since9
Campaign Veteran
This thread began with a reply to 45acpForMe, here.
It deserves to be continued, however, and so it shall:
I haven't lost all faith. Just much of it. Neither Congress nor SCOTUS have a decent track record when it comes to adhering to the Constitution, much less "supporting and defending [it] against all enemies foreign and domestic." In face, I dare say some of the worst enemies of our Constitution are currently serving various terms from two years to life.
They're not in prison, though. They're in office.
I will not call for an overthrow of our government.
Here's where it continues:
I will state that, historically, an overburdensome and tyrannical monarchy infringed on basic human rights to such an extent that it became in the best interests of the people to forcefully kick that government's butt back across the Atlantic Ocean. That experience wasn't lost on the founders, many of whom were still alive 15 years after the Revolution, when they passed the Bill of Rights, one of which stated, "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."
Countless period documents have made the meanings of "well regulated," "Militia," and "security of a free State" abundantly and precisely clear. None of those meanings has anything to do with either sport shooting or self-defense. Rather, they empowered the people of each and every State in such a way so as to defend and secure the State against other states, foreign invaders, internal corruption, or the union as a whole.
People forget that before the American Revolution, each State was sovereign, an independent nation the same as France, Spain, Italy, England, and others. That's why the State Department deals with entire nations. However, unlike the Articles of Confederation, the U.S. Constitution makes no explicit provisions for secession. Many scholars interpret this as a Union where the states forfeited any right to secession upon joining the Union.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: "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."
Secession is not delegated to the United States by the Constitution. Neither is it prohibited by the Constitution to the States. Secession is therefore reserved to the States, or to the people.
So, when the Southern States seceded from the Union during the Civil War, was it wrong for the North to declare war on the South and fight to keep those states in the Union? Yes, it was, regardless of whatever altruistic reasons were either discovered, claimed, or invented along the way, or woven into the history books afterwards. Were those reasons noble in their own right? Many were, certainly. However, the ends do not justify the means.
Our Founding Fathers were very wise and gifted visionaries. When well-intentioned political idiots use their thought of the month to undermine the foundations they laid for our nation, based on literally thousands of years of observations studied by the Founders throughout the course of their lives, they do our nation, and all its people, a grave disservice. I imagine some of the decisions by King George III and the British Parliament were similarly "thoughts of the month," motivated not by any concern for the general welfare of the Colonists, but rather, by greed and an incessant need for control.
Greed and control. There's a verse, 1 John 4:1: "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."
The same applies to our role as citizens in our society. We are to test what comes forth from on high and ask ourselves about the motives through two questions:
1. Are there elements of greed? Is someone or some company like GMC getting rich by laundering internal funds via multinational subdivisions to avoid all taxes while saddling the rest of us with the bill?
2. Are there elements of control? Does the measure wrest autonomy from our grasp while shifting power to goon squads like the BATFE who, over a period of decades, repeatedly demonstrated their inability to wield authority in a manner commensurate with the provisions of our Constitution and for the good of the people?
When we see greed and control woven throughout what is said and done in our nation's capital, particularly when the people of our great nation are on the loosing end of it, it's a good reminder that despite our technological advances over the last 235 years, the forces of good and evil as they manifest themselves throughout society and politics remain largely the same now as they were at the inception of our country.
It deserves to be continued, however, and so it shall:
I haven't lost all faith. Just much of it. Neither Congress nor SCOTUS have a decent track record when it comes to adhering to the Constitution, much less "supporting and defending [it] against all enemies foreign and domestic." In face, I dare say some of the worst enemies of our Constitution are currently serving various terms from two years to life.
They're not in prison, though. They're in office.
I will not call for an overthrow of our government.
Here's where it continues:
I will state that, historically, an overburdensome and tyrannical monarchy infringed on basic human rights to such an extent that it became in the best interests of the people to forcefully kick that government's butt back across the Atlantic Ocean. That experience wasn't lost on the founders, many of whom were still alive 15 years after the Revolution, when they passed the Bill of Rights, one of which stated, "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."
Countless period documents have made the meanings of "well regulated," "Militia," and "security of a free State" abundantly and precisely clear. None of those meanings has anything to do with either sport shooting or self-defense. Rather, they empowered the people of each and every State in such a way so as to defend and secure the State against other states, foreign invaders, internal corruption, or the union as a whole.
People forget that before the American Revolution, each State was sovereign, an independent nation the same as France, Spain, Italy, England, and others. That's why the State Department deals with entire nations. However, unlike the Articles of Confederation, the U.S. Constitution makes no explicit provisions for secession. Many scholars interpret this as a Union where the states forfeited any right to secession upon joining the Union.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: "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."
Secession is not delegated to the United States by the Constitution. Neither is it prohibited by the Constitution to the States. Secession is therefore reserved to the States, or to the people.
So, when the Southern States seceded from the Union during the Civil War, was it wrong for the North to declare war on the South and fight to keep those states in the Union? Yes, it was, regardless of whatever altruistic reasons were either discovered, claimed, or invented along the way, or woven into the history books afterwards. Were those reasons noble in their own right? Many were, certainly. However, the ends do not justify the means.
Our Founding Fathers were very wise and gifted visionaries. When well-intentioned political idiots use their thought of the month to undermine the foundations they laid for our nation, based on literally thousands of years of observations studied by the Founders throughout the course of their lives, they do our nation, and all its people, a grave disservice. I imagine some of the decisions by King George III and the British Parliament were similarly "thoughts of the month," motivated not by any concern for the general welfare of the Colonists, but rather, by greed and an incessant need for control.
Greed and control. There's a verse, 1 John 4:1: "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."
The same applies to our role as citizens in our society. We are to test what comes forth from on high and ask ourselves about the motives through two questions:
1. Are there elements of greed? Is someone or some company like GMC getting rich by laundering internal funds via multinational subdivisions to avoid all taxes while saddling the rest of us with the bill?
2. Are there elements of control? Does the measure wrest autonomy from our grasp while shifting power to goon squads like the BATFE who, over a period of decades, repeatedly demonstrated their inability to wield authority in a manner commensurate with the provisions of our Constitution and for the good of the people?
When we see greed and control woven throughout what is said and done in our nation's capital, particularly when the people of our great nation are on the loosing end of it, it's a good reminder that despite our technological advances over the last 235 years, the forces of good and evil as they manifest themselves throughout society and politics remain largely the same now as they were at the inception of our country.
Last edited:
