CORRESPONDENCE
REID, JOHN DEN DULK, MELINDA BOWMAN, RICHARD L. HOFFMAN, RICHARD MARLIAVE, NANCY ANN HOLTZ, LINDA EL
Chin Up Tom Bethell ("The Great Blunder," TAS, October 2007) has fallen into thetrapsetbytheleftintheircampaign to make us lose the War on Jihadism: He has descended...
...In short, there is a cure to antiAmericanism:Wemuststopbeing so polite and forgiving with respecttoourcriticsandenemies...
...Send your letters to mitchell@spectator.org or, via snail mail, to: 40 Years Correspondence The American Spectator 1611 North Kent Street, Suite 901 Arlington, VA 22209...
...How does that even work...
...We need you in our special anniversary double issue, forthcoming in December...
...Blame it on welfare and entitlements, as Tom Bethell notes in his excellentarticle...
...1 0 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 7 Beguiled Again Ihaveonlyoneworryintheworld and, indeed, it is on a worldly level--that Hillary Clinton will be ournextpresident...
...NANCY ANN HOLTZ Beverly,Massachusetts Immigration Realism Tom Bethell is right on in his article about immigration ("Freedom of Immigration Acts," TAS, September 2007...
...I feel much better now that I havegottenthisoffmychest...
...YoumightaswellhireKrugman to comment on your economic beliefs...
...You couldn't have done it fasterandmoredecidedlyifyou'd tried...
...In IraqtodaywefightagainstIranand Syria, and must see this through to the end...
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...Al Qaeda and the Taliban now cower behind the rocksandscreeofNowherestan...
...You must have oodles of readers, so many that you can just print anything at all and not even have to worrying about alienating us...
...We should never apologize--or we should do so only on rare occasions--even when we're wrong...
...When conservatism needs leadership all you can do is feature a character of a human being whose claim to fame was that he appeared in some crappy movie aboutFerrisBueller...
...In fact, every three seconds another identity is stolen...
...JOHN DEN DULK Oakland,California (CandidateforCongress,California 9thCD/BarbaraLee,2006) Defeat Is No Option "Victory Is the Only Option" by AndrewRobertsintheSeptember 2007 Spectator is the best essay I have read anywhere on the war in Iraq...
...Pacifists, "gentlemen," and other assorted weaklings incite aggressors just as a limping gazelle draws the attention of lions...
...Refreshing to read his realistic ideas on a subject whosefullpictureisnotbeingpresented by the conservative media, I suspect, due to ignorance of the huge loss of work ethic in the U.S...
...We don't obviously get this kind of factual reporting from our everydaymedia...
...His love for self transcended the infantile idea thatIamtheworld;heunderstand I am part of the world, and therefore, it is in my best interest to leave the world better off than the wayIfoundit...
...ALEX S. CASON Menard,Illinois ComplaintsDepartment To represent your magazine as advocating conservatism is an insult to conservatives...
...The Republican candidate will win the presidency in 2008...
...GEORGE ERTEL Scottsdale,Arizona Love Thyself Mr.Scrutoncertainlyunderstands Ayn Rand's writings ("Altruism and Selfishness," TAS, October 2007...
...I subscribed to your magazine almostfromthebeginning,whenit wasinlargeformat.Icontributedto your education fund...
...ThisreturnsustothelessonthatC O R R E S P O N D E N C E N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 7 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R 1 1 most of us are taught as children: "Love thy neighbor as thyself...
...WehavedismantledSaddam'sgovernment,oneofthemajorfinancial supportersofterroristJihadigangs around the world...
...Is it even possible to squarethosetwothings?Ordoyou not care so very much about the ruleoflaw...
...This has becomeanembarrassmentforme...
...We have lost sight of the objective, mostly because of the seditiousscattergunoftheleft,and the hand-wringing of otherwise soundthinkerslikeMr.Bethell...
...Thanks a lot...
...Chin Up Tom Bethell ("The Great Blunder," TAS, October 2007) has fallen into thetrapsetbytheleftintheircampaign to make us lose the War on Jihadism: He has descended into theswampofminutiaewhileignoringthewiderviewandtheultimate objective.Wecurrentlydonotfight againstIraq,becausewebeatthem...
...Wemustnotlosesightofallthis success nor let our capitulationist lefties trick us into writing essays of self-doubt after the manner of "TheGreatBlunder...
...IRA M. KESSEL Rochester,NewYork WorldBank/IMFWatch ThankyouforRichardRahn'scandid and informative report on the above institutions ("Saving Soiled Sisters,"TAS,September2007...
