Before Omar Mateen committed his crime, he had committed no crime. We cannot curtail someone's civil rights on pure speculation, whether they're evil, or just mental. Sure, maybe once in awhile, government might be able to break up a plot being hatched, but not very often. And trying to rid this country of guns in hopes of stopping crime and mass murder is an illusion that curtails everyone's civil rights.
We the People must come to grips with the fact that we are all first responders! When seconds count, help can arrive in minutes. What happens in the meantime is our responsibility. A few concealed carry folks could have stopped this Orlando massacre after the first shot. A few open carry folks might have stopped this with nary a shot being fired.
Now make no mistake: if you shoot someone, even in self-defense, you're going to be in for the hassle of your life. The perpetrator's family will try to sue you. The bleeding hearts will try to prosecute you. And if you made a mistake, forget it. You're toast. Nothing is perfect, but that still doesn't alter the fact that we are all first responders.
It might take the sting off of it a little bit, if local police and sheriff departments were to implement citizen deputy programs that would train volunteers how to assess risk, how to handle a weapon, and when, and when not to use it. If local government cannot be bothered, or if it is too politically incorrect, maybe the National Rifle Association, or some other civic group could offer this training as a public service. Special endorsements, i.e., certificates, could be attached to the concealed carry permit. The training needs to be rigorous enough to be taken seriously by the legal system.
I will repeat: We the People must come to grips with the fact that we are all first responders! When seconds count, help can arrive in minutes. What happens in the meantime is our responsibility. There are times when the government just can't help us. We have no option but to take responsibility for our own safety, and the safety of our neighbors, brothers and sisters.
I have heard Donald Trump being compared to Ronald Reagan. Just yesterday, in fact. I'm sorry, but Donald Trump is in no way similar to Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was principled about freedom and the Constitution. Ronald was humble. Ronald was gentle. Ronald was witty. Ronald could stay on point. Ronald spent many years in the bull pen, warming up for his gig.
But we get the politicians we deserve. Our culture has coarsened considerably since the early 1980s. From defining deviancy down, to the kind of language we tolerate on TV and in public. I still tend not to use words in public that I would not use in front of my parents. How about you?
There's this article by Mychal Massie, making the rounds on Facebook today.
As someone who takes pride in being self-aware and principled, I don’t need endless memos and researched anecdotes to peel back the layers of pretense to expose the real Donald Trump. I know exactly who the man is; he’s an opportunist, a narcissist and borderline megalomaniac, who lives for the thrill of the hunt. However, he’s also a closer, a shark, and a shrewd businessman who embodies America exceptionalism: a concept that forged the most powerful and affluent nation in less than two centuries and an ideal liberals have worked tirelessly to eradicate.
I find it very convincing. I wish I didn't still have this sick feeling about putting up a Trump sign in my yard. It just makes me feel dirty. But I know Trump is probably the only viable choice this November.
People like me and Ted Cruz blathering on about the Constitution don't get any traction. Reagan still had the benefit of civics education in public schools to fall back on. He didn't have to fill in the blanks, to blank stares, like we do. Unfortunately, it is a manifest conflict of interest for government run schools to teach of limited government. What do you expect from them? Go, school choice! Given the recent tyrannical bathroom mandate, school choice might indeed be seeing a revival.
Meanwhile, we got Trumped. He might not be any less tyrannical than the current tyrant, but at least he's my tyrant. Until civics and the founding constitutional principles are once again taught to our young, we can expect more of the same.
"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." ~ Benjamin Franklin
For about 100 years, starting around 1913, the beginning of the 'progressive' era during the Woodrow Wilson regime, and continuing with the Frankfurt School, liberty and freedom have been under attack. Freedom and liberty supporters played defense. For 100 years, we've been in defense of liberty, and look where it got us.
We need to take offense, and play offense. I keep hearing, and have said it myself, "once lost, liberty is nearly impossible to recover". That's only true if you're playing defense -- trying to defend your liberty. Don't defend liberty! Demand liberty! Make our illiberal oppressors defend their reasons for taking our liberty! Let's start kicking ass, and taking names!
Coming out of the Age of Enlightenment, the concepts of freedom and liberty were on the offense in the American Revolution, and we won against seemingly insurmountable odds. This nation was founded on the idea that the individual is the world's smallest minority, and that individual rights and responsibilities deserve the most respect. We are being oppressed. We have been playing defense for too long. The government is taking our freedom, and selling it back to us as permits. We must go on the offense! Join The Liberty Offensive!
