< PREVIOUS ] [ 2005 Index ] [ Ed Quillen HOME ] [ SEARCH ] [ NEXT >
There's a rhetorical ploy that gets a good workout these
days. It's called the straw man trick.
It works like
this: You set up a feeble facsimile of your opponent's
position. That's the straw man, so named because it's
flimsy and easy to demolish, like a scarecrow. You proceed
to devastate the straw man, and hope that you've fooled
your audience into believing that you've also scathed your
opponent's position.
A straw man press release crossed my desk last week. It came from the Independence Institute in Golden. So far as I have been able to tell, the Institutes's main purpose is to oppose public transportation and encourage the construction of more suburban sprawl and more highways, thereby insuring that we continue importing lots of oil while fighting wars to protect the petroleum supply.
But that's not all the Institute does. Later this month,
the Institute is sponsoring an Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms
Party at a shooting club near Bennett. Guests
can fire shotguns at clay pigeons, then enjoy lunch with
whiskey, cigars and a talk from political writer
Christopher Hitchens.
And now the straw man. Institute President Jon Caldera
calls it a liberal's nightmare,
and says that The
thought of responsible adults enjoying these pastimes just
drives the liberal meddlers nuts.
Now, I've never thought of myself as much of a liberal (my daughters consider me a hopeless curmudgeon, politically stuck in 19th-century Jeffersonian hatred of both gun-control and drug-control laws).
But what do I know? Dave Kopel is the research director of the Independence Institute, and he also writes a media column which appears on some Saturdays in the Rocky Mountain News.
Earlier this year, while examining political balance
among regular columnists, he wrote that On the left side
of the Post, there's ... Ed Quillen.
So that should make me a liberal, certified by the research director of the Independence Institute.
And you know what? The idea of responsible adults enjoying guns, cigars and whiskey does not drive me nuts. I have enjoyed all three, even after attaining the age of responsible adulthood. Currently I prefer black powder, Pikesville Supreme Straight Rye and Top rolling tobacco; Marsh-Wheeling stogies, my old favorites, are unfortunately no longer available.
To be fair, I asked some liberal friends, people who
profess archaic ideals like public education and public
transportation and public health, whether this event would
drive them nuts. Who the hell cares?
was a fair
summary of the replies, although one said Hope they have
some designated drivers when they return to the metropolis
after their outing.
Speaking from experience, I can say that whiskey and guns are seldom a constructive combination, but the Institute does seem to be playing nanny by scheduling the shooting before the drinking.
And what kind of politically incorrect
shooting
happens on a trap range? If the Institute were serious,
there would be a chance to play with dynamite or mountain
howitzers. At the least, the shoot would involve some of
those controversial .50-caliber rifles -- accurate to 2,000
yards and with enough penetrating power to punch a hole in
a railroad tank car. These rifles are so politically
incorrect
that they've been outlawed in left-coast
California, although the bill was signed by a right-wing
luminary, Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger.
The Institutes's guidance on these matters gets even more confusing. John Andrews, former state senator and current Post columnist, is a former president of the Institute. Upon the suicide of Hunter S. Thompson last winter, Andrews wrote disparagingly of Thompson's work, and called Thompson an incoherent liberal icon.
Can you name any American writer who celebrated guns, whiskey and tobacco with more exuberance than Thompson?
Oh well. The Institute wants us to look at the straw man, some silly tut-tutting scarecrow that it has fabricated, rather than at its own inconsistencies and contradictions.
< PREVIOUS ] [ 2005 Index ] [ Ed Quillen HOME ] [ SEARCH ] [ NEXT >