[Newspoetry] Dire Necessity

[Donald L Emerick]

Just War and Taxes in Dire Necessity

A Jurist of the Supreme Court once said
"You do not have to oppose every war,
to be classified as a conscientious objector
to some war, for the law does not suppose
that you or anyone could ever know everything
about every war, so as to be able to oppose it,
in its vast and wide and complete entirety,
as an opponent of all war would have to do.
All you have to know is that you see no reason,
now, at this very present moment, to kill others,
in the name of some present dire cause or other."

But, I think the Jurist, liberal and gracious as he
might have meant to be, may have done us harm,
for the truth of the matter is exactly this absolute:
that war is wrong because it has no positive side.
War could never be right and no one would ever
be right to be for war.  So, when liberal Jurists
allow us to pick and choose between wars,
as to when we would -- or not -- kill other people,
he misses understanding what conscience is.
He confuses conscience with what we might
deem to be practical, useful, convenient,
now is a time for opportunity to exploit others.

Conscience says, this war is wrong because
each and every and all war is wrong:
war itself is wrong, absolutely and entirely.
There is no such thing as a Just War,
except for those who mean to be unjust.

Every dire necessity thus shows itself as a lie,
tout court, without further examination of cases.
The word "dire" intends to suggest that there is
absolutely no alternative to some choice --
but there would always be such alternatives,
as long as "dire" has not killed off possibility.

No tax is ever just, though many are unjust.
Some tax may not be unjust; that's a possibility
that never forms into a positivity, of being just.
No tax is ever due to any dire necessity, either.
Hence, one may not object to any kind of tax,
on the grounds of social or political conscience,
for there are out there conscientious objectors
hiding in tax shelters and other bomb shelters:
evaders hide in foxholes and taxloopholes.

War and taxes are for commercial convenience,
for they state that all are responsible, collectively,
even when no one is responsible, individually.
When there is a state, it states what it needs,
and what it needs is general compliance,
even if it never will have any private loyalty.

So, war and taxes are hated, and justly so.
But, when social responsibility comes along,
then it wants to say, I shall make others pay,
for this ought to be done and not left undone.

The question of social responsibility, then, says,
"Love could never be enough to motivate duty;
there must be this sense that duty is external,
even though we would desire it to be internal,
like love, a matter of self-policing decent respect
for other persons, for the opinions of mankind."

Thanks for listening,
Donald L Emerick
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