No, America is NOT a "democracy"! (And thank God that we aren't...)

First, the 800 lb. gorilla in the room--yes, I know I have completely neglected this website.  Neglected it to the point that this is the first article I've posted in over a year.  My bad.  Mea Culpa.  You get what you pay for.  Truth of the matter is that most of my creative energies have gone towards my radio show/podcast on TFR Live over the last year (Every Sunday night at 10:00 PM CST...shameless plug!!!) Hence, my dedication to the written word hasn't been there as I'd like.  I hope to change that through 2022.

Now, to the point of this article--over the last week (and coinciding with Martin Luther King's birthday), you have seen Democrats and Leftists pushing a Voter Fraud bill through Congress...ok...ok...so we're supposed to refer to it as a "Voting Rights" bill, even though everybody knows that the bill has nothing to do with actual voting rights...and in doing so, they have constantly referred to America's "democracy".  You have heard them refer to "protecting democracy"...you have heard Democrats refer to Republican efforts to block the bill as an "attack on democracy".  To put it bluntly, you have been hearing the word "democracy" come out of the mouths of Democrats so much as of late that--if you didn't know any better--you might actually think that the United States is a democracy, if you didn't know any better.

We aren't...and we were never intended to be one or become one.

A simple glance at how Founding Fathers, early political leaders, and others of importance at the time of our Founding spoke in reference to "democracy" reveals that many of them did not consider the concept to be a "given" the way that so many in modern times do.  Hell, you can see by their own words that they were downright hostile towards the concept of democracy...and rightfully so.  A few examples:

"Remember, democracy never lasts long.  It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself.  There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide."--John Adams

"The evils we experience flow from the excess of democracy.  The people do not want virtue, but are the dupes of pretended patriots."--Elbridge Gerry

"A simple democracy is the devil's own government."--Benjamin Rush

"Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths."--James Madison

And these were not just hollow words--as our Constitution was being debated, written, re-written, debated some more, and then went through the ratification process among the thirteen states, great pains were taken at all levels to make certain that America would not be a democracy.  The Electoral College and Senators being selected by the states instead of direct election (something, IMO, we should return back to) were two of the more famous provisions put into our form of government in order to protect our fledgling nation from the horrors of democracy--horrors that they knew only too well, and which, in their wisdom, they endeavored to protect our new nation from.

Over the years, as a culture, America has mistakenly and wrongly deified the concept of democracy...and that deification has become so pronounced that a great many Americans (of all political stripes) actually believe that the United States is a democracy, and moreover that the concept of democracy is universally good.  Leftists today are taking advantage of that cultural misunderstanding in an attempt to wrongly sway people into supporting voting laws that will only bring great harm to our nation...to say nothing of invalidating the votes of good, normal, legitimate voters who go to the polls today.  But despite the misguided good feelings that go along with hearing the word "democracy" in our country, Leftists are pushing a historically inaccurate, sociologically harmful vision of what America has always been, and what they believe it should become.

Remember, in an actual democracy, 51% of the population can have the other 49% shipped off to concentration camps, executed, and God only knows what else.  Our Founders and our early leaders wanted no part of such a travesty...but the Leftists of today are openly pushing for it.  It's time to stand up against their false characterization of our history and our culture...and to challenge them on the very concept of "democracy".  Invoking "democracy" as a way to rally support behind a piece of legislation or a vision of America's future is nothing more than a bald-faced lie.  But further more, pushing "democracy" as any sort of blueprint for our lives is tantamount to collective suicide. And it's time to say as much to these radical Leftists every time they try to push the God-forsaken concept of "democracy". 

Read or Buy These Books Before They're Banned!

 In recent days, we have seen Simon and Schuster back out of a lucrative book deal with Missouri Senator Josh Hawley because of his principled objection to the 2020 Presidential Election results.  In addition, we have seen gargantuan tech companies and Social Media sites do all they can to remove Conservative users, ideas, and thought from their website (going to the point of actually throwing Parler off of Amazon's servers, and colluding with other tech companies to try and keep them from finding another home).  Also, over the last few years, online retailers and some brick and mortar bookstores have stopped carrying "controversial" titles--all in the name of promoting Social Justice.  No doubt we are entering a period in American History in which writing and thought that challenges Establishment norms in politics, government, and society are going to be in the crosshairs of those with enough power to restrict what we see, hear, and read.

