The Ministry of Shadows

Last Five Entries

Gone, But Not Forgotten?
Friday, Jan. 20, 2012

What The Internet Will Look Like Under SOPA
Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012

Fearsgiving Week
Monday, Nov. 21, 2011

Jesus Approves of Waterboarding
Monday, Nov. 14, 2011

Beware of Asteroids
Wednesday, Nov. 09, 2011

Resources

FirstGov Portal

Legislative Database


Recommended Reading

Bindyree

Bruce Schneier

James Hudnall

Glenn Greenwald

D-Day

You Are Dumb


All links are current as of the date of publication. All content created by the author is copyrighted 2005-2010, except where held by the owners/publishers of parent works and/or subject materials. Any infringement of another's work is wholly unintentional. If you see something here that is yours, a polite request for removal or credit will be honored.



The Only Thing We Have To Fear ...

Tuesday, Apr. 13, 2010 3:37 AM

As next week's 'open carry' rally in Washington, D.C. approaches - a gathering of gun owners who want to exercise their Constitutional rights by carrying sidearms as permitted by law - an undercurrent to their understanding of the 2nd Amendment is coming to light.

They believe the 2nd Amendment grants the right to bear arms so that the citizenry can rise up and overthrow a tyrranical government. Because the whole healthcare thing 'ignored the will of the people' and so on.

While I am not an expert on the Constitution, I would submit that the 1st Amendment, with its guarantee of freedom of speech, religion, press, and peaceful assembly, linked to the right to petition the government for the redress of grievances, is the instrument to safeguard the union from within. The 2nd Amendment addresses the security of a free state against an external threat, and nowhere does it establish that this is also for the purpose of rebellion.

Some of Thomas Jefferson's writings, in which he addresses the question of tyranny, are being waved about; if so, then I must ask why these writings are to be accepted as defining the 2nd Amendment, when conservatives are quick to disavow Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists.

What does tyranny look like? Is it simply that one disagrees with the current administration, or must there be more? How can one argue the necessity of armed revolution when our 1st Amendment protections are still intact, and we also have the mechanism of impeachment within the Constitution itself? (At least Rep. Dennis Kucinich filed Articles of Impeachment against President Bush & Vice-President Cheney.)

Is there oppression? Where, and how, when the Westboro Baptist Church has their free speech protected? Where unemployment is rising, but there is a system (albeit strained) for providing benefits in the interim? Are there despotic regimes that respect as much?

And if the system does not work, how much of it is because of people who threw out their Census forms after listening to fear-mongering from right-wing commentators and legislators?



The Ministry has received 0 comment(s) on this topic.