Why trust the politicians who take your guns?

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Desertdog

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Why trust the politicians who take your guns?
by Ernest Hancock

http://www.libertyforall.net/patrioticus.html

I am often associated with the gun-rights issue but most in the media and public service know that my main interest is freedom.

Between my IRS tax-day protests, lawsuits, campaigns, freedom initiatives, Diamondback rattlesnake barbecues and helping desperate people deal with oppressive governments, there has always been attention to gun rights.

Why is this issue such a touchstone for freedom lovers?

Even politicians who want to be known as "pro-gun" hate having to discuss the issue with reporters or be too specific, even with supporters. They hate it because it is an MRI into their character.

It is a Vulcan mind-meld, as my friend and gun-rights author L. Neil Smith calls the gun issue. It is the ultimate test by which any politician or political philosophy can be evaluated.

If a politician isn't comfortable with any individual being able to walk into a hardware store, pay cash for any firearm without producing identification or signing a single scrap of paper (and that individual being able to carry that protection concealed or open), then that politician does not support freedom.

Gun-control laws only disarm potential victims, thus creating a safe work environment for criminals - kind of like an OSHA for felons. And criminals won't be deterred from getting a weapon because of a law. Criminals don't follow laws. Any attempt to rid the world of a tool that would give my 130-pound wife a fighting chance against a 230-pound man would be immoral.

This test is very revealing about how someone seeking your vote really feels about you. If he doesn't want you to have the means to defend your life, do you want him in a position to control it?

If a politician thinks that the highest law of the land, the Bill of Rights, is nothing more than a guideline for government, do you want to entrust him with anything?

Try it yourself: if a politician won't trust you, why should you trust him?

If he's a man, what does his lack of trust tell you about his real attitude toward women? If "he" happens to be a woman, what makes her so eager to render her fellow women helpless on the mean and seedy streets her policies helped create?

Should you believe politicians who claim they stand for freedom, but drag their feet and make excuses about repealing limits on your right to own and carry weapons? What does this tell you about their real motives, when they ignore voters and ram through legislation actively opposed by a majority of their constituents?

Makes voting simpler, doesn't it? You don't have to study every issue. Just use this X-ray machine, this Vulcan mind-meld, to find out how politicians really feel. About you. That, of course, is why they hate it.

And that's why I'm accused of being a single-issue activist, thinker and voter.

But it isn't true, is it?


Contact Ernie at http://ernesthancock.com and [email protected].

Comment on this article on our Forum.
 
"Voting your principles is a vote for Kerry"

hehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehheh.

I don't know when I've had such a laugh.

thankyou thankyou thankyou

rr
 
In general, anybody running for office at the state or national level will have great difficulty if he articulates a set of principles and adheres to them rather rigidly in responses to questions.

We already know of the interest groups which are subsidized by government: Farmers/ranchers, homeowners, welfare, etc. Then you have those whose perceptions as to what makes security has them in favor of all manner of government controls: Consumer protection, air travel safety, street crime, etc.

So how do you, Mr. Candidate, get a majority from these special interest groups and still stick by principles?

All in all, I'm occasionally startled that we have as many people in elected office with some amount of principled thought as we do.

And I'd bet that many who go into politics haven't really spent a great amount of time in thinking about their own political philosophy as to "What is government?" and "What is government's duty toward the nation and/or to the individual citizen?"

Art
 
"Voting your principles is a vote for Kerry."

If Kerry has any principles it is to undermine the Constitution of the United States, and subject the USA to the rule and direction of the international community.

As Kerry has said himself, he is an "internationalist". That does not make him a "nationalist" and a patriot. It might make him a subversive.
 
I think what cropcirclewalker was saying is that a vote for your concience (i.e. 3rd party, libs, constitutionalists or whatever) is taking a vote away from bush and thus making it more likely for kerry to be elected.

I really don't think he was saying that people would vote for Kerry as a vote for their concience.

-James
 
How does Dr,. Ron Paul do it?

Pretty simple. It's called a small rural district in Texas. He wouldn't get anywhere in a national election. Same way Maxine Waters, Henry Waxman, and other super liberals wouldn't.
 
A more important question.

Why trust ANY politician?

I've yet to find a reason to do so, and I've been at this for a long time.
 
I think what cropcirclewalker was saying is that a vote for your concience (i.e. 3rd party, libs, constitutionalists or whatever) is taking a vote away from bush and thus making it more likely for kerry to be elected.

I could be wrong, but I detect a strong sense of sarcasm in Cropcirclewalker's post. I think he believes exactly the opposite of his post here. I think he made a funny.
 
Mr. fjolnirsson, what I was trying to say

was that I HAVE an Ivers Johnson Champion already. What I REALLY want is an M-14.

Who should I vote for that will get me the m-14 the quickest?

1) Badnarik
2) Kerry
3) Bush

Badnarik will (If elected) work to repeal gun control. I will get my m-14.

Kerry will (If elected) bring on the reformation at worst, gridlock at least. One thing I noted during all the news film of the disturbances last winter down in Nicaragua was that lots of guys were running around with m-14s.

