Freedom's Champions I: Remembering Joe Sobran, the Sage of the Op-Ed

By Mark Anderson / Stop the Presses News & Commentary

Freedom’s Champions Series No. 1 --- An ongoing exploration of key figures whose courage has moved society and illuminated the precepts of freedom. See the video link above.

ABOVE VIDEO VERSION OF SOBRAN SPEECH ONLY 4:53 LONG BUT THE LONGER VERSION OF SAME SOBRAN ADDRESS HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3246&v=uHZ9Rgp0W_w

Columnist and author Joseph Michael “Joe” Sobran was and remains a truly remarkable individual.

Despite his death from diabetes-related complications in 2010 at 64, he’s one of those people who defies epitaphs, hence my hesitation with using the word “was.” His words carry such vibrancy, sagacity, humor and depth that they still roam the earth, challenging, sometimes angering and certainly enlightening most anyone who happens upon his columns, books, online speeches etc.

Speaking to the group Accuracy in Media in Washington in 2000 (see the video posted above, which is well worth anyone’s time) Sobran noted, “I know in my mind I try to make conservatism the application of Christian principles to the real world.”

In part, he meant that Republican “conservatives” had made the fatal error of always elevating militarism as the sole object of an unflinching “patriotism," a mindset that mustn’t ever be seriously questioned, lest the critic be deemed a heretic. Yet if real Christianity is ever actually allowed to grow and is applied, war can be seen for what it is: a big-government enterprise that always makes things worse for both the individual and for freedom, under the beguiling claim of “defending” freedom.

Joe’s Christian credo was vividly evidenced to me firsthand when I met him at a speech to a group near Lansing, Michigan in 2003. The U.S. had just attacked Iraq as the war on terror began to exert its own brand of terror on the world. With evidence already mounting that Iraq never had the “Weapons of Mass Destruction” to justify the brutal U.S.-coalition “shock and awe” bombing assault against Iraq in the wake of 9/11, Joe said something profound that has stuck with me.

Referring to a little Iraqi boy, Ali, who lost all four limbs from a U.S. bombing attack and saw his life utterly shattered, Joe said, “Was it really worth getting Saddam Hussein—for this?”

There was nary a dry eye in the room because Joe, who could move you from laughter to tears instantly, had hit upon a key Christian principle: We may all differ in looks, height, money, skills, belongings, color and countless other ways that we measure ourselves. But in our deepest humanity—where rank and privilege fade and our naked humanity is exposed, with all social advantage rendered moot, as in the Texas flood—we are ALL equal in the eyes of God.

In other words, every human life, no matter how insignificant it sometimes may appear---amid the inordinate rivalry and super-ego that harms and masks our deeper and better selves---is worth more than any amount of money and riches ever known.

Absorb that: We are all of infinite worth, in a way that’s beyond measure. Thus, we can begin to firmly say NO to sacrificing ourselves at the altar of the warfare state and resist succumbing to a “mass culture” whose malicious big-box media pits peoples and civilizations against each other—an orchestrated “hate” campaign from on-high, to make us accuse each other of “hate” and divide us against ourselves, so that our ultimate rulers can sidestep scrutiny and remain untouched in their ivory-tower treachery.

BASIC BACKGROUNDER

For those who aren’t familiar with Joe Sobran, it was 20 years ago, in 1997, that the Free Press published his book “Alias Shakespeare: Solving the Greatest Literary Mystery of All Time.” Joe was known for advancing the theory that "Shakespeare’s" plays were really written behind the scenes by Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford.

Joes was born Feb. 23, 1946 in Ypsilanti, Mich. and passed away Sept. 30, 2010. His New York Times obituary on Oct. 1 noted, “While at Eastern Michigan, [a young Sobran] sent letters to several professors who objected to an impending visit by [William F.] Buckley Jr., rebutting their criticisms point by point. Mr. Buckley later saw the letters and in 1972 offered Mr. Sobran a job writing for National Review.”

The Times added, “Mr. Sobran also wrote a syndicated column for The Los Angeles Times and Universal Press Syndicate, and regularly appeared on the CBS radio series ‘Spectrum.’ He contributed to The Wanderer, The Human Life Review, The American Spectator and other publications. In 1994 he founded ‘Sobran’s: The Real News of the Month,’” a newsletter that ceased publication exactly 10 years ago.

“Mr. Sobran addressed social issues in his columns, especially questions pertaining to abortion, the family and marriage. Many of his essays were collected in ‘Single Issues: Essays on the Crucial Social Questions,’” the Times also noted. Of course, Sobran’s solo work came mainly after Buckley’s National Review fired him in 1993 for being too critical of the state of Israel's policies and how the U.S., in Joe's view, is damaged and sometimes endangered by its alliance with the Israeli state.

Please check out the video link of Joe’s talk, located at the very top of this article, and see what you think. Feedback is welcome.

Remember, a core point of this ongoing series, Freedom’s Champions, is that it doesn’t matter if I or you, the reader, agrees with everything Joe says (or with the views of other Champions who’ll be cited in this series). What really matters is their courage, abilities and efforts to leave their mark on the world, in trying to make it a better place.