stat counnnter

Monday, December 24, 2012

The Immorality of Gun Control

The Dec. 18th print edition of the Macomb Daily (a northeastern suburban county of Detroit) carried an oped by Roger Simon of www.creators.com, not to be confused with Roger L. Simon of PJTV fame. This Roger Simon, without the L, writes a screed pushing "real" gun control which according to him, has never been tried here in the U.S. Right! And that's why we still have a few freedoms left.

There are lots of things wrong with Mr. Simon's rant not the least of which is an outright falsehood. He claims for example:

"Four adults are killed in Benghazi, and the right wing politicizes it endlessly."

Pardon me but it was president Obama who immediately lied to the American people by claiming Benghazi was caused by an anti-Muslim video which of course, turned out to be false. It was Mr. Simon's left wing that sought to politicize Benghazi first. Obama kept it up for several weeks even making this false claim in a public speech. He even had Susan Rice push the video nonsense.

Mr Simon then claims the gun lobby and the social media cried "...too soon. Show respect for the dead. Do nothing now." While there indeed was some of that (the Detroit News wrote an editorial urging Gov Snyder not to sign a gun bill that would allow concealed carry anywhere in the State), the social media I visit was calling for action now not do nothing. I responded to that editorial calling for arming some adults in every school on the grounds that leaving kids unprotected any longer was unconscionable. Unfortunately, the Governor did not sign the bill. He left the kids vulnerable.

Mr Simon goes on to attack some alleged reasons for the Sandy Hook shootings. Here is his list of things that didn't cause the shootings and why:

It's not: the NRA is too strong, because they're not that strong.
It's not: godless schools like Mike Huckabee claims, because we can't wait for America to be as pious as Mr. Huckabee.
It's not mental illness, because other nations don't have that problem.

So, even though he cites no evidence for his claims, it must be the guns. In truth though, there is more to gun control that a misplaced concern for safety.

If man has an unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, then he must be politically free to take the actions and acquire the tools that will sustain his life. Some of those tools will be tools of self defense. The right to life must include the right to defend that life. Without the right of self defense, man has no right to life.

Gun control advocates do not respect such rights. They believe that because some weapons make killing easier than others, they should be banned to citizens and placed only in the hands of benevolent, caring, "good guys" in government. The desire for such a society goes all the way back to Plato's notion of "philosopher kings". This is the idea that an elite of knowledgeable rulers is best for ruling over the ignorant masses. This is exactly the attitude of most of today's politicians and intellectuals. They all imagine what a wonderful world this could be if only they had the power of force over you and me. They have it. Some in the Democratic Party may be reluctant to use it just yet. Obama is not.

In closing I want to say that the need for some adults to be armed in our schools is more urgent than ever. I'm told they do this in Argentina, the Philippines and in Israel. We need to do it here also. But there is something we could do right now and that is take down all the signs that declare "gun free zones." Look at what those signs really say: "self defense free zones." In essence they say "attention killers, here is a free killing zone just for you." I can't think of a sign more politically and morally wrong than that.

Mr. Simon ends his tantrum with a quote alleged to have been spoken by one of the teachers to her students: "Wait for the good guys; they're coming." Except she was referring to "good guys" as police in their role of protecting our rights while Mr Simon's "good guys" were police in the role of taking away our right of self defense.

PS As of this writing the Macomb Daily has not put the oped on their online version so I can't link to it.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Get Rid of Sacrifice, Get Rational Self Interest

When you elect politicians to serve your interests and they don't follow the constitution, you will suffer due to the loss of your freedoms.

When you suffer due to the loss of your freedoms, you will look to your intellectual leaders for answers.

When you look to your intellectual leaders they will tell you that the sacrifice of your freedoms could not be otherwise.

When your leaders tell you the sacrifice of your freedoms could not be otherwise, you will get frustrated.

When you get frustrated, you will riot in the streets like the Greeks.

Don't riot in the streets like the Greeks. Get a copy of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and read both.

When you read both you will discover that America has abandoned individualism and man's right to self interest in favor of collectivism and self sacrifice.

Get rid of sacrifice. Get rational self interest.