Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
In what can only be described as the most bizarre military recruiting ploy ever, Californian Yupeng Deng is charged with duping Chinese Immigrants into enlisting into his private army. Luring the unsuspecting “recruits” with promises of citizenship, the El Monte native convinced over 200 Chinese nationals to pay initiation fees ranging from $300 – $450. Donning the rank of “Supreme Commander'” Deng paraded his regiment through the streets of L.A., and then led a successful boarding of the U.S.S. Midway which is now a naval museum in San Diego.
Deng also set up an office decorated to look like a real military recruiting office. Once the unsuspecting “soldiers” had paid, he provided gear bought from army surplus stores and identification cards made to look like military ID’s, which Mr. Deng said they could use to get out of traffic tickets, said Laura Eimiller, a public affairs specialist with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Los Angeles.
The FBI and the Defense Criminal Investigative service took a dim view of Deng’s efforts at mustering a private army, and charged the field general with theft by false pretenses, manufacturing deceptive government documents, and counterfeiting a government seal. When a search of his apartment turned up some child pornography, the commander faced that charge as well.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jack Hunt was equally unimpressed with Deng’s Army and sentenced the Supreme Commander to three years in the stockade. No word yet on whether the U.S. Army/Military Special Forces Reserve unit, as Deng dubbed his rough-walkers, has replaced its fallen commander, but word has it peace talks with ICE have commenced for the troops.
Source: Yahoo News
~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Eddie W.,
I had read all of the Rand published by the time you were probably born. I don’t remember John Galt, Dagny Taggart and/or Ragnar Deneskjold ever being described as having, nor aspiring to “Overlordship.” I’m no fan of Ayn,
but I don’t think she was proposing overlords for society. Therein the irony.
Mike Spindell:
There was no irony in frank’s statement. His entire premise and put down make no sense if you understand Rand.
Obviously you do not.
“He could be a Galtian overlord. Rather than being a leech and depending on a socialist government program he formed his own army.”
frank,
Sometimes irony passes over the heads of true believers.
Running the con …
Come on Eddie W, Deng strikes a gallant pose when garbed in green.
I should say a volunteer military run by the government. Uncle Deng is not what she had in mind.
frank:
2 things. First, it would be Galtian not Gaultian. Second Rand believed in a small, limited government of which a volunteer military is a legitimate function.
you might be interested in this:
“Of all the statist violations of individual rights in a mixed economy, the military draft is the worst. It is an abrogation of rights. It negates man’s fundamental right—the right to life—and establishes the fundamental principle of statism: that a man’s life belongs to the state, and the state may claim it by compelling him to sacrifice it in battle. Once that principle is accepted, the rest is only a matter of time.
If the state may force a man to risk death or hideous maiming and crippling, in a war declared at the state’s discretion, for a cause he may neither approve of nor even understand, if his consent is not required to send him into unspeakable martyrdom—then, in principle, all rights are negated in that state, and its government is not man’s protector any longer. What else is there left to protect?
The most immoral contradiction—in the chaos of today’s anti-ideological groups—is that of the so-called “conservatives,” who posture as defenders of individual rights, particularly property rights, but uphold and advocate the draft. By what infernal evasion can they hope to justify the proposition that creatures who have no right to life, have the right to a bank account? A slightly higher—though not much higher—rung of hell should be reserved for those “liberals” who claim that man has the “right” to economic security, public housing, medical care, education, recreation, but no right to life, or: that man has the right to livelihood, but not to life.
One of the notions used by all sides to justify the draft, is that “rights impose obligations.” Obligations, to whom?—and imposed, by whom? Ideologically, that notion is worse than the evil it attempts to justify: it implies that rights are a gift from the state, and that a man has to buy them by offering something (his life) in return. Logically, that notion is a contradiction: since the only proper function of a government is to protect man’s rights, it cannot claim title to his life in exchange for that protection.
The only “obligation” involved in individual rights is an obligation imposed, not by the state, but by the nature of reality (i.e., by the law of identity): consistency, which, in this case, means the obligation to respect the rights of others, if one wishes one’s own rights to be recognized and protected.
Politically, the draft is clearly unconstitutional. No amount of rationalization, neither by the Supreme Court nor by private individuals, can alter the fact that it represents “involuntary servitude.”
A volunteer army is the only proper, moral—and practical—way to defend a free country. Should a man volunteer to fight, if his country is attacked? Yes—if he values his own rights and freedom. A free (or even semi-free) country has never lacked volunteers in the face of foreign aggression. Many military authorities have testified that a volunteer army—an army of men who know what they are fighting for and why—is the best, most effective army, and that a drafted one is the least effective.
It is often asked: “But what if a country cannot find a sufficient number of volunteers?” Even so, this would not give the rest of the population a right to the lives of the country’s young men. But, in fact, the lack of volunteers occurs for one of two reasons: (1) If a country is demoralized by a corrupt, authoritarian government, its citizens will not volunteer to defend it. But neither will they fight for long, if drafted. For example, observe the literal disintegration of the Czarist Russian army in World War I. (2) If a country’s government undertakes to fight a war for some reason other than self-defense, for a purpose which the citizens neither share nor understand, it will not find many volunteers. Thus a volunteer army is one of the best protectors of peace, not only against foreign aggression, but also against any warlike ideologies or projects on the part of a country’s own government.
Not many men would volunteer for such wars as Korea or Vietnam. Without the power to draft, the makers of our foreign policy would not be able to embark on adventures of that kind. This is one of the best practical reasons for the abolition of the draft.”
“The Wreckage of the Consensus,”
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, 226
Hey! This is an example of the great American spirit! He could be a Gaultian overlord. Rather than being a leech and depending on a socialist government program he formed his own army. Remember, there is nothing the evil government does that could not be done better and more efficiently by private parties.
If we can google him Timmy sez we don’t need the government to perform the function. Think of the savings!
“Mr. Deng said they could use to get out of traffic tickets, ”
That may help here also:
““A person traveling in an automobile on public thoroughfares has no reasonable expectation of privacy in his movements.”
WOW….Good story..
His recruits sound like highly motivated guys. If a local Army recruiter hasn’t followed up the Army may be letting a good opportunity slip away. 🙂
it’s not like they were holed up in a compound in idaho or something. they were parading on the streets in LA. the linked article doesn’t say how long this has been going on. funny and slightly scary at the same time.
Hell, he could finish that in 3 years if they give him access to a computer in jail!
rafflaw:
Suppose they didn’t want him writing his own version of Mein Kampf.
Mespo,
Great story! Mr. Deng is one crazy character. I am surprised that he only got 3 years.