In yesterday's post asking for help in opposing confirmation of Eric Holder as attorney general, I promised to address what to say to a senator who is hostile to the "gun rights" argument. [More]Here's today's Gun Rights Examiner column.
We have a chance to oppose someone who is a proven enemy of gun rights.
So far, the response from the "gun community," including the raising of awareness and calls for action, has been underwhelming.
How that will help effect peaceable change is beyond me.
22 comments:
Thanks for your work in this area. Ihave sent my SEnator a message to block Eric HOlders nomination and have asked my friends to do likewise. Keep up the good works.
Holder is obviously not a friend of liberty.
Obama is a total enemy of liberty. How does opposing one or a few of his appointments change anything? Is he going to appoint a friend of liberty instead? Not likely.
Protest all you want. What will it actually gain for us in the end?
MML, it is important we show that we won't roll over and accept anyone this bad--if he comes up with another just as bad, we do it again.
The bottom line is we try. because our enemies are crowing that we're toast politically.
You honestly can see no benefit to our being able to thwart the Obama administration when they think they can come in with unopposed carte blanche?
Y'know, this is tough enough putting all this together without people disparaging the effort. If you have a better plan, share it and I'll drop this effort and encourage everyone to support yours.
Honest to God--write a couple letters. Am I really asking that much?
Be unreasonable with those who would control you in the name of "being reasonable".
I fear that this effort is just going to be more of the "Same old same old". I wrote both my senators ( coming from Wisconsin, both of them are on the committee) but they've been no friends of the 2nd before, so I'm thinking it was a waste of time. All a 3 percenter will be able to use this action for is to ask the prags "Where were you when this political solution was tried?"
I have written one of my Senators. The other is currently without e-mail so will need to send via snail mail.
This guy is all around bad (not just bad for 2A but also for 1A and others).
Not to disparage anyone, but frankly, I sense that many of our brethren have given up the "soft war" and are either (a) ready for a "hard war" or (b) ready to just roll over and take it.
I'd prefer the "soft war" option. We got to do what we can, while we can.
Robert Fister
Looking over osamaobama’s cabinet…I can say we are in for a long 4 years as gun owners and free peoples. The majority of them are anti gun all the way; some are unknown as to their stance. If in fact we can affect even one of his choices it is a start. So yes it does matter. Eric Holder must be stopped he is the most dangerous of them all.
Never cease working for the non-violent solution without compromise. The deed may see no personal gratification in effecting a desired outcome, but the confirmation hearings have yet to commence. I do not believe it is time to put aside the keyboard! Ten million letters and emails and phone calls of concise, deliberate refutation need to be in plain view of those we oppose, or they will succumb to their own schemes with less hesitation - and in a pause, doubling that number would give rise to a more durable pause if sanity and reason is, in their hearts, even little more than a fouled, mutilated revenent.
From such an unmistakable opposition, only the insane would proceed - and should that be the outcome, ours will be actions derived from absolute calm certainty. I continue to pray that never becomes the order of the day!
A google blog search right now shows up some very good posts.
* Eric Holder’s Sixth Amendment Problem » The Foundry
* Instapundit picked this up - good amount of traffic.
* A Keyboard and a .45: Eric Holder for AG? Not if I Can Help it
* Putting a hold on Holder « 2A Musing
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On the not so good site
Real Clear politics sayes:
"Attorney General-nominee Eric Holder -- would present a problem, but most likely, a surmountable hurdle."
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Sending a letter to senators yourself helps but Get other people to send a letter. How you ask? The free press, which today are blogs.
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It would be nice to have a gun site similar to prolifeblogs.com
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Is he going to appoint a friend of liberty instead? Not likely. If Eric goes down because of people fighting for gun rights, the next person would be more moderate; If he does not go down, the next person will be less moderate.
If the main stream says Eric's position on Guns is an unsurmountable problem, the 2nd amendment is secure for today.
David, I did not intend to disparage you or your efforts in any way. I think honest questions are never out of place, and that is what I am asking.
And this is not coming from someone who has never tried to "work within the system." I was a member of the Libertarian council long before it was a political party. I've been a protester, agitator, activist all of my adult life - a good 45 years now.
I have yet to see any meaningful positive results from any of it. Our liberties and economy, national honor and integrity have eroded bit by bit over every one of those 45 years. Tiny, incremental setbacks to the tyrants may make some feel better, but in the long run they have been irrelevant.
