OC for ME,
I normally agree with your well-informed posts but there was no vote available for liberty now or before because the majority rule inevitably leads to the extinguishing of liberty not expansion. Like the concept of limited government, there is no historical precedent for voting expanding individual freedom and liberty because it is a de jure and de facto denial of liberty to a minority otherwise a vote has no value. Unlike free markets, the state is a zero sum game by definition. Its parasite and looter constituencies eventually metastatize into the Free Sh*t Army that hold the majority of the shattered franchise today.
The OP is wrong also, no matter how expansive the "pre-crime" intentions of mental health screening, evil and intent will always find a way to author these tragedies. The shameful political game of always trying to bar the barn doors after the horses have run out has left a vast trail of tears with statist nonsense, regulatory over-reach and a few steps closer to the government supremacist wet dream of Orwell fulfilled.
My initial reaction to your contentions is to give them merit. At this point I may continue to give them merit regarding the vote in
today's America.
However, I am compelled to return to the Constitution as the example of the flaw that resides in your premise. The 13A is a example of the minority becoming the majority that expanded individual freedom and liberty, technically giving freedom and liberty to a entire demographic of our population that did not "qualify" for freedom and liberty.
Other examples are; the 14A, 15A, 17A, 19A, 21A, 23A, 24A, and the 26A. In each of these cases the majority was initially against the results that were intended for these amendments, except maybe the 26A. The minority worked to become the majority and thus freedoms expanded and individual liberty was strengthened.
You are correct, the "parasite and looter constituencies"
appear to be the majority, today, but large majority of the citizenry as a whole do desire a return to greater freedoms and less infringement of our individual liberties. The difficulty resides in the fact that a minority of the large majority votes. The voting majority is actually the minority. Unfortunately polls are not votes and polls do not motivate all of the majority to vote.
