What can Broun not do for you?
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What can Broun not do for you?
Remember Rep. Paul Broun, the Georgia congressman who I profiled in "The Backlash" as a political leader who sounds like a talk radio host, with the same toxic effect. or worse, actually. I hadn't been thinking much of Broun's rhetoric in the wake of Tucson, but comes now E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post to remind me. He quotes Broun's unorthodox defense of guns at a 2nd Amendment Rally in D.C. last April:
"Fellow patriots, we have a lot of domestic enemies of the Constitution, and they're right down the Mall, in the Congress of the United States - and right down Independence Avenue in the White House that belongs to us," he declared. "It's not about my ability to hunt, which I love to do. It's not about the ability for me to protect my family and my property against criminals, which we have the right to do. But it's all about us protecting ourselves from a tyrannical government of the United States."
Dionne's point here is that while there's no evidence that Tucson gunman Loughner heard what Tea Party faves like Broun or Rep. Ron Paul were saying, their rhetoric on the right has blocked sensible gun laws -- laws that would prevent an unhinged person such as Loughner from buying a cartridge capable of firing 33 shots and killing six innocent people in a matter of seconds:
No. Jared Loughner, the accused killer, is accountable for his own actions. His politics are confused at best, and he clearly has mental health problems. That is what most liberals are saying.
But, yes, this is the time to acknowledge that there is something deeply wrong with the militarization of American conservative rhetoric. Doing so is not - and there are many problems with the term - what Sarah Palin has called a "blood libel." The approach to guns, violence and "tyranny" promoted by loud voices on the right has been instrumental in blocking measures that could at least have contained the casualties in Tucson - or at Virginia Tech or Columbine. Extremism in defense of feeble gun laws is no virtue.
I couldn't have said it better myself. Like I wrote earlier in the week, it's time to crusade for at least a minimalist gun law, that would restore the mid-1990s ban on extended cartridges.
On that note, have a great weekend. I plan to watch a lot of football and not dwell on what caused all those dead birds in South Philly.
Do you know why the patriots declared independence from England? (Hint: Freedom from Tyranny) Do you know why the second amendment was put in? (hint: the ability to raise an ad hoc army to keep the government honest.) The belief expressed by these people is simply rooted in their understanding of history, and not some strange unAmerican militant idea.— Mirror- Your first problem is convincing your fellow citizens that tyranny is at hand, and despite our numerous other political rights to effect change, violence is still necessary. If you can't do that, then you look stupid. And stupid people with guns are dangerous.
- Nice strawman, MSL. Just because tyranny isn't at hand, and we still have political rights does not mean its time to dump the 2nd Amendment. A few days ago, you were slobbering over the Blair Mountain uprising. — RG
- The 2nd Amendment isn't about the right to rebel but to ensure we can defend ourselves as a nation, and it presupposes the people's right to keep and bear arms. However, it is no more absolute a right than the freedom to speak and must equally yield to the public's safety. The right to rebel against tyranny is well documented in the Declaration of Independence.
- Another strawman. I never said anything about the right to rebel. As for public safety, the murder rate has been going down for years, despite so called lax gun laws. Your line of argumentation can easily lead to an erosioon of liberty if we are to surrend more and mroe rights after every senseless tragedy. — RG
- Overall violent crime rates are just as easily tied to the aging of the baby boom generation, but look at the percentage of crime employing guns. Let's use common sense, which as far as I know never eroded liberty.
- As long as you define common sense as what you think. — RG
- And your next problem: Unless you have the fortune of having a foreign power to back you up (such as our Patriots having French military support), you're going to get slaughtered in a rebellion. The Civil War should teach you that. Consider peaceful civil disobedience. It worked for Gandhi.
- The argument that an armed populous protects us from our government should it become tyranical is ridiculous. We're not fighting musket to musket any more. — gee1971
- I think as long as we have the right to vote in this country and hold our elections have scheduled, and can change our government by peaceful means (as has happened several times in just the last few cycles), then it's pretty ridiculous to talk about guns in the context of dealing with the U.S. government. Let's wait until there's a military coup or elections are suspended, which doesn't seem to be on our horizon. If we do need to topple a dictatorial American government someday, there are currently 270 million guns already in circulation so we can probably figure it out...— will
Comment removed.- It's very much like waiting until you have a "pre-existing condition" before you buy health insurance. It's exactly how the left wants to re-organize the American economy.
— Mr. Smith - Why even bother with the trouble of elections? Why not just wait until the government really screws things up, and THEN schedule an election? If things are going okay, then we don't need a mechanism for change, do we? As long as we have the ability to print 300 million ballots when the government has finally gone too far, that should suffice. — Mr. Smith
- Stay home with your gun, then, because you never know when the stormtroopers will land. (That's your constitutional right according to Heller). Just don't let your paranoia cripple the rest of us.
- Meant to write "elections as scheduled." I'm sure Batty will accept my apology, as always.— will
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