...Rand's understandingofself-interest(i.e.,objectivism or egotism) was extremely limited in its scope is evidenced inthat she used her philosophy to justifyherownactionsandmorality...
...When we acted forcefully at the start of the conflict, the thug Qaddafi so respected the newly awakened strong horse that he backed off voluntarily from his sponsorship of Jihadi terror, exposing the nuclear sheikh A. Q. Khanintheprocess.Wehavesimilarly impressed dictators like Musharraf in Pakistan...
...And his phrase, "the politics of the pre-emptive cringe,"describing the attitudes and tacticsoftheNancyPelosisandJohn Murthas is just perfect...
...Thanks for an especially good issue...
...If so, it's time you got to know LifeLock...
...Who could ask for anything more...
...What has the Spectator meant to you over the years...
...despite some protest from (pagan...
...ThistimeBillistheliar...
...My explanation was that while Ms...
...Normally it's just $10 a month, but now you can try us free for 30 days and get 10% off...
...If we believe that all human beings are holy and gifted with the blessings of a loving God, then all of us, starting with myself, must be loved equally.Imaybefirstamongequals, butIamalwaysamongequals.The idea of self and other is completely human...
...Guarantee your good name today...
...Yep, you got it: The same "fervor" that caused folks like me to rise up against the amnesty bill, work our butts off, and stop it dead in its tracks now leads me to pledge to never pick up another copyofTheAmericanSpectator.I have really loved your publication, so thanks for ruining it for me (and I'm sure I'm not the only one...
...You can cancel at any time without penalty...
...Unreal...
...You can't get illegal immigration (key word: illegal) right...
...The shortcomingsofthepurplefingerdancersdonot bring us closer to defeat, however...
...But Grover Norquist with his four-point argument ("Bullish on 2008," TAS, October 2007) has restoredmyconfidenceandcalmed my mind...
...Do you ever worry about identity theft...
...Rand's philosophy was generally correct, that all rational choices are self-interested, she could not see that some ideals were to be held as being so essential to the value of life itself, that to deny them would be illogical and selfdefeating.Icametolibertarianism notthroughAnthem,Atlas Shrugged, and The Fountainhead, though all were instrumental to my understanding of values, but throughthecompleteworksofthe Master of Science Fiction, Robert H. Heinlein...
...Scruton illustrates how poorly this wasunderstoodbyhisfatherandis misunderstood by the masses, especiallyEuropeanyouth(though asateacher,Icansafelysayitismisunderstood by American youth as well).ErichFromm,anexistentialist's existentialist, explained in numerous writings that to connect deeply and meaningfully with others, we must love ourselves before weloveothers.IfIlovemyselfwithoutquality,Iamcompletelycorrect when I treat others poorly...
...Security, peace of mind, protection - that's what LifeLock provides, along with the added bonus of reduced junk mail and pre-approved credit card offers...
...Why should we not conclude that his piece thus emanates from a simple, La Raza-ish, selfish,solipsism;i.e.,"what'sgood for immigrants like me is what's good for America...
...It's very Darwinian, but it's reality...
...Which writers and articles had the most impact...
...RICHARD L. HOFFMAN Mesa,Arizona Perhaps Mr...
...I realize that Americans are notoriously unskilled at math, but surely readers of The American Spectator deserve better, especiallywithrespecttoanissue so existential as the cost of war in blood...
...That Ms...
...How does one say in one breath that one deeplyrespectstheruleoflaw(asI'msure The American Spectator would say),thenturnaroundandpublish a piece that's soft on illegal immigration...
...RICHARD MARLIAVE Oakland,CaliforniaC O R R E S P O N D E N C E 8 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 7continuedonpage10 MY SOCIAL SECURITY # IS 457-55-5462 LIFELOCK.COM 877 LIFELOCK (543-3562) LIFELOCK.COM * 877 LIFELOCK (543-3562) FREE TRIAL AND 10% OFF Use promo codeSPECTATOR totake advantage of this offer...
...JIM REID SanDiego,CaliforniaC O R R E S P O N D E N C E ATTN: SUBSCRIBERS The American Spectator has begun its 40th Anniversary celebrations...
...that would only come if we exit Iraq and allow it to become a Saudi or Iranian or Syrian backed terrorstate...
...We have also influenced the decline of terror tyrants in Afghanistan, Sudan, and Somalia...
