Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: The need for the 2nd amendment

Author:Bob Davis
Posted:5/7/1999; 5:26:35 AM
Topic:scriptingNews outline for 5/4/99
Msg #:5774 (In response to 5765)
Prev/Next:5773 / 5775

Would it be fair to say that the Kosovo rebels have found that possessing light armaments did not protect them much against the tanks, planes, and heavy armament of a truly malevolent government?

Back to my roots as a Poli-Sci major.
You don't have to be able to win, you just have to make it hard enough to not be worth while. Switzerland and Austria are two small countries which are both legal neutrals. In the event of a war, any large European army could probably roll right over them (used to be the Warsau Pact that one would speak of in terms of outright attack and NATO as a force looking for strategic positions.). They have small military forces, and would loose.

What they have done is made it very hard and time consuming to beat them. The land is hard, they are trained for alpine fighting, they have their own military industrial complex, and they're ready to dig in. Any force considering attacking them would have to think long and hard about the high cost involved in terms of men lost and time spent.

They wouldn't do it. It would simply be too costly. In WW2, the Germans left CH alone.

While it sounds good in theory that we can protect ourselves from a despotic government, how would those weapons stand up against the US Military.

The same theory holds for an armed populace. Yes, a government that wished to enforce a despotic rule would eventually win, but the generals would know that it would be a long and costly battle.
Surely, the resistance would lose many of its soldiers, maybe all, but the government would lose many too, undermining their ability to hold territories already won.

I think I might sound like a nut - I'm not. Just presenting the political theory.

Bob



There are responses to this message:

This page was archived on 6/13/2001; 4:49:52 PM.

© Copyright 1998-2001 UserLand Software, Inc.