I'm not saying give up! I'm not in the least saying there is no hope for liberty or justice. And each person must make up their own mind where to draw the line, what tactic or effort is worth their time and money.
I'm afraid that I have passed long beyond the place where I will beg and kiss the feet of the tyrants and criminals who infest the government centers of this country. I have tried, and have the bruises to prove it. Whatever Obama and his nest of vipers do is totally beyond our control - and I see no evidence that they would be influenced by 10 million, or 300 million "letters." Show me the evidence.
The RNC blew off every single question that did not suit their agenda. How can anyone think they give a damn what mere people want and need, let alone basic human rights?
I stand beside Mike V. these days, doing everything I can to live at peace with those around me, but willing to die if necessary because I will not back up any longer!
Liberty or death.
If you check Mike's website, he and other 3% leaders are urging their supporters to block the holder confirmation.
No one is asking anyone to beg or kiss anything. This is applied "any chair in a bar fight."
You know what--I don't have the energy to argue. I'm tapped out. If anybody doesn't want to do this don't.
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, gave a scathing floor statement on Holder Tuesday, laying out many of the GOP's lines of attack ... There is hope.
Ken Salazar is also a Requiring Gun and Knife Control fool ...
http://www.allreaders.com/politics.asp?senator=25 ... the issue is guns in national parks. And another clinton chrony.
Those supporting gun rights:
http://www.nraila.org/Media/PDFs/kempthorne_ltr.pdf
MamaLiberty it is good to know that you have fought so many years and are willing to make a stand at the line in the sand. I respect that in you, but I too have fought on the battle fields for the freedoms we all enjoy, I have ached so bad some times that nothing helped get rid of it, I have shed tears for it, I have bleed for it, and I have died a little each time inside and out. That was when I was in the Army for 21 years spanning from the Vietnam War through the First Gulf War. I am just not ready to give up the pain, nor unwilling to shed one more drop of blood, nor shed one more tear, if it might make the difference.
There are no guarantees in life and I am not promising you anything you don’t already have right now. This effort may just be blowing smoke, but then again it may not be either. I am asking you MamaLiberty, Just write that one more letter, take that one more step, Rub that one more bruise, patch up that one more cut, drop that one more drop of blood, shed that one more tear with me. I will respect your choice regardless if you choose to continue to fight or not. Or even how you wish to fight.
I just cannot walk away as long as I still breath.
Sincere Respects
opaww
I think there are a larger number of practical and effective alternatives than David and MamaLiberty have outlined. But first, let me thank you David for tirelessly reporting on what the politicians are up. It is a fine service to us, because it keeps our Condition Yellow up to date.
However, having learned what the politicians are up to, moving on to write letters to them is counterproductive. To justify doing it you must convince yourself that it has a reasonable chance of being successful long term. However attractive this wishful thinking is, it is contradicted by the evidence. In addition to courting the "electoral politics" mental illness, writing letters to politicians is a waste of the time you spend doing it. When the urge to write a letter to a politician hits you, there is always something else you could be doing instead. Have you checked the dates and rotated the stock on your food storage? Have you replaced all the batteries in all the gear you have stored in various places? Is all your ammunition in stripper clips or magazines in bandoleers? Are there after-Christmas sales in which to buy another pair of boots?
The constitution that some are so fond of harnesses the sin of envy to set factions of the middle and lower class against each other, thereby eating up the time and resources that they would otherwise be using to compete with the elites. Having figured this out, participating on any side of this game, in any role, is dumb. I admire the Jews in Germany who, having admitted to themselves that life in Germany was not going to be safe in the future, cast their gold into tire changing tools and drove themselves to safety -- while it was still early enough to get away with it! Not for them is attempting to survive in a war zone, OR risking their lives in a rebel military organization, OR being taken to a concentration camp. Living well is the best revenge. If enough "ordinary" people decline to participate in an incipient war zone and move away, then Atlas shrugs.
Anon, do you really think *most* people who won't spend 5 minutes on a letter are going to do all that?
And you presuppose it's an "either/or"--many of us do prepare. You should check out Sispsey Street and Western Rifle Shooters, both linked in my WogRoll. We're capable of multi-tasking.
Letters and other forms of seeking redress may indeed prove fruitless. What we know for sure is if we do nothing, we'll have given up without even trying.
As for your observations on the Constitution, I must have missed that clause.
And some of us refuse to be driven from our homes. Some of us are committed to resist tyranny. That others did before us is why you are free to leave anonymous posts expressing your opinion.
