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

Re: The need for the 2nd amendment

Author:Paul L. Bruno
Posted:5/7/1999; 2:26:17 PM
Topic:scriptingNews outline for 5/4/99
Msg #:5808 (In response to 5789)
Prev/Next:5807 / 5809

Very well put. But... ("Everyone has a big 'but', Simone. Let's talk about yours." -- P.W. Herman)

Also, the Constitution has worked for over two hundred years, so there's a strong bias against changing it (except among those congressional Repulications who think that American should officially be a "Christian" nation).

Everyone singles out that particular group. I think the danger from them is vastly overblown. Some of my best friends are Christians. :-) But not that kind. From their point of view, they feel rather threatened as well by government actions. When you look at things from the other side, win-win becomes a possibility. Otherwise, if you don't stand in the other guy's shoes (one of the biggest faults of the religious right btw), you're on the road to ethnic cleansing or alienated teens with guns.

The biggest threats are always the ones that sneak in unnoticed. The government is getting further involved in people's private lives through the crypto front, a direct attack on free speech. The government is changing the way it counts its citizens (not that we ever really had one man, one vote). And the government is taking away the primary means the people have to change it by restricting the free distribution of firepower to the masses. (Please don't call the FBI on me, I'm only trying to make a point.)

Of course, like lots of other real-world institutions, the government doesn't yet fully understand the power of the internet, in this case to bootstrap a bloodless revolution.

Don't bother closing the barn door, the genii is out of the bottle.

('other guy's shoes' or 'one man, one vote' are expressions not intended to be limited to a particular sex.)

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