Because of this, I have looked back at my own makeshift library...the books on my shelf that I have bought, read, and collected over the last thirty years.  Books that not only provided entertainment to me, but more profoundly, helped me to "think outside the box" in my political development, and assisted me in becoming the person I am today.  I cannot help but think that--sooner rather than later--future generations will not be able to benefit from many of these texts as I have...because of course, those who believe they know better than us would consider them "controversial" or "insensitive". 

With that, I wanted to share with you a comprehensive list of books that I have read and that I own, which I have greatly benefited from (and which, no doubt, the Establishment in America would rather you not see).  Each of these books was purchased by me, over the counter, in brick and mortar retailers over the last 30 years.  But I fear that in a short period of time--if the do-gooders and bleeding-hearts in our society have their way--you one day will not be able to purchase books like these either online or over the counter.  So do yourself a favor, and read as many of these books as you still can, while you still can...because there's a lot of people out there who don't want you to have the knowledge and wisdom contained in them.

My list of "Critical books you need to read while you still can" is as follows:

Black Rednecks and White Liberals--Thomas Sowell

Basic Economics--Thomas Sowell

Liberty vs. the Tyranny of Socialism--Walter E. Williams

American Contempt for Liberty--Walter E. Williams

The Way Things Ought To Be--Rush Limbaugh

New Deal or Raw Deal:  How FDR's economic legacy has damaged America--Burton Folsom Jr.

The Forgotten Man: A new history of the Great Depression--Amity Shlaes

Takeover:  The 100 year war for the soul of the GOP & how Conservatives can finally win it--Richard Viguerie

The South Was Right!--James Ronald Kennedy & Walter Donald Kennedy

Great Society:  A new history--Amity Shlaes

America:  Imagine a world without her--Dinesh D'Souza

A Conservative History of the American Left--Daniel J. Flynn

Righteous Indignation--Andrew Breitbart

Suicide of a Superpower--Patrick J. Buchannan

Flyover Nation--Dana Loesch

Unfreedom of the Press--Mark Levin

The People Have Spoken (And They Are Wrong):  The case against democracy--David Harsanyi

What Would The Founders Say?--Larry Schweikart

And last but most certainly not least...

The Holy Bible--God

This isn't an Election...It's a War!

Three and a half years ago, when I began this website, I did so by considering and examining a particular question--What do you do when an opposing political party crosses the line from being simply "loyal opposition", and instead becomes a National Security Threat?  At the time I asked that question--both on my podcast/radio show ("America's Evil Genius", which you can download at www.tfrlive.com , simply go to the "On Demand" tab), and in my initial writings on this website--the premise seemed to take many readers and listeners aback.  Wasn't I going to far in claiming that the Democratic Party was a "National Security Threat"?  Surely, I was falling into the trap of hyperbole...the Democrats in America couldn't be that bad, could they?

Well, let's take a look at what we've seen out of them since those days.

Violence in our streets is so common (both from day-to-day Urban Crime, and now, in the name of "protesting" anytime a police officer brings a criminal to justice who is threatening his life) that we are no longer surprised to  hear of it anymore.  Not a day goes by in which you don't read or hear about a story in which someone was assaulted in the streets for wearing a Trump hat or displaying "Blue Lives Matter" iconography (in fact, such an incident happened just last week just a few miles down the road in St. Charles, MO).  In fact, it's almost become predictable and...dare I say it...mundane. And heaven forbid you actually have the temerity to defend yourself from any of this violence...because then you'll end up being charged with felonies as happened to The McCloskey's in St. Louis and Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha.

Democratic Governors, Mayors, and Local Officials across the nation enforcing "lockdown " and "stay at home" orders which crippled the economy...determining what businesses were "essential" and what businesses weren't (meanwhile, I've never met a working class person in my life who didn't believe their paycheck to be "essential", no matter what their occupation was...but during 2020, Democrat leaders in cities and towns all across the nation didn't share this outlook)...regulating the most basic and ordinary of tasks in your daily life...forcing you to wear a mask over your face, despite inconclusive evidence as to whether doing so will actually help anything, and ignoring the dangers of one breathing in their own carbon dioxide consistently (weren't we always told in school that this was as bad thing to do?)...all in the name of a "deadly virus" that only kills 3% (or less) of the people who are infected by it, and less than 0.1% of the American population as a whole.

The FBI pairing with Democratic politicians to engineer a coup against a sitting, duly elected President (in the name of "Russian Collusion" for which there was never a speck of evidence) simply because he committed the "unpardonable sin" of actually speaking for the American People and running for office (and winning) because advocated for their positions on the key issues.

