J8127
12-30-12, 00:40
Sharing something I wrote as a Facebook rant. It got some positive reviews so I decided to expand my audience.
Recently, a mentally unstable Adam Lanza murdered his mother, stole her firearms, took them to a gun-free zone, and murdered rooms full of innocent children days before Christmas in a heart breaking tragedy in which he would break already existing laws 41 times. Like every mass murder like this, a media and political storm would overshadow the real loss our country suffered with the passing of those children, our future generation. Before the next gun control debate could even start in congress, a convicted violent felon out on parole ambushed firefighters in New York with an illegally acquired firearm, further stoking the fire.
The debate will draw lines with each side foaming at the mouth trying to yell louder than the other, as all political discourse seems to do these days. Gun control proponents will blame the firearms instead of the shooters, they will try to ban firearms based on cosmetic features that scare them. Less insane supporters will ask why the firearms weren’t locked up so no one else could get them (a requirement ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court), why anyone “needs” “assault weapons” (a term again defined by arbitrary cosmetic features), or say the founder’s wrote the Second Amendment about muskets, not AR-15s, or maybe just simply support “common sense” gun control without saying what that is. The other side will quote the framers, debates will descend into wether or not citizens should own nuclear weapons, Leonidas and Thurman will be quoted, the NRA will rake in billions and then probable cave into “compromise” anyway.
Never mind that lightning kills more people a year than mass shootings have in a decade. Never mind that 300 million firearms and 100 million firearm owners don’t hurt anyone every single day in America. Never mind that Americans use firearms to lawfully defend themselves two million times a year, almost always without having to fire it. Never mind that at least three national studies by government agencies concluded the last “Assault Weapons Ban” didn’t lower crime at all. Never mind that after Britain and Australia banned firearms violent crime rose 40% and that Australian women are now raped three times as often as American women. Never mind that police stop active shooters (“Active Murderer” seems more appropriate to me) after an average of 16 people have been killed, but armed citizens do so after an average of just two. Never mind that almost ever mass shooting takes place in a so called gun-free zone. Never mind that almost every mass shooter suffers from a mental disorder or were previously convicted felons who are already not allowed to possess firearms. Never mind that the AR-15, and it’s “high capacity clips” (the proper term is magazine), is the most popular firearm in America for personal protection, recreational use, hunting, and competition.
Never mind that the Constitution guarantees the right of the individual to keep and bear arms.
Never mind all that, that isn’t what I want to say.
I want to say the real issue is America’s fear of responsibility.
The Framer’s wrote a document (well, their second attempt after the first one failed), our Constitution, that sets the rules by which our Government is supposed to operate. It is incredibly limiting, to the point that the 10th Amendment even says if the Constitution doesn’t say the Federal Government can do something, then it simply can not, leaving it to the states and the people. The list of all the things the Federal government CAN do by the Constitution fits on a few pages at most. Represent the states as one country internationally, defend it, and solve disputes between states. That’s about it. Everything else was left to the states to decide, in essence 50 (well, 13) internal bodies who act as one externally. What the state constitutions didn’t grant to the state government’s were left to the people. State constitutions are for the most part just copies of the federal, with specific nuances. This leaves the vast majority of the power with the people of America. Which although today about 50 other countries do the same, was an Earth-shattering idea at the time after an entire human history of oppression and servitude.
In order to be ratified, the Bill of Right’s was added, guaranteeing our first 10 rights. Despite the Constitution already saying the Federal Government can’t do anything not specifically listed, the Bill of Right’s even adds specific thing’s it can’t do, among other issues addressed. We all know these. These rights were granted with no knowledge of the internet, air travel, freight trains, cars, satellites, drones, stop light cameras, drug dogs, cell phones, or yes, “assault weapons”.
But look at them a different way. These freedoms are really power. We citizens have the power to speak freely, we have the power to demand fair trial, we have the power to due process. And power brings responsibility, and that is scary to America. As a citizen you don’t have the right to speak freely and protest, you have the responsibility to do so. It is your responsibility to confront your accuser, it is your responsibility to demand just compensation, it is your responsibility to hold the government to the rules that have been set for it.
