tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469109905542911409.post8618330022381453484..comments2023-12-23T16:59:19.185+00:00Comments on Western Rifle Shooters Association: More From Colonel CooperUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469109905542911409.post-72384321933824622522011-04-23T05:55:43.027+01:002011-04-23T05:55:43.027+01:00I would give a precious lot to have had the opport...I would give a precious lot to have had the opportunity to know and converse with Jeff Cooper, and even more had I the wit to use that time wisely.<br /><br />Jon IIIaughtsixnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469109905542911409.post-80138521981251485182011-04-22T21:39:33.888+01:002011-04-22T21:39:33.888+01:00Thanks for these posts.
I had the good fortune to...Thanks for these posts.<br /><br />I had the good fortune to have a conversation with Col. Cooper some time back. We spoke for about an hour, covering a large range of topics, yet nothing he said was trivial.<br /><br />He was often criticized for being dogmatic and arrogant. This was not my impression of the man, though I can see how others might reach that conclusion. To me, Cooper seemed to be thoughtful, confident and above all <i>competent</i> in word and deed.<br /><br />At the end of our conversation, those many years ago, he repeated a bit of advice he'd given elsewhere: <i>If it's worth knowing, write it down.</i><br /><br />Memories change and fade with the passage of time. Events, concepts and principles are lost and forgotten if entrusted to recollection alone, often never to be discovered again. Though I never attended a class or lecture from Cooper, I learned a great deal from him on that long-past afternoon.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469109905542911409.post-32663803594939811042011-04-22T11:17:06.668+01:002011-04-22T11:17:06.668+01:00"In my view, liberty is that condition which ..."In my view, liberty is that condition which exists when men make their own laws..."<br /><br />That's not liberty. It applies equally well to majoritarian oppression.<br /><br />Liberty is the condition that exists when men are free of coercion or constraint in all matters that don't involve the use of force, intimidation, or fraud against equally innocent others. <br /><br />I'll give the man some credit, though. He did try to qualify it:<br /><br />"...and are protected from bureaucracy or despotism by unbreakable rules."<br /><br />If that leading "and" is to be taken seriously, the question reduces to what those protective "unbreakable rules" must be -- and the would-be despots among us answer that question quite differently from how a lover of freedom would.<br /><br />Pondering Col. Cooper's statement yields insight into why most revolutions against oppressors produce regimes as oppressive or worse.Francis W. Porrettohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05862584203772592282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469109905542911409.post-58967155072271500512011-04-22T09:00:00.910+01:002011-04-22T09:00:00.910+01:00Amen to that, Col. Cooper. It wasn't until aft...Amen to that, Col. Cooper. It wasn't until after IaDrang that most of us in the 1st Calvary Div. really began to hate the North Vietnamese soldier. Prisoners were a hard commidity to come by after that little fracus.tjbbpgobIIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12456342500825653657noreply@blogger.com