David Davis
It is an independent federation of States which chooses (and does choose) to behave as an independent nation. We ought not to take its benignity in any form of alliance for granted. Remember who gave them the Statue of Liberty, and for what historical deed and attributes. The USA has never needed critically to be our friend, or indeed anyone’s friend!
(There are in fact interesting arguments in favour of its having been better for it to continue in utter isolation, as “A City upon a Hill”. Especially to defend against institutionally-European diseases and mortal risks such as GramscoFabiaNazism, in all its various vile guises. If the USA goes down to GFNs, and it does seem now to have its fair share, we are all in trouble. But this is the subject of another post later.)
Conveniently for us here, the USA chose to aid us in most of the 20th Century, in our manichaean struggles with sundry tyrannies, at critical times. In 1917 for example – even up to February, and even up to the Zimmermann Telegram - it was an entirely neutral and almost uncoloured decision, for the USA, to side with one or other batch of belligerents. Or even not at all.
Whatever valuable points Sean Gabb makes or implies about the First World War, it was (1) probably unavoidable in the end, and (2) our underlying motives were just and noble. The sheer scale of waste and slaughter is another matter, as is the generality of libertarian opposition in principle to war.
What happened over Lockerbie, which accidentally happens to be in Scotland, affects the USA more if anything than the UK. What would, for example, have been the prosecution’s position against Megrahi et al , in either of these two cases? Firstly, if the device had exploded, say, over Ribblehead or Slaidburn (if earlier it might have done – I am the Director of Northern Affairs: I know these places!) or secondly instead over international waters of the North Atlantic?
Here, I must add that it does not even matter a monkeys, whether it was the Gaddaffi-Megrahi mob wot dunn it, or another mob, most likely Syrian/Iranian, as the estimable Devil (pbuh) suggests here. If the Devil is right, then it’s the renaging on deals, of whatever sort (ask Stalin, he renaged on lots) that endanger them. And the initial results, always, are bad for liberty.
If public opinion in the USA leans towards refusing to buy our stuff (and they are I still think our major trading partner – the EU is nowhere by contrast) then that’s one more to chalk up to Gordon MaCavity, who seems to bugger off and go to ground when things get embarrassing. It’s becoming clearer by the hour that his pawprints (and most likely Mandelson’s, his puppet-master) are all over Megrahi and his release. But none of these three will be on the DNA database, you can bet the usual 17p.
Libertarians should hope that the sound good sense of the American People (it did however fail last November, for a critical minute) will prevail, and that little lasting damage will be done and this sleazy-dealy-oily-scumbag-under-the-carpet-while-nobody’s-looking event will sidle gently into oblivion. Libertarians in the UK and Europe will need all the help they can get in the next few decades – not just from US bloggers and think-tanks and philosophers, able to narrowcast to us and to each other – but from a broad front of general friendship and fellow-feeling for liberty – from an entire Nation.
But I doubt it will.
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