IF MEN WERE ANGELS...

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.”
― James Madison, The Federalist Papers #51

Last week on the day after the Boston marathon massacre the Congress failed to pass any of the gun control bills then before it. Those on the PC left went into an orgy of denunciation with threats of future political annihilation for all those who voted against the various measures that began with an assault weapons ban and a limitation on the capacity of ammunition magazines and ended with enhanced registration.

The NY Daily News in particular was in a state of inchoate rage over this vote, devoting much ink to a denunciation of all those who voted no on the basis that they did not care about the slaughtered innocents of Sandy Hook or their grieving families. On Saturday the paper’s letters to the editor led with a banner that read “The Second Amendment must go” and began with a letter that said in part:

“ ... The truth is, the entire Second Amendment should be repealed. Only then will we have real, lasting gun control.
…What is the rational reason for a nation to be so thoroughly armed? The military should be armed. The police forces should be armed. And hunters should be allowed very minimal arms to do what they do.
But to allow — no, to outright encourage — assault weapons because it’s our right? This is absurd beyond all absurdity — it is a mental illness to think this way. ”

These sentiments lie at the crux of this struggle between those who believe in the Bill of Rights and those who don’t and is reflective of the true agenda of Obama, Bloomberg and the radical progressive left.

There are a variety of reasons why this legislation failed.

This legislation in essence, targeted law abiding citizens and did nothing really substantial to stop the scourge of illegal guns in the hands of criminals and terrorists…

The bills did not substantively deal with the failure of our Mental Health system and made no provision to provide protections to the public via robust prevention to prevent violent actions of people now left on their own by politicians who once promised much but delivered little…

The bills did not address in any way the culture of mindless violence coming from Hollywood , television and the videogame industry…

The bills failed to respect the historic fundamental importance and value of the 2nd amendment and the debate often trivialized it in the same manner that other parts of the bill of rights have been ignored or disparaged by the same ideologues…

The proponents of the bills failed to convince a growing and skeptical public as to why government want and needs all of the personal data on US citizens ranging from gun ownership regulations, and regulation from Obamacare, the IRS, the EPA and others regulators, legislation or executive actions...

The bills also added up to a new massive expansion of government costing billions and enriching the public sector unions at the expense of the taxpayers...

The bills did nothing to prevent another “Sandy Hook” or “Columbine” or “Aurora” or “Tucson” and therefore were suspect for that reason alone...

The bills did not include the obvious and proven deterrent of having trained and professional personnel with weapons in and around schools...

But the most important factor in my opinion was that a growing majority of Americans no longer trusts the words, deeds or motives of many of their political leaders and media spokespeople and are demonized by them as a result of their resistance to their diktats.

Bloomberg with his “Nanny state” and “Obama with his “regulation nation” are increasingly viewed as power hungry control freaks with little respect for the historic nature and historic values of this country. They also do their cause no good by being arrogant elites who want to disarm law abiding citizens while surrounded and protected by armed bodyguards.

History has taught us that politicians who wish to take away fundamental rights including the right of self defense in a violent world are precisely those who Madison was referring to in Federalist 51. They are not doing this to protect us from the tyranny of our fellow men nor are they doing this to protect us from the tyranny of our government. They instead are trying to take away our freedoms and individual unalienable rights and in doing that are driving us inexorably towards division as a nation and the barricades.

ERLANDSSON

( This commentary was broadcast on 04/27/2013 on The Vernuccio / Allison Report on WVOX 1460 AM / http://www.wvox.com )