Silencing of your voice and muting of your opinion by Big Tech Leftists on Social Media platforms, and egregious attempts by Big Tech and the Journalistic Establishment to to control your access to information and news.  Continual gaslighting (i.e. "Fact Checking" that is anything but factual) by establishment media and Big Tech in an attempt to hide the truth and advance their agendas.

And all of this is just a partial list.

Over the last several years--and in 2020, particularly--your voice has been muted in society, your life has been micromanaged, your economy has been ruined, your property and your physical security has been placed in constant danger.  The Soviet Union in the Cold War, The Japanese or the Germans in World War II, or England in the Revolution could hardly have hoped to accomplish such a list of results against us in their respective heydays.

I hate to say "I told you so" (No...really...I don't like being able to say it in this case), and I genuinely wish I had been wrong when I asked that question over three years ago.  But I wasn't.  I have--sadly--proven to have been accurate on who the Democrats are, and what their intentions are for America.  You have seen it nearly every day in 2020.

As I write this piece, we have an election in just two and a half week's time.  Some have speculated if this election will be the last straw that leads to a Civil War in the United States.  And while many of those speculators are saying such things just to generate web clicks or to get eyeballs onto their work...the fact of the matter is that these people are late to the party.  America is ALREADY in a Civil War.  Now, it has been a "cold" Civil War up to this point (although in some cities, it seems to have risen to the level of a "Lukewarm Civil War" I suppose)...but it is a Civil War nonetheless.  There is one group of people, one political party, who is intent on usurping America, it's values, it's traditions, it's history...and replacing it with a set of ideals and philosophies that are foreign to this nation and it's culture.  And they have demonstrated over the last several years that they will do anything--including engaging in death and destruction--in order to conquer this nation.

And it is that insurgency whom we will do battle with at the ballot box in November (and possibly, in the streets as well...though we rational people certainly hope it doesn't come to that).  Make no mistake, the 2020 election is not simply a battle between two differing political views.  It is instead a battle between The United States of America (represented by President Trump) on one side against a massive National Security Threat and danger to our lives (represented by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris) on the other.  On November 3, ballots will be our weapons (and let us all pray that those are the only weapons that we will be forced to use)...and it is imperative that we use those ballots to protect this nation, and to do as much damage as possible to America's enemies...just as you would use a gun, a cannon, or an nuclear bomb in any other war.

America will not survive if Joe Biden "wins" (read:  "Cheats his way to the White House").  Vote like your life and your nation depend on it...because this time, they actually do.

The Tyranny of Licensing

If the Chinese Virus--and the ensuing overreaction to it by many of our elected "leaders"--has taught us anything, it has demonstrated for us how truly dangerous and destructive that governments can be when they endeavor to curtail our rights in the name of some sort of "public good".  For decades, many of us on the political Right have cautioned our fellow citizens of the dystopian existence that would result if a large and active government were ever to take root.  But over the last couple of months, this discussion has ceased to be a theoretical one...instead, we have all been forced to live this nightmare of economic collapse, interference with our ability to make a living or even make basic decisions about how to live our lives, and restrictions on if our how we can even leave our homes.  The nightmare of government micro-management is being lived out, at long last...and it has turned out to be every bit as awful as we predicted it would be.

For those of us who have advocated for the "Limited Government" cause over the years, most of our focus has been on the Federal level of government.  We were focused on restricting--or even taking away--power from the Federal level because we knew that an assertive, out-of-control Federal Government would destroy our nation and would do it quickly.  However, in having this focus on the Federal level, many of us who are in the "Conservative" or "Limited Government" camps may have made a miscalculation.  You see, nearly all of the government overreach and micro-management that has occurred during the pandemic hasn't come from the Federal level.  Indeed, President Trump deserves praise for the restraint he has shown during this pandemic--refusing to use such a time of panic as an excuse to expand the powers of the Federal Government, and instead deferring to the individual states as much as possible (you know...just the way our Founding Fathers intended!)  No...as it turned out...it was the State, Local, and Municipal levels of government that took it upon themselves to ruin our lives in the name of some mythical "greater good".

Among the many offenses by these "lower" levels of government, some of the most unthinkable and egregious have been the efforts to prevent businesses from being open, and to prevent individuals from engaging in the trade which puts food on their table.  When individuals and businesses have tried to push back against this oppression, they have often been threatened with having their business licenses or professional licenses revoked.  This has happened in Illinois....  And it has also happened in Michigan, as well. And these are only two examples of many around the nation.

