Quote:
Originally Posted by PokerPlayingGamble
As a member of the "rest of the world", I for one believe in the right to bear arms, not only for self defense but also to overthrow the government should it turn tyrannical. I think the reason for the stark divide in public opinion between the USA and the rest of the world on this issue, is because America was the only nation conceived in liberty. America as a nation was founded explicitly to limit government (hence article 1 section 8 of the constitution) and to empower the people. Other nations embrace collectivism and the notion of "the greater good" over the rights of the individual.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Rebellion
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shays%27_Rebellion
You put it beautifully. Almost like a constitutional scholar.
And I myself don't claim to be an authority. The thing is, we sometimes get confused about the true meaning of some things in the constitution. Perhaps while it is so loosely worded and left to a lot of interpretation.
It's become very obvious to me that most Americans have never even read the constitution and don't really understand it.
Back about 30 to 40 years ago, the big thing with conservatives was they shouldn't pay any taxes at all, because that's supposed to have been part of what the American Revolution was supposed to have been about, protesting taxation. As one can see by the articles I linked, that's not how our founding fathers really felt about it at all.
We can go back and forth forever, but the founding ideas were to safeguard individual liberty but not for the individual to be given a free licence to organize and become tyrannical himself. Because when the individual rejects all authority, he becomes a menace to the greater society and chaos ensues.
And that's what happened in Washington D.C.
Those people were not patriots exercising their individual rights. They were there to enforce by violence their perceived rights by denying them to others.
They all belong in prison and yes,we need gun reforms.