.... From 1977 to 1993 I was, except for voting, donating to and having membership in Second Amendment groups, and nominal sorts of stuff that anybody who breathes and is an American citizen ought to do, largely politically inactive, raising a family and working. In 1992, all that changed when I read Bob Dornan's insertions into the Congressional Record about Bill Clinton's anti-war career. Heck, he and I had attended some of the same anti-war conferences, not that I remembered him. That got me off the dime. But Waco really mobilized me and I've been at it ever since.
Your skepticism is understandable, if misplaced.
Mike Vanderboegh
GeorgeMason1776@aol.com
From 196_ to 1975 you were, by your own admission, a participant in activities designed and attempting to not only destroy America but to kill Americans. Your participation and activities were in support of, and in concert with, those whose alegiance was to a government both antithetical and hostile to America.
You say you had a conversion of faith and realized that the ideology you supported was inherently harmful not only to America but to humanity. So you quit.
From 1977 to 1993 your history is with the militia movements and the Miniuteman border patrols/watches, which are admittedly one of the branches of 2A. Then, you found out, apparently, that your antiwar compatriot Bill Clinton was a phoney, and you got upset. Waco, you say, was the straw that broke your back concerning America's (the .gov's) betrayal of the Constitution and her citizens.
As I said before, those who came in from out of the cold by actually crossing the Iron Curtain were asked for a
quid pro quo in order to partake of the benefits of America and her freedoms. That usually involved some level of exposure of those left behind who continued to operate against America. Snitching names at the least, and exposing extensive details of operations at greater levels.
I have read much of what you posted as your CV. I have spent more than a few cursory hours following Google search trails and side-trails. To paraphrase the Ragu sauce commercial - it aint in there! You rage against and rag on the government's complicity against the citizenry and the foundations of the country, but somehow I missed where you expunge by your every actions the guilt at what you did in the name of totalitarianism.
Either that, or you ask me to accept your work against our own government's excesses as the full measure of expungement. Well, I do not accept that.
You and I know there are still multitudes out there who are trying to cause the downfall of America from and on behalf of outside governments and ideological causes that are not Islamiofascist in origin - meaning any of the various threads that form the tangled knots of communism. I think you still have the ability to do some things to deflect, delay or destroy those who are continuing those attempts. In my very biased opinion, until you address those matters you have not done anything to expunge your past guilt.
** Let me try another way of explaining why I have the problem I do regarding what I consider your lack of expungement. For quite some time the criminal justice system has held close the concept of "restorative justice" - that the offender must not only pay a penalty to society as the whole but make some meaningful effort to restore the victim(s) of his crime to some semblance of wholeness as he was before the crime. While paying the costs of replacing window glass damaged during a vandalism spree covers the expense incurred by the victims, it does nothing to restore their sense of peace and security within their community which the act of vandalism shattered. Having the perpetrator mow the grass during their term of probation (which was probably the sentence handed down) does little if anything to restore peace and security, as the community sees the perpetrator every time they come to mow the grass and I'll bet he is not all smiles and good cheer about being there. Were it possible to get the perpetrator to understand how deeply he effected the community, I would be willing to settle for a truely contrite apology and a promise never to do it again. However, many years of working with and studying criminals leads me to believe that in truth the best "restorative justice" would be for the community to teach the perpetrator what it feels like to have his property, peace and security broken. Unfortunately, that has too high a probability of turning into a tit-for-tat feud.
**How would you apply "restorative justice" to your past acts?
In closing, I give you full credit for what you have done since 1993, whether or not I agree with the effectiveness or efficiency of your actions. You are now out there trying to stop another kind of invidious evil, and that is good.
stay safe.
skidmark
PS - I'm sure I speak for several here when I ask "How did you find this thread, and what drove you to defend yourself from my posts (as I am the only one who has taken any significant amount of time to discuss you here)?"
** edited to add indicated paragraphs.
