Years ago, I chatted at length with an elderly lady in public housing about the drug scene in her neighborhood. She told me she’d see young men with fancy cars and gold jewelry and lots of girlfriends and say, “You’re telling on yourself.†That leads me to . . .
I try not to get annoyed that Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy requires four tax-paid police officers to guard members of city council – even when I’m the only one in the audience in the chambers. To help members of council feel green, and to spare myself parking meter fees, I often walk home fifteen minutes in the dark, leaving the mayor and members of council safe from my harms.
This got me thinking about the listing of persons registered as third-party voters. The John Locke Foundation is nonpartisan, and I am assuming that means it is safe to speak of all parties rather than pretend that no parties exist at all, following national models. I am a registered Libertarian. To join the national party, back when I could afford to pay dues, I had to sign a pledge indicating I would not initiate force.
Pledges are serious business. I tell folks I don’t say the Pledge of Allegiance because I’d have to forcefully wrest six of seven members of city council from their seats in order to uphold such an allegiance to the Republic. My life expectancy would be very short. But, I had no problem committing to noninitiation of force, because that was something I was going to do anyway, and it did not conflict with my highest of ideals.
So, the question is, if people who sign a pledge to initiate no force are seen as a danger to national security, isn’t government telling on itself?