It's one thing to say that local and state governments are being overly aggressive and negatively impacting the lives of the people they purport to represent (and that would be true, of course).  But in doing so, the next step is to understand the mechanisms by which these governments are enforcing these unconstitutional and dangerous edicts.  If you can understand the mechanisms these governments are working with, then one can begin working to eliminate and destroy those mechanisms, so that governments will not have the power to take such actions in the future.

In the cases of these businesses, the governments are using the power of licensing as a large stick with which to keep businesses "in line".  And this puts those of us on the side of Liberty and Individual Rights in a conundrum...because no matter how absurd, unconstitutional, or illegal any of these demands at the state or local level might be, a business license (or liquor license, if you operate a bar or restaurant) is a necessity in order to operate your business.  You're business simply cannot exist without such licensing.  So you either have to go along with these unconscionable demands, or be put out of business.

But what if there were another way?

We, as Americans, take the idea of licensing for granted.  We don't often give a second thought to the concept of businesses being licensed, or even to we as individuals being licensed or granted permits in order to do basic things like operate a motor vehicle, engage in a particular profession, or make improvements to our property.  But are such efforts by government actually beneficial to us?  Do we really gain more than we lose by allowing various levels of government to license and permit many of our activities?

The common retort to such an idea is that government is needed in order to regulate businesses, industries, and individual behaviors.  "If the government didn't license doctors, then anyone could operate on people!  You don't want that, do you?" is typical of the response I get when raising this idea among mixed company.  But does the licensing of Doctors really protect us from harm?  No--there are many doctors who have been properly licensed, and yet who have engaged in malpractice.  After all, there is nothing "special" about government that gives it's officials any sort of added intelligence, skills of judgement, or wisdom beyond what the general public has available to them.  A government is in no better position to judge whether someone is fit to be a doctor (or a plumber...or a barber...or a driver...or really, anything else) than the general public is.  A government employee has no special skill, knowledge, or background that would make them better suited to make these judgements than any of us have.

Individuals are fully capable of sharing information among each other with regards to which businesses and tradesmen are good at their jobs, and which ones are not.  And human beings will naturally seek out and share this information.  When you consider that we live in an era where "crowdsourcing" information on the internet is practically second nature to us all...we are able to more quickly, effectively, and precisely glean information about who we should (or shouldn't) do business with than a government ever could.  What do you do when you need a plumber, or an auto mechanic, or a handyman?  You likely go onto the internet and find reviews of the various businesses and people in your area who engage in these industries.  And it doesn't take you long to find plenty of reviews from those who do their jobs poorly, and good reviews for those who do their jobs effectively and affordably.  You never engage with government at any point in this process...nor do you need to.  You are fully capable of making these judgements on your own, and your fellow citizens are fully capable (and willing) to share this information among each other.

So if governments really aren't needed in order to prevent us from engaging with unskilled or unscrupulous businesses, then what's the point of licensing and permits?  From where I sit, it seems to boil down to two things--money and control.  With every license that is granted, government collects money (for nothing) from the business or person being licensed.  And down the road, when that government decides they want to micro-manage that business or person--they must either comply, or have that license revoked.

It's a shakedown scam the likes of which the old-school Mafia would have been proud.

We, as citizens, gain very little from government licensing...but we lose much in the way of autonomy and revenue.  If we take away the power of state and local governments to license, then we also take away the primary mechanism they have with which to enforce unconstitutional actions.  At the end of the day, why should we be giving up our autonomy, and getting little of value in return?

I realize that licensing isn't a "move the needle" topic of discussion in the manner that Illegal Immigration, creeping Socialism, or other hot button issues are...but if we want to truly take power away from all levels of government (and what we've seen during the Chinese Virus panic demonstrates that we must focus on this, at all levels of government), then focusing on taking away these mechanisms--mundane though it might seem--is critical.

It's Time For a 28th Amendment

The scare over the Chinese Virus has certainly upended our lives and our economy, to say the least.  And what has been most stunning about these developments is the speed at which governments have been able to restrict our movements, prevent our being able to earn a living as we once did, and compel businesses to shut down or radically change how--and to what extent--they will do business.  For those of us in the "Limited Government" (or even, the "Anti-Government") camp, this is the sort of government micro-management that we have long feared--and the results have been every bit as devastating as we imagined.  An economy ground to a halt, people struggling to find a way to feed their children and keep a roof over their heads, and the very autonomy we treasure being tossed aside for some mythical "greater good of society".