Flinging Poo
The left are throwing crap at the wall faster than we can scrape it off. Throwing legislation, ideas, movies, plots, TV shows, that all audaciously push the envelope further and further to the left. They are overshooting their goals, just so the line gets pushed to the left, where they want it. Who would have guessed, 20 years ago, that long held traditional values like marriage and Christmas would be corrupted and marginalized, and if we object, we're the ones who can be fined for bigotry?
The Constitution binds the government, and forces government to treat every citizen equally under the law. The Constitution frees the individual and private business. Everyone is at liberty to be as bigoted as we please. Other dissenting individuals and businesses are at liberty to boycott us. That's how things work in the free market of ideas. Not for very much longer.
A friend of mine was a Marine. He said that they were trained in hand-to-hand combat, to punch past the goal. If you mean to punch a man in the nose, aim for the back of his head. That way, you'll be sure to smash his nose. The left are already doing that. We cannot wait for the left to throw out their next outrageous idea, and try to fight it. Just by getting it out there, it gains a certain level of acceptance. Even if we object, and the judge says, "sustained", the jury cannot un-hear it. The defense rests. How many more times do you think the Supreme Court will say the right to keep and bear arms, is an individual right?
So what does it mean to join The Liberty Offensive? It means we need to start putting our ideas out there, for the jury to hear, even if the judge says, "overruled". We need to try to pass legislation that enhances individual liberty and responsibility, even if President Zero vetoes it. We need to write songs with liberty-laced lyrics. We need to write TV shows that celebrate freedom and responsibility. We need to mock and ridicule the ridiculous PC ninny-speak. As Bill Whittle likes to say, "we are the steely-eyed missile men who believe in loud guns, hot women and fast cars". We need to aim for the back of 'progressives' heads, just to be sure we smash their noses.
Do you know why I always put the word 'progressive' and 'liberal' in single quotes? Because 'progressivism' is the exact opposite of progress. It is regression. Today's 'liberals' are illiberal statists. Those are irony-quotes. And I use single quotes instead of double quotes, because I don't think 'progressives' and 'liberals' are worth the extra effort it takes for me to hit the shift key to make double quotes. That is the kind of contempt I have for 'progressive', 'liberal' ideology. They talk liberal, but they mean slavery.
If the Republican party doesn't start going on the offensive for liberty, it will be left in the dust. The Democrat party have become increasingly 'socialist' (communist-lite), and the opposition party is supposed to provide a counterbalance. It means moving further to the right, to counterbalance the left. The Republicans are supposed to be the opposition to the Democrat party. But the most recent budget bill passed by the Republican-controlled congress, essentially passed the entire Democrat agenda. That is not opposition; that is capitulation!
"Grow a Pair, Baby Cakes!"
Come on, you GOP-ers, grow a pair, or a spine, or both, and start introducing some offensive legislation worthy of the name, "Grand Old Party"! And I mean "offensive" in every sense of the word. Make that legislation offensive to the left. The more offensive, the better! Go on the offensive! Be on the offensive! Offend the hell out of them! Offend their faces off! Aim past your target, so that what you hit will be the new target. Move the Overton Window back to the right. Stop walking on eggshells, being afraid to offend people. Being offended is for weenies! Donald Trump doesn't have all the right ideas, but he has the right attitude.
Audit the Fed! Defund Planned Parenthood! Dismantle the IRS and the EPA! Dismantle the Department of Education! Get rid of as much oppressive bureaucracy as possible! If it isn't an enumerated power, lose it! Audacious? You bet! Non-starters? Maybe for the first 100 tries. The 'progressives' have been doing their crap like this for 100 years. We have to play the long game.
No more defense of liberty! This is The Liberty Offensive! We are offensive! We're here to throw crap against the wall faster than the left can scrape it off. The stickier the better. People just want to be left alone to live their lives, keep the stuff they earned, and be decent people, to the greatest extent possible. Even 'liberals'. Suck it up, lefties!
I don't know if this can be appealed in time to right the wrong. Perhaps now all We the People can do is vote to reject Proposition #9 outright, and the next chance we get, vote to remove the corrupt councilmembers from office.
Someone called me a conspiracy theorist for suggesting that NASA might have an agenda for global warming. You do not call El Guapo a conspiracy theorist!
This sign, along with "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service" were prominently posted in business establishments all over when I was growing up. Probably to keep the damn hippies from infesting the place.
Forget religion! This is a First Amendment right. Government cannot force anyone to associate with or perform service for anyone, for any reason whatsoever. If I want to opt out of someone else's celebration, I should be at liberty to do so. I don't care who or what they are.
You can have your gay wedding, but no one should be able to force me to participate for any reason, religious or not, even if I were the last pizza shop on earth. Someone would step up. But if you just want to make an example of me, then this isn't about discrimination; it's just bullying.
