Rockwell on McVeigh Verdict

Re “The McVeigh Verdict Settles Nothing,” by Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr., Column Right, June 3:

The problem with the militia “movement” is not that it is anti-government but that it is anti-democratic government. The government of the U.S. is not an anonymous, hostile force. Rather, as the Oklahoma bombing made painfully clear, the government is people; people with families and children; people who are elected (and appointed) by those they serve. If one doesn’t like the government (and who doesn’t dislike something about the government) there is a nonviolent way to try to change it--vote for (and try to convince others to vote for) people who will be the kind of government you want.

The militias seem to favor the use of armed force, rather than the vote, to change government. I wonder whether the militias, once they have overthrown the government that is causing them so much grief, will let people vote for the government that replaces it. If so, then why not let people just vote for a new government in the usual way (on election day) and skip the armed force part?

RICHARD S. MARKEN

Los Angeles

* Rockwell states quite explicitly that Timothy McVeigh was found guilty for his opinions, stating, “They’ll snuff out McVeigh and his anti-government opinions. . . . If you think the government is too big and intrusive, you are capable of malicious acts. You too can be killed.” We can debate the intrusiveness of the government vis-a-vis laws and regulations endlessly, but the very foundation of our democracy is the ability to publicly express our opinions freely.

Does Rockwell’s paranoia blind him to the obvious paradox of his very ability to freely criticize the government with impunity even as he presumes that such expression can lead to death? It’s both hard to believe and grotesque in the extreme but Rockwell actually seems to be equating McVeigh’s cowardly act with free speech. The only thing his murders expressed is his cowardly rage.

MICHAEL DAVENPORT

Encino

* Talk about paranoid. I have never been ruined by “the government.” The government has never taken away my guns (plural) and although I am not nuts about my tax share, I really don’t consider it confiscatory. I have no friends who have been destroyed by the government. I don’t recall even talking to anyone who was destroyed by the government. I don’t even know anyone who gives a damn about what happened in Waco.

Now I know why Rockwell and his troops are referred to as “right-wing wackos.”

ROBERT F. FALLER

West Covina

* What the McVeigh verdict settled was that a mass murderer was convicted by a jury of his peers. While liberals rejoiced in McVeigh’s conviction, conservatives also rejoiced that justice was served.

Rockwell attributes all of the ills of modern society to liberal intrusion into people’s lives. What about some conservatives wishing to intrude into people’s bedrooms and into private doctor-patient relationships?

LUCIA LUFT

Los Angeles

* What kinds of ideological rocks does The Times dig up to find writers like Rockwell? An inference could easily be drawn from his column that McVeigh was somehow justified, because of his hatred of the government, in, as a mountain of compelling evidence proved, with malice aforethought coldbloodedly snuffing out the lives of 168 fellow human beings.

Rockwell cavalierly dismisses that tragic event, while evidently arguing that the government’s “oppression” was responsible, not McVeigh. It would take a lot more efficient bureaucracy than the federal government’s, or for that matter General Motors’ or the city of Fullerton’s, to achieve the success Rockwell seems to think it has.

Vague allegations, innuendoes and insinuations are not proof, Mr. Rockwell. This citizen is scared spineless of those individuals like Rockwell who have a mind-set that is in the slightest way in sympathy with McVeigh’s.

CARROLL C. GEWIN

Fullerton

* According to a CNN poll, 61% of those polled called for McVeigh’s execution. A truly sick response to a truly vile act, and a damning indictment of how uncivilized we can still remain.

NIK GREEN

Isla Vista