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Friday, December 20, 2013

Democratic Socialism, Guns, and the Failure of the Constitution


...whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain --- that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.”

--Lysander Spooner, 

This one was just too good to pass up. An acquaintance on the left sent me the Democratic Socialists of America article "There Is No Second Amendment Right To A Gun". It reinforces everything the anti-federalists said about the Constitution back when and everything libertarians like Lysander Spooner have been warning us about since then.

Early in the article the author, Steve Max, states, "Today, progressives must claim the legitimacy of the Constitution in advocating gun control, and not let it be further hijacked by the Right." He then goes on to tie the right to gun ownership to membership in a militia, "There have been no state militias since 1903, and there is no longer a constitutional right to gun ownership. It doesn’t exist! " Brilliant! Destroy our right to organize to defend ourselves and then use the fact that they've destroyed one right to claim that they can legitimately destroy another one, namely the right to bear arms. Read for yourself how Mr. Max quotes the Second Amendment to justify gun control:
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
Clearly, the right to bear arms was connected to militia service. There were not the votes in either house to pass a stand-alone right to gun ownership.
This is all very interesting but only makes sense if one ignores the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. The Ninth Amendment reads, “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” Obviously, not every right has to be listed to be valid. The right to own guns apart from membership in a militia clearly falls into this category.

The real issue is the question, does the government have the legal power to take people's guns? One searches the Constitution in vain trying to find a clause that empowers it to do so. However, the Tenth Amendment reads, “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.” This should be a great restriction on governmental power. Since the Constitution nowhere grants the government the power to take our guns the Tenth Amendment should stop them from doing so. Unfortunately, these amendments aren't working. The Constitution has failed just as the anti-federalists warned us it would. The dismal state of our rights today and Mr. Max's article attest to this failure. Patrick Henry spoke about the danger lurking in the document, “O sir, we should have fine times, indeed, if, to punish tyrants, it were only sufficient to assemble the people! Your arms, wherewith you could defend yourselves, are gone...” He went on to explain how the Constitution takes the power to defend their liberty away from the people:
Let me here call your attention to that part which gives the Congress power "to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States — reserving to the states, respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress." By this, sir, you see that their control over our last and best defence is unlimited. If they neglect or refuse to discipline or arm our militia, they will be useless: the states can do neither — this power being exclusively given to Congress. The power of appointing officers over men not disciplined or armed is ridiculous; so that this pretended little remains of power left to the states may, at the pleasure of Congress, be rendered nugatory.
[From Patrick Henry's speech arguing against adoption of the Constitution titled "Shall Liberty or Empire Be Sought?"]
Another anti-federalist a issued similar warning which Mr. Max twists into this nonsense, “The Second Amendment was rooted in the then living memory of the militia-fought battles of Concord, Lexington and Bunker Hill. A modern day equivalent of those battles would turn America into Syria or worse.”
The idea that the people should be armed and organized to defend themselves is actually rooted in the fact that someone must have power. If the people have that power no one will try to attack or tyrannize them. If the people are disarmed a government will come to power that will tyrannize them. This has been extensively written about. That Mr. Max should pretend otherwise is inexcusable. For example, John Trenchard wrote:
...if a prince will rule us with a rod of iron, and invade our laws and liberties...we...must patiently submit to our bondage, or stand upon our own defense; which if we are enabled to do, we shall never be put upon it...


Contrary to Mr. Max's ranting, arming the people, rather than the government, and organizing them to defend themselves leads to peace not civil war. Matter of fact, it was an anti-federalist who correctly predicted that adopting the Constitution would lead to civil war.

All of the above is secondary. More important than law is morality. As I wrote in “Progressivism’s Violent World”:

It is immoral to initiate the use of force or the threat of force against peaceful people. In other words, a person has to be actually engaging in aggression or credibly threatening to do so before it is morally justifiable to use force in retaliation. What does that have to do with guns? The mere possession of an inanimate object such a gun aggresses against no one. There is no moral justification for taking guns away from people who adhere to the non-aggression principle since this involves initiating the use of force to separate them from their weapons.

This alone destroys the morality of gun control.

In the end Mr. Max's ideas are a nightmare. When he writes, "We need to start saying loudly and strongly that if you want a military gun, go join the National Guard..." he shows himself to be an enemy of liberty and a friend of militarism by advocating that people join the institution that directly destroyed what militias we had. When he writes, “...government at all levels has the right to limit guns just as it does drugs, tobacco, gambling, alcohol, tainted meat and a host of other evils.” Mr. Max shows that he sees no part of our lives that can't be forcibly controlled by the government. Hiding this tyranny behind a smiling democratic facade that allegedly wants to protect us doesn't change its evil nature. 
 