Bush never had my vote, so nobody's taking anything away. I am real durn sure that he won't be making any waves for me to get my m-14. I will be lucky to get to keep my Ivers.

I want to bequeath my M-14 to my grandson. I don't want him to have to get it like they did down in Nicaragua.

Do you all understand now?
 
JFK [The 1st] said...

..."people get the kind of government they deserve." I think we deserve better but, obviously, both dems and reps believe otherwise.

We the people do put these folks into orifice.

The politician has the same problem as a fighter pilot if you think of ethics as airplane fuel. The fighter pilot wonders how much fuel he will use getting to some place where he can do some good with the fuel he has left. the politician's problem is how much ethics does he burn getting to where he can do some good with what he has left.

rr
 
How did Dr. Ron Paul do it?

Apparently he compromised on his principles some and joined the Republican party, judging by the (R-TX) behind his name.

Who should I vote for that will get me the m-14 the quickest?

1) Badnarik
2) Kerry
3) Bush

Badnarik will (If elected) work to repeal gun control. I will get my m-14.

Alternatively, you can make me King of Big Rock Candy Mountain and I will let you have your M-14, if I am successful at establishing my kingdom.

Tell you what cropcirclewalker, because I am a generous man I am going to allow you to take all the votes that have ever been cast for a Libertarian candidate in a Presidential election and apply them to a single past Presidential election (one of my special powers as a THR mod ;) ). Every Libertarian vote from 1972 to 2000 is now yours to command - all told you now have 3.25% of the vote in the 2000 election (instead of the 0.36% LP vote). Now what would you like to do with those votes - throw the election to Gore or Bush?

I really do hope to see the LP grow in the future; but let's face the facts - they aren't going to win in 2004 and it doesn't take a crystal ball to see that. The premise you have based your post on has no bearing to reality.

Bush never had my vote, so nobody's taking anything away. I am real durn sure that he won't be making any waves for me to get my m-14.

Actually, you can have an M14 already, if you can find one on the market, can afford it, and your state law allows possession of NFA weapons. Like a lot of politics, it is a compromise and not one I especially like; but I think it is a lot better deal than I would get from Kerry. While I'm sure Badarnik would cut me a better deal, he has to actually be in office to do it and that isn't going to happen this year. The one good thing about this compromise is that as you work to build up support for the day you can have your M14, you won't have to move the goalposts quite as far back.

To put it another way, imagine you are traveling down the road as a paralyzed passenger in a car. The car is going in a direction you don't want to go. If Kerry drives the car, he will take you faster in the direction you don't want to go. If Bush drives the car, he will take you in a different direction more slowly. Badarnik will take you exactly where you want to go, providing you can get Bush or Kerry to agree to let him out of the trunk.

Now before you can turn the car around and go in the direction you want, you first have to slow the car down so it can make the turn. With Kerry, you've basically got two hopes - the car crashes, you survive and you can walk back to where you want to go. The other hope is that at the next point to switch drivers you can put one in who will work with you - of course you'll be that much further from where you want to go. With Bush, the car still isn't going where you want; but you've slowed it down and it is turning in a different direction - not perfect; but less work to reach your ultimate goal from here. As for Badarnik, if you've got the key to the trunk, then by all means let the rest of us know.
 
Mr. Roberts, your analogy was way cool

except for I started out in Kerry's car paralyzed and then you want me to walk home after he crashes. :D

I understand all the lesser of 2 evil arguments. Trouble is, I am fed up with evil. I just will not stand for any more of it. I'm done being manipulated.

Kush and Berry are the same person. I have my pride. I was a sailor and I am prepared to go down with the ship. I've had it with the major party. It's over. The deal is off. They had their chance and they blew it.

Next year youse guys will all be crying about the "new improved" AWB that will be coming down the pipe after Bush doesn't have to bend over and back up to La Pierre any more. The rep side of the ruling party will tell you it's all them damn Dems and we will go on and on down the slide.

I, for one, am not going to let you lemminglike reps get away with it. I will be reminding you long and loud. Be warned.

Sure, I know the LP don't have a chance. How do you think Davy Crockett felt at the Alamo? I don't care. I'm done playing these stupid lesser of evil games. I'm voting my principles. Come what may.

Any Questions?
 
except for I started out in Kerry's car paralyzed and then you want me to walk home after he crashes.

:D Good point - though crawling home paralyzed is probably a better analogy of what the difficulty would be if a "crash" did occur.

Next year youse guys will all be crying about the "new improved" AWB that will be coming down the pipe after Bush doesn't have to bend over and back up to La Pierre any more.

The NRA has been in the top ten donors to the Republican party in both 2000 and 2002. I'm very skeptical of the notion that Bush secretly harbors a desire to sign a ban renewal and is just waiting for the election to pass before he will sign a renewal.

If Bush signed a ban renewal, I would be the first to join you in voting LP this year - even though all of my arguments about why that would be a foolish move would still be true, so I understand the frustration believe me.
 
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