However, for most of us who have spent a lifetime fighting this sort of government overreach and micro-management, the source of this despotism has been a bit surprising.  For decades, we have cautioned against a Federal Government being allowed too much power--as this would undoubtedly lead to the destruction of our individual freedoms.  However, the assaults on our freedom we are seeing at this time are not coming from the Federal level, as many of us assumed they eventually would.  President Trump--in the face of incalculable pressure--has resisted every urge to use this crisis as an excuse to expand government overreach and to give the Federal Government more of a role in our individual lives.  For this, President Trump deserves a tremendous amount of praise...after all, my gut tells me that any other President--of either party--would have taken advantage of this situation to expand government and gain even more control of our lives (Remember the "Patriot Act" of George W. Bush?  Yes, the Democrats are horrible about these sorts of things, but they aren't always alone...)

No, it was "leaders" at the state, local, and, and municipal levels who engaged in these power grabs.  Mainly Democrats, yes, but often joined by RINO Republicans who--in the words of Rahm Emmanuel, couldn't let a crisis go to waste.  The fact that you are--as of this writing--currently cooped up in your home, wondering where your next paycheck is going to come from, or when you will be able to visit a grocery store that resembles something other than a Soviet breadline, is something entirely brought about by the power-hungry, micro-managing politicians in your state, city, and/or municipality.

So while our focus for so many years has been on restricting the power that the Federal Government has over our individual lives, is it possible that we have taken our eye off the ball--at least somewhat--in terms of the power that state, local, and municipal governments have?  Did this perhaps open up the possibility that local governments could radically impact the lives of it's citizens--determining winners and losers, telling you where and when you can move and where and when you can't?  No doubt that our form of government was set up so that the local governments would be the most responsive to us--that was the intention of our Founders.  But in acknowledging that reality, have we--even so--allowed too much power to be given to our local governments?

If there is one lesson to be learned from the Chinese Virus, it is that "Stay at Home" orders, "Lockdowns", "Quarantines", and orders determining what businesses are "essential" and "non-essential" can easily be abused by governments at any level, and can be used to quickly and egregiously take away our freedoms and exert control over our individual lives.  While our Founders intended for local governments to be most responsive to us--to be our "go to" when it came to those very few governmental needs we might encounter--I am convinced they did not intend this.  So the question is, how can we strip these sort of powers away from state, local, and municipal governments?

The best way to effect such change (and also the most seldom used method) would be to add an amendment to the Constitution.  While it is not an easy task to accomplish, such an amendment would be something that could not be changed by a Congress, an Executive Order, or a Court of any kind.  It would have the "teeth" needed to keep something like what we have seen from ever happening again.  I am proposing the idea of a 28th Amendment to the Constitution--the focus of which would be prohibiting any level of government from having the power to enact "Stay at Home" orders, "Qurantines", "Lockdowns", or forcing businesses to alter how they operate or to shut down, even in "Emergency" circumstances.  This period in history has proven to us all that government--at any level--cannot be trusted with this sort of power or ability, that they will always abuse it, and that when they do abuse those powers, the impact--in terms of economics and quality of life--is devastating.

I'm certainly not a Constitutional Lawyer, nor am I someone who has any experience drafting legislation or legal documents of any sort.  Therefore, the text of this proposed amendment that you are about to read is simply a rough, first draft.  No doubt my verbiage and word selection will fall somewhat short and will need to be tightened up--from a legal and Constitutional perspective.  If you have suggestions for how I might adjust the verbiage in order to make the amendment more clear or "air tight"--please feel free to post that feedback, and I'll update the proposed amendment accordingly.

This is what I have worked up--thus far--for the text of this 28th Amendment to the Constitution:

"No Federal, State, Local, or Municipal government shall prevent or attempt to prevent a business from operating in it's normal procedures and capacity.  Exceptions may not be made for times of emergency, natural disaster, insurrection, or Act of God.

No Federal, State, Local, or Municipal government shall prevent or restrict a citizen from his normal mode of free movement or from engaging in his legally obtained vocation, job, or business, under any circumstances.  Exceptions may not be made for times of emergency, natural disaster, insurrection, or Act of God."

