I need to be very clear as to where I am coming from.
I'm in my 40s, happily married with two beautiful children, and I am successful professionally and fairly well-off. I don't think I have low self-esteem.
I am distressed at the turn of events in the U.S.. I fully believe the Bush Administration represents a nazi-like conspiracy against the Constitution of the United States as amended and interpreted the past 140 years. I personally know prominent ultra-right-wing "Federalist" law professors who have given me a clear indication of how far they are willing to roll back our modern civil liberties. I note the expansion of the police state for the lower classes justified by allusions to a war itself described as perpetual. We are nearing martial law, if we are not not already there. Persons can be arrested for wearing left-wing clothing. And, we persons on the left are systematically deprived of our rights to vote and to have our votes counted. This widespread conspiracy is a "jihad" fueled by sorry members of my own southern white race.
I have thought of myself as a pacifist, but I have changed my opinion as to the "Second Amendment" debate. I now adopt the position of the separatist, for whom the right to bear arms is believed to be an ultimate check against tyranny, however futile it may appear. It is, of course, a decision that aligns me with many sorry bedfellows, including white racists whom i despise with every bone in my body. But, I can no longer naively trust my craving for collective and communal endeavor, as I am deeply concerned the animal model of humanity may be the more accurate one. We may not be able to finish the deal, in terms of forming a collective society and we may instead fall back to the predator-prey model that is indistinguishable from the animal kingdom. I worry about violent crime rearing its head as a safety net crumbles, and I also worry about the "jack booted thugs" the fear of whom I derided in print as recently as 5 years ago.