President Obama and his progressive allies have recently told us that even the most draconian of gun laws must be passed because “If we save even one life from gun violence, it’s worth it.” While that’s an amazingly ignorant, infantile, and even downright silly statement, it does neatly sum up a nanny-state philosophy that is fueling a nationwide assault on the second “shall not be infringed” amendment as well as law-abiding gun owners across the nation.
By such simplistic liberal logic, the printed word is far too dangerous to be allowed outside the hands of a privileged few or the auspices of government control. In fact, entire cultures, nations, and peoples have been persuaded to commit atrocious acts of aggression and even genocide by simple concepts spread by the printed word and other mass message distribution devices. If you are going to start banning guns, then you better start banning ideas and the ways they are disseminated. And remember, if only one life is saved by such extreme actions “at least we did something.”
Simple words printed on pieces of paper have indeed shown themselves to be far more dangerous than the mere possession of firearms by a certain percentage of a population.
The advent of the printing press, and the technologies that evolved from it, facilitated the widespread distribution of controversial, violent, and often hateful concepts and ideologies. In the last century alone approximately 170 million people were killed because of the ideas outlined within just three books.* The contents of Mao’s “Little Red Book,” Hitler’s Mein Kampf, and Marx and Engel’s The Communist Manifesto have been responsible for more repression, massacres, genocide, and cataclysmic warfare than all other theologies and ideologies from the beginning of time until now.
In addition to the poison spread by the likes of Marx and Hitler, many other books and writings have also contributed to the deaths of countless human beings and to the rise of myriads of twisted cults and movements. The plethora of gullible, uneducated, mentally ill, opportunistic, and extremists among the general population has shown us that average citizens cannot be trusted with the often dangerous ideas that a book can provide without strict government regulation and control.
One has to wonder if the time has come to call for the registration of books deemed potentially dangerous and perhaps even the banning of exceptional powerful ones like the Bible that, when misused, could theoretically cause harm to innocents. Book buybacks, book-free zones, waiting periods, restrictions on internet book purchases, and requiring doctors to report to authorities the existence of such possibly mind-damaging materials in the home should all be explored. The safety of the public at large, no matter what the cost, must trump any outdated notions of personal liberty or constitutional “rights.”
Book registration and book-free zones make about as much sense as gun registration and gun-free zones. Both are equally ineffective deterrents when it comes to stopping psychopaths, violent criminals, and mass murderers. But such policies have shown themselves to be powerful weapons for governments to use against civilian populations. Especially when a government decides to start massively increasing its own power and control while at the same time restricting previously protected natural and constitutional rights. Registration inevitably leads to confiscation and that formula has been played out time after time in nation after nation. To pretend otherwise is mere historical ignorance or purposeful misdirection.
For, in the end, if it’s truly just about “saving lives” with no consideration for liberty and individual rights then you might as well start by banning books as well as guns. For the 1st and 2nd amendments go hand in hand. The contents of each are equally potentially dangerous, and at the same time equally precious and important. And each relies upon the other for its existence in a truly free society. Such was the design incorporated into the foundation of our nation by the Founding Fathers.
It is absolutely no business of the government what constitutionally protected rights a citizen chooses to engage in. That’s part of the beauty of being a free and sovereign citizen in a Constitutional Republic. You have the right to be left alone and to live your life free from undue government interference and regulation. Infringing on those rights is not the proper role of government. Instead, it is the government’s role to protect and preserve those rights.
“Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any bands of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States.” -Noah Webster
*source: http://www.scottmanning.com/content/communist-body-count/
Crossposted from The Constitution Club
A lot of the gun assault is a smoke screen and testing ground for the other restrictions and shutdowns these bastards are implementing — take the “if only one life is saved” or the “it’s for the children” crap and look back over the last few decades and see how successful the bolseviks have been with all their various and sundry nannie state “bans” – using the same BS over and over — hamstringing the US people and the country — now that the “Greatest Generation” are almost gone they are smelling final victory and are going for the US’s jugulars – any success – any individual wealth creation, any real self worth separate from “the State” , regulate everything from paint, lightbulbs, toilets, water heaters, etc etc while ignoring or falling down on the legitimate gubmint functions like food safety enforcement and BORDER ENFORCEMENT – — destroy the legitimate armed forces and the coal and power industries — no US drilling in gulf — move rigs to mediterranian — susidize oil exploration in Brazil — force what coal production the US has to sell to China (then get the west coast eco-loonies to protest the coal trains) –ban the pipeline from Canada — forcing them to sell oil to China– buy off the effected workers long enuff to implement the “final solutions”
This is all part of the”we will bury you plan” — revenge for US bankrupting the USSR in arms race —
P.S. – outta the mouths of libs — one minute they are killing unborn babies and the next they are doing it “for the childrem” — a clear illustration (as in “transparent” – hmmmm!) and proof that liberalism is a mental disorder — IMO – to the extent of insanity.
