I think his point is that the government is now protecting him from those people- which is a bit extreme, but not entirely crazy- and the government is much less likely to start wanting to throw him under the bus than those people.
Personally, I believe armed resistance against our government is the most laughable concept imaginable, and recent history- Waco and the siege at Ruby Creek*- bears this out.
*Neither Randy Weaver nor his kids believe they can beat the government, and they’re pretty much the only people I can think of who tried.
Actually, “Ruby Creek” is an accurate name – the actual location of the standoff was between Ruby Creek and Caribou Ridge; the name “Ruby Ridge” is just a popular combination of the two placenames. At least, that’s what the Wikipedia article says.
And RNATB, of course “resistance” of the “get completely surrouned in a small building or compound and slug it out with a vastly larger and better-armed force” variety will fail, and fail pathetically. That’s not really relevant to the discussion, though.
I personally want to thank the Right Wingers for saving the USA from tyranny. Before this thread I always thought that the Liberals were the ones who made sure that blacks, women, and gays had civil rights and that we didn’t decend into facism with a few large corporations working hand-in-hand with the government to control power. But all along the Right Wing gun owners were the ones looking out for me. I think I may just give up peaceful demonstration and voting and just let you all keep up the good work.
Why not? Since we’re not likely to be invaded, we’re talking about resistance against an entrenched government, and it’s highly unlikely that everyone who was up for it would start actively resisting at the same time.
Well. Things were going swimmingly so far. So what gives with the insults? I know it’s Da Pit and all, but…if you feel so fucking strong about it dickhead, why don’t you fucking man-up and get your sackless self over to Great Debates, where you can’t descend to the level of name-calling and insults.
Where, you know, you have to talk and reason. Like an adult.
And the next time you associate my name with racism, homophobia, or religious intolerance, you’d better back it up with a fucking valid cite.
Becuase that’s going beyond name calling; that calumny.
A valid proposition, I grant (and have before, and will again…)
Another: what is colloquially knows as “the froggy in the pot o’ water.”
Toss a frog in a pot of hot water, and he jumps right back out. Toss him in a pan of warm water, and then turn up the heat. Pretty soon, you got one cooked froggy.
It’s an old saying, I know, but apt for the point I wish to illustrate, to whit:
The gradual erosion of liberties can also pose a threat to the “Constitutional checks on the will of the majority enshrined in the Bill of Rights” you say you hold so dear.
Then: given 74 years of progressively stricter gun control, so much so that the individual right had, until recently, been interpreted right out of the 2nd. Ad. by “the majority” of legal scholars, federal judges, and Democratic legislators, do you not also see the parallel dangers posed to all other Constitutionally protected rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights?
Fuck you. I have nothing to prove to you.
Ooooh! Ooooh! I know! Just like Der Trihs and his ilk, you’re going to claim that since I didn’t prove to your satisfaction that I wasn’t a potential Nazi, ipso facto, I am!
But there’s the problem; support for gun rights is a major part of what’s eroding civil rights. The gun righters will cheerfully vote for people who want to restrict free speech or spy on American citizens or shove their religion down other people’s throats, as long as the people they vote for pander to their gun fetish.
Gay people being able to marry and own guns? Preposterous! We all know it’s impossible for someone to believe in all of the human rights protected in the Constitution, right Dan?
I wonder how a political party that didn’t attack any human’s rights would perform.
You do realize that many left wingers own guns, right? And support the 2nd amendment as interpreted by the SCOTUS? And vote Democrat? And belong to the ACLU?
So partisans tied up almost 10% of German troops in the theater, and despite those soldiers’ lack of skills, they could have otherwise been used to garrison points or serve as cannon fodder or clean latrines, thus freeing up other troops.
And despite the fact that the partisans themselves proved crucial in ensuring that D Day happened… the power of resistance is a myth.
Of course, I assume, Iraq is also a myth and we’re in complete and total control of the country and have been, for years. Likewise, America is a British colony to this day.
But, of course, Keegan is also an enthusiastic supporter of the Iraq War itself. I’m not sure how that plays into an appeal to authority, but ah well, eh?
Maybe I can answer your scorn by, perhaps, citing John Keegan.
Damn, sounds like in 2006 he thought that a modern insurgency, using RPG’s and IED’s, had a chance of defeating the single greatest military superpower that the world has ever seen.
I wonder what the John Keegan who you tell us says that the mythology and propaganda of resistance has inflated our belief in its effectiveness would say to the John Keegan who says that resistance can defeat a military superpower.
Der Trihs, how about we flip that little nugget of wisdom around? Instead of blaming the people who support gun rights for voting for conservative politicians, why don’t you blame the liberal politicians for not supporting gun rights?
But it’s complete and utter bullshit either way, and you should be smart enough to know it. Gun rights aren’t eroding the rest of our civil liberties: fearmongering politicians are, and they are aided by the nervous idiots who follow them (whether or not they own guns). The fact that gun rights is an issue that often drives voters into the arms of the Republican party seems to me like just another opportunity being passed on by the supposedly enlightened and liberal Democratic party. But no – they’re too spineless or else scheming to deign to support all our civil liberties.
What happened to that husband and wife couple that were convicted of tax evasion and kept insisting they wouldn’t be taken alive? Happened a couple summer ago, big story was something about some guy out walking his dog interrupting the police right as they were about to storm the compound.
I assume they’re either still at it or it was resolved without a lot of shooting.
The time between the period of the kings and the birth of the Empire was about 450 years. It also didn’t really happen the way you’ve laid out. And am I the only one who’s tired of facile comparisons between ancient Rome and the modern US?
Not many, and they wouldn’t have moved on to anyone else. Thousands? Try ten, maybe fifteen. Not ten or fifteen thousand; just ten or fifteen. If that.
The Holocaust didn’t happen the way you seem to think it did. It was a gradual process at a national, industrial level that was supported by the bulk of the population.