Many Americans are upset at our government. Approval of the job performance of Congress is about 20%, which means four out of five folks don't like it. Gun owners tend to be among the political right, and Second Amendment support is a common thread among Tea Party demonstrators. All of us who bitterly cling to our guns are painted by the mass media as a violent bomb, just waiting to go off. From ex-president Clinton on down, there have been comments to the effect that the political right is urging any crazies who might be willing to act out, to commit violent acts against the government. We have been called seditious. We are told that sedition is rising up against the authority of the state, and as practitioners we probably ought be muzzled or incarcerated to calm down the country.
I reject the charge. The number of folks who own guns (estimated at about 122 million) and the number licensed to carry weapons (estimated at 3-5 million) is a very large pool. Indeed, if you count the populations of Vermont, Alaska and now Arizona which allow concealed carry by virtue of being a 21 year old citizen of those states, the pool allowed to carry becomes 7.9 million, but I digress. How many examples of "violence against the authority of the state" have the media been able to pull together that were instigated by rhetoric from the right? The most recent was the Hutterite militia in Michigan that was planning to kill police officers for some weird reason. Even they had not actually done anything violent before they were arrested, and their ultimate goal was to war against the anti-christ. That puts them well beyond the purview of our current discussion. The man who flew a stolen aircraft into the IRS building hated the government because he thought they financially broke him. Nobody has said he was a gun nut. The pundits have to go all the way back to Timothy McVeigh in 1995 to get a good example of a violent criminal who blamed the US for attacks against American citizens at Waco and Ruby Ridge, and by extension, hated the authority of the state. He was ex-military and liked guns, so there you go. My problem is that you can't make policy based on anecdote. Where is the trend? Where are the aggregated statistics? Individual criminals do not a trend make, and chilling speech against the government's actions is a high price to pay "just in case" somebody might be pushed by rhetoric into overt violence. Assertions of personally hurtful words shouted to congressmen don't merit rounding us all up.
The gun crowd likes to wax eloquent about protecting our natural rights with our weapons, but only when the government becomes unconstitutional, and all other avenues have failed. Dennis Henigan of the Brady Campaign can't see the distinction. In his piece "Gun Rights and Political Violence" he says "In the NRA’s world, we are only free to the extent that our guns allow us to impose our will on others." He willfully doesn't see that free, armed men ensure that the government can't stray too far toward tyranny. All he sees is that armed men impose their will on those who are not armed. He doesn't see that we freely place ourselves under the rule of our Constitution and the will of the people. Our current complaint is that our leaders have stopped listening to the will of the people. That is a far cry from calling for insurrection.
There is no need for violence. We know how self government works and we have confidence in the ballot box. Americans spontaneously self organize for a purpose. We gather together to sandbag a riverbank against flooding. We muster tons of supplies to ship to Haiti for disaster relief. We demonstrate for or against a Wal-Mart coming to our neighborhood. Free speech and the freedom to assemble allow like minded people to gather together to tell the government we are upset. Every two years we have the privilege of replacing every member of the House of Representatives and one/third of the US Senate. We can replace our state governors and the US President every four years, and turn over the members of our state legislatures as well. Elections are the actual battleground, and the fight is with words and ideas, not guns. We like our constitution, and we like the values of the men and women who forged it. We grow concerned when we see the current practitioners of government making up the rules as they go. Come November, we will vote the bums out.
Comments
I will not believe the charges against the Hutaree, unless and until I personally view the untampered with evidence with my own eyes and hands. I remember the same things being said of the Branch Davidians and the Weavers. All of which in the years that followed were proven untrue. I have no reason to believe now, that federally sanctioned murderers are of any better character than they were then or even of better character than that monster Timothy McVeigh.
I think what Hennigan fears are the words of our forefathers who reminded us that when government gets too far out of hand that we might be forced to resolve the issue just like they did when the ballot box no longer legitmately exists. The second Amendment was put in to the Bill of Rights for just that purpose. But Hennigan wants to insure Americans do not have that right and when government becomes absolute there will be no recourse. If anyone is a traitor and seditious it should be Hennigan for trying to deny Americans their rights under the very documents that brought this country into existance. History has always had people like this and so has our country and the most famous was Bennidict Arnold. In today's world the federal government is very much out of control and Congress is largely responsible for that. We need to change the complete face of congress with honest middle class people who know what it is like in the last decade to work and support a family. And no retirement
Hey Dan,
I truly enjoyed your article with but one exception:
It is NOT our 'privilege' to vote out the lackluster members of Congress every two years, it is our RIGHT!!!