Let's suppose our government says we are compelled by law to participate in activities in which we do not wish to participate. And let's suppose that we are a caterer. And suppose that caterer is forced to provide food for your activity. Do you really want them making your food? Chew on that that for a moment.
I have always objected to the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. A flag is a graven image. It represents something, but it doesn't define anything. I think the Constitution of the United States is the thing that all Americans, not just politicians, in their all too soon forgotten oath of office, should be pledging allegiance to, and pledging to uphold and defend. We can still stand and salute the flag while we're saying it, but here's what I think we should say:
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America. And to the republic, which it defines: One nation, with individual liberty, natural rights, and equal justice for all.
I deliberately omitted the words "indivisible" and "under God".
I omitted indivisible, because the Constitution does not deny states the right to secede if they believe the federal republic is destructive to life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness (including property rights) of the citizens of those states.
I omitted "under God" in favor of "natural rights", which has the same meaning to everyone, regardless of faith. Natural rights come from nature, or nature's God, and not from government. Government cannot grant rights; it can only protect them. Government cannot create new rights; they already exist. They're natural. "Under God" means "natural rights" to Christians, but not everyone else "gets it".
Also notice that I changed "justice for all" to "equal justice for all", to distinguish it from "social justice". Social justice is a form of social engineering that uses the government to redistribute wealth according to how a select few think it should be distributed. Equal justice means everyone is treated the same under the law, and it is up to individual citizens to decide how best to care for one another.
The Constitution cannot uphold and defend itself. We the People must demand it. Repeating the pledge of allegiance to the Constitution at every public gathering would go a long way towards reminding people to demand it, and our public servants to heed it.
"Which article of the Constitution gives government the authority to do that?"
If more and more people start asking this question, I think most of our worst political problems, in all branches and all levels of government would go away by themselves, almost overnight. When a reporter asked Nancy Pelosi that question about the healthcare bill, her deer-in-the-headlights response was, "Are you serious?" Well, we are serious, and politicians should be afraid to step out of their offices without a credible answer to that question. It is the only "litmus test" that we need.
It really takes so little effort, that it is at least worth a try. The beauty of it is, this really should appeal to honest people from anywhere on the political spectrum.
Uphold and Defend
Big government and bad policy, usurpation of authority not granted in the US Constitution is human nature. Republicans and Democrats are both guilty. We the People must realize that this is not a partisan issue, and demand that all of our politicians follow the Constitution.
The US Constitution is still the official specification for the United States of America.
It guarantees equal justice for all, and protects your life, liberty and prosperity.
Any regime that distorts or disregards its original intent is untrustworthy and dangerous.
The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits. ~ Thomas Jefferson
With respect to the words general welfare, I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators. ~ James Madison
I think we can say that the Constitution reflected an enormous blind spot in this culture that carries on to this day and that the Framers had that same blind spot. I don't think the two views are contradictory to say that it was a remarkable political document, that paved the way for where we are now, and to say it also reflected the fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day. ~ Barack Obama
Every word [of the Constitution] decides a question between power and liberty. ~ James Madison
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. ~ George Washington
Do You Still Have All of the Liberty That You Were Born With?
Think back to when you were growing up. What things could you do then that you can no longer do now? What things did you have the liberty to decide for yourself that is now a mandate? How many federal, state and local laws were passed since you were born? How many new bureaucracies and agencies have been created since you were born? How many new regulations have they imposed? How many tax increases have you seen in your lifetime? How many new government programs have replaced your ability to do it yourself? (more...)
545 People Responsible For All U.S. Woes
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits? Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes? (more...)
kakistocracy n., pl. -cies. Government by the least qualified or least principled citizens. [Greek kakistos, worst, superlative of kakos, bad; -cracy, government, regime]
I majored in math and physics in college. While there, I also studied literature, philosophy, logic, economics, religion, history and music. Since then, I have read books by Richard Feynman, Thomas Sowell, Saul Alinsky, Rush Limbaugh, Lee Smolin, Mark Levin, tons of trade journals, and periodicals on science, news and politics. My 30-year career has so far spanned everything from broadcast chief engineer, electronics engineer, manager, and currently, software engineer. My hobbies include music, hi-fi audio electronics, citizen journalism, and amateur meteorology (the study of weather and climate).
We the People must come to grips with the fact that we are all first responders! When seconds count, help can arrive in minutes. What happens in the meantime is our responsibility. A few concealed carry folks could have stopped this Orlando massacre after the first shot. A few open carry folks might have stopped this with nary a shot being fired.
