Friday, January 11, 2013

Guns and freedom, Judge Andrew P. Napolitano

Via WRSA

Lies the Government Told You

The right of the people to keep and bear arms is an extension of the natural right to self-defense and a hallmark of personal sovereignty. It is specifically insulated from governmental interference by the Constitution and has historically been the linchpin of resistance to tyranny. And yet, the progressives in both political parties stand ready to use the coercive power of the government to interfere with the exercise of that right by law-abiding persons because of the gross abuse of that right by some crazies in our midst.

When Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, he was marrying the nation at its birth to the ancient principles of the natural law that have animated the Judeo-Christian tradition in the West. Those principles have operated as a break on all governments that recognize them by enunciating the concept of natural rights.

As we have been created in the image and likeness of God the Father, we are perfectly free just as He is. Thus, the natural law teaches that our freedoms are pre-political and come from our humanity and not from the government, and as our humanity is ultimately divine in origin, the government, even by majority vote, cannot morally take natural rights away from us. A natural right is an area of individual human behavior -- like thought, speech, worship, travel, self-defense, privacy, ownership and use of property, consensual personal intimacy -- immune from government interference and for the exercise of which we don’t need the government’s permission.

The essence of humanity is freedom. Government -- whether voted in peacefully or thrust upon us by force -- is essentially the negation of freedom. Throughout the history of the world, people have achieved freedom when those in power have begrudgingly given it up. From the assassination of Julius Caesar to King John’s forced signing of the Magna Carta, from the English Civil War to the triumph of the allies at the end of World War II, from the fall of Communism to the Arab Spring, governments have permitted so-called nobles and everyday folk to exercise more personal freedom as a result of their demands for it and their fighting for it. This constitutes power permitting liberty.
The American experience was the opposite.

10 comments:

  1. The Second Amendment is about hunting. While not as tasty as deer, wicked politicians do in fact run when chased by men with rifles.

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    1. I heard they taste like chicken........:)

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    2. Shoot No ! someone lied to you. They taste like lead paint chip`s. They boil down into a jello like mess that changes appearance upon each new encounter. If any of it is spilled it is lost forever as it`s innate ability to follow the path of least resistance is fantastic.

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    3. They boil down into a jello like mess that changes appearance upon each new encounter.

      Priceless.:)

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  2. Obviously not related to ' the other ' Napolitano .

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    1. Maybe we could duplicate his brain and do a transplant.......:)

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  3. Great article, Brock. That essay should be read by every American... Sadly, most would no longer understand it. They would be terrified of being given the responsibility to take care of oneself.

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    1. They would be terrified of being given the responsibility to take care of oneself.

      I don't know what happened to the America of my youth.

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  4. I say we DRAFT the JUDGE to be PRESIDENT! Sorry, Andrew; you don't get a choice in the matter. Suck it up, your country needs you.

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