Simply put--we must take away the power from government (all forms of government) to take over our lives, restrict our movements and our ability to glean a paycheck, and micro-manage our lives.  This virus (and more importantly, the overreaction to it) has served as a stress test for our society.  it has exposed the weaknesses and areas of improvement with our approach to government that we may not have seen before.  And what has been exposed is how quickly that local and state governments can so quickly embrace a model that strips away or civil liberties and reduces it's citizens to nothing more than pieces on a chessboard...to be moved around as those in power see fit, with no consideration being given to the quality of life that those citizens have.  Simply put, this must never, ever be allowed to happen again...no matter the situation, no matter what challenge our nation faces in the future.  The power we have seen abused over these last few weeks must be permanently stripped away from ALL levels of government.  Individual Rights and Autonomy must never again be sacrificed for "the greater good".

Reflections and Reconsiderations for a New Year

Now that the calendar has changed, and we are one week into the new year of 2020, we find ourselves at a point of reflection. A common action, of course, for most of us when the year changes...a new year is a natural point for each of us to take a "temperature check" of our lives--what's working?  What isn't working?  What would we like to improve?  What would we like to keep?  From our health, to our relationships, to our professional situation, to any number of other aspects of our life...it seems that the turning of a new year provides us a natural point at which to take stock of it all and reflect on where we are, where we're wanting to go, and how best to get there.

As a part of this natural process, I have reflected, over the last couple of weeks or so, on this website.  When I initially put this site together nearly three years ago, I did so by considering and examining one question:  "What should a people or a nation do in the event that one of it's political parties has crossed the line from disagreeable political opponent...and has become, instead, a national security threat?"  The thesis put forth in my initial article on this site--and subsequently reinforced in nearly all of the other pieces I have written here--is that the Democratic Party is a National Security Threat--one which endangers the lives of Americans living in our nation today, and one which intends to destroy the future of our nation, as we currently know it.  As such, this site was put together as a mechanism of re-thinking how to interact with a rogue political party who is endangering our very nation--and even our lives.  But as the new year has come, I am asking myself, "Is that still the case--are the Democrats still a National Security Threat, and do we still need to take extreme measures in order to prevent them from accessing our political process--or have things moved in a different direction?  Is it possible that I over-estimated the danger and threat of the Democratic Party three years ago when I began this endeavor?"

As I began reflecting on these questions, I started by looking at what we are hearing out of the Democratic Presidential candidates during the Presidential debates we have seen over the last year.  In doing so, I noticed some things that went far beyond simple and understandable political disagreement, and moved into that territory of the Democrats being a clear and present danger to America and American Citizens.  We heard many of the candidates speak glowingly of Illegal Aliens--espousing different mechanisms and potential policies that would not only make it easier for these criminals to come into the country, but would also use our hard-earned tax dollars to make their lives more comfortable once they get here...all as these candidates ignored the crime, economic problems, and literal dead bodies that have resulted from the presence of Illegal Aliens.  We also heard Democratic candidates--without fail--praise the continued murder of unborn babies...and even suggest policies that would extend this ghastly "right" to even later in the pregnancy process, insuring even more infants would be murdered before they even had a chance to live.  And we even saw Beto O'Rouke casually and flippantly tell the nation "Hell Yes, We are going to take your AR-15, your AK-47"...removing the means that many fine Americans have to defend themselves from criminals, home invaders, Illegal Aliens, and even ultimately, their Federal Government.

So my process of reflection was already headed down the road of, "I guess I was right, the Democrats really are a dangerous National Security Threat" on the basis of what we heard in the debates alone.  But if those examples had started to confirm the direction I began going in three years ago...the week that just passed, December 28 to January 4--cemented it.

It was during that week that two very important things occurred...and that the reaction to these two news stories from the Democrats was such that any residual shred of respect, compassion, or deference that I had for any of them just went right down the toilet.  First, there was a tragic church shooting in White Settlement, Texas.  And as tragic as the shooting was, the number of deaths was minimized by a churchgoer, carrying his own weapon, shooting and killing the assailant.  As a result, only two people lost their lives--tragic in it's own right, yes...but far less that what would have surely been the case if this armed worshiper hadn't sprung into action.  But instead of being thankful for this loss of life, many Leftists, online and elsewhere, bemoaned the fact that this hero and others in the church were armed in the first place!  Beto O'Rorke tweeted that what they are doing in Texas clearly isn't working, in spite of Texas law providing for this hero to protect his fellow churchgoers.  USA Today--which you might me surprised to learn still exists in this era of dwindling newspaper subscribers--claimed it was "terrifying" that so many people in the church were armed, despite the fact that there would have been massive loss of life if they weren't armed.

