Mao Tse Tung said it. Political power comes from the barrel of a rifle. Our Declaration of Independence states the right and duty to overthrow tyranny. Therefore, we have the Second Amendment. Constitutional argument has long since determined that the well-regulated militia clause does not limit or construct the keep and bear arms clause. The Supreme Court affirms that to have and carry weapons is a natural right, predating and not merely granted by the Constitution. Terrible stuff, huh? The Court also consistently rules that government may set restrictions, essentially according to common sense. Alexander Hamilton wrote brilliantly on the practicalities.
Remember Kent State? May 4, 1970. Four anti-war protesters killed by National Guard troops armed with WWII Garand rifles. Google the images and compare today’s militarized SWAT team. Scary? Many police departments and states are already controlled by people who would welcome an authoritarian regime to impose their social agenda.
Modern populist dictatorship is not ushered in by jackbooted thugs. Since the Greek original, thousands of years ago, democracy is vulnerable to populism and demagoguery. The kickoff is appeals to lowest-common-denominator themes in a functionally illiterate populace. They can nominally read and write, but with little comprehension and don’t do it anyway. One hundred forty characters is not Writing, not enough for complex issues. But certainly enough for emotive pops. A handful of moguls and their giant corporations dominate the mass media. Their interests do not coincide with the interests of Joe Sixpack, even though he Tweets in agreement with their relentless promotions.
Are gerrymandering and voting restrictions relevant? Both Adolf Hitler and George W. Bush came to office with a minority of the popular vote. The detail of the 2000 election in Florida, in the courts and in the Senate reads like any other coup d’état, giving us the most ignorant President in living memory. Gormless in a classroom on 9/11? FEMA in New Orleans? The Iraq invasion? His venal cronies milking the occasion for billions of dollars? We got off easy. The obsolete Electoral College could just as well give us a charismatic psychopath for President.
If you have not dealt personally with political psychopaths nor lived in the countries they rule, you probably have only a vague sense of distaste. Imagine a soulless reptile, a chameleon brilliantly adapting to charm individuals or mobs. They read your buttons and mime any useful emotion without feeling it. We are mere markers in their game. They are wonderfully focused, remembering, planning, manipulating. Their only policy criteria; personal power. Put one of them in the Oval Office. He will soon have his own people in all the administrative, investigative, armed, and coercive branches of government. Every Senator, Congressman, Court Justice and Governor collaborating, intimidated, or neutralized. It happens so quickly. You learn to bite your tongue. Opinions can cost your job, your kids bullied, your family barred, your business quashed, partisan threats and violence. Soon the Leader must Protect Law and Order, arresting or eliminating opponents. Tyranny. No, it can’t happen here? Take your pick of the adamant and even fanatic weirdos presently on the campaign trail. Where is the reptile hiding?
Sorry folks. Until we can likewise stop crazy people from having guns and political power, I like the Second Amendment. Scares me something awful, and I wish all the guns, all of them, would just go away. School shootings, Texas Tower shootings, drive by shootings, cop killers, killer cops, suicides, accidents, murders, armed robbery. It’s all abhorrent. But not nearly as bad as tyranny.