Friday, December 19, 2008

"A Democracy By Any Other Name Is . . ." Tyranny.

Sam McKeen writes the following letter in the Klamath Falls, Oregon Herald and News:

A democracy by any other name is...

Thursday, December 18, 2008 10:15 PM PST

I wrote a harmless little letter about gun control and almost immediately James Farmer criticized my use of the word “democracy” and the same day a Web site user quoted part of my letter and then said that the Second Amendment is to protect us from a tyrannical government who will strip us of our rights and then kill us in our sleep.

As to Farmer, he’s right. We do not live in a democracy. Let’s call it a cantaloupe. Madison wouldn’t object. It means we have fair elections and then abide by the results.

The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are thrown in to control the power of the people. A cantaloupe of the people by the people and for the people.

The Internet user presents a more serious problem. The Second Amendment was granted to us by a friendly government that stood with us, not over us, and, in order not to intimidate us, granted us the right to keep and bear arms. But let me tell that person what he’s dealing with — a nation that, after being crippled at Pearl Harbor and in less than five years, utterly defeated the five greatest navies on the entire planet, not to mention their armies and air forces. If that nation ever decided to oppose us, they would manufacture more assault weapons in 20 seconds than we could amass after 100 lifetimes of seeking them.

Friend, you are creating an enemy that does not exist. Love your country and be willing to die for it. Your cantaloupe will not let you down.

Sam McKeen

Klamath Falls



To which I replied to the paper's editor thusly:


Subject: A democracy by any other name is... tyranny.
Date: 12/19/2008 10:36:08 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: GeorgeMason1776
To: pbushey@heraldandnews.com

Dear Editor,

Sam McKeen writes "the Second Amendment was granted to us by a friendly government that stood with us, not over us, and, in order not to intimidate us, granted us the right to keep and bear arms."

Horse manure. The Founders would have thought that statement dangerously ludicrous. Governments, even friendly ones, do not "grant" us anything. The Constitution merely codifies our God-given, natural and inalienable rights, among them the right to arms to defend ourselves against tyrannical government.

"A democracy by any other name is . . ." The word the editorial headline writer was searching for is "tyranny." The Founders were extremely distrustful of "democracy" (rule of the people, rule of the mob, or majority rule). Absent the limits of a constitutional republic, democracy is three wolves and a sheep sitting down to vote on what, or who, to have for dinner. The rights of the sheep in a pure democracy are by no means respected.

This is why the Founders took such time and care to craft a Constitution for us. Now that Obama and the antigun Dems have achieved political supremacy by defeating the GOP and marginalizing the NRA, they will be tempted to seize more of our traditional liberty and heretofore legal property simply because they can. The Sam McKeens of the country do not realize that the GOP and the NRA protected them more than those hapless organizations protected us. And now, having by majority rule -- by "democracy" -- swept away firearms owners' ability to politically redress our grievances, what choice will they give us? Why, to submit to additional infringements or to resist.

They will find to their surprise that when democracy turns to tyranny, we of the armed citizenry still get to vote. We just won't use voting booths to register our complaints.

Mike Vanderboegh
PO Box 926
Pinson, AL 35126
GeorgeMason1776@aol.com

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