For those of us who find the Iraq War unjust and therefore intolerable, the news-making events in Berkeley, California, earlier this month were disheartening. The city council there, unwilling to suffer the consequences of its convictions, rescinded its January 29 vote to discourage the Marines from maintaining a recruitment base in town, succumbing in the end to pro-military pressure.
Now, if Berkeley—a town historically pacific, liberal and active—cannot accomplish official and effective protest against the war, how are we to do so in Las Vegas?
The past five years have proven the political process mostly ineffectual against the war, and, at best, much too slow of a recourse for those with a virile conscience. Furthermore, we all know the traditional means of civil disobedience do not bode much better here in Southern Nevada, in this new millennium.
It of course is not a man’s duty to devote himself to the eradication of any wrong, nor every injustice: We all have domestic matters with which to concern ourselves. But it is incumbent upon the honest man to disassociate himself from that which he condemns—to wash his hands clean of it—to, at any rate, not lend his support to it.
And so last year I did the only thing I could do: I refrained from paying my taxes.
According to the White House, one-fifth of my money would go toward sustaining the troops, their bread and bullets.
The popular and politically correct sentiment today is, “I’m against the war in Iraq, but I support the troops.” See what gross inconsistency is tolerated. How can a man condemn a mission but support those who carry it out—its agents?
“Because they are fighting for your First and Second Amendment rights,” says Catherine Moy, executive director of Move America Forward, a national group that supports troops and has amassed thousands of followers. “And your freedom, too.”
That is not so. The Iraqis—either Sunnis or Shias—have never given me reason to worry for my rights or freedom. Of what concern are they to me? I did not condone this war.
Today millions of people oppose the war in opinion. Yet only a fraction of them oppose the war in deed as well: About 10,000, according to estimates from the Christian Science Monitor, have refused to pay their taxes. According to IRS spokesperson Raphael Tulino, the end result for conscientious objectors (indistinguishable in the eyes of the IRS from anyone else who fails his lawful obligation to pay taxes, Tulino says) will most likely be fines and accruement, not jail time.
In other words, while we resisters won’t receive the consolation of martyrdom, at least we know we did not lend ourselves to the unjust war that we condemn, cost what it may.
Dr. Leroy Pelton, a professor at UNLV who has written two books on justice and nonviolence, says withholding taxes is tricky business, because in doing so I am also withholding monies for education, social security and other things I might condone. I say that is not my fault. If the remedy to the evil is commensurate in damage to the evil, that is the government’s cross to bear.
This is not a common stance anymore, states Pelton. Nor is it a popular one. Days after the Berkeley event, editorials in newspapers throughout the country abominated the antiwar protestors for misdirecting their anger. As The Stanford Daily put it: “There are a plethora of ways to protest the war and the administration without hammering the men and women risking their lives every day.” Moy says soldiers, unconditionally, deserve respect.
Any number of well-disposed young men, by means of respect for the military, are daily made agents for injustice. Obedience is not a virtue to be condoned unconditionally, let alone praised. Take the Holocaust into consideration:
Has history in any way absolved Hitler’s subordinates of their historical atrocities? Do historians judge Nazi troops any less culpable than the Nazi administration?
“That’s a tough, tough question,” says Pelton. “And it’s a good question. To be honest, I don’t know how to answer it.
“Ultimately,” Pelton continues, “we are all responsible.”
That’s my point: I don’t want to be responsible.
“That is treacherous,” says Moy. “Especially at a time like this.”
Indeed. If refusing to give blind adamant support for America’s soldiers is treachery against this nation, then I am treacherous. I want no part of it. Rather, those who seek to rid this earth of war for good, and to see peace and justice done, are my compatriots, through and through.
Illustration by Colleen Wang