I *am* an open-carrying liberal Democrat
Howdy Pard!
I am very much like you. I am a gun toting, open carrying, liberal democrat who does not believe women should be deprived of rights, told to keep an asprin between their knees, forced to submit to an invasive transvaginal probe by government demand and a whole host of other views I find alarming in the extreme. The worst being the decision to allow the rich to buy, cash on the barrelhead, politicians they can use as puppets to further their own agenda rather than that of the American people.
Back in the day, probably before many on the forums were even born, there was much fear of Communism. The fear was so extensive that congress formed the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities. They dragged many folks in front of their commission for an investigation that seemed more befitting of the Grand Inquisition than an inquiry of fact. Even folks the likes of John Wayne and Randolph Scott were subjected to their patriotism being called into question. Many got blackballed and deprived of their livelihood, like Ertha Kitt, who couldn't get a gig for 20 years.
The actual Communists were working on a program called "Divide and Conquer". Their aim was to overthrow democracy and pave the way for America to become another Communist nation. Divide the people into smaller, more managable groups that could be picked off individually, because the innate power of a cohesive whole is far tougher to overcome than a people divided into smaller splinter factions.
We like to believe that Communism fell when the USSR collapsed (more from the failure of their economy than any policies of the United States. They simply couldn't keep up with the American spending spree! They tried and ruined themselves in the attempt.) Any belief that Communism went away is incorrect. Not even in Russia has the Communist ideology been entirely replaced with a more democractic one just ain't true. Many within the former USSR are actively trying to reconstitute a viable Communist party.
Meanwhile, many of the same factors that led to the collapse of the USSR are at work here in the USofA. During the last year of Bush2, our economy was teetering on the verge of outright collapse; catastrophic and devastating. While things appear superficially stabilized, the moves to hold the economy together have been like putting a bandaid on a slashed artery. Just this past week, we've seen another bank lose 3 billion dollars playing around with exotic financial instruments just as happened in that last year of Bush2. Without substantial correction to the activities in the banking industry that led to the nearly total collapse of our economy, the repeat performance is hardly surprising; and the ultimate outcome may well be that the collapse has been forestalled... not stopped.
Into this atmosphere come those busily working on Divide and Conquer. Splinter the American people to facilitate conquest. Set American against American to undermine the power of a united people. Set race against race, religion against religion, conservative against liberal, and break down cohesion among the people so they can be managed as individual groups. Let them beat up on one another so they no longer have strength in numbers to confront a challenge.
We, in the gun owning community, seem all too happy to divide and make easy pickings for those who might seek to conquer us. Instead of being of "One Accord" on the primary focus of standing for our belief in our right to keep and bear arms, we quarrel among ourselves. Conservative vs. Liberal, citizen vs. government, and most astounding of all, concealed carry advocates vs. open carriers. We splinter our own numbers (into subset minority groups) rather than standing together to uphold our rights under the Constitution. We may not agree on all things, that ain't the point here. But for us to splinter those who share our ideals regarding RKBA is to make easier the conquest of those who wish to usurp those rights. We need to understand that we need cohesion to maintain and champion our rights. We splinter ourselves at our own peril, and seem to do so with a perverse glee that must, in my opinion, bring a huge degree of satisfaction to our adversaries.
The rights we enjoy as gun owners were won by groups of gun owners who joined up, shoulder to shoulder, to fight for those rights and gain them for us all. The Brady bunch has lost steam because they lack cohesion, but that doesn't mean they can't whip up a frenzy to eliminate those rights. That whole shooting incident in Florida is one example of how they've tried to use an incident to regain some cohesion. They just ain't got enough cohesion to pull it off, but don't fall prey to the notion we need not be vigilant. They watch us, and look for ways that we may be set against one another. Their hope is that sooner or later, an incident comes along they can regain sufficient cohesion at a point where ours is weak, and they can shove through legislation that will turn things around.
We cannot afford to alienate our friends, we need all the friends we can get. We need to stop splitting ourselves into splinter groups based on ideology or any other factor. We need to stand together for our rights as Americans. When Americans stand united, no threat to our rights can succeed. But only when we join together to support one another in our shared goal. Even the Enemy of my Enemy can be a friend to back me up in a fight with a determined enemy. We divide ourselves at our peril, and those who seek to divide and conquer gain power. The sad part of that notion is.... they don't need to divide us, we're all too willing to do it to ourselves.
Our continued success and enjoyment of our Constitutional rights hinges on our ability to uphold them in the face of those that advocate the elimination of those rights. I count any American qualified to stand together with us to uphold them from those who would usurp them.
That's the bottom line folks. My opinion, 2 cents worth, and sticking to it.
Blessings,
M-Taliesin