...He also hosted Abu Abbas, the hijackers of the Achille Lauro, and Abu Nidal, until 9/11 the major perpetrators of international terrorism, including the Pan Am/Lockerbie disaster...
...he lived his life advocating, what is often called the American way,forallhumanity.Mr.Heinlein served his country well as a Navy Lieutenant and the world as an author without peer...
...If for any reason you fall victim to identity theft, we will spend up to $1 million to hire the finest professionals to repair the damage and restore your good name...
...But his conclusion would be even more compelling if his math were as good as his research and logic...
...I have lovedothersasIlovedmyself:poorly...
...Roberts meant 0.001 percent, which is a bit low but at least the right order of magnitude...
...All conservative sources have failedme.BothNewtGingrichand Rush Limbaugh say Hillary has an 80 percent chance of winning in 2008...
...When political discussions came up, often in my case, the question would be asked, if you are a libertarian, how can you be in the military...
...Do not share your Social Security Number or personal information unnecessarily...
...After all, what has bankrolling the UN done for us...
...and this really is my social security number.* I give it just to prove how safe your identity can be with LifeLock...
...Well,howaboutFlorenceKingon "er, night-soil...
...Further, her writing demonstrateshowpoorlysheunderstood love (eros, philos, and agape) and the ensuing morality that flows from that love...
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...Al of us, no matter how careful, can become victims of identity theft...
...Let us know...
...Having said that, I believe the United States should adopt a more defiant posture on issues of foreign policy...
...Libertarian ideas are based on self-interests, are they not...
...For example, bin Laden was emboldenedtoattacktheU.S.after the Boy President pulled our troops out of Somalia, simply becausewesustainedafewcasualties...
...But your Tom Bethell piece in September was beyond shocking...
...Period...
...MELINDA BOWMAN BrierHill,Pennsylvania Andrew Roberts's "Victory Is the Only Option" is well grounded on the facts and persuasively argued...
...We're so confident, we back our clients with a $1 million service guarantee...
...JOSEPH SABATINI Westchester,Ohio We Ask for It I am writing to take issue with Roger Scruton's conclusion at the end of "Anti-Americanism" in the September 2007 issue of The AmericanSpectator.Specifically,Idis-agree that "anti-Americanism is an incurable condition, since it arises from circumstances that its targetcandonothingtochange...
...Watch the O'Reilly show for confirmation...
...Of course, one could criticize Rumsfeldian minimalism or State Department Wilsonianism until theendoftime.Suchcriticismwill not move us one inch closer to victory.CertainlyFederalism,Republicanism, and everyday Liberty advance societies more than the "Democracy" mistakenly pursued by President Bush...
...I offer a personalexperienceasevidence...
...This, of course, prompted bin Laden'snow-famous"papertiger" assessment of our military, and ultimately,theattackon9/11...
...You regularly feature Ben Stein, who is more socialist than capitalist...
...After 30 days your credit card will automatically be billed...
...A key driver in this was the re-definition of jobrelatedinjurythatexcludedrepetitive-motion injury, to which keyboarders and meat processors areespeciallysusceptible...
...I was, and continue to proudly be,alibertarian;thismademeodd man out in the military...
...Not only does apologizing make us appear weak before dictators who aren't necessarily evolved, it undermines ourcredibilityaswell.Thestrategy of bribing our critics has alsoyielded dubious results...
...Bill O'Reilly says Hillary has never done anything illegal...
...Protect yourself, your family and all you've worked for...
...Certain duties to others arise from self-interest if that self-interest is clear sighted enough to transcend self...
...Who do you miss...
...Given the numbers set forth in his essay, the number of Americans killed fighting the Taliban and al Qaeda represents 0.001 percent of ourpopulation,not0.1percent...
...scientists, we do not possessaGodgene.TheideaandappreciationofGodisalsoafullyhuman trait--onetobeembracedandcelebrated...
...Tom is an immigrant, he says...
...JIM CYR Caribou,Maine Slowed Motion W. James Antle writes about the DepartmentofLabor("Rewarding Labor," TAS, September 2007), citinga13percentdeclineininjury and illness rates...
...From what I have observed, it seems that cringing, apologizing, and nervously walking the tightrope of political correctness only encourages others to view us with contempt, inviting their aggression...
...LINDA ELLEN PRICE Springville,Alabama Hey,notmuchinlifecanshockme anymore...
...The converse is equally true...
...He understood full well that liberty could not be for a few, and justice was not for the select...
Vol. 40 • November 2007 • No. 9