But that was just the opening act from the Left.

Later in the week, President Trump launched an operation in which a drone attack killed the top military leader in Iran, a guy who had been personally responsible for the death and injury of countless Americans over the years.  His macabre resume of destruction was one that could hardly be imagined by a civilized person, yet it was all too real.  And yet, on a day in which one would expect Americans to come together and praise the death of one of the most bloodthirsty and dangerous enemies that our nation has ever had the misfortune to come across...there were the Democrats and the Leftists, criticizing the actions of our President in bringing this terrorist to justice.  A Democratic Presidential candidate even said the unthinkable, that "taking out a bad guy isn't necessarily a good idea".

This reflection process that I have been undertaking--and this last week in particular--have only reinforced what I stated three years ago.  When I see the Democrats advocating for Illegal Aliens, trying to take our weapons (and God help the people of Virginia, who are quite literally in the crosshairs of the Democrats on this issue as we speak), and poo pooing the armed defense of innocent people--whether in a church by a private citizen, or on the world stage by a courageous President--it is clear to me that they want this nation, as we currently know it and recognize it, to be brought to an end...and perhaps a grisly end at that.  They are as dangerous as any terrorist organization or any rogue nation we might face down elsewhere on the globe.  The Democrats are literal danger to you, I, and our children.  They must be disassociated from American politics by whatever means possible.

After three years, yes, I am more confident than ever that we must Outlaw the Democrats.  My journey of reflection has become one of reinforcement.

Red Flag Laws: When President Trump is Wrong

There is a caricature that many Leftists and Never Trumpers have about Trump supporters...it is the impression that all Trump supporters blindly follow whatever President Trump says and does, and that they cannot somehow think for themselves.  And because President Trump has been so different from other Presidents over the last 2 1/2 years--because he has been so sensible and straightforward on so many major issues where previous Republican Presidents have been timid--I can see where the impression comes from, even if it is untrue.  We do back him up a lot, quite a bit more than many of us have backed up other Presidents, as a matter of fact.  While this has not been the sycophantic reaction that critics have deemed it to be, it has happened instead because of a symmetry on the most important issues that base Republican voters and Trump supporters have had with the President...a symmetry that most of us have never had with any other President in our lifetimes.  With such symmetry, those who don't understand the typical Trump voter might see the appearance of such consistent agreement and assume it is "blind allegiance"--when instead it is based on a much more deep and meaningful overlap of political and cultural ideals.

That symmetry was severely tested today (and, in some ways, may be broken...perhaps beyond repair) by the President's openness to "Red Flag" gun laws in response to recent mass shootings.  While I can't speak for other Trump supporters, I can say that--from my perspective--this is the first moment at which I've been somewhat ashamed of the President, or that I have truly questioned his commitment to our principals.  There were many reasons that I (and others) supported the President during the campaign.  We knew he was right on Immigration, we knew he was right about the Wall, we knew he was more correct about our economic issues than any President--of either party--that we'd ever seen...and we knew (or were at least led to believe) that he was strong on the 2nd Amendment.  Hints at national conceal carry reciprocity on the campaign trail peaked out interest.  His speeches at the NRA and in front of other 2A audiences seemed to not only check all the right boxes...but seemed to do so with a commitment that few other politicians (and none on the Presidential level, save Ron Paul) had ever demonstrated.

But then we had the Bump Stock Ban.  That was a blow...but to most of us gun owners, bump stocks were an anomaly...something akin to a toy.  Some of us were willing to look the other way, given that few of us had bump stocks, and even fewer of us seemed to have the desire to ever purchase or use one.  "If that's the worst that can happen", we thought to ourselves, "then we're in pretty good shape, given the overall anti-gun environment".

But then today happened...and I have to wonder if the bonds of trust that we who place a great deal of importance on the 2nd Amendment can ever get past the acceptance of the idea of Red Flag gun laws.  Now, to the uninitiated, I understand that such laws can seem like "common sense".  But such laws would be very problematic, for two reasons:

The first issue:  If we have people walking around society who are so deranged that they can't be trusted to own a gun, then are we suddenly going to be safe with them walking around society so long as they can't access a gun? Absolutely not. If they are that far gone, if they are that much of a danger to society...then they need to be institutionalized and separated from normal functioning people instead of trying to find ways for them to continue to be a part of society and endanger us (whether they can get a gun or not).  Allowing nutjobs to walk around our streets and our towns--so long as they do so without access to a gun--does not make them docile...and it certainly doesn't make the rest of us any more safe.

