In times of crisis . . .

I could be wrong about this, but it seems to me that in times of crisis, you have to cling to what you believe in.

Like, say, a philosophy of limited government. I heard the Decider blathering on recently about how no one is happy with, you know, having the government assume control of the commanding heights of the economy, but it was a time of crisis.

Like, say, the Constitution of these here United States. Ordinarily, we at least pay lip service to quaint anachronisms like the "Bill of Rights." (You know, the first ten amendments to the Constitution, thus, part of the Constitution, thus, the supreme law of the land.) But, because some people out there don't like us---and thus, we are in a time of crisis----we need to put them aside. Just, you know, temporarily.

Look, when things are easy, things are, well, easy. Easy times don't test your beliefs. Hard times test your beliefs. When things are easy, you can just go merrily along, and not worry too much about your beliefs, because your beliefs aren't being tested. It's when everything goes tits-up, it's when things get hard, that you have to cling to what you really, no I mean really really, believe in.

Do you believe in free markets? Well then, believe in them, and when things go bad, keep right on believing in them. If you believe in free markets, when the FIRE sector of the economy goes into the toilet, you keep right on believing that free markets are the way to resolve the issue. Look, if that mass of sliced and diced, securitized and monetized aggregated mortgages is suddenly revealed to be so much sound and fury, signifying nothing, then the way to resolve the issue is to let the markets find the natural price. If that price is a lot less than we've been pretending it is, then we've been wrong about the price. The only true price is a price something will sell at.

Do you believe in the Constitution? Well then, believe in the Constitution. Separation of powers, strictly enumerated things the government can do, and courtesy of the 9th and 10th amendments, a long and unenumerated list of things the government can not do. If you believe in, say, freedom of speech, or double jeopardy, or the requirement of probable cause before issuance of a search warrant, or wiretapping, or things like that, then you have to believe that those things are true, even in a crisis.

Saying that you believe in the Constitution, except when it's inconvenient, such as in a time of crisis, is saying that you believe in the Constitution not at all, because it is in crisis that we reveal ourselves.

Let me analogize. I spent four years in the United States Marine Corps. I was not a grunt (i.e., combat arms, i.e., infantry, armor or artillery) and I served during peacetime. I was proud to be a Marine, I was an heir to a long history of general Marine ass-kicking-ness, I took the job I had to do seriously. But no one ever handed me an M16A2 and said, "Hey there, Teuful, there's bad people coming and we need you to delay their advance while we reposition for a counterattack. And by the way, this is a one-way ticket." I talked the talk, but I never had to walk the walk. Now, in a time of crisis, would I have saluted smartly, done a quick function check on my rifle, and held the line? Would I have dropped my rifle and headed for the hills like a spotted-ass ape? Would I have held fast to my beliefs? Or would I have thrown them over like so much "well that was then and this is now" po-mo rationalization?

I'll be honest: I don't know.

I think--I like to think, I prefer to think, I do, in point of fact, think---that I would have done a quick function check of my rifle, said a prayer, and held the line. But I could be wrong about that. I didn't face that kind of "time of crisis" during my service.

Let's say you believe in marriage as a covenant between two people and God, that marriage is a unification of two halves into one whole, and that you will cleave only unto your spouse, for better or for worse, through good times or bad, until death do you part. But then, you start arguing with the Old Lady/Old Man, and harsh words are spoken, and then the Cute Chick/Hot Stud you work with, or see in the course and scope of your daily life, throws you a wink and a nod. (And as we all know, a wink is as good as a nudge, eh wot?) Well, you know, it's a time of crisis . . . .