How Despots Are Made

Today.com ran a very short news item about former Marine, Ben Beers, giving up his custom AR-15 because as he put it:

"I've never used them for self-defense and, to me, it's a token of pure evil and destruction."

I make no judgement on his actions one way or the other. The man obviously had finally had his fill of the outrageous number of mass shootings lately that have occurred at a rate of more than one per day in this country. 

What I found interesting was the predictable Gun Lover excuses that without a doubt justify their ownership of weapons of war. 

On Twitter, where I first came upon this news piece, John, a gun worshiping Twitter tweeter, did not try to use the "AR-15 are hunting rifles" excuse. His statement made it clear that in his hands, the AR-15 was a weapon of defense against a government already out of control:

"It's not about hunting its about defending ourselves against the government from overthrowing the people which is starting to happen people. Wake up people! George Washington forwarned us about this."

Which brings me to the point of the post.

Though, both the Right and the Left lay claim to knowing what our forefathers meant when they thought, said or wrote this or that. The truth is we will never know exactly what their honest feelings were in any given situation. So to me, the words they left lying around for us to pick up and interpret are just that, nothing but interpretations based on wishful thinking of the person invoking the words.

Once the American Revolution was over, our forefathers became what they started out as when they congregated in Philadelphia to write the Declaration of Independence. The became politicians again. And if there is one truth about politicians that has always been part of their makeup, it is always take anything they say with a grain of salt. And regarding what they write, well, their written words cannot be counted on as their true feelings when anything they publish has a political taint to it. 

So, when John claimed George Washington "forewarned us about this", I snorted and chuckled. I do not give a shit about what George Washington said or did not say. I worry about what our current George Washingtons, our current Adolf's, and our current Putin's are saying, writing, and most of all I am really interested in what they are doing right now here in the present.

But if John, my gun loving twit from Twitter wants to battle with the words or warnings of our forebears, I leave with this quote from Ben Franklin, one of the sharper arrows in the Revolution quiver:

"I agree to this Constitution ... and I believe, further, that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other."  ( From Here)

Keep it 'tween the ditches ...............................................

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I picked " Knockin On Heaven's Door", the original by Bob Dylan. Hated the movie, love the song.