Mr. Max, we need to get out from under your failed Constitution and the tyrannical institutions it has created. Instead, we need to set up an institutional framework that will protect our lives and liberties. Guns and liberty are inseparable. It is past time to disarm and disband the government and set up independent militias and other private providers of security. We can only do that with military guns in civilian hands. ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ!

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Montgomery County, PA Libertarian Holiday Party and Monty Award Ceremony 2013 (video)


Monty award recipients include Josie the Outlaw, Steve Piotrowski of Citizens for Liberty, NA Poe and Steve Miller-Miller of The Panic Hour, Fernando Salguero of Survive and Thrive and Rob Pepe.

Since Jane Taylor Toal won't pay blackmail money to keep this video of her singing with Red Alert off of the Internet, enjoy!

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Fun With Guns, Hate Mail, and Debates at an Open Carry Rally (video)

Darren Wolfe spoke at the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and Open Carry Rally (https://www.facebook.com/events/419981851437137/) in Norristown, PA. First, I read hilarious hate mail. After explaining that progressivism is making society unstable I issued a challenge to the gun rights haters to debate.

See the text of the hate mail and presentation that generated it at: There Is No Case for Gun Control (video and hate mail)

Thursday, December 5, 2013

There Is No Case for Gun Control (video and hate mail)

My presention at the Democracy Unplugged Forum Sampler 2 (https://www.facebook.com/events/574562119280696/)

Of course, you know you've hit the nail on the head when you get this kind of anger back:

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Citizens for Liberty November 2013 Meeting - Rotten to the Common Core (video)


The Facebook event page description of the meeting:

Help us STOP Common Core and the dumbing down of your children at school!

“The “top-down” approach the federal government is pushing on Pennsylvania’s children and their teachers is contrary to our Constitutional freedoms.

One of my deepest concerns about the imposition of Common Core is that private, religious and homeschool educators might be forced into adopting government-dictated curricula and assessments that violate their academic freedom and rights of conscience” -Rep. Stephen Bloom

FIND OUT WHAT YOU CAN DO TO FIGHT BACK!

Thursday, November 21, 2013
7PM – 9PM
Jeffersonville Golf Club
2400 W Main St
Norristown, PA. 19403

We here at CFL will also take a deeper look at this issue (as we always do). We'll expose the United Nations globalist connection to Common Core and others that want to put profit above your child's education.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Democracy Unplugged Forum Sampler 1 (video)

Three interesting and controversial topics were explored to discover which generated enough interest to have a debate on at a future date. After each presentation audience questions were be answered by the presenters. http://www.democracyunplugged.org/

Gun Rights - Presented by Darren Wolfe, a gun owner who has written and spoken extensively about the relationship between gun rights and liberty. He presently blogs as The International Libertarian (http://www.theinternationallibertarian.blogspot.com/). He is the former Eastern Vice Chair of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania. Darren is also the area contact for Come Home America (http://comehomeamerica.us/) a politically neutral peace movement.

Immigration Reform - Presented by Corina Ramos of the New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia (http://www.sanctuaryphiladelphia.org/).

Right to Privacy - Presented by James Babb, a libertarian activist in Philadelphia. He is a father and small business owner. He is known as a champion for individual rights. One of his notable projects is WeWontFly.com, a grassroots organization that has taken on the Transportation Security Administration. James believes that all people have an inherent right to travel with dignity, unmolested my government agents. He has also been a candidate for congress with the Libertarian Party.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

March Against Mainstream Media Philadelphia (video)

 
From the March Against Mainstream Media website:

MARCH AGAINST MAINSTREAM MEDIA is more than just a protest. It is an attack against the credibility of the mainstream media in an attempt to steer its viewers away from its lies and towards alternative media sources. There are too many important things happening today that go ignored or spun by the MSM and unnoticed by the mass public. On November 16th, organized protest in the United States will be brought to the doorstep of all large mainstream media studio headquarters including: ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and FOX News. With enough support from truthseekers out at their local MSM studio locations on November 16, we will force the hand of those media outlets and they will be pushed to make a decision.     
http://www.mamsm.info/about.htm

Pictures of the march:























Monday, October 14, 2013

Bringing Liberty to Valley Forge (video)


Darren Wolfe gives a powerful speech about liberty at the Veterans March on Valley Forge National Park on Sunday, October 13, 2013:





Steve Piotrowski, co-founder of Citizens for Liberty



I don't think so!





Steve Piotrowski being interviewed by TV news

Equestrians joining the protest


Equestrians leading the march to the visitor center





Steve Piotrowski marching barefoot to honor the Revolutionary soldiers who did the same

Sons of Liberty riding to the visitor center


Steve Scheetz, Chair of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania, addresses the protesters


Really?