On Wednesday, February 26, 2003, at 12:38 PM, Doug Henwood wrote:
> [For some reason, the ARI signed me up for these daily gems, and some
> of them are so ridiculous that I haven't signed off. Here's a goodie.]
>
> From: "ARI Media" <davidh at aynrand.org>
> To: <dhenwood at panix.com>
> Subject: Op-Ed In Defense of the Cowboy
> Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 10:19:17 -0800
>
> Dear Editor,
>
> Please consider this Op-Ed submission from the Ayn Rand Institute. For
> your convenience, you can download this Op-Ed from:
> http://www.aynrand.org/medialink/cowboy.shtml
>
> In Defense of the Cowboy
>
> By Andrew Bernstein
>
> Those who oppose war with Iraq--from foreign heads of state to
> homegrown
> antiwar protesters--employ a common expression of contempt for the
> American war effort. America, they sneer, is acting like a "cowboy."
>
> A mock interview with Saddam Hussein conducted by a European
> intellectual is written to show, in one news report's summary, "what
> out-of-control cowboys the Americans are." A recent New York Times
> article explains that to some Europeans the "major problem is Bush the
> cowboy." U.S. Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut agrees, stating that
> America must not "act like a unilateral cowboy."
>
> These smears imply that the heyday of the cowboy in the Old West was a
> lawless period when trigger-happy gunmen shot it out with reckless
> abandon and brute force reigned.
>
> But to most Americans, the cowboy is not a villain but a hero. What we
> honor about the cowboy of the Old West is his willingness to stand up
> to
> evil and to do it alone, if necessary. The cowboy is a symbol of the
> crucial virtues of courage and independence.
>
> The original cowboys were hard-working ranchers and settlers who tamed
> a
> vast wilderness. In the process, they had to contend with violent
> outlaws as well as warlike Indian tribes. The honest men on the
> frontier
> did not wring their hands in fear, uncertainty and moral paralysis;
> they
> stood up to evil men and defeated them.
>
> The Texas Rangers--a small band of lawmen who patrolled a vast
> frontier--best exemplified the cowboy code. Whether they fought
> American
> outlaws, Mexican bandits or marauding Comanches, they were generally
> outnumbered, sometimes by as much as fifty to one. It was said of them:
> "They were men who could not be stampeded." For example, when Ranger
> officer John B. Armstrong boarded a train in pursuit of the infamous
> murderer John Wesley Hardin, he was confronted by five desperadoes.
> Armstrong took them on single-handed, killing one and capturing Hardin.
> In describing their independence and courage, Ranger captain Bob
> Crowder
> said: "A Ranger is an officer who is able to handle any situation
> without definite instructions from his commanding officer or higher
> authority."
>
> The real-life courage of such heroes has been properly memorialized and
> glorified in countless fictional works. The Lone Ranger television
> show,
> Jack Schaefer's classic novel, Shane, and dozens of John Wayne movies,
> among others, have captured the essence of the Western hero's
> character:
> his unshakeable moral confidence in the face of evil. It is this vision
> of the cowboy, not the European slander, that Americans find inspiring.
> That's why, when President Bush said of Osama bin Laden, "Wanted: Dead
> or Alive," most Americans cheered.
>
> The only valid criticism of President Bush, in this context, is that he
> is not true enough to the heritage of the Lone Star State. When the
> Texas Rangers went after a bank robber or rustler, they didn't wait to
> ask the permission of his fellow gang members. Yet Bush is asking
> permission from a U.N. Security Council chaired by Syria, one of the
> world's most active sponsors of terrorism.
>
> Today the terrorists responsible for blowing up our cities are far more
> evil than the bandits and gunmen faced by the heroes of the Old West.
> To
> defeat them, we will require all the more the cowboy's virtues of
> independence and moral courage.
>
> Even as our European critics use the "cowboy" image as a symbol of
> reckless irresponsibility, they implicitly reveal the real virtues they
> are attacking. European leaders assail Americans because our "language
> is far too blunt" and because we see the struggle between Western
> Civilization and Islamic fanaticism in "black-and-white certainties."
> They whine about our "Texas attitude" and whimper that "an American
> president who makes up his mind and then will accept no argument" is a
> greater danger than murderous dictators. In short, they object to
> America's willingness to face the facts, to make moral judgments, to
> act
> independently, and to battle evil with unflinching courage.
>
> These European critics are worse than the timid shopkeeper in an old
> Hollywood Western. They don't merely want to avoid confronting
> evil--they seek to prevent anyone else from recognizing evil and
> standing up to it.
>
> Texas Ranger captain Bill McDonald reputedly stated: "No man in the
> wrong can stand up against a fellow that is in the right and keeps on
> a-comin'." If America fully embraces this cowboy wisdom and courage,
> then the Islamic terrorists and the regimes that support them had
> better
> run for cover. They stand no chance in the resulting showdown.
> _______________________________________________________________________
> Andrew Bernstein, Ph.D. in philosophy, is a senior writer for the Ayn
> Rand Institute (www.aynrand.org/medialink) in Irvine, Calif. The
> Institute promotes Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand, author of
> Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.
>
> If you plan to use this Op-Ed, please send an email to
> media at aynrand.org
> with your publication's name and the expected date of publication.
> Thank
> you.
>
> David Holcberg
> Media Department, Ayn Rand Institute
> 2121 Alton Parkway Suite 250
> Irvine, CA 92606
> Phone: (949) 222-6550 ext. 226
> E-mail: davidh at aynrand.org
>