Where are you moving to, by the way?
Send us a picture, and be sure you're freely and openly carrying a gun without fear of authorities so we all know it's safe to follow.
Good to see the Holder Memo mentioned in the comments.
Obama may be an enemy of liberty, but Holder is a proven enemy of liberty, and an easy target.
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You know what is the problem with public protesting? It's been turned into a joke, and the TV news is complicit. Some if it has to do with the types of things people protest.
It only takes a few polite sentences to your Congressperson--and honestly, I don't think that it will move mountains, either--but this is only the first step. This site is the multiple-choice test of pro-defense, pro-liberty activism, because David makes it all so very easy for us.
All is not lost. You see, the people of this country get what they ask for. They didn't want Arabs buying ports, and the transaction was blocked. They didn't want Mexicans in the country, so now we have Constitution-Free Zones within 100 miles of our borders. They wanted to short-circuit the system to make it easier to get loans, and now we have junk debt and a credit freeze. They wanted contraband off the streets, and now the same template for violating your Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights is being used to disarm you.
See? We get what we want, along with all the consequences. People don't like to suffer the consequences of their own mistakes, so they are willing to listen more now than ever before. Ultimately we will win, so long as we stop insisting that Congress violate the rights of distant strangers who have no effect on our lives. Yeah, it's going to take some effort, but it'll be worth it.
Is it making a difference?
Are there more or less shooters at your local club or range?
Is Maximum Mike the director?
Did Ohio House Joint Resolution #8 pass?
God willing, an editor will actually print one of my letters. In the meantime, I'm introducing someone to guns as often as I can.
Always
Be
Converting
"In the meantime, I'm introducing someone to guns as often as I can."
+10 to that comment.
You never know which sheep have a sheepdog inside waiting to get out.
People will surprise you sometimes. Just recently another buddy of mine who I introduced to shooting has asked me to go with him to shop for his first pistol.
David Codrea said...
Anon, do you really think most people who won't spend 5 minutes on a letter are going to do all that?
I don't know about most, or even many -- lots of Jews went to the camps without ever getting into the mental state of being willing to evade capture. But I do know over the last year an awful lot of dehydrated food was sold. Every act of preparation for future self-reliance tips the balance of power away from centralization. I think a lot of liberals have made non-weapon preps, liberals who, if they ever did write a letter, would currently favor the wrong side. That's ok, valuing liberty is a journey for many, and they can learn it piecemeal.
As for your observations on the Constitution, I must have missed that clause.
The anti-federalists understood it all quite nicely. So did Plato's Republic. For a fast modern read, google the text of Orwell's 1984. There are excerpts of a book inside, titled The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism, if I remember correctly.
And some of us refuse to be driven from our homes.
Which is worth more to you, your home situation or your life? If you'd rather be a dead rebel than a live refugee, you've decided your home is worth more. Extreme love of land and country is a monkey trap, which works because humans are territorial by instinct. The USA is not that special. Imagine yourself as the bright young lad of 100 years ago, telling your mama that you won't stow aboard the steamship to immigrate to America, because the government has convinced you of some "duty" to stay home and suffer whatever fate they say you "deserve"; even unto being turned into mincemeat in a civil war.
Some of us are committed to resist tyranny.
The decision to resist tyranny is entirely separable from your decision not to be driven from your home. They aren't tied together.
That others did before us is why you are free to leave anonymous posts expressing your opinion.
That computer people invented a mechanism for relative anonymity is why I am free to leave anonymous posts expressing my opinion. Earlier battles to defend the printing press, radio, and TV were mostly lost. If the first amendment sort of worked, I would be publishing political speech under my real name. If the first amendment really worked, I wouldn't have a need to publish political speech.
Send us a picture, and be sure you're freely and openly carrying a gun without fear of authorities so we all know it's safe to follow.
Given modern attitudes, open carry is a provocative protest; instead I care about de facto safety. For instance, during the Vietnam war the US was busy enslaving young men to be cannon fodder. Some of these young men found greater safety in Canada. The US had greater freedom on paper, while Canada had greater freedom on the street. If you see a cartoon-style 10 ton weight falling above your head, run away from the impact zone.
Where are you moving to, by the way?
Some place with measurably fewer street corner cameras, fewer searches, and less willingness to crash down home doors. To me that sounds like many places in the first or second world except for Britain. In the last century, the US was far a safer place to be than China. In the next decade, China might be safer than the US. It is fundamentally "American" to leave your moribund mother country and journey to a land of opportunity. One of the Pacific rim countries might be quite nice.
