March 27, 2013
Wednesday PM

Another concerned American here, not shocked; puzzled, certainly. About the motive of that small minority of smart people using Schopenhauer's - Art of Controversy, to Interrupt, Break, Divert attention away from American's instinct to continue as the longest surviving nation of productive, imaginative, and well mannered people in history? Look to the reason why we are respected by them who would like us 'heads on stakes' dead. Could it be because we have a standing army of a hundred million armed citizens, who are not criminals, respecting legitimate law, and have the means to defend themselves? The main complaint by wanna-be aristocracy, at home or abroad, seems to be that we the people are not willing to embrace the European model of ever increasing dependency on and acceptance of Government Control.
 
Reasons forbidding Federal law to weaken long standing and proven restraints of centralized government are provided in the Constitution and Amendments of the United States. The threadbare 'strawman fallacy' of Daniel Boone not needing more than one bullet is simply distraction, as are most arguments lacking logic, mere rhetoric, intellectual fencing without any appeal to knowledge or facts. Exaggeration and insolence brings the fog of confusion and emotion to the front, and reason evaporates; guns and our Right to Bear Arms are not protected for hunting; that unification of protection ideal was wisely placed second, below the Freedom of Speech, to defend our lives from the evil and barbaric intentions of Tyrants.
 
Not about True Patriots, it's much more basic than heroics by any one person or group, though we see and respect those with regard for character. If you've been led to believe barbarians wanting our annihilation, is a thing of the past, a bogeyman story to provide compliance from children and the weak minded, you were mislead. World War II was seventy years ago, 50-70 million died because Europe failed to control a madman, and in the east, another fiendish military adventure committed atrocities that haven't been seen since the genocidal Mongol invasions. So... seventy years ago, think it can't happen again?

Rwanda genocide in 1994 where 500,000 - 1,000,000 were killed with machetes and clubs; and in Darfur, the Sudanese government claims 10,000 civilians were killed between 2003 and to present, ongoing murder by a government on un-armed civilians - European figures claim between 178,258 - 461,520 civilians, men, women and children died in Darfur as a result of these present day barbarians and indifference in governments around the world. What would that number be if those civilians had the wherewithal to resist? Cambodia, the killing fields, 2,000,000 died because they were not willing or able to fight for their lives.
 
The second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States isn't about slavery, segregation, minimum wage, buffaloes or the Alamo - not Democrats against Republicans - just more divisive rhetorical distraction. Americans need to look away from the bribe and focus on the existential problems we face here and now; e.g. what if we had "term limits?" Imagine if Congress wasn't in the business of getting re-elected time after time? The national debt and global warming could be something more than a re-election strategy or buying votes and courting campaign contributions. Character [Ethos] would become an issue; Emotion [Pathos] would return to a level playing field with Logic [Logos]; and knowledge of this or that subject at hand, would prevail.

Americans don't believe in a benevolent dictator, or that the Federal Government will make us more safe, prosperous, or more accepted in the eyes of the world. When that madman with an army, a pipe wrench, or a machete comes through your door, begging for mercy wont solve your predicament. That mental illness canard? Solve that as problem one, but not by condemning that well behaved population we live in; if you want to disarm a country, go to Syria or Cameroon. There are still savages in the world, and there will always be, no exaggeration. Not rhetoric... fact. You can deflect, be insolent, hostile, and manipulative, but our American Citizens right to own firearms... better to have them and not need them, than need them and not have them!

Ken Bylund
Ketchikan, AK

Representations of fact and opinions in letters are solely those of the author.
The opinions of the author do not represent the opinions of Sitnews.