Take no prisoners! These detainees have it easy. Like most current subjects of this war on terror, it depends on which side of the story you listen to and what is not being told.

I guess by interesting I mean in how we interpret our constitution, and the means by which we hold ourselves accountable to those interpretations. So many ways to view the world.

Regarding Michael's assertion that I am taking liberals to task, I just want to clarify that I also think conservative's whining over giving Guantanamo detainees legal rights is also absurd. Civil rights are inalienable, pertain to all humans, not just American citizens, and regardless of the person's origin of birth, if they are being detained by the U.S., then our legal system should uphold their rights.

The measure of a man is not in how people treat him, but in how he treats others. This pertains to nations as well...in my opinion.

Welcome to AspenPost.

I agree with your Hestonian sentiment. Still, I find that the need to turn to firearms occurs when you've feel you've lost an argument too important to lose.

Cheers,

OK.

Interesting, like not being able to look away from a car wreck, or just icky, like when a subject makes a dead poet want to hurl?

Cheers,

Cheers,

I was hoping someone would put up a post on this ruling, as I think it’s an interesting subject for discussion.

The fact that liberals fiercely guard and defend the First Amendment, but question the wording and validity of the Second is absurd. Both are about the “security of a free state.” That to me is the key phrase in the Second Amendment, which does not connote foreign invasion or physical enslavement, but as you note; government tyranny. The entire Bill of Rights is about political freedom.

Wikipedia defines political freedom as “the absence of interference with the sovereignty of an individual by the use of coercion or aggression. The members of a free society would have full dominion over their public and private lives. The opposite of a free society would be a totalitarian state, which highly restricts political freedom in order to regulate almost every aspect of behavior.”

So a free state is one in which the government doesn’t infringe on personal rights, which are outlined for us in the Bill of Rights. The right to keep and bear arms, while essential to a “well regulated militia” is also essential to personal security and freedom and to the security of a free state. In the event of a totalitarian takeover by our own government, well armed citizens would be a free state’s only means of security.

Why do you think the US military spent so much time and energy taking away the guns of the Iraqi citizenry? To prevent terrorism? No. To prevent them from resisting the totalitarian takeover by the U.S. If you want to control a nation, you must first disarm the citizens.

Which is why the Supreme Court ruling somewhat takes me by surprise. I’ve been harboring the notion that the neocons are bent on establishing a totalitarian regime in America. This ruling contradicts that notion, leading me to breath a sigh of relief. It also reaffirms the fact that I am definitely a conservative.

As for the suggestion that in the event of government tyranny, “the day those who choose to fight can avail themselves of the weaponry necessary to win has passed us by,” and that those who “feel compelled to arm yourself against the force of Governmental tyranny, make yourself a pea shooter and spend the money saved on your garden-variety .45 semiautomatic buying gasoline,” I can only shake my head in sadness. That defeatist attitude is contradictory to my impression of you as a proud American.

So maybe we can’t win against the force of government tyranny, but at least we can give the defense of our freedom an honest effort. To give up our guns is to give up our freedom. I would rather die fighting for my country than roll over and let them take it without a fight. To that end I keep a loaded .38 in the drawer of my desk so that if someday “they” break down my door and try to take away my freedom, I’ll be able to get off a few good shots before they kill me. It’s the least I can do for America.