The Second Amendement
We the People
I believe as the founders of our nation did, that the 2nd Amendment is the recognition of a pre-existing, personal, God-granted right. To quote Dr Nelson Lund at Heritage.org “The right to self-defense and to the means of defending oneself is a basic natural right that grows out of the right to life. The Second Amendment therefore does not grant the people a new right; it merely recognizes the inalienable natural right to self-defense…”
The Bill of Rights provides its protections to the citizens, not Government, and of these, the ability to keep and bear arms provides the ultimate protection and assurance of freedom. The second amendment provides for an armed citizenry, able to provide for common defense against foreign invasion and domestic enemies for sure, but more importantly, it uniquely empowers the citizenry to forcibly keep in check government’s ability to oppress it citizens, however unlikely this may seem to some in the 21st century. The founders knew full well the potential for corruption that springs forth when men govern other men, as their recent history with England had proven and continental Europe’s history had demonstrated countless times over the years. America’s successful formula for liberty and peaceful transitions of power in government as set forth in the Constitution and Bill of Rights has stood the test of time for more than two centuries due in no small part to the second amendment. This amendment protects all of the others.
So do we still need the second amendment in the 21st century or has government become so benevolent and protecting that its an obsolete “right”? Have men become so enlightened in two hundred plus years that they have become free of corruption and greed? Has tyranny taken a rest in the 21st century?
I don’t think so. Just look at what has been down in the name of safety and security for the people just in the last two Presidencies. Since 9/11 the rights of individual citizens have been ignored to the extreme. Revelations about the NSA spying on us all have revealed repeated violations of the 4th amendment that continue to this day. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 demonstrated how in a natural disaster where people needed to protect their lives and property from looters and thugs, the local government in New Orleans took it upon themselves to order the police to disarm citizens, unconstitutionally seizing their firearms, thus preventing them from being able to protect themselves in their hour of need. Overseas in the War on Terror, US citizens (albeit vile and despicable citizens by all accounts) have been targeted and assassinated by our government because un-elected bureaucrats and military members identified them as “terrorists” completely ignoring the Constitution and due process or trial by a jury of their peers. Today we have a sitting President who believes its totally within his power to make and/or change laws with Executive orders ignoring Congress and the Constitution altogether.
Tyranny does not just show up one day and change everything overnight folks. With each session of Congress more laws are made that take away individual rights or money or both and give them or distribute them to someone else and lately someone who isn’t even an American citizen. With each election cycle our leaders are getting more brazen and willfully ignoring the rights of the citizens. It’s been a long slow process that has been going on for some time. Its slow, methodical and persistent. Is it hard to believe tyranny can exist in 21st century America? Real tyranny is here, its just many of us don’t recognize it yet or have just come to expect the treatment we have received from our leaders and government as being “normal”. Just ask my wife who has had to contact our state and local government no less than 23 different times waiting on hold on some occasions for over and hour, over the course of a year and half just to sign up for health insurance under the new Obamacare law and to fix mistakes made by its administrators. That my friends is what tyranny looks like.
And because it is here, shouldn’t we as citizens be armed to prevent it from getting worse someday. It can get much worse. We live in a post-Constitutional era as radio talk show commentator, and constitutional scholar Mark Levin likes to say. The lawlessness of our leaders is readily apparent. The citizens rights have been ignored and will continue to be ignored. It is not a stretch to conclude that at some point our government will attempt to forcefully change the law and disregard the Constitution altogether and try to do it without a fight. They will attempt to remove the ability to resist their efforts however before this happens. This is why big government progressives and socialists make banning guns and.or severely restricting them a top priority.
Many other nations chastised our founders and still criticize our current leaders because Americans are permitted to carry and own firearms. Are they concerned for the safety or security of our citizens when they make such criticism and pronouncements? No. What is it then? Could it be they fear the ultimate control by force they now have over their countrymen would be in jeopardy if force could be met with force?
It is not a coincidence that one of the 20th century’s greatest proponents of gun control was Adolph Hitler of Nazi Germany. To disarm the citizenry as some men and women of power in the US desire to do in the interest of overall security and or safety is to change the safeguards built into the very framework of the government envisioned by the founding fathers. It is one more step towards government control that threatens to change the people’s status from citizen countrymen to subjects of the government state. Do you want control over your government or do you want government to control you? That’s the decision it ultimately boils down to.
On May 20th 2000, president at the time of the NRA, Charlton Heston ended a speech by concluding:
“For the next six months, [Democratic presidential candidate and then-Vice President of the United States, Al Gore] is going to smear you as the enemy. He will slander you as gun-toting, knuckle-dragging, bloodthirsty maniacs who stand in the way of a safer America. Will you remain silent? I will not remain silent. If we are going to stop this, then it is vital to every law-abiding gun owner in America to register to vote and show up at the polls on Election Day. Heston then paused to pick up a replica of a flintlock Long rifle and continued: So, as we set out this year to defeat the divisive forces that would take freedom away, I want to say those fighting words for everyone within the sound of my voice to hear and to heed, and especially for you, Mr. Gore: ‘From my cold, dead hands!’
