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Vail Daily letter: Battle for our country

Fredric Butler
Vail, CO, Colorado

The blood of children has now moved politicians, governors, the president and other despots to call for further legislation, the sole purpose of which is to deprive men of good will and of law-abiding conviction the right to keep and bear arms.

Make no mistake about it. The proposed laws to this effect have nothing to do with the eradication of the deranged or criminal in society, like the Affordable Health Care Act had little to do with the health of Americans in general.

It is only about the further subjugation of law abiding citizens. Remember the Patriot Act and its infringement on Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights, or the National Defense Authorization Act and its expunging of due process? These were high and altruistic labeled laws, but in fact were the work of legislative and executive tyrants.



“How strangely will the tools of a tyrant pervert the plain meaning of words.” (Samuel Adams). Adams further declared that “the Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to … prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their arms.”

When you revisit the Federalist Papers and the pronouncements of the founding fathers, you realize that the primary purpose for which the Second Amendment was incorporated into the Constitution was to establish the rule of law to counter or defend against the tyranny of government at all levels.

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Sir William Blackstone observed that “when the Revolutionary War ended, and the Americans were making their new Constitution, they were very aware of the need for self-defense. … They were also very aware that the new government they were creating could turn corrupt and they wanted to defend themselves from it if necessary.”

It is ironic that an Englishman under King George III had the foresight and could discern the intent and spirit of the Second Amendment, but today and after over 200 years of history to remind us, illiterate Americans either are ignorant, cannot recall or cannot comprehend that.

The minority of literate Americans today realize that government, especially at the federal level, has turned corrupt and recognize that the Second Amendment mandate is indispensable for the survival of liberty and the United States itself.

The genesis of the Constitution sprang from the philosophy of John Locke (another Englishman). He said that “every man has a property in his own person. This nobody has any right to but himself. … Self-defense is a part of the law of nature, nor can it be denied the community, even against the king himself.” Blackstone embellished further: “Self-defense is justly called the primary law of nature, so it is not, neither can it be in fact, taken away by the laws of society.”

It follows from the lessons of our heritage that the law abiding American citizen has that inalienable and natural right to defend himself against tyranny in any form or from any source, and is entitled to meet the force of the tyrant with meaningful force to achieve that end.

Today, our government maintains a standing army to assure the continuance of its insolvent, tyrannical and oppressive reign – not to defend the American people from all foes, domestic or foreign, but to defend itself from the people themselves.

“Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. … The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword because the whole body of the people are armed and constitutes a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States.” (Thomas Paine.)

State and federal l arsenals are replete with the tools of war, what with heavy artillery and armor, tactical aircraft, bombs, assault rifles and semi-automatic handguns, to name but a few. Now and to further disadvantage the American people in their defense against governmental excess, abuse and subjugation, we have this same government calling for more legislation to ban even semi-automatic assault rifles and magazines that carry too much ammunition.

Of what use is the Second Amendment if it is not meaningful and beneficial to the people, and for the purpose primarily intended by the founding fathers.

The Democratic Party (the party in power) and its town criers of the likes of Feinstein, Pelosi, Reid, Obama, Biden, Clinton, etc., are at the forefront of proposed legislation to meaningful disarm the public completely and finally.

It is of note that Paine further admonished that “it is the nature and intention of a constitution to prevent governing by party, by establishing a common principle that shall limit and control the power and impulse of party, and that says to all parties, thus far shalt thou go and no further. But in the absence of a constitution, men look entirely to party, and instead of principle governing party, party governs principle.”

Today, we are governed by the ever vague and arbitrary “principles” of the Democratic Party and not by those of the Constitution.

The tyranny of George III pales in comparison to that of today’s federal government. As it was “true of England that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still.” (Tomas Paine.)

Fredric Butler

Eagle


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