[ExI] Upon pondering your freedoms
Damien Broderick
thespike at satx.rr.com
Sat Jul 5 19:41:56 UTC 2008
At 07:55 AM 7/5/2008 -0700, Spike wrote:
>
> > What was meant by that
> > strangely anomalous opening passage "A well regulated
> > militia, being necessary to the security of a free state"? ...
>
>That comment means we can be drafted.
So the Amendment refers to military service (of a
sort). I had that impression too.
>Anyone
>who owns weapons or has the right to own weapons is automatically part of
>the militia that is necessary to the security.
The security of what, against whom?
The black conservative writer Larry Elder compiles some interesting quotes at
<http://www.creators.com/opinion/larry-elder.html>
Here are some of them. Is he just cherrypicking?
They look as if the mood of the day meant "the
security of people against any new tyrants of
government." Shooting terrorists trying to take
over the stagecoach or robbers stealing the
household's bag of gold doesn't seem to have come into it.
===========
<quote>
The Second Amendment reads as follows: "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." What did
the Framers mean? [[he's left a comma out; does this matter?]]
Is "Militia" as the Framers intended an arm
of government? Or did the Framers define militia
as something completely different a group of
armed citizens with a right to "keep and bear
Arms" to guard against unjust or tyrannical government power?
The Founding Fathers assumed that any government,
including the one they established, could grow
into a monster. They argued that only "the
people" with a right "to keep and bear arms" could prevent such a tyranny.
James Madison, the "father of the Constitution,"
stated that tyrants were "afraid to trust the
people with arms," and lauded "the advantage of
being armed, which Americans possess over the
people of almost every other nation."
Thomas Jefferson wrote: "What country can
preserve its liberties if its rulers are not
warned from time to time that their people
preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms."
George Mason said, "To disarm the people that
was the best and most effectual way to enslave them."
Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts said: "What, sir,
is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the
establishment of a standing army, the bane of
liberty.
Whenever governments mean to invade
the rights and liberties of the people, they
always attempt to destroy the militia, in order
to raise an army upon their ruins." [[this seems
entirely contrary to Spike's interpretation that
the Amendment *authorized* a standing army and a draft!]]
Noah Webster, the prominent political essayist
who fought in the Revolutionary War, wrote:
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must
be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom
in Europe.... The supreme power in America cannot
enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the
whole body of the people are armed, and
constitute a force superior to any band of
regular troops that can be, on any pretense,
raised in the United States. A military force, at
the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but
such as the people perceive to be just and
constitutional; for they will possess the power,
and jealousy will instantly inspire the
inclination, to resist the execution of a law
which appears to them unjust and oppressive."
Samuel Adams likened the Second Amendment to the
First: "That the said Constitution shall never be
construed to authorize Congress to infringe the
just liberty of the press or the rights of
conscience; or to prevent the people of the
United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."
...
[[but finally a more general aspect:]]
Thomas Paine, in 1775, spoke about another kind
of "tyranny." Bans and restrictions on firearms
affect the law-abiding citizenry, shifting power
to the non-law-abiding. Criminals ignore laws.
That's why we call them criminals. Paine said:
"The peaceable part of mankind will be
continually overrun by the vile and abandoned
while they neglect the means of self-defense.
(Weakness) allures the ruffian (but) arms like
laws discourage and keep the invader and
plunderer in awe and preserve order in the world.
Horrid mischief would ensue were (the good)
deprived of the use of them.
The weak will become a prey to the strong."
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