I have nothing but the deepest sympathy for the victims of every school shooting incident, myself having come of age in the Post-Columbine era, and having endured multiple bomb threats during my high school tenure in which "Bomb Sniffing Janitors" were utilized instead of the local law enforcement agencies as administrators felt it was too expensive to bring in the bomb-squad repeatedly. Charming no? Gives you warm fuzzies on their priorities back in 2002.‘our parents don’t know how to use a f***ing democracy’
However, the following must be said to the emotionally charged masses of all ages who are clamoring for an "Assault Weapons Ban" or "Common Sense Gun Control":
The United States is not and never has been a Democracy, we were founded as and still remain a Republic in order to protect our freedoms; specifically from people in your mindset.
There is a wonderful quote of Alexander Hamilton in Federalist Number 68
“The choice of SEVERAL, to form an intermediate body of electors, will be much less apt to convulse the community with any extraordinary or violent movements, than the choice of ONE who was himself to be the final object of the public wishes. And as the electors, chosen in each State, are to assemble and vote in the State in which they are chosen, this detached and divided situation will expose them much less to heats and ferments, which might be communicated from them to the people, than if they were all to be convened at one time, in one place.”
The gist of this is, while granted: is in reference to the electoral college, is a conceit that the American people are and always have been subject to strong emotional responses and reactions. These emotional motivations must be tempered and allowed to cool, there must be separation between the American people ourselves, as prone to rash, calamitous collective action as all men are, and those who govern. This is why the United States of America IS. NOT. A. DEMOCRACY. #FullStop.
Our founders, such as Benjamin Franklin, who so famously is quoted answering a women as to 'What have you given us?' after the Constitutional convention 'A Republic madam, if you can keep it.' did so quite purposefully. In point of fact even the CIA World Factbook describes our government as a "constitutional federal republic" and not a Democracy. Democracy is direct rule by the people themselves and as Greece experienced in the days of the city states, is a failure as a governmental type. The people are prone to reaction-ism and essentially mob rule, where the needs of the many always outweigh the needs of the few or the one, regardless of personal responsibility or individual rights. Democracy is effectively: collectivism, the majority always rules, even (and historically ESPECIALLY) when the majority is stirred into a frenzied state through fear, hatred, ignorance and bigotry. Conversely a Republic is dependent upon the powers of government being restrained by laws that enshrine and protect the individual from the whims of the majority, in practice, this is why we have a bicameral legislature, why initially the US Senate was a state appointed body, why to this day they are re-elected less frequently, this is why the American people do not elect the Judiciary, and why as I've written for TheBlaze.com in 2016: you do not actually, nor were you ever meant to vote directly for the President.
Simply put, America is a Republic, NOT a Democracy: This was an intentional decision by our founders designed to Protect us from emotional, irrational reactionary movements like #OccupyWallstreet, #BlackLivesMatter, #Antifa and now #MarchForOurLives. Your feelings are valid, your loss is real and yes, we care. But men cannot be governed through emotion, we must fix reason firmly in her seat and govern for the good of all Americans deliberately and with great care, for our individual rights and individual protection, and most of all individual responsibility.
Top Photo By Barry Stock - https://www.flickr.com/photos/bigleaftropicals/25593049497/, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link
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