People keep saying this. I’ve yet to see evidence that backs up this claim.
9 Likes
Well I won’t be quite so sure about that. Better wordsmiths than I have have postulated that it can.
The “well regulated militia” that the wording refers to is not the National Guard, although that might well be the applied meaning these days. Back when it was written, it referred to the need of white slave owners to gather in armed groups and ride through the slave quarters, to ensure the slaves weren’t gathering weapons (illegal) or planning an uprising. Even Patrick Henry supported that concept…so the “give me liberty” thing really just applied to him and the other white guys. In any case, when you know the real reasons behind the amendment it means something quite different than the NRA spouts.
All that aside, Graham happens to be correct: that armed insurrection thing didn’t work out real well.
1 Like
Where in the world did this “Lindsay Graham will run for President” thing come from? That is not a real thing. what possible constituency is there for the guy? I mean, outside of people who seriously follow politics, he has zero name recognition!
Cruz is not a firebrand. That has a positive connotation. He’s a lunatic. Hire some editors to rein in these obviously uninformed reporters.
7 Likes
My vision of Cruz!
http://blogs.thetimes-tribune.com/johncole/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/011214coletoon.jpg
5 Likes
I see a cross between Joe McCarthy and Al Lewis of “The Munsters.”
4 Likes
Cruz seems to be unaware that he is a government official. Who the hell voted for this clown?
I think Graham knows full well he (himself) is not electable (though not out of the realm of possibility). Rather, he’s there as an Establishment shadow agent. Without the need to win he’s unhindered and can say what he wants. He’ll raise money from those that want to expose the Cruz’s and Carsons as unelectable; creating room for Bush and Rubio to be slightly less crazy. Smart. He wins and his party wins. The problem here is that the strategy’s predicated on conservatives being “rational actors”. They aren’t. At the very least …it’ill be entertaining.
1 Like
“Well, we tried that once in South Carolina. I wouldn’t go down that
road again,” Graham said, in an apparent reference to the Civil War. “I
think an informed electorate is probably a better check than, you know,
guns in the streets.”
My God…I am in agreement with something Graham has said about Cruz…most unsettling, I can tell you.
I’m gonna hafta take a moment and pour myself two fingers of bourbon…
This comment by Graham was meant as an admonition directed at Cruz and I’ll bet serious money Cruz didn’t understand what Graham meant. In the south put downs are genteel. They say something like “Bless his heart, ain’t he jes somethin’ to behold?” And it’s delivered with a slightly exaggerated accent. Meaning shut up ya stupid frigging idjet!
Just look at the image with the article (assuming it was made when Graham made the comment). Cruz is not well liked among his fellow senators.
3 Likes
I wonder what Cruz is up to.
He knows that this sort of hot rhetoric appeals to a fairly narrow base, and a very regional base. He is not acting like someone seriously running for president. There’s something else going on.
Could it be that he is simply feeding his appetite for attention? He seems to thrive on even negative attention. Maybe he can feed his addiction and be sure that he won’t get elected president?
4 Likes
Cruz doesn’t want a convention - he wants a putsch.
2 Likes
Cruz was jus trying to give all of the teabaggers a little chub in their pants.
1 Like
The voters in his state of Texas are to blame.
4 Likes
I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that the only thing that can possibly force the right to see reason on the issue of gun control is for people on the left to start hoarding them by the dozen, along with vast amounts of ammo, and talk constantly about using them to overthrow the government, liquidate the ruling class and bring forth the glorious socialist worker’s paradise. I mean, it sure seems like people on the right were a lot more reasonable about this stuff back in the 1960s.
I mean, it wold be expensive, but we could secretly melt 'em down into scrap or something while we’re boasting. As long as no one blabs, that is.
10 Likes
See the Mulford Act:
11 Likes
Cruz is very skilled, even savant at one thing only. Debating. And not much else. His demonstrated ability at tactics and the subtleties of strategy completely escape his interest. He thought shutting the government would be an effective way to get what he wanted and it blew up in his face and cost whatever standing he had within the power structure of the GOP. Yet he still struts as though he has their backing. He’s a shell without substance.
7 Likes
It also talks about bearing arms, not owning them. Which is an important consideration when you consider a big motivation for the amendment was the colonial-era practice of Royal Governors like Spottswoodie of Virginia barring access to the colony’s magazine of militia arms.
The truth is, no one in the 1770s or 80s would have thought twice about gun ownership, given the relative youth of settlement in most of the country, it was natural for (white) ciitzens to have a gun in the house - usually a rifle or shotgun.
But there’s nothing in the 2nd Amendment, outside of the NRA’s and the right wing court’s reading, that guarantees the right to carry a gun anywhere and at all times - and even in Heller, the majority did say there can be limits on the types of weapons allowed for private ownership, whicvh is quite a statement in a ruling striking down just such a restriction - e.g. no handgun ownership in the District.
4 Likes
I’m always amused by the notion that the Constitution that creates the United States government includes the 2nd Amendment right to overthrow by force the United States government that the Constitution creates.
It has all of these complicated rules about which has what rights and power but the one amendment means forgot all that - all power goes to those that manage to own weapons.
4 Likes
No, he’s pushing the crazies to expose themselves and leave room for the not-so-crazies. He’ll raise a ton of money that way from the Establishment. He doesn’t need to win the primary. He’ll win anyway,
1 Like