TJP said...
"In the meantime, I'm introducing someone to guns as often as I can."
That's another excellent suggestion! When you feel like writing a letter to a politician, instead harangue another non-gun-owning friend into buying a pistol plus ammo and putting it in the back of their closet. Be serene while they complain the whole time, because they're deeply conflicted about the issues. Given a bad enough time, some of them will get un-conflicted in the right direction. What was that quote from the LA riots where a former hippie said they never imagined they would be on the same side of the barricades as the conservatives, mutually defending their neighborhood?
Anon, that's a lot of words to mask the fact that you avoided a direct question.
I repeat: WHERE are you moving to that justifies your confidence in your superior solution?
"Many places" leaves a lot of latitude. If true, there are numerous safe harbors.
Name one.
You've already told us you fear the "authorities" discovering that you keep arms so you dare not bear them. And you haven't even disqualified countries that do have "street corner cameras...searches, and willingness to crash down home doors." Your only criteria is "fewer."
The area where I live now meets that criteria.
But say you're right about personal risks, that I should be one of (what fraction of 1%?) that becomes part of the American diaspora because the odds are so much better for my survival...where can I go that won't be an attractive place for the occupiers to come once self-unmasked foreign or domestic tyrants have occupied America?
Funny you should mention the Jews. They too were unarmed and living at the mercy of host populations and governments.
WHERE are you moving to that justifies your confidence in your superior solution?
Here are some possibilities, each of which I would rather live in as a refugee than living in the middle of a shooting civil war: Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan. I realize that all of those places have stronger gun laws than many places in the US. The big risk for which one needs guns is not fighting everyday criminals, it is escaping dictators. Guns are available enough in these places to address that risk. I am not saying I like being disarmed, but it is better than living in a war zone.
where can I go that won't be an attractive place for the occupiers to come once self-unmasked foreign or domestic tyrants have occupied America?
I don't find the 'globe falls to Communism like dominoes' scenario any more convincing now than it was during the Vietnam era. Command economies are self-limiting because they get less efficient with size and time. The USSR or Mao's China didn't take over the world, instead they imploded in starvations. Meanwhile, nobody predicted the Berlin wall falling or the USSR imploding. These startling events prove there is a huge blind spot in the ability to make political predictions. Maybe an AWB with no grandfather clause would cause a peaceful Berlin wall falling type of response here? What we have now is a waiting game. In a decade the personal communications devices and personal manufacturing tools will have shifted enough self-sufficiency power to the masses that a minority of liberty-lovers can defend themselves against a majority of socialists who want a nanny state. My job is to survive until that time and keep on top of the tool developments. Risking myself by being in the middle of a reenactment of the US civil war with semiautos is not a part of that plan. If you haven't read Snow Crash and Diamond Age, I invite you to.
This is what the next decade or two holds for politics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity
Pay no attention to the myths of peak oil. The existing 300 million automobiles and the knowledge of how to make alcohol are not going to be raptured away. Brazil is today running their economy on alcohol from plant sources, and the two hundred year supply of coal buried in the continental US can be converted into liquid fuels for existing engines. Horse-drawn agriculture is a religious affectation of the Amish, not a necessity for mainstream America.
Pay no attention to the myths of global warming. About 650,000 years ago, the Yellowstone supervolcano erupted, scattering 2 cubic miles of solid material all over North America, out of a volcanic caldera 40 miles wide. My reloading manual doesn't suggest how much greenhouse gas this would require as a propellant. You will notice, however, that there is no corresponding blip on Gore's little 600,000 year chart. If such an enormous gas release had an obvious warming effect, you would be sure that Gore would point to it, but he doesn't. Therefore it is safe for the climate to burn the abovementioned coal.
This is not to say I love the air pollution from coal, or the State ownership of the means of electric production. Decentralized solar electricity generation is taking off, and it's getting better quickly. Cheap organic solar cells are in commercial production, as are concentrating Stirling and concentrating PV with silicon cells.
Your cash money has been stolen, but technology continues to boom. Improvements in Linux, both on the desktop and in the cell phone, promise PGP-encrypted voice communications in the next six months. Consider the C4ISTAR implications of that. There is a reason encryption software used to be regulated as a munition. What is more widely useful to you, another rifle, or communications that no one can tap? Take that money you were going to buy more ammo with, and use it to buy a laptop and learn about Linux instead.
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