And when it refuses?
The Second Amendment guarantees the (individual) right to keep and bear arms. That’s Power. It does so because an armed citizenry (the militia as defined elsewhere in the Constitution as essentially every one) is “necessary to the security of a free state.” The Second Amendment at its core isn’t about owning guns with “the shoulder thing that goes up” or how many bullets should be allowed in your magazines. It is about your freedom, your power, your RESPONSIBILITY, to face government oppression with force. THAT is freedom. THAT is power.
THAT is ****ing terrifying.
And Americans don’t like being afraid.
(As an aside, it’s at this point that many will scoff at the idea of facing the U.S. Government, talk about their jets and tanks and nukes, and miss the point entirely. While I am in no way advocating a revolution, consider the reality. First and foremost, the mix-match of armament is exactly what the Second Amendment was meant to prevent, so we can blame ourselves for letting ourselves be slowly disarmed by the Government. Second, we have these same advantages over every enemy we have gone to war with since World War II, and most people concede none of those really go in the win column. Third, Assad is losing to his people in Syria despite tanks, jets, gunships, russian support, and WMDs. Ghaddafi’s people shoved a sword up his ass after they hunted him down despite his tanks, helicopters, fighter jets, and WMDs. Don’t forget that our military and police are U.S. citizens too, and never doubt the ability of a small group of people to change the world, it’s the only thing that ever has.)
So what does the terrified flock of sheep do? Their slow march to a comfortable, placated death at the expense of future generations. We can thank no one but ourselves for the Government that we elected, tolerated, and allowed to become what it is today. We can thank no one but ourselves for our ignorance, complacency, and the bed we made.
Never mind health care is a mess BECAUSE the Government unconstitutionally got involved with HMOs. Never mind education is a mess BECAUSE the Government unconstitutionally got involved with the Department of Education. Never mind that the unconstitutional social security program is bankrupt because of the Government. Never mind that the unconstitutional Federal Reserve prints money out of thin air to bail out corporations who got in trouble because the Government backed their financial shenanigans. Never mind that we are 16 trillion dollars in debt to other nations and our international credit rating is about to be dropped to that of some third world countries. Never mind that the unconstitutional Environmental Protection Agency is putting citizens in jail and fining them millions of dollars for living on land they owned before the EPA even existed and sending armed assault teams to raid raw milk farms and Gibson guitar factories. Never mind that the unconstitutional Department of Homeland Security claims “right wing veterans” are potential terrorists and illegally monitors them and others, or it’s Travel Security Agency sexually assaults citizens before they get on an aircraft. Never mind that the New York Police Department has its own drone fleet and is structured after an infantry brigade combat team while the mayor of New York screams for international gun control. Never mind that the unconstitutional Patriot Act allows Government agencies to illegally monitor your communications without a warrant. Never mind that the Government has over 50 unconstitutional armed departments within its bureaucracy. Never mind that the U.S. Government practices extraordinary rendition on U.S. and Non-U.S. Citizens alike. Never mind that there are Americans sitting in secret prisons, never told of their crime and never afforded their constitutional rights to due process for an indefinite amount of time (Personally, I’d rather be murdered in a mass shooting).
Never mind that Barack Obama granted himself and all future Presidents the power to extra-judiciously use the military to assassinate U.S. Citizens (An event that caused me to tell my family that UBL succeeded in destroying America).
Why shouldn’t we mind? We asked for this. We asked Roosevelt to save us from the Depression. We asked Kennedy to save us from the Communists. We asked Bush to save us from the terrorists. We asked Obama to save us from Bush. We asked for easy, comfortable lives where everyone gets a trophy and everyone is nice to everybody. Oh and here, take our guns too, since they have no sporting purpose anyway.
Oh save us, Government, from this crushing fear of my responsibilities. I have no time to protest or demand due process for my fellow Americans, My Super Sweet 16 is on!
