The Freemen Take A Ride
Yet another live panorama unfolded last evening as
the Montana Freemen agreed, with the pomp and
circumstance of the Japanese surrender at World
War II, to remand themselves to the custody of
the government whose authority they called into
question.
Their argument was lost when they did that. Over. Sorry. See ya.
We could not help but remember the seige at Waco two years ago, and the astonishing, violent ending we watched, as well, live on national TV.
We thought of the bombing of the MOVE headquarters in Philadelphia some years ago, when the police department of the city of Philadelphia killed thirty-some people, including small children, when they refused to come out from behind their armed barricade. They, too, questioned the authority of the government. But while they lost their lives, their argument prevailed. If you have to kill someone to assert your authority, you have none. You simply have more power.
We could not help but wonder this: did the freemen live because the federales finally figured out that no matter how mad you get, you come off looking like a nazi when you shoot people live on TV ?Violence is ugly to see, no matter who perpetrates it.
Or is that just wishful thinking, and did the Freemen survive for another, more insidious reason ?
Perhaps they survived because they were a bunch of white rednecks who were under seige by another group of white rednecks who whispered through the fence at them... "I'm with ya all the way, buddy. I gotta do this to keep my pension."
If one discounts affiliations, and simply looks at the individuals involved, they're interchangable. On both sides, we have people whose idea of a good time is strapping a bowie knife to their thigh and crawling through the bushes, people to whom a gun is compensation for all deficiences, whether personal, professional or familial.
The FBI would no more have shot the Freemen than they would have shot one another. Enjoy the Federal Pen, fellas. It's perfect for guys like you.
June 14, 1996 Charles Paparella The Shore Journal