Posted by
Citizen Carrier on Thursday, October 25, 2007 3:33:38 PM
Here on Townhall.com we are daily treated to the ad hominem fallacy of refuting somebody by referring to them as a "chickenhawk". Somebody who advocates war or desires success in Iraq without ever having served in the military or expressing a desire to serve now. For many liberal posters, this is the end all and be all of refutation. Even a column about farm subsidies can be distorted enough to allow somebody to make the charge of "chickenhawk!"
For those who make this charge, I have a question.
Why aren't you in jail?
Jail is the likely punishment you will receive for refusing to pay your federal taxes. This leads to the next question.
Why are you still paying your taxes?
For if you really believe Bush is no better than Hitler, that he lied, that this is an illegal war, that the blood of thousands of Iraqis is on our hands, that this is just about oil, or impressing Bush Sr., that our Constitution has been destroyed, that we are the new Evil Empire, then aren't you morally obligated to stop funding it? To engage in at least some form of civil disobedience? Your Democrats don't have the guts to de-fund the war, so it is up to you.
Thoreau did it to protest the Mexican War, why can't you? Modify your tax witholding so that you end up owing the government money every April. You should be doing that anyway. And when April comes around, don't mail that check. Mail out a letter explaining why you are holding your money in escrow. Tell the IRS, Congress, and the President they won't get that money until after the troops are withdrawn.
Those of you who are self-employed as owners of pottery barns, used book stores, pita wrap sandwich stands, or antique stores in Vermont can stop paying any federal taxes whatsoever. And you could enlist some serious heavy-hitters! Imagine Barbara Streisand and Michael Moore REFUSING to pay capital gains taxes from the profits they make trading in Halliburton stock! We're talking serious money and a definite message sent to The Decider.
Of course, there are both upsides and downsides to this course of action, as opposed to joining the military as you demand chickenhawks do.
Army Downside: Joining the military would provide you with a paycheck twice a month, but you may have to go to war.
Prison Upside: You get to experience the utopia epitomized by our gun-free prison system. Those of you who hate gun ownership can experience firsthand a society completely free of gun violence.
Prison Upside: You will not be put in charge of Abu Ghraib prisoners and ordered to break their morale by various means prior to interrogation.
Prison Downside: Somebody in prison may make you wear a dog collar and form a nude pyramid with other inmates.
Prison Upside: You can probably catch reruns of "Dharma and Greg" on the prison communal TV and friends on the outside can smuggle in your dvds of the 1st season of "The Saundra Bernhard Experience".
But April is a long way off. Once you've made the decision to put your money where your mouth is, you can start lifting weights and studying jujitsu. Come on, it's more practical than that yoga stuff you've been doing anyway. By the time a federal judge passes sentence, you could be one bad dude. Or dudette, depending on your alternative lifestyle choices. Shave your head. Get some tattoos. All the smokes and companionship you could desire.
Hillary will pardon you anyway, so don't sweat it! If they pardoned the FALN terrorists who conspired to bomb several of our cities, they can certainly pardon you guys! You'll be the most popular icons on the left since "Billy Jack" or the Weather Underground.
You may not have to go to jail at all! It would probably just take about 200 of you per state to overload the court and prison systems.
No longer must your bad manners masquerade as legitimate, effective protest. You can actually do something substantive. Something real. You can shut down Gitmo. Close the interrogation/torture prisons overseas. Put Cheney in his place. Stop our Hitler in his tracks.
Unless of course, you can't be bothered with having your lifestyle interrupted in order to oppose something you daily describe as the most evil stuff you've ever witnessed. My guess is you'll just go back to calling people "chickenhawks".