Something to ponder
Found via a link from a pro-gun blog:
"Gun-rights advocates sometimes defend the Second Amendment in terms of the right to defend themselves from criminals and the right to hunt. Those things are, of course, important but they miss the real purpose of the right to keep and bear arms, which is to protect against tyranny imposed by federal officials."
Read the rest of the article here: The Doomsday Weapon by Jacob G. Hornberger, October 2003 (posted 03/08/2004 on the Freedom Daily website.)
Mr. Hornberger is unabashedly libertarian, while I consider myself an "independent conservative" (I've been known to vote for a Democratic candidate over a Republican on occasion) so I tend to disagree with him on some of his assertions. He seems to have forgotten that Iraq is a war zone... and that the Iraqis have (and are allowed to keep) firearms - including AKs - for their own self defense. And in the three years since this article was written, a number of steps have been taken to return increasing levels of autonomy to the Iraqi people. (No bets yet on how successful they'll ultimately be, considering the history of the area, but they're trying.)
However, I note the following quotations from Thomas Jefferson:
"[W]hen all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another."
"The elective franchise, if guarded as the ark of our safety, will peaceably dissipate all combinations to subvert a Constitution, dictated by the wisdom, and resting on the will of the people."
So I agree with Mr. Hornberger that the framers and signers of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were adamant that America should remain a nation of free peoples. They'd seen and had enough, thank you, of the alternatives through history.
And just for grins:
"Anything that keeps a politician humble is healthy for democracy." -- Michael Kinsley
I'm not skilled at political debate; while I've got my opinions, and I hope I've actually made those opinions based on facts and reason instead of emotion or impulse, I'm not trained in the ability to express those opinions in a way that can stand up under debate. I have confidence in what I believe, but not in my ability to express it effectively, or to remember all the details when under pressure. So, I tend to rely on the writings of others to help me express my thoughts. I'm hoping that this blog will help me, at least a little, in overcoming this handicap.
As well as provide a place I can just "think out loud" sometimes.
"Gun-rights advocates sometimes defend the Second Amendment in terms of the right to defend themselves from criminals and the right to hunt. Those things are, of course, important but they miss the real purpose of the right to keep and bear arms, which is to protect against tyranny imposed by federal officials."
Read the rest of the article here: The Doomsday Weapon by Jacob G. Hornberger, October 2003 (posted 03/08/2004 on the Freedom Daily website.)
Mr. Hornberger is unabashedly libertarian, while I consider myself an "independent conservative" (I've been known to vote for a Democratic candidate over a Republican on occasion) so I tend to disagree with him on some of his assertions. He seems to have forgotten that Iraq is a war zone... and that the Iraqis have (and are allowed to keep) firearms - including AKs - for their own self defense. And in the three years since this article was written, a number of steps have been taken to return increasing levels of autonomy to the Iraqi people. (No bets yet on how successful they'll ultimately be, considering the history of the area, but they're trying.)
However, I note the following quotations from Thomas Jefferson:
"[W]hen all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another."
"The elective franchise, if guarded as the ark of our safety, will peaceably dissipate all combinations to subvert a Constitution, dictated by the wisdom, and resting on the will of the people."
So I agree with Mr. Hornberger that the framers and signers of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were adamant that America should remain a nation of free peoples. They'd seen and had enough, thank you, of the alternatives through history.
And just for grins:
"Anything that keeps a politician humble is healthy for democracy." -- Michael Kinsley
I'm not skilled at political debate; while I've got my opinions, and I hope I've actually made those opinions based on facts and reason instead of emotion or impulse, I'm not trained in the ability to express those opinions in a way that can stand up under debate. I have confidence in what I believe, but not in my ability to express it effectively, or to remember all the details when under pressure. So, I tend to rely on the writings of others to help me express my thoughts. I'm hoping that this blog will help me, at least a little, in overcoming this handicap.
As well as provide a place I can just "think out loud" sometimes.
posted by quidni | 8:29 PM
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