When Will They Kill Us?

The hard iron at the center of all things

On the 7th of January, a woman in Minneapolis was murdered. She was told to get out of the car by several masked men, but instead turned to leave. One of them, who had walked in front of the car, was bumped; as it passed by him, he fired three times into the side of the car, killing her. The other men blocked passerby, including a doctor, from working to save her. She was alive when paramedics arrived, but later died on the scene. The murderer was allowed to flee, carrying the weapon with him.

The government in power has chosen to shelter the murderer. The woman who was killed in some way deserved it. She was a domestic terrorist, they said. Perhaps she was disrespectful. Maybe she was a lesbian. In any case, they are not going to allow an investigation, nor can there be any thought of punishing the murderer. Instead, their department made the real policy clear – their agents will have total immunity from any charges for any reason.

Now they have gangs of thugs roving the streets of Minneapolis being paid by the arrest, no matter if they turn out to be citizens. So much for the Constitution, and the rule of law.

But that is not the only thing happening in the world. In Iran, the people recently rose up against the government. Orders were sent down to the Basij, their indigenous band of thugs, to fire freely and without restraint into the crowds. They did so. There are thousands dead, laid out in neat rows for their families to claim. Soon they will be buried. Hundreds more are in prison, awaiting execution. For a paltry promise not to execute them, the United States has agreed not to launch airstrikes. We have wasted their heroism.

One of the results of globalization is that everyone dresses similarly. Anyone can wear a soccer jersey or a tracksuit. The people lying in their blood in the streets, arms outstretched and faces blank, look just the same as anywhere. It could be me or you.

It is difficult for good and decent people to really imagine evil. The liberal sympathy for criminals comes from this – we know, we believe, that if we committed some appalling act it must genuinely have been a mistake, an error, or at the very least an aberration which won’t happen again. That some people are innately bad is inconceivable. You must know that some people are, though. You must realize that not everyone is your friend, that not everyone is good (if confused), and that some people are your enemies and will never be placated.

I want you to have no doubts about this. If the orders come, ICE will kill you.

They are like dogs. They have no loyalty but to their master. Don’t confuse them with all the other dogs of the state – these ones have been selected for their willingness to obey that one man from whom our troubles spring. There can be no argument with them, no reasoning. When they are deployed to the only task for which they are suited, we will either surrender, kill them, or be killed.

Why not surrender? It is a shameful term, but it is an act not without its advantages. Consider myself. I am a 25 year old white male. I was born in this country and speak English fluently. The notion that I would ever be accosted and asked “papers, please” for more than ten seconds is silly. I am self-supported by writing about economics. In order to be happy, I need only a space to walk around in, friends to be near, and questions to think about. I do not particularly care about money, so the stagnation from economic mismanagement is unimportant.

It is easy enough to live for one’s own material benefit. If you are smart and enterprising, and not given to extravagances, there is no reason why one could not retire in their 30s. Such a person could live peacefully and happily under fascism. But that cannot be me. For while I will not be much affected, others will be. I don’t want a life in which I am materially successful. I want a life in which I will have always pursued that which does the most good for the most people.

I think this sense of what is good and right is what makes society work. If we all worked for our own benefit, all of the time, we would simply steal from each other and be all of us the worse for it.

There is nothing which need stop ICE besides ourselves. We cannot rely upon the sense of goodness which stays our own hands to stay theirs. Many months ago, I wrote an article on this topic. The administration had been trying out the theory that they if they deported an enemy of theirs overseas without due process, they would have no obligation to bring them back. What a childish fear it seems now. They do not need to resort to such devices. They will simply have us killed, and pardon the murderers.

In other words, if they keep going, the only recourse is civil war. What else are we to do?