Short Attention Spans

I remember when Ronald Reagan said, "I used to be a Democrat, but the Democratic Party left me", and now I wonder how long before conservatives are tempted to say, "I used to be an American, but ..."  It certainly seems as though the inmates are running the asylum, these last few years.

Remember when the will of the people was enough to cause Congress to reverse course on unpopular issues? I miss those days.

I recall instructions in boot camp about how sailors were not obligated to follow an unlawful command. What no one specified, however, was the procedure to follow if we decided that an order or command was indeed unlawful. To whom were we supposed to turn?

I suspect that the average sailor was too used to following orders, after awhile, to give it much thought. That in itself frightens me now, as we contemplate the possibility of a nation-wide repetition of the 'Great Louisiana Gun Grab.' As various members of Congress debate how many bodies they'd be comfortable with, before a lunatic runs out of ammo in his/her first magazine, the State Department proceeds with the U.N.'s treaty to disarm American citizens.

Molon labe, y'all.

Will our military remember that such a thing is unconstitutional, and must not be obeyed? Or will they do as the National Guardsman in Louisiana who said sheepishly, "It made me feel a little weird," but did it anyway?


What I expect would happen, though, is the incremental approach as they begin to disarm individuals and small groups, in isolated areas. Despite the popularity of T-shirts which read, "The Founders would be shooting by now", it's pretty obvious that there won't be any widespread uprising. That leaves individual resistance, unless the level of unconstitutional tyranny gets ratcheted up sharply. Given the progressives' approach, I suspect they'll continue to move just slowly enough to allow the heat to die down before the cross the next "line in the sand".

And while we hear stories about this group or that being raided, the majority will sit back, forgetting the urgency because of their shortened TV/internet attention-deficit. They won't take it seriously until a squad of black-clad soldiers/police (and what's the effective difference, these days?) show up at their front door & turn the house upside down, looking for now-prohibited arms and ammunition.

And then, of course, it will be too late to do anything except stand around, bleating ineffectually.

Don't look to the courts for any help.

As Jenny accurately notes in comments, below, it will fall to the several States to effectively nullify any federal actions in this regard. Remember what Benjamin Franklin said about hanging together?

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In local news, we watch gaggles of politicians debating the sudden need for fiscal conservatism due to budget shortfalls. It would be amusing, if it weren't so serious, how it seems to be an unfamiliar concept to them. They're more interested in pointing fingers at one another, debating whether it's the previous Mayor, or the current one at fault, all the while talking about which programs need more money. Then they debate - endlessly, it seems - about how many bond issues to place on the next ballot.

It never seems to occur to more than one or two of them that perhaps the issue isn't how many, but whether to place any at all.

I don't want to get depressed, so I'll move on to other things today. The weather is warm (24 degrees), and we only received about an inch of wet snow yesterday. There are probably slick spots, but the temps are falling slowly - good! - and there's more snow in the weekend forecast. We can use it - the total is below normal, and the Rondy & Iditarod sled dog races are only a month away.

Have a good one, folks.