Of Government and Being Conservative

Then God said "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness...." Genesis 1:26.


Shortly thereafter, mankind bit into the apple, and the rest is history. From that moment, mankind needed rules and regulations to keep him from killing everyone else. Such rules were initially provided by the strongest man in the tribe, under the unquestioned assumption that might makes right. The weaker, or less ruthless men were forced, at the point of the spear, to do whatever the Strongman desired. The point of the spear might well mean death, so folks tended to tow the line. The Strongman, of course, had the best of the women, the best of the cattle, indeed, the best that the tribe could offer. Everyone else had what was left.


It seems it wasn't long before the Strongman (now called the Chief ) looked around and realized that conquering another tribe might have advantages for himself. So, he set out to conquer all the other tribes' Chiefs around him, which he did, at the expense of his people. Of course, in the self aggrandizing ways of all men, he had to have a new title to distinguish himself from the lesser beings around him. Chief of chiefs wouldn't do. After much thought, he thought of King. How grand! The new title let him pretend that somehow he was more than just the strongest and most ruthless Strongman. Eventually, it occurred to him to strong arm the priests into declaring that their gods had decreed a divine right for him to rule his "subjects," rather like the mafia today will take over a business by offering to "protect" them from...well...themselves. It probably also occurred to him to write down his idea of laws as a legacy to "his" people. And I am sure the people were "pleased" to receive these laws.


Now, ruling a State does require cash. The enforcers..er...soldiers have to be paid. They needed weapons and gear, food, water, time to train, etc. Unfortunately, our "King" had no source of cash, but hey, since everyone else was living under his "protection" why not institute a system of payments off the top of every transaction. Yeah, that's the ticket, a tax! And while he was at it, some extra would be needed to hold grand parties, and a place to hold them, and a staff to serve them, and...well...the usual retinue of a Court. We couldn't have our King look less regal than the next King over, or the other thugs might get some ideas about taking over our Kingdom.


This went on for centuries. Kings came and went, as did kingdoms. Dynasties grew under strong Kings, then eventually died out as the decedents of the strong King became soft and indolent. History seems to revolve around the Great Men, and nobody seems to have given any thought to their "subjects." But there was thinking going on. Christ had preached that each man would be judged individually for his actions, and his inaction; for what he said, and for what he thought. He would be judged not as a member of a group, but for himself alone. This raises a dilemma. How could a subject, who was not free, indeed in many cases was a peasant who could not even decide to go elsewhere, be subject to the laws of God? The Apostle Paul answered to some extent in
his letters, and these are deemed authoritative as far as they go. But layers of thought and philosophy built up under the church, eventually culminating in the direct philosophical forbears of the Founding Fathers such as John Locke. Man is a free creature, a moral actor, who must have certain natural rights guaranteed to carry out his mission as a moral actor. Otherwise, if a man is not free, how can he be judged?


The gun, strangely enough, is what put teeth behind these philosophical ideas. Open hand techniques, like Karate, require many years of training to master. Interestingly, to be most effective, the attacker has to play along, offering up attacks which the style is designed to counter. I remember my sensei demurring when asked which style was most effective, pointing out the the true master never had to throw a punch in the first place. The sword also requires many years of training to master. Both techniques require a great deal of strength as well, leaving women, the old, or infirm unable to participate, and thus to be at the mercy of the strong, the young, and the ruthless, which tells us why the strong man was the dominant figure for so long. Initially, the invention of firearms tended to strengthen the Strong Man against his enemies. But as time wore on, firearms became more sophisticated, powerful, and easier to use. By 1776, it had become possible to target and kill a specific officer at a distance. The individual at last had a weapon at his disposal which equalized the disparity in training and strength among men. Technological innovations such as the cartridge, and smokeless powder have only made guns more powerful and easier to use.

Which brings us to gun control. There are two types of people who profess a belief in gun control, the pacifist and the tyrant wannabes. As to the first, I am sure there are some out there who truly abhor guns. I feel for these people because what the truly abhor is not guns, but what the gun can do in the wrong hands. These people do not feel they can judge the men who murder, rape and rob as bad or evil, so they blame the instrumentality instead. What they fail to see is that the victims of crime, with whom they are empathic, would be just as dead had they been killed by the sword, or spear, or bow and arrow, or a nail gun for that matter. It is not guns that are the problem, but evil men and women who use guns in that manner.

Then there are the tyrant wannabes. They do not believe that the individual is a moral actor, do not believe in natural rights granted by God, and do not trust the common man with the potential power to take a life. These are the people who say that only the police and military should have guns. Notice that if they had their way, government would have a monopoly of power. But governments, as we have seen, are just thugs all dressed up in a show of pomp and circumstance to appear bigger than they are. They all have fancy titles, like President, or Congressman. They call each other "The Honorable" or the "Gentleman from the Great State of", but strip all that away, and government boils down to "do as I say, or you will face the consequences, up to being killed." Of course, the tyrant wannabes believe they will be in the catbird seat, able to dictate to the rest of us, the unwashed masses. What they do not want to face up to is that government is jealous of power, does not want to share, and too late they will find that they have been used as just tools of the thug.

Which brings us to why I started this blog, and continue to publish it even though it often takes several hours a day. As a Conservative, I believe that each individual is a free, and moral actor. If that is true, then the role of government must be limited to certain enumerated duties, and that we must jealously guard against any expansion of those duties beyond the bounds set forth in the Constitution. I believe that if government truly derives its just powers from the governed, then government can not exercise any power that I myself do not have. For these reasons, I also jealously guard my guns, and choose to exercise my right to keep and bear them. As a grandfather, I do not want my grandchildren to curse me because they no longer have their natural rights honored by their government.

Finally, lest you believe I am anti government, nothing could be further from the truth. We do need government to perform certain duties it would be impractical to perform for ourselves. These include providing for the national defense, treating with foreign nations and among the several States, providing a national currency, upholding contracts and a few others. The enumerated powers of government were all set out in the Constitution, and if government would stick to doing those things, this blog would not be needed.