Monday, April 19, 2004

Dog Bites Man!
NRA sells out again


Oops, they did it again!

This year's annual meeting of the National Rifle Association turned out to be more of a meeting of the Neocon Rifle Association, or perhaps the National Republican Association. Either way, lovers of freedom will find little to cheer in the events of this year's meeting.

As statist propaganda, the "Salute To The Heroes," a videotaped production which aired as part of the opening ceremony, falls somewhat short of the standard set by Leni Riefenstahl's 1934 masterpiece, Triumph Of The Will. Similarly, the presentation of this year's "Man of the Year" custom flintlock rifle to gun-grabber Dick Cheney, unlike Winston Churchill's presentation of a Crusader's sword to Joe Stalin at the Teheran Conference in 1943, couldn't actually be deemed sacrilegious. Both events mark the extent to which "mainstream" conservatism now conserves only the gains made by a liberalism grown increasingly illiberal, illogical, and inhumane.

Before the hate mail pours in, I'll mention that I am a Life Member of NRA and, as a law enforcement officer, am one of the "heroes" of the opening ceremony. Neither fact eases my qualms about the direction of NRA.

In its "Salute to the Heroes," NRA informs us that true heroes "put strangers before family." Funny, the Left have been telling us this for years, and trying, through taxes, welfare, and family dissolution, to make "heroes" of us all. We are told that the hero's "highest honor" is to have the Yankee battle standard draped over his coffin. Heroes "are willing to perish for that flag," an item that can be ordered online and which probably was made in China.

Over and over, NRA's "Salute" extolls the supposed virtues of servility to the government though of course they conflate the government with the country.