You know, I recently wrote several articles arguing strong anti-gun points, but after doing A LOT of research, I am beginning to think that I am wrong about some of my views. First off, I was against the AR and 30 magazine guns because of the fact that I felt that people didn't need them to defend against a tyrannical government. I will flat out say that I was ignorant to the facts. I recently looked over the Patriot act, some of the economic crises that have recently occurred, some of the politics going on overseas, the wars that have recently occurred, and most importantly, how it lines of with events in the past. Looking throughout history it is very clear to see that MANY of the signs of a potential totalitarian state are right in front of us but we choose to live in ignorance (this included myself). For those of you that think I am crazy (as I would have thought of anybody saying these things to me just a few months ago), please prove me wrong. My evidence of the rise of a tyrannical government is pretty straightforward. First off, looking at the economy and things like quantitative easing, the federal reserve, and the power of lobbying in Washington, it is very clear that the dollar will eventually collapse. It has happened to EVERY fiat currency in history and the American dollar is no exception, it is just a matter of time. It happened to Germany in the early 1900s, and it led to the rise of Hitler and the death of hundreds of thousands. The Patriot Act is a perfect example of government overstepping their bounds. If you actually look at what the act says, it basically says that if you are suspected as a terrorists, you lose all your rights and can be taken away (that is the jist of it, again, if I am wrong, please let me know). Well the key words are "suspected" cause anybody could be suspected of terrorism for any reason. If I just have a gut feeling that you are doing something wrong, it doesn't give me the right to search your house and seize your property. But if the government even has the slightest suspicion that you are doing somethings "terrorist like" then they can do that and much more. It was shown in an audit of the FBI that there were over 1,000 documented misuses of NSL (national security letters which are basically allows the government to access ALL information on an individual without the individual knowing about it or any kind of judicial review) since 2002, and that is just documented, who knows what wasn't documented. If somebody could, I would like to know just how effective the patriot act was. We haven't had any terrorist attacks SINCE 9/11, so it must be working pretty good, right? Then again, before 9/11 there wasn't too many terrorist attacks. So just how many terrorist attacks has this act stopped? How many legitimate terrorists have been caught? I feel like if there were some terrorist attack that was foiled, we have a right to know about it (and celebrate for that matter). I don't believe in conspiracy theories, although they do intrigue me, and I really have faith that the government has the interests of the people in mind, FOR NOW (the problem is that while the government want to help the people, they don't look at the big picture, and they don't see that helping one person may be hurting another two people). The problem is, what if the next generation of politicians isn't so nice? What if the next generation of politicians thinks that we can't think for ourselves with ANYTHING? After all, they already don't trust us with drugs, gambling, prostitution (although porn is ok for now...if somebody could explain how that works I would LOVE to hear it), healthcare and now guns. Anyways, sorry for the digression, but it was a point I had to make to refute the point that I made in another thread (Why assault rifles and 30 round magazines should be banned), because while some people made these points, I was as stubborn as a politician and didn't listen. Even though i am all about nonviolence, I don't believe in being stupid, and if a government is going to rise, shouldn't we be there to protect ourselves? I have read the 2nd amendment about 100 times and then I began doing a little bit of research on organized militia (since that was the actual intent of the 2nd amendment). I found a few run of the mill online militia, but nothing seemed very well organized or put in place. I was wondering if anybody else is concerned about this? Why doesn't a single state have a well organized militia? Also, would conservatives be opposed to an ordered militia with a registry of AR's ONLY known by the state and absolutely off limits to the federal government (I believe the second amendment COULD protect against this)? What about a state banning ARs? Then, if you didn't like the law, you could leave the state (basic capitalist economics...people have choices). What do conservatives think about individual states banning certain guns? I am asking these things because, while I love arguing for information, I love solving problems even more. The problem that I see is that people are so busy trying to argue their point that they forget about trying to solve the problem. This happens so often in politics, and then rather than reaching an agreement with slight concessions from both sides, it becomes a war of the Democrats vs. the Republicans in the house and senate, and the problem either doesn't get solved, or the solution is just a terrible solution. Some of these facts that I mentioned may be wrong, and I encourage you to prove me wrong or to challenge anything and everything that I say (if I can't stand up for what I believe in then I really don't think I have a right to believe in it). Growing up, I only heard the story from the story from the left side (my sister is a STRONG democrat...she actually works directly under Obama and is planning on running for office). Anyways, I want to hear the whole story, so please tell me what you think of my proposed solution. Is it stupid? Is it a good idea? How could we tweak it to make it better or more reasonable? I am asking because someday I plan on getting into politics (I would run as a libertarian), and I want to know what the people propose as a solution, since it was originally the people that created this country anyways.