Drowning in their own fear, Americans cling to their political parties under the delusion that they have their best interest in mind. Democrats care about us. Republicans care about us. The Government is our friend, here to save us from our problems (Never mind that the only thing Government has ever always done, in the entire history of humanity, is fail). Some one is burning a flag and gay people are getting married, damn Democrats, save me Republicans! I can’t afford my Medieval Literature degree and guns scare me, damn Republicans, save me Democrats! The march continues on.
The reality is that neither party cares, and I weep for anyone who thinks they do. They are one in the same, power brokers for your handlers who keep us distracted with bread and circus. The Democrats are a party lead by career lawyers and politicians, dealing in big government and big bank power. They will gladly trample your second amendment rights and expand the Government beyond the bounds of the Constitution to make you feel better because hey, they got this. The Republicans are a party lead by businessmen, dealing in corporatism that makes them money hand over fist. They have no problem throwing you in jail for exercising your 1st, 5th, or 6th amendment rights, and you better not be not Christian. It’s ok though, you can keep your guns in case the rampaging gay rape Hannibal horde is at your gates. Both of them have no problem spending more money than they have, illegally spying on U.S. Citizens, unconstitutional war-- Oh look Casey Anthony was found innocent!
Then what is right? The infallible support of every right, even the scary ones. The exercise of your power as a U.S. Citizen, every power. The shouldering of your responsibilities, even though its hard. The acceptance that the only person accountable for your actions, inactions, successes, failures, triumphs, mistakes, and very life is yourself.
To rally behind the defeat of SOPA and then turn around and scream for a gun grab, to hold up a gun and say “from my cold dead hands” and then support the suspension of habeas corpus, or to put blind faith in a Government that will only assuredly fail and then blame anything but yourself, is nothing but hypocrisy and hell some people believe in has a special circle for you. I've even seen an individual say, "Who cares what the BIll of Rights says!?". Hopefully he gets hit by lightning.
To support the infringement of a single right is to support the infringement of every right, until they are all gone forever.
Recently, a mentally unstable Adam Lanza murdered his mother, stole her firearms, took them to a gun-free zone, and murdered rooms full of innocent children days before Christmas in a heart breaking tragedy in which he would break already existing laws 41 times. Like every mass murder like this, a media and political storm would overshadow the real loss our country suffered with the passing of those children, our future generation. Before the next gun control debate could even start in congress, a convicted violent felon out on parole ambushed firefighters in New York with an illegally acquired firearm, further stoking the fire.
The debate will draw lines with each side foaming at the mouth trying to yell louder than the other, as all political discourse seems to do these days. Gun control proponents will blame the firearms instead of the shooters, they will try to ban firearms based on cosmetic features that scare them. Less insane supporters will ask why the firearms weren’t locked up so no one else could get them (a requirement ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court), why anyone “needs” “assault weapons” (a term again defined by arbitrary cosmetic features), or say the founder’s wrote the Second Amendment about muskets, not AR-15s, or maybe just simply support “common sense” gun control without saying what that is. The other side will quote the framers, debates will descend into wether or not citizens should own nuclear weapons, Leonidas and Thurman will be quoted, the NRA will rake in billions and then probable cave into “compromise” anyway.
Never mind that lightning kills more people a year than mass shootings have in a decade. Never mind that 300 million firearms and 100 million firearm owners don’t hurt anyone every single day in America. Never mind that Americans use firearms to lawfully defend themselves two million times a year, almost always without having to fire it. Never mind that at least three national studies by government agencies concluded the last “Assault Weapons Ban” didn’t lower crime at all. Never mind that after Britain and Australia banned firearms violent crime rose 40% and that Australian women are now raped three times as often as American women. Never mind that police stop active shooters (“Active Murderer” seems more appropriate to me) after an average of 16 people have been killed, but armed citizens do so after an average of just two. Never mind that almost ever mass shooting takes place in a so called gun-free zone. Never mind that almost every mass shooter suffers from a mental disorder or were previously convicted felons who are already not allowed to possess firearms. Never mind that the AR-15, and it’s “high capacity clips” (the proper term is magazine), is the most popular firearm in America for personal protection, recreational use, hunting, and competition.