The second issue:  Why on Earth would we trust the government to make the decision of who is mentally competent to have a firearm and who isn't? We've already seen how far they will sink to interfere with a presidential election and how far they will go to try and get a sitting President out of office...why would we think they *wouldn't* abuse this new power within moments of having it granted to them? We could sit here all day and recite situations and incidents throughout our history when our Federal Government abused or misused it's power in order to silence, destroy, or even kill people they decided were their enemies...so why would we think they wouldn't use this new found power for the same means?  Why would they not use this power against us in order to silence--or even dispose of--us?

Now, playing Devil's Advocate for a moment, I know two things about President Trump by observing him:  First, that he is a man of action.  Second, that he is a very compassionate person (perhaps compassionate to a fault, in some cases).  Given that set of personality traits, I could see a situation where he is naturally horrified and taken aback about the death and destruction over this weekend (as we all are)...and given his propensity to take significant and drastic action when he sees a problem that needs to be corrected...I can see him embracing these laws as a significant step towards--he believes--resolving this issue while staying away from things like "assault rifle" bans, magazine limits, etc.

I'd like to think that the President is taking this path--wrong as it may be--because of his compassionate nature, and because he legitimately (if incorrectly) believes that it will make a difference.

But this is the real world, and the old cliche is true--the road to Hell really is paved with good intentions.  Perhaps the President should be reminded of why we have the Second Amendment in the first place.  Many people may have forgotten--or perhaps they were never taught in the first place--that the ratification of our Constitution among the original thirteen states was not a slam dunk.  Indeed, there was much contentiousness when the Constitution was presented to the various states for possible ratification.  There were many issues, questions, and concerns that individual states had with the Constitution, but among the most profound of these concerns was the presence of a centralized government and a standing army.  After what the colonists had been through with England--dealing with a strong centralized government that would use it's standing army in order to abuse it's power--they were understandably leery about setting up another centralized government that could, in effect, end up doing the same thing.  This was a major point of contention during the ratification of the Constitution.

As a result, the Bill of Rights--the first 10 Amendments of the Constitution--were drafted.  These 10 amendments were designed to assuage the concerns of the various states, and without them, the Constitution would not have been ratified.  The Second Amendment, of course, was one of these 10...and it was critical, as it was designed to give the states the assurance that--because the individual people would always have the right to bear the same arms that the standing army had--the centralized government could never use that standing army to run roughshod over the people.  This was a critical compromise, and without it, it's doubtful that the Constitution would have ever been ratified in it's current form, with the centralized Federal Government intact.

Red Flag gun laws would make an absolute mockery of this critical compromise and arrangement.  The point of our Right to bear Arms is to keep the centralized government in check--it wasn't about hunting, target shooting, or even self-defense from criminals (although those are wonderful side benefits).  The states understood that, even in the best of circumstances, the citizens relationship with the central government would always be acrimonious and filled with tension.  That the centralized government could never be fully trusted, and that they had to take measures to keep that government off balance.  They certainly never would have allowed that government to determine whom among them would be allowed to have weapons and who wouldn't--this would defeat the entire purpose of not only the Second Amendment, but of the Revolution as a whole.

Look at it this way--would we ever divulge to Kim Jong Un where every missile, bomb, tank, and aircraft that we have are located?  Absolutely not.  Would we ever allow Kim Jong Un to determine how many missiles, tanks, planes, etc that we had...and to make conditions on what armaments we could build or purchase, and who would be in control of them?  Heavens no!  But Red Flag gun laws would force the American People--who's relationship with their government even in the best of times can be no less distrustful and acrimonious than that with enemies like Kim Jong Un--to allow the very government we are distrustful of, and which we may have to do battle with one day (though we all hope this never comes to pass), to have the final say on who has what weaponry.

The President's words today might come from a place of compassion and love...but that doesn't matter.  What has been suggested by the President today will throw the precarious arrangement between the American People and their government out of balance...and over the long term, it will place us all in danger and potentially under oppression.  It is absolutely unacceptable, and the President is unequivocally wrong.  Worse yet, he has severely damaged the bonds of trust he has with his supporters, and with good Americans across the country.  And I fear these bonds may be difficult to repair.