By now we should understand that we cant count on the present administration and government in general to keep its word or follow the Constitution.
The storm of rhetoric that has erupted in the wake of the tragic Sandy Hook School shootings and the subsequent attempt by the federal government to destroy second amendment rights has led to protestations foremost of them by Mr. Obama that there isnt going to be any wholesale seizure of guns. (at least not yet because he doesnt believe that he can get away with it.)
Senator Marco Rubio put it best when he said that Obama doesnt have the guts to admit that he doesnt believe in the second amendment. This occurred on the Bill OReily television show 1-17-13. Rubio is correct; Obama hates the second amendment because it presents an obstacle to his achieving absolute power. The problem that America faces today is the inability or unwillingness to recognize the truth. When the truth stares them in the face it is always too late.
As Ron Paul pointed out in his farewell address to the House of Representatives freedom has become a hard product to sell in modern America. A significant number of people would prefer security (real or imagined) to the duties responsibilities and challenges of a free society. They prefer in the words of James Thurber to be free to do what we want you to do and to say what we want you to say." That is a whole lot easier than thinking and deciding for yourself.
But the issue of firearms is a critical one. Weapons in the hands of a free population pose a threat to government if and only if government places itself in opposition to the people. Government officials frequently forget that the people constitute the nation more truly than they do. After all if the officials were required to create a productive economy fight wars and do the dirty work themselves it would never get done. Just declaring I am the state" does not make it so. It ignores the fact that without the little people there would not be any state but such people are always short sighted and this never occurs to them. Belief in ones own self-importance creates immense hubris.
Past generations of American presidents and their surrounding officials were more generally oriented on the best interest of the nation and thereby the best interests of the people than is true today. But circumstances have changed. Popular sovereignty is no longer in vogue with much of the nation and government office has become a means to wealth and power instead of an opportunity to serve ones fellows. And the statists who run government want a population they can control. It is a simple matter of job wealth and power security.
It is telling that Hitler required German military officers to swear allegiance to him personally and not to the German people. He believed that the honor of the officer corps would effectively bar a large scale military coup. And Hitlers intent was never the best interests of the people. It was his ideological roadmap only that counted. It is also telling that before he shot himself he declared that the German people had not been worthy of him.
Officials who are not loyal to the people they are supposed to serve and to the best interests of those people have every reason to be afraid. Because todays officials have no respect for the people for the proper rule of law or for popular sovereignty their bottom line desire is to disarm and subjugate those people and replace the constitutional system with a new aristocracy which they will control. Liberty will be sacrificed in the name of common sense and the common good so that they can rule rather than govern.
Law abiding individuals are a threat because when government officials are not law abiding. No one should accept the assertion that public officials are any more honest or ethical or moral than any random person you might happen to meet. In fact based on the track record of the last decade and more it becomes obvious that many and perhaps most cannot be trusted. And those who cannot be trusted do not trust others.
The fact that elected officials and other important persons such as entertainers are allowed armed guards or to carry a concealed weapon shows the lack of respect and trust by officialdom. They find it reasonable that the rest of us are left to shift for ourselves in what could rapidly become a shooting gallery for criminals. Just ask the people in Mexico where the drug gangs have taken over.
Traditionally the Press now known as the Media has acted as a check on government power but todays media figures fail to do so. It appears that they have thrown in their lot with the statists. They have become important people and wont be prevented from having their own security guards. Further as long as they have a serious number of adoring fans and can act as propagandists for an ideologue in chief they wont be subjected to the same laws as everyone else. And when they lose their rights which they will eventually they wont believe it until like Bluto in the Popeye cartoons they are clobbered and left to wonder whah happen? while the stars and birds circle their dazed heads.
Meanwhile the White House insists that no one is going to take your guns but they forgot to add one last word to the statement; no one is going to take your guns YET. As above they just dont think that they can get away with it right now. With Obamas record of non-stop lies anyone who believes that he has no intention of eventually outlawing private ownership of firearms is either crazy or too stupid for words.
This is not a case of ginning up fear. It is simply extrapolation from past history. It is an application of George Santayanas maxim that those who do not learn from history will repeat the mistakes previously made by others. The Obama machine displays the same characteristics as others have in the past; others who promised utopian progressive futures but which ended up as tyrannies. Certainly there is a chance that it will not happen again here but it is a chance we cannot afford to take because the stakes are to high. We cannot afford to stake our futures the futures of our children and the future of a free people on the good will of government officials who cannot be trusted and who do not trust us. Government can be an excellent tool but it is at best a necessary evil and anything evil must be controlled as tightly as possible lest it escape and wreak havoc on its former masters.