Re: Guns and Ammo writer "Metcalf" fired for anti gun articl
Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 6:56 amVery well said, that is exactly my feelings on the subject of free speech as well as constitutional rights.
When 3 other editors have been forced out for similar types of "opinions", it does appear that at least on this topic, the collective of "gun nuts" is in agreement that "shall not be infringed" means that and that the majority of "us" believe that is a KEY phrase of the 2nd. Metcalf made an error that I doubt any strict constitutionalist would ever make.
What many Americans have been brainwashed into thinking is that the government is there to "protect and take care of us." I believe, having read a lot of supporting papers from the framers surrounding the Declaration of Independence, The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, that our founding fathers, if alive and well today would tell the American people that we have given TOO much control to the government, that they are there to keep us organized or "United" if you will, on several key elements such as a monetary system, national defense, and maybe a few other items. I believe that they would universally be opposed to at least 80% of our Federal Agencies including Health & Human Services and Education.
I have no doubt that the Judeo-Christian Ethic, English common law, the English Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights and some portions of Exodus 20-22 formed most of the guidance for the framers of the Constitution. Even those founding fathers who were not "Christian" agreed that the Judeo-Christian Ethic was the best basis for the Constitution, and what the English Bill of Rights and Common Law was really based upon. But the Constitution was NOT our original foundation. Many people opposed the constitution as they felt it gave too much power to the Federal Government. Heck, we even had a civil war over it, which most people now associate principally with slavery. What is interesting is that many of the personal writings of the framers of the constitution projected this "experiment" to last 10 to 30 years...we made it about 200 with only one civil war. Yes, I know how old America is, but we have not been based fundamentally based on the constitution for the last 40 years or so. Regardless of ones "spiritual compass", there is no denying that the collective American morality has declined significantly since the 1960s.
Somewhere in the 1960s, Americans lost their way, both as a country and in terms of personal self control, self reliance and the worth which was placed upon the individual person. Was it the free-love of Woodstock, Vietnam, Abortion, moral failure of our leaders, drugs, alcohol, racial guilt, homosexuality? Nope, we can't blame any of those factors, we can only blame the Collective for failing to maintain the foundation of the Constitution. As we peruse the land in 2013, there are a LOT of things wrong, but the fundamental failure is giving up our personal responsibility because it is hard. When we give up those responsibilities, they are assimilated into the Federal powers. The more power given to the Federal Government, the more we are eroding the foundation upon which America was built.
The why of this is complex and multi-faceted. I believe a large portion of it comes from a complex combination of human conditions related to national guilt, the principle of the first stone, independence and selfishness. But when we focus on the symptoms instead of the foundation, the outcome is certainly predictable. Metcalf, like so many conservatives, moderates and liberals, was fixated on symptoms. We have a scarce few national leaders who even understand that the foundation is what needs repair. Some, like Thompson, understood but felt that the foundation had been neglected too long and believed it was irreparable.
