I'm against national security

The first refuge of scoundrels.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) once said, "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel."

His biographer James Boswell clarified, "But let it be considered, that he did not mean a real and generous love of our country, but that pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak of self-interest."

You do what I want, or you're unpatriotic!

Since Johnson's day, however, patriotism has become the first refuge of scoundrels who want to legislate your personal and business affairs. In contemporary times, it's cloaked as "national security."

And now "national security" has reached full-blown absurdity. When I first read this social media post, I thought it was a joke, a parody of President Trump's ridiculousness. But then I checked, and it turns out it's just Trump being ridiculous again:

“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda! Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”

It is beneath me to engage with what Trump says here, to reason with unreasonableness. It's also not worth my time to argue against tariffs in general. However, if you find the idea that foreign-made movies are a national security threat laughable, I suggest that it could be a wake-up call.

I urge skepticism whenever someone calls something a "national security threat."

Is obesity really a national security threat?

Were big labor unions really a national security threat?

Why not just come out and say that a free society is a national security threat?

Now let's push it:

• Was "radical Islam" ever a national security threat?

• Was international communism ever a national security threat?

Perhaps these "threats" were justifications for social control and profiteering for favored contractors.

And an excuse to lie.

Many people suspect that the federal government lied about what it knew (or didn't know) about UFOs/UAPs. The lies were designed to keep adversarial countries from knowing what kind of military technology the Americans had. Keep them guessing.

The Americans also convicted Julian Assange for exposing inconvenient truths about war crimes committed in Iraq. Secrecy, lies, and coverups are justified. Why? "National Security."

Too many people who would laugh at Trump invoking "national security" as a reason for movie tariffs have been way too accepting of the wars, surveillance, and censorship of the National Security State.

Suppose it's alright for the Pentagon to lie, or for the State Department to lie. Isn't it, then, also alright for the Labor or Commerce Departments to lie about unemployment or other economic data for "national security" reasons?

After all:

• If the other party takes power, it will destroy our national security.

• Therefore, we must ensure our party stays in power.

• It will therefore serve the greater good if we mislead the public on how well they're doing, because we need their votes.

That's why I doubt everything the government says. Especially when it claims something is a "problem" that requires a solution that takes more of our liberty or money. And I'm doubly skeptical when it invokes "national security."

What's the point of "national security" if the nation isn't worth living in?

© James L. Wilson. Permission is granted to republish with attribution and a link to the original.

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James Leroy Wilson writes The MVP Chase (subscribe) and JL Cells (subscribe). Thank you for your subscriptions and support! You can contact James for writing, editing, research, and other work at jamesleroywilson-at-gmail.com.