Privileges such as having a driver's license, can be revoked: the right to the ballot box cannot, unless the Constitution is destroyed (which Congress and the Obamasiah is attempting to do I would argue).
I would just add that the Mass Media made a heyday out of the 19th being about McVeigh's murderous actions, but said nary a word about Concord and Lexington.
This fact alone confirms that the Social Progressives in both the Mass Media and Congress have a manic desire to gets us as far from the doctrines of the Founding Fathers as is possible.
I hope to never see the First American Civil War in my lifetime: I'd be rather happy going to my grave without having experienced that horror.
Congress however, and the Executive, don't understand how angry all Americans are at the whole bunch.
Cheers.
Sedition isn't a crime; it's a civil right.
Axiom: We always have exactly the government we deserve.
Our elected and non-elected leaders' worst fear has come to light - a substantial part of the electorate has momentarily awakened to discover that the government we deserve is not to our liking. Put simply, the three branches of central government can no longer ignore, dismiss, nor circumvent the rule of law, and escape the attention of its sovereign-citizens. Across the nation, discussions center on one basic premise: either the Constitution is the supreme law of the land or "We, the People" exist at the whim of executive decree, judicial fiat and/or legislative overreach.
Sadly, Barry Goldwater is no longer around to remind us that we need not apologize nor compromise: "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."
Any attempt by this illegitimate, gangster government to either stifle free speech, peaceful assembly, confiscation of firearms or "internment" (using Bertha's language) of peaceful dissidents WILL trigger violence against the government. It will be nothing less than an act of aggression against the people and the Constitution.
In the meantime, all freedom loving Americans should acquire a copy of the book, "Unintended Consequences" by John Ross and reflect on how they might contribute should all peaceful efforts fail and we're given no other choice.
Just sayin'
Unlike you Dan, I and many other Americans have lost confidence in the ballot box. Organizations such as ACORN, SEIU and people such as Obama and his minions have destroyed that confidence. I'm already worried about the credibility of the upcoming election in November and think that the far left is already working to corrupt it.
The Soap Box is no longer effective as evidenced by Congress recently passing the Health Deform Legislation AGAINST the will of the majority of Americans. They've shown no improvement thus far regarding immigration reform and Cap and Tax. The Jury Box has been compromised for years by corrupt courts that disallow defense attorneys and defendants from reminding jurors of their right to nullification. The jury instructions are prohibited from including any information about nullification and if a prospective juror wants to get out of service just mention that you consider the Constitution the supreme law of the land.
CONTINUED...
CONT.: The judge will boot you right off the jury.
So, we the people can no longer place confidence in either the Soap Box, Ballot Box nor the Jury Box. That only leaves us the Cartridge Box if Congress continues to ignore the will of the majority and presses forward with immigration, Cap and Tax and whatever other dark and evil plans their leadership has in store for us.
I would strongly suggest you folks continue to stockpile weapons and ammunition, food, water and other survival supplies and equipment because I don't think the leftists in charge of the Federal government right now have any intention of slowing their agenda. I think they will intentionally continue to poke the American people in the eye by pushing their socialistic policies and establishment of the "structure" necessary to bring about Obama's "fundamental transformation of the greatest country on Earth." If it's so great, why does he and his communist minions feel the need to transform it?
And I sincerely believe * * * that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.
I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution*** I mean an additional article taking from the Federal Government the power of borrowing.
Thomas Jefferson
*****
The primary causality for the circumstances which left American Patriots with no recourse and brought about the necessity of the American Revolutionary War for Independence, and the answers to the questions of how it has occurred that Americans are now confronting an historical repetition of the same conditions, is revealed on the pages found at the following link:
www.xat.org/xat/moneyhistory.html
This is an absolute must read for everyone.
ghostwriter III%
the ballot box is not out of reach if Americans use it. There is still time this November and remember that the Health reform Act was the product of congress (mainly Pelosi from calif.)not Obama. We have one more chance to start toi get it right. It is only when an elected official who has lost in the voting refuses to leave office that the American public will need to resort to armed insurrection. I do agree with stockpiling weapons ammunition, and food and water in case that day comes. The Mormons do stockpile a year's worth of food and water and it is a good lesson for us. Americans are fed up and nothing Obama can say is goign to clam them down. But he is largely a figurehead and it is Congress who is stealing our children's futures by indebting them for hundreds of years to come. Every one from banks, unions,large corporations, oil companies, etc have fed off of us for way too long. But to change that we have to boot everyone in congress and start free or go to a second revolution
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