Never mind that the Constitution guarantees the right of the individual to keep and bear arms.
Never mind all that, that isn’t what I want to say.
I want to say the real issue is America’s fear of responsibility.
The Framer’s wrote a document (well, their second attempt after the first one failed), our Constitution, that sets the rules by which our Government is supposed to operate. It is incredibly limiting, to the point that the 10th Amendment even says if the Constitution doesn’t say the Federal Government can do something, then it simply can not, leaving it to the states and the people. The list of all the things the Federal government CAN do by the Constitution fits on a few pages at most. Represent the states as one country internationally, defend it, and solve disputes between states. That’s about it. Everything else was left to the states to decide, in essence 50 (well, 13) internal bodies who act as one externally. What the state constitutions didn’t grant to the state government’s were left to the people. State constitutions are for the most part just copies of the federal, with specific nuances. This leaves the vast majority of the power with the people of America. Which although today about 50 other countries do the same, was an Earth-shattering idea at the time after an entire human history of oppression and servitude.
In order to be ratified, the Bill of Right’s was added, guaranteeing our first 10 rights. Despite the Constitution already saying the Federal Government can’t do anything not specifically listed, the Bill of Right’s even adds specific thing’s it can’t do, among other issues addressed. We all know these. These rights were granted with no knowledge of the internet, air travel, freight trains, cars, satellites, drones, stop light cameras, drug dogs, cell phones, or yes, “assault weapons”.
But look at them a different way. These freedoms are really power. We citizens have the power to speak freely, we have the power to demand fair trial, we have the power to due process. And power brings responsibility, and that is scary to America. As a citizen you don’t have the right to speak freely and protest, you have the responsibility to do so. It is your responsibility to confront your accuser, it is your responsibility to demand just compensation, it is your responsibility to hold the government to the rules that have been set for it.
And when it refuses?
The Second Amendment guarantees the (individual) right to keep and bear arms. That’s Power. It does so because an armed citizenry (the militia as defined elsewhere in the Constitution as essentially every one) is “necessary to the security of a free state.” The Second Amendment at its core isn’t about owning guns with “the shoulder thing that goes up” or how many bullets should be allowed in your magazines. It is about your freedom, your power, your RESPONSIBILITY, to face government oppression with force. THAT is freedom. THAT is power.
THAT is ****ing terrifying.
And Americans don’t like being afraid.
(As an aside, it’s at this point that many will scoff at the idea of facing the U.S. Government, talk about their jets and tanks and nukes, and miss the point entirely. While I am in no way advocating a revolution, consider the reality. First and foremost, the mix-match of armament is exactly what the Second Amendment was meant to prevent, so we can blame ourselves for letting ourselves be slowly disarmed by the Government. Second, we have these same advantages over every enemy we have gone to war with since World War II, and most people concede none of those really go in the win column. Third, Assad is losing to his people in Syria despite tanks, jets, gunships, russian support, and WMDs. Ghaddafi’s people shoved a sword up his ass after they hunted him down despite his tanks, helicopters, fighter jets, and WMDs. Don’t forget that our military and police are U.S. citizens too, and never doubt the ability of a small group of people to change the world, it’s the only thing that ever has.)
So what does the terrified flock of sheep do? Their slow march to a comfortable, placated death at the expense of future generations. We can thank no one but ourselves for the Government that we elected, tolerated, and allowed to become what it is today. We can thank no one but ourselves for our ignorance, complacency, and the bed we made.
