Sense and Nonsense

Part of the problem facing America is widespread disagreement on what is ethical and what is unethical. The following offers a good working definition of ethics and some limited discussion of where the ideas came from. I did not write it, I found it on the internet somewhere. It the author will let me know, I will attribute credit.

Ethics, principles or standards of human conduct, sometimes called morals, and the study of such principles, sometimes called moral philosophy. This article primarily concerns ethics in the second sense in Western civilization, although every culture has developed an ethic of its own.

In the historical development of ethics, three principal standards of conduct have been proposed as the highest good: happiness or pleasure; duty, virtue, or obligation; and perfection, the fullest harmonious development of human potential. Three distinct authorities invoked for good conduct include the will of a deity, the pattern of nature, or the rule of reason. When the will of a deity is the authority, obedience to divine commandments is the accepted standard of conduct. If the pattern of nature is the authority, conformity to the qualities attributed to human nature is the standard. When reason rules, behavior is expected to result from rational thought.

This essay was written by Louis Beam in 1983 and published at that time. It was republished in 1992.

Louis Beam, who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism in Vietnam,  was tried for sedition (acquitted in 1988) for his outspoken criticism of his own government's abuse of power. During the Clinton years he was again in the news pointing out the abuses of power by Attorney General Janet Reno at Waco and Ruby Ridge. He doesn't lead a placid life.

I would add that maybe the Tea Party movement  doesn't need a leader.  So far, it looks a lot like normal Americans doing what they think is right without any big shot telling them just what to think and do.

LEADERLESS RESISTANCE
By Louis Beam

The concept of Leaderless Resistance was proposed by Col. Ulius Louis Amoss, who was the founder of International Service of Information Incorporated, located in Baltimore, Maryland. Col. Amoss died more than fifteen years ago, but during his life was a tireless opponent of communism, as well as a skilled Intelligence Officer. Col. Amoss first wrote of Leaderless Resistance on April 17, 1962. His theories of organization were primarily directed against the threat of eventual Communist take-over in the United States.

The present writer, with the benefit of having lived many years beyond Col. Amoss, has taken his theories and expounded upon them. Col. Amoss feared the Communists. This author fears the federal government. Communism now represents a threat to no one in the United States, while federal tyranny represents a threat to everyone . The writer has joyfully lived long enough to see the dying breaths of communism, but may, unhappily, remain long enough to see the last grasps of freedom in America.

The fundamental problem facing the United States of America today concerns the relationship between freedom and responsibility - between entitlement and obligation.

These are old questions, dating back at least to the seventeenth century when Thomas Hobbes and John Locke began to question whether human beings belonged to the church, to the state, to themselves or some combination of the three.

Hobbes contended that people would not voluntarily accept their obligations and would therefore require the heavy hand of church and state to protect them from themselves.