Of course the 1st already has MANY restrictions in place. Wikileaks is one example. Some people now feel that it is prosecutable for someone in a foreign country to publish documents that are classified in this country. Porn was/is still restricted. Copyright is another. The only one of the Bill f Rights that hasn’t been restricted is the 3rd (to the best of my knowledge). The 2nd has been restricted also, felons, crazy people, guns on planes et.al. What I think is most interesting about the 2nd is that it is one of only 2 places in he Constitution that uses the phrase The People. Everywhere but those the word persons s used. Why the difference?
@john:
Clearly because the founders believed that the 2nd Amendment was a sovereign right of the people, and was not to be infringed on by either city, local, state or federal governments.
Nov. 5, 2021 – ALL 850 BOOKS TEXAS LAWMAKER MATT KRAUSE WANTS TO BAN: AN ANALYSIS
Now that the GOP is really with the program in Texas, the far-right’s agenda is moving right along. At what point will people recognize it for what it actually is? Possibly too late, if the GOP’s voter suppression program is successful.
They’re calling books they deem dangerous or incorrect “pornography”. The dystopian novel “The Handmaiden’s Tale”, for example, has been labeled as pornography. Can you figure out why?
You must be getting pretty desperate, Comrade Greggie, to dredge up a threat from 9 years ago.
I highly recommend you get a life, or a psychiatrist.
A thread, not a threat.
December 22, 2021 – Texas public library closes as librarians search for ‘objectionable’ content
https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/diversity-inclusion/586963-texas-public-library-closes-as-librarians-search
There is nothing positive for greg to talk about because the biden regime is an utter failure.
There are dozens upon dozens of threads and comments showing the utter failure of the villiage idiot biden, yet greg does not refute or attempt to defend any one of them.
Instead it is all day every day President Trump or the CCP virus. Then he dredges up a 9 year old non story to try and steer the commenters here away from the disaster that is biden/harris.
Here’s the list of books to be banned–or burned, as the case may be:
https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/94fee7ff93eff9609f141433e41f8ae1/krausebooklist.pdf?_ga=2.11573559.2091958781.1635513476-272773625.1635513476
I guess you also object to preventing children from being exposed to porn movies in a classroom.
When you have to use the educational system to create new gay people, or racial hatred (i.e. the claim that whites are born racist) there is something really wrong with your philosophy.
Get a shrink, Comrade Greggie.
I realize you believe children should be indoctrinated rather than educated, but not everyone agrees.
No, Comrade Dumass, it is your side that believes in the indoctrination of children. And you are just too stupid to understand the difference between indoctrination and education.
Teaching (rather, indoctrinating) children into believing they are gay, or transgendered, or any of your other absurd LGQRXYZ crap, or that one child is inherently racist against another because of the tone of their skin, should be wrong and is not the position of any school teacher. Teachers should stick to math, science, history and languages, not social agendas. No teacher has the right to indoctrinate a child in a philosophy not supported by the parents of that child.
But hey, to normalize the queer movement, it is necessary to indoctrinate our children.
Funny, since the Harvey Milk bunch for years denied they were “coming after” our children when that is exactly what they were doing.
You love to show your stupidity. So carry on.
village idiot, teaching CRT is indoctrinated while teaching children to look , study and evaluate that which others swear as truth. Parents have the role of teaching values, not teachers or school boards. Continuing to try to steal the minds of children will seal the fate of liberals. I gave you a hint on how to really have a smidgen of respect here, but you greggie really want to play the role of the fool.
BTW, Matt Krause was not even born in 1969.
BTW, Matt Krause was not even born in 1969.
So, all of a sudden, you are against “cancel culture”? That’s the problem with starting that shit; it tends to snowball.
“The Catcher in the Rye” was banned when I went to school. It’s nothing new; the “Handmaiden’s Tale” has nothing to do with curriculum. I had hoped Santy might have brought you some common sense. I see he passed you over.
Correct me if I’m wrong… You are referring to books in school libraries? Most of these were not written for a K-12 reading public.
You trot out “a handmaid’s tale”… A dystopian look at a future, or totally fictitious, dystopian society… Is that the kind of hopeless fantasy I would want my child reading??? Not at all.
You liberal trash are the ones banning conservative books from sale and publication. And not just from kids.
We can all agree that public learning has been an utter failure. Imbecilic leftist teachers NEED stupid students so their flawed tennets go unchallenge cin the indoctrination of our children. Whenever I speak with a young adult, I’m amazed at how unaware they are of basic and core information and concepts.
Certainly, having statistical freaks (what %of population are trans???) flaunting their socially aberrant ways upon impressionable minds is something I would find objectionable, yet your ilk forces this upon our children.
Teachers should teach academic subjects and leave parenting to the parents.
If the leftistvteaching establishment were not an underhanded cabal of Marxists, they’d teach capitalism. Marxism has failed wherever it’s been tried. I know because I’ve traveled to some of those failures.
You can tell a lot about a “civilization” by its art and architecture. Marxist regimes produce fleeting beauty for export and architecture that can best be described as bleak and depressing. Show me the commie “Twin Towers”? A socialist “Chrysler Building”?
Better yet… Call me when your miscreant educators bring back “The Gulag Archipielago” to the reading list.