ name.

So when you say say about a war against the Ba’athist socialists of Iraq “Not In My Name”, please forgive me if I really do not give a damn if something gets done by the state that you do not like.

I do not think George Bush and Tony Blair want to topple Saddam Hussain due to an abiding concern for the Iraqi people, but frankly I really do not care why the statists who tax me are going to do it, just that they do it. Provided there is a net gain in liberty in Iraq, and it is hard to see how that could not be the case post-Saddam, then I am in favour of the violent and hopefully fatal removal of the Ba’athist thugs.

Do it for ‘Freedom for Iraq’, do it ‘because Saddam is a threat’, do it ‘because of links to Al-Qaeda’, do it ‘because the voices in my head told me to’… I do not care. Just do it!

You can even do it in my name if you like.

5 comments to Not in your name?

  • S. Weasel

    What puzzles me about the anti- (and some of the pro-) war speakers is the emotionalism. I’ve taken some convincing to get on board a renewed war with Iraq, and neither my strongest objections nor my strongest support are particularly impassioned.

    I don’t remember people getting this worked up about the first Gulf War, or the actions in Bosnia or Kosovo.

    Is the outcry more symptomatic of the ‘allies’ relationships among themselves than of the West’s relationship to Iraq?

  • And where do I get my “In my name” banner?

  • T. J. Madison

    Hey, I voted for Harry Browne — I’m off the hook.

  • I wrote a reply to this on my blog. The archives are being mean, so just go to the front page, or if you’re reading this days late, you’d have to wade through archives…. Link to blog = click my name below comment.

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