Second Amendment Remedies

I've heard a lot over the last week about the shootings in Arizona. Fox claims the shooter was a leftist, MSNBC that he was a brainwashed right-winger. Some say that we need to use this as an opportunity to tone our political rhetoric down, some to say that free speech is more important in the aftermath of this shooting than ever.

The thing that really pisses me off, though, is when I hear someone say that political rhetoric on BOTH sides is EQUALLY responsible for extremist behavior like this.

I'm sorry (not really) but that is utter bullshit.

Last year, the media made such a huge deal out of a comment by a politician in a neighboring state to Arizona, and now we seem to have forgotten it utterly. And the connection between this person's comments and the recent shootings is DIRECT. And yes, this politician was not only a republican, but a person that I consider a right-wing extremist.

Last year, during her run against Harry Reid, Sharron Angle said "You know, our founding fathers, they put that second amendment in there for a good reason and that was for the people to protect themselves against a tyrannical government." Then she talked about Jefferson's comment about having a revolution every twenty years, and said "… if this Congress keeps going the way that it is, people are really looking forward to those second amendment remedies…"

Let's be utterly clear here.

First off, the second amendment, the right of Americans to keep and bear arms, was put into place for SEVERAL reasons. Yes, one was to protect themselves against government incursion into their lives. Another was because the founders didn't want us to have a standing army, for fear that an army would RESULT in government tyranny. Instead, they wanted every adult male to stand in a state militia, and have their own guns to defend their state and their home. So why aren't nut jobs like Angle arguing that we need to dismantle the army and go back to state militias in order to prevent governmental tyranny? Also, we have to remember that when the right to bear arms was ratified in 1791, we had to protect ourselves not only from a theoretical tyrannical government, but from very real marauders, Indians and bears. There were also no easily accessible grocery stores. If you wanted meat, you had to kill it.

Secondly, armed insurrection is NEVER the answer. What results is worse tyranny than that which the insurrectionists are trying to overthrow. It is the strong bullying the weak at gun point.

Peace.

Rev. Randal

Reading List 2010

For anyone interested, here's my reading list for the year just passed. I read or listened to a total of 48 books this year, all of them first time reads. 30 of them were non-fiction, 18 fiction.

The End of Food
My War
Last Night In Twisted River
Shock Doctrine
Shutter Island
South of Broad
American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Consipiracies
Brief Interviews With Hideous Men
God's Problem
Mere Christianity
I Killed
Man's Search for Meaning
The Problem of Pain
The Conscience of a Liberal
Reconcilliation
American Conspiricies
Jesus, Interrupted
Freethinkers
The N Word
The Lovely Bones
Pygmy
Comeback America
Wingnuts
Tales for a Stormy Night
How To Win A Fight With A Conservative
Idiot America
Storm Prey
Failures of the Presidents
The Gun Seller
Dead Until Dark
The Burning Wire
Game Change
Just How Stupid Are We?
Dirty Sexy Politics
When Religion Becomes Evil
Dexter Is Delicious
Earth: The Book
Living Dead in Dallas
Packing for Mars
Full Dark, No Stars
The End of the Free Market
Homer's Odyssey
The Bible According to Mark Twain
The Hunger Games
Damage Control: How to Stop Making Jesus Look Bad
Holiday Classics
The Reason for Christmas
The Confession