I just read "Gun-Crazed: Americans armed to the teeth, paranoid as hell."
by xxdr zombiexx."
In general I agree with the good Dr. Zombie’s assertions that the far right is being extremely paranoid and is rather comically rushing to their local gun stores in droves as an expression of this paranoia. Moreover, being from the South myself, I very aware that that there is a barely concealed racial undercurrent to this paranoia, a new expression of that old paranoia of the slave owning or slavery condoning past.
Still, I don’t find this development as alarming as many of my liberal or progressive friends do.
Let me declare my own bias at this point. I am a cultural evolutionist, with some anthropological training. Ideologically I am somewhere on the spectrum between neo-marxist and cultural anarchist, although politically I always vote with the damn Dems, because they are somewhat less in bed with the Corporate enemies of working/middle class people.
And from this perspective, the rarity of a gun-raised, gun-owning, Southern left wing radical, I kinda find myself in the middle of the argument.
I do understand that this gun-brandishing paranoia can be dangerous, especially when fanned by self-serving right wing ideologues. A few unstable individuals have been pushed over the edge and the consequences have been tragic. Still, keep in mind the overwhelming majority of those flocking to gun shops and gun shows are generally decent good ole boy types, just a little backward thinking. They are watching the political-economic ideology to which they attached their wagons collapse. They are understandably fearful. But in the end, for all their grumbling and weapon stashing, they are unlikely to cause much trouble unless, of course, the government were to do something incredibly stupid....like try to disarm them.
LOL....I will admit that, at a much milder level, even I do share their concerns about the return of the assault weapons band. Indeed, I have thought about buying another Mini-14 or something of similar effect myself. Not so much out of a fear of the government (at the moment) but out of a legitimate concern that one day the right-wingnuts themselves might get out of hand and it could be useful to have the implements on hand with which to shoot the stupid fuckers if they should.
Still, under the current economic circumstances, I can’t really justify it. But I don’t worry too about it too much about it. There is a bright, shiny AR-15, utilizing standard NATO ammunition, in the trunk of almost every police squad car on the road since 911. If I need one, I already have the means of obtaining one.
And I think that is the point. Revolutions, whether from the right or the left, are not won with weapons alone. They are won principally by the will of the People, and their willingness to shed blood, their enemies and their own, in order to make the military/police forces choose between the government and the People. If there is Will enough the obstacles will be overcome, usually in a sea of blood, with the overwhelming majority of it being that of the revolutionaries. I don’t really think that even the far right of this nation is there yet.
Still, it might not be a bad idea for liberals and progressives....lol...all you centrists to me....to ask themselves the proverbial question......"what if?"
Do not forget the lessons of the Spanish civil war. Sometimes a large minority that is a little better equipped can defeat a slight majority that is poorly armed. Unfortunately, the ultimate victory of Progressive Liberty is not always assured in the real world.
As passionately polorized as this nation has become in recent years it is a thing to consider.