You are on your way to realizing the potential for becoming a real Citizen....don't let your feet stop moving...cudos
Welcome to living in the real world. I don't care if you believe one thing or another as long as you look at it with a rational mind, make decisions based on facts instead of emotions, and be prepared to defend and explain your position. I believe you are at the tipping point of not believing what is being spoon fed to you via the media and social networking and you are now trying to figure things out for yourself. Believe in something, but at least have a rational, unbiased approach to it and admit when you are wrong. Congratulations on growing up and being a free thinking, self realizing individual instead of being part of the herd. ETA: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/NEWS/A_U.S. news/US-news-PDFs/BrennanHolderResponse.pdf
Congrats to you, I echo the same sentiments as the gentlemen above, and share the same experience with you over the last six months. I was a dem my whole life(as is my whole family) but I didn't really know anything about politics or the issues. As soon as I started REALLY looking for the truth and trying to figure out who was right and wrong without bringing what I was taught by family who didn't really know. I was very surprised that most the stuff I was told about republicans was wrong. I could go off right here about all the lies I was told about the right but I'll spare you, just question everything and everyone, and look into things yourself from sources on all sides. I really feel that most dems are repubs or libs in hiding, their just not educated enough to know it yet. This video right here is awesome, even talks about the patriot act.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ2kTyx2mSY
The only thing that makes me EXTREMELY angry about that video is that it only has 415 views. I look at videos like that, and other videos of very intelligent people, and I wonder why America actually enjoys living in ignorance. Videos like Jenna Marbles and KevJumba (both of whom I do enjoy), have millions of hits on their videos, and yet a video aimed at educating people with facts only has 415 views. I have also noticed this is the case with a large number of the great educational lectures and videos that I watch. This is why it is my goal to educate people (I want to be a teacher someday, but I hate teachers unions, and that is one area of government I am determined to destroy), but I can't do it alone. That is why I am currently in the process of designing a website called libertytheory.com (it looks lame right now, as I just started it yesterday), and I am hoping that both democrats, republicans, libertarians, socialists, communists and every other political group that you can think of will read, debate, research, and understand the problems that our country is facing, because they are some very huge problems. One of the problems that I want to tackle, both with this website and with my posts on this forum, is to really debate people and encourage people to have an open mind. I think the problem with the majority of people is that they only listen, watch, read and study their side of the argument, and when they are debating with a person, rather than fact checking the other person and really thinking about what their opponent is saying, they automatically assume that the other person is wrong. This is something that America needs to stop doing, otherwise our political system and our anger at eachother and opposing political views are going to run us straight into the ground. Also, I would encourage libertarians and all political parties to stop demonizing and attacking the opposing side because this NEVER helps. Instead of attacking the other side, I have found it much more convincing and effective to just explain your side rather than calling the other side "stupid" (I've also learned that this isn't good because sometimes you end up on the other side, as I have, and you realize that you basically called yourself stupid for years). When I talk to people, I do inform them that I am a libertarian, but when I debate them, rather than trying to convince them, I just want them to really think deeply about what I am saying and possibly get interested and go to research some of the points that I make to make sure that I am rock solid on my argument. I think that if politicians did this more often, we could easily be the greatest and most powerful country in the world. My hope is that libertarians will be able to lead this transition to a more logical and harmonious political system rather than contribute to the already corrupt and evil political system.
