I am officially beyond a place of wanting to find a compromise with those who want to argue for the right, or the need, of citizens to arm themselves with guns.I looked at the Declaration of Independence, which (among other things) said something more important:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.Read the whole thing. I couldn't find anything in the Declaration of Independence where it said that (a) you have a right to FEEL safe, or (b) anyone else has a duty to make you FEEL safe.
The Constitution, however, has this thing which acknowledges your right to defend yourself, but the momma's boy rejects it because the whole thing is distasteful to him. After all, what are we spending our tax dollars on if it's not to make the momma's boys of the world FEEL safe? (I ask you!)
Well, there is this thing about ... 'if you like your current government, you can keep your current government' (paraphrasing is a useful form of satire). But it goes on to point out that if you don't like your government, you can work to change it.
I figure that the momma's boy has every right to do anything he can to change a government which has disappointed him, because the world is a dangerous place (which he recognizes) but this government is not obliged to protect him; so he wants a different government. And his contributiojn is to complain about people who want to be able to protect themselves.
[Those self-protecting people are SO self-centered; not like momma's boy.]
We have had governments in the past, in this world, which promised exactly the sort of protection which the author is whining for.
They call it "A Police State".
That is, a government where nobody is allowed to shoot you. Except, of course, for The Police. (Or the Army, or the Gestapo, or the NKVD, or ...well, name your poison, someone will be pleased to administer it in lethal doses).
So, there's your "compromise" in a nutshell, momma's boy. You can take responsibility for yourself, or you can abdicate it to some anonymous stranger who doesn't have any more respect for you than I have.
And that anonymous stranger, that dictatorial government which will NOT be confined by the Constitutional Rights which you personally hold in such low esteem, will treat you like a rented mule and you won't even get to complain about it because ... hey! If the 2nd Amendment goes away, the 1st Amendment is right behind it!
PS: other constitutional protections you're ignoring
momma's boy, you apparently don't notice all the other constitutional rights which are protected by the 2nd amendment. Here's just a random sampling:
3rd Amendment: you probably don't even think about soldiers moving into your house
4th Amendment: "unreasonable search and seizure" ... want those soldiers taking your stuff?
5th Amendment: How do you feel about Kangaroo Courts, and hey .. if you don't like soldiers in your house, how about they just take over your house and kick your ass out? Whaddya gonna do, call a cop? They're the only OTHER folks who could oppose this, because you sure can't. Didn't you notice that the cops and the soldiers are the only ones who have a gun in your perfect world?
6th Amendment: So, you try to get the cops to kick the soldiers out, and you're arrested for ... I don't now, public drunkeness? Lewd and lacivious behavior? Disturbing the peace? You wait for your lawyer and your trial so you can clear your name but after 10 or 12 years and you never get a trial, you kind of get the idea that you missed the chance to take the law into your own hands, because (heh heh heh) in YOUR Imaginary America where the Constitution isn't taken seriously ... you don't have the right to a speedy trial, or to confront your accusors, or .. well, can you say "Jack Shit"? (I knew you could.)
7th Amendment: So say you finally get a trial, but there's no jury and it's a Kangaroo Court. Damn! There goes that whole "right of trial by jury" thing.
8th Amendment: Of course, you could get bail, but it's like $20 million dollars. Your alternative would be to be put in stocks in the public courtyard and to be given 20 lashes a day, every day, for the next month ... for the crime of not allowing soldiers to take over your home without compensation. That's just "For example".
9th Amendment: This is the simplest, and and at the same time, the most complex part of the Bill of Rights .... "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."
What that means is, just because the Constitution says something, that doesn't mean that something it doesn't address ... isn't part of your rights. So while YOU may think it's just wrong that the court has taken your wife and children into custody, and sold them into slavery to pay your lawyers fees, court costs, fined and incidental expenses ... you have nothing to say about it because that would require you to rely on your constitutional rights. And nobody else cares about you.
10th Amendment: Pay attention to this one ...
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
That means, Momma's Boy, that even if the Federal Government may not restrict your local Gestapo, the State can. And by this time, when you're broke, your home has been invaded, your fiscal solvency trashed, everything you own has been confiscated and your family is 'owned' by people you don't even know ... and you're running out of Constitutional Protections.
So, you might disagree with the legal protections of the Second Amendment, but perhaps you might consider that if a government (as unrealistic as it might seem to you, who have never studied the depredations on their citizens which other governments have imposed), there is a very slim possibility that when other constitutional protections fail, you still have the option to "Man Up".
Not that anyone expects you to. Because you are not a threat to anyone .. any more than you are a help to anyone.
Just saying.
3 comments:
The root of the Left: "If it feels good, do it" They could not survive without that mantra, which flies in the face of the entire historical record of Man.
In other words the government, state of federal, needs to set up safe places where folks can go to feel safe. Maybe these safe places could be called gun free zones.
I always love that argument, "What about my right to feel safe?"
I personally use the Shrek response: "You HAVE the right to feel safe. What you lack is the capacity."
A person's feelings, like his/her thoughts and opinions, are ENTIRELY subjective. It's all in the mind. If you don't feel safe, it's not necessarily because other people are MAKING you feel unsafe; it's because you choose to interpret reality in a way that seems less safe than it really is.
In short: you're paranoid.
There are two ways out of this (well, three, really, but we'll get to that): 1. You can impose your will on your neighbors in order to make yourself feel better, or 2. You can take steps to ensure your own safety WITHOUT imposing on others (or 3. You can remove yourself from society by checking into someplace with all the controls you desire - like a mental ward, or a prison).
It's tragic, really, how many people will choose option #1, when option #2 (or #3) is so much easier, more practical, and offers greater peace of mind (not to mention #2 is more self-actualizing and distinctly American).
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