Islam & Immigration for the Future
Just a thought but if Islam is truly a religion of peace and the majority do not support the barbarism that occurs daily in areas controlled by Islamic fascists then why aren’t there more of those peace loving people marching in the streets of their capitals of their respective countries right now and demanding their governments do something about the violence? Why isn’t every peace loving Islamic country vocally and physically opposing the monsters like ISIS right now instead of just a few nations, and most of them, Western democracies? I can understand why we don’t see that in the Middle East. In Islamic countries throughout the Middle East thousands will show up to chant “Death to America”, or to cry and tear their clothes in anguish, and trample and kill a few innocents, all over a cartoon representation of “Mo” but protest the beheading of a fellow Islamic or Christian in general, naah that’s okay, they deserve it according to the literal translation of Mo’s book.
I can understand why chanting give peace a chance in the streets of Mecca might not work but what about in Western democracies, why aren’t we seeing more protests and marches and denunciations of ISIS and the barbarity that’s covered in the news? Could it be that those peace-loving Muslims are afraid to speak up out of fear and retaliation by the true believers among the populations? Could it be that in the quiet privacy of their homes they secretly support the actions taken by their more zealot brothers and keepers of the faith? Actions speak louder than words and their actions and words of protest are silent by and large, which tells us much.
I truly believe any Muslim that says his religion is a religion of peace and vocally opposes the killing going on right now by ISIS is not a true believer of Islam or they are just being disingenuous. They are a progressive believer at best and they are not in the majority, for if they were they would not be afraid to speak up in the relative safety and comfort of the West let alone in Mecca. Go ahead and ask those peace loving Muslims what they think would happen to them if they went to Mecca or any Islamic nation’s capital and started a peace march in support of say.. Christians? What would they say would happen to them? They would probably say something that it’s not permitted or that those over there do not believe the way they believe, etc etc and in that case they would be correct. Most Muslims in Muslim countries are not peace loving and do not recognize an individual’s right to believe as he wants. That point of view is a western, democratic tradition and not a Middle Eastern or Islamic tradition.
Isn’t it more likely that every country that is controlled by Islam does not believe in freedom for its citizens and would crush anyone who dared express an opinion against the Mullahs true interpretation of the Koran? Islam itself if fractured between Sunni and Shia, which has resulted in the killing of millions in Allah’s name, so how much more intolerant must they be of Christians or atheists for that matter? Could it be those governments openly or at least tacitly advocate the kind of violence we see perpetrated by ISIS? Could it be those leaders in those Islamic countries hate our country and its people because of our openly flaunting “freedom” and “tolerance” of everything and everyone?
There is no such thing as separation of church and state in Islamic controlled nations. The citizens of these countries have supported this way of life for centuries either by relinquishing their freedom willingly or by subjugation. All those who opposed the will of Allah are put to death. There is no discussion and debate on the matter. As such there is no tradition of self-interest and independence you find in the western nations and democracies. So why should we expect someone coming here to America or to any western nation professing to still be an Islamic adherent and yet want to adopt our way of life. I would not believe it for a second and neither should you.
They do not change their point of view just because they are in our lands. Their faith guides them to not accept our way of life or belief systems. They instead insist we change ours for them. You can see this clearly happening in Europe right now. You don’t have Moroccan Islamic immigrants becoming Frenchman adopting French customs, beliefs and traditions; you have just Muslims who happen to live in France changing nothing but citizenship in name and a new address from where their welfare check comes from.
We have a President who is pandering to Islamic interests like no other President before him. It most likely is because of his own heritage. He does this however at the expense of one of our closest allies in the region, Israel. I think that is a mistake that will lead to more war in the region if not globally. This leads me to the point of my article.
I read yesterday that President Obama is going to allow ten thousand Syrian refugees into our country this next fiscal year. This is dangerous as Islamists have no tradition of freedom and tolerance. I do not think they would easily assimilate to our culture and way of life and this must be a concern for all of us and our government when we look at our immigration policy. Just like the thousands of Central and South Americans who stream across our borders illegally with no intention of adopting our values, language, culture or custom, so too would Islamists moving here legally or otherwise. They would not melt into the American pot so to speak but would instead stick out like a piece of sharp glass or deadly mix of gasoline and explosive.
The idea of living the American dream is a great one but our policy of letting anyone in at any time night or day and without legal authority has to stop and soon. We need to reexamine the purpose of immigration. We want to be a bastion of freedom and democracy to the oppressed but shouldn’t the rest of us who are already here get something out of the deal too? How does having millions of largely unskilled workers come here, workers who won’t assimilate into our country, help us the American citizens who either were born here or stood in line waiting to move here legally?
I believe it is the intention of this President and his supporters to forcefully change the demographic mix of this country. Not just the color of our citizens skins which I do believe is part of it, but also the type of person who comes here. I believe it is a carefully orchestrated attempt to make more and more government dependents, and dissatisfied socialists ,who will affect change by shear numbers and tax the system so terribly that the government will forcefully be overturned and the Constitution rendered obsolete and powerless. This is the hope and change Barrack Hussein Obama has promised. God help us all when he completely succeeds.
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