And yet, in today's society, I am constantly amazed at the lack of understanding that we the people seem to have about threat of tyranny. The attitude seems to be complacency--it could never happen in the US; we are too politically advanced for that.

Not advocating jumping into the woods with a militia, but the more I contemplate the subject, the more convinced I am that our freedom is a fragile thing that needs to be nurtured and protected. The more rights we cede to the government, the less we have, even if it means we all feel a little safer. We seem to have a rising generation that neither understands nor cares about the Constitution, the division of powers, or the limits on the federal government.

The erosion of rights happens gradually, bit by bit, like the proverbial frog in the pot. Were you to throw the frog in a pot of boiling water, it would try to escape. But add a degree at a time and it will eventually be boiled alive without trying to jump out of the pot.

While I am not convinced there is a vast conspiracy to take away our rights, I am concerned that we as a society are growing too complacent in our trust in our government, which I am fairly certain, based on their writings, is something that the founding fathers never wanted to have happen. Too often we think of the government as granting us rights rather than those rights innately belonging to us.

The 2nd Amendment stands as a true defense of the rights guaranteed in the Constitution and an ultimate check on the excesses of government. And while I think there ought to be regulations governing the exercise of that right (do we really want mentally unstable psychopaths or violent felons buying guns?), I cringe when the debate turns from rational discussion of how to make sure guns don't get into the hands of dangerous people (not stopping "dangerous guns" from getting into the hands of people) to the need to ban certain types of guns because they look scary or threatening, or preventing people from buying dangerous high capacity magazines. There is an increasingly effeminate segment of our society that is terrified of any sort of weapon and wants to impose their beliefs that guns are the root of all evil onto society as a whole, regardless of what the Constitution says.

I've lived in places where the government grants freedoms; where their constitutions change almost daily and are as meaningless as the papers they are written on. I've seen first hand societies that answer to their governments instead of the other way around. The people's spirits are often broken. Those that demand change or ask at the very minimum that the government abide by its own constitution are punished, persecuted, tortured, or watch their families get tortured. The funny thing is, in just about all of the examples I can think of, once the revolutionary government is set up, the first thing it does is take the guns away from the average revolutionaries and the rest of the citizenry.

For the record, I am NOT by any stretch of the imagination advocating armed rebellion (or even unarmed for that matter). I just appreciate the liberties enshrined in the Constitution and wish that our countrymen would stand up and become engaged in the political system and be adults, willing to exercise their rights and accept the responsibilities.

Wow. That was one heck of a late night rant. I should never type when I'm this tired.

Hey look at that. I guess I AM a right wing nut job.

Remember, George Washington didn't defeat the British by exercising his freedom of speech. He shot them. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

And to keep this related to the forum, I fully believe the 2nd Amendment protects our right to carry Dogfathers and scrapivores as well <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Apologies if I've offended anyone with this post.