Never mind health care is a mess BECAUSE the Government unconstitutionally got involved with HMOs. Never mind education is a mess BECAUSE the Government unconstitutionally got involved with the Department of Education. Never mind that the unconstitutional social security program is bankrupt because of the Government. Never mind that the unconstitutional Federal Reserve prints money out of thin air to bail out corporations who got in trouble because the Government backed their financial shenanigans. Never mind that we are 16 trillion dollars in debt to other nations and our international credit rating is about to be dropped to that of some third world countries. Never mind that the unconstitutional Environmental Protection Agency is putting citizens in jail and fining them millions of dollars for living on land they owned before the EPA even existed and sending armed assault teams to raid raw milk farms and Gibson guitar factories. Never mind that the unconstitutional Department of Homeland Security claims “right wing veterans” are potential terrorists and illegally monitors them and others, or it’s Travel Security Agency sexually assaults citizens before they get on an aircraft. Never mind that the New York Police Department has its own drone fleet and is structured after an infantry brigade combat team while the mayor of New York screams for international gun control. Never mind that the unconstitutional Patriot Act allows Government agencies to illegally monitor your communications without a warrant. Never mind that the Government has over 50 unconstitutional armed departments within its bureaucracy. Never mind that the U.S. Government practices extraordinary rendition on U.S. and Non-U.S. Citizens alike. Never mind that there are Americans sitting in secret prisons, never told of their crime and never afforded their constitutional rights to due process for an indefinite amount of time (Personally, I’d rather be murdered in a mass shooting).
Never mind that Barack Obama granted himself and all future Presidents the power to extra-judiciously use the military to assassinate U.S. Citizens (An event that caused me to tell my family that UBL succeeded in destroying America).
Why shouldn’t we mind? We asked for this. We asked Roosevelt to save us from the Depression. We asked Kennedy to save us from the Communists. We asked Bush to save us from the terrorists. We asked Obama to save us from Bush. We asked for easy, comfortable lives where everyone gets a trophy and everyone is nice to everybody. Oh and here, take our guns too, since they have no sporting purpose anyway.
Oh save us, Government, from this crushing fear of my responsibilities. I have no time to protest or demand due process for my fellow Americans, My Super Sweet 16 is on!
Drowning in their own fear, Americans cling to their political parties under the delusion that they have their best interest in mind. Democrats care about us. Republicans care about us. The Government is our friend, here to save us from our problems (Never mind that the only thing Government has ever always done, in the entire history of humanity, is fail). Some one is burning a flag and gay people are getting married, damn Democrats, save me Republicans! I can’t afford my Medieval Literature degree and guns scare me, damn Republicans, save me Democrats! The march continues on.
The reality is that neither party cares, and I weep for anyone who thinks they do. They are one in the same, power brokers for your handlers who keep us distracted with bread and circus. The Democrats are a party lead by career lawyers and politicians, dealing in big government and big bank power. They will gladly trample your second amendment rights and expand the Government beyond the bounds of the Constitution to make you feel better because hey, they got this. The Republicans are a party lead by businessmen, dealing in corporatism that makes them money hand over fist. They have no problem throwing you in jail for exercising your 1st, 5th, or 6th amendment rights, and you better not be not Christian. It’s ok though, you can keep your guns in case the rampaging gay rape Hannibal horde is at your gates. Both of them have no problem spending more money than they have, illegally spying on U.S. Citizens, unconstitutional war-- Oh look Casey Anthony was found innocent!
Then what is right? The infallible support of every right, even the scary ones. The exercise of your power as a U.S. Citizen, every power. The shouldering of your responsibilities, even though its hard. The acceptance that the only person accountable for your actions, inactions, successes, failures, triumphs, mistakes, and very life is yourself.
To rally behind the defeat of SOPA and then turn around and scream for a gun grab, to hold up a gun and say “from my cold dead hands” and then support the suspension of habeas corpus, or to put blind faith in a Government that will only assuredly fail and then blame anything but yourself, is nothing but hypocrisy and hell some people believe in has a special circle for you. I've even seen an individual say, "Who cares what the BIll of Rights says!?". Hopefully he gets hit by lightning.
To support the infringement of a single right is to support the infringement of every right, until they are all gone forever.