“When the government goes after your gun the only way to fight back is to support a candidate, vote, and go to court. Any more violent route makes you a liberal, not a conservative.”
Hmmmm...
Guess that means that the patriots at Concord and Lexington were all liberals?
“Guess that means that the patriots at Concord and Lexington were all liberals?”
Technically correct. The original definition of liberal was somebody who believed that people should rule themselves; not be ruled by kings. The definition has been corrupted by liberals as they have corrupted the language everywhere, creating new definitions and new uses. Gay meant fun whereas homosexual sounded like a disease. Hence they substituted one for the other. The liberals of Concord and Lexington where what we today would call conservatives.
Conservatives believe in and support the rule of law. The rule of law was intended to remove justice from the caprices of one man and make it a clearly written down set of codes that protected (and punished) all equally. Modern day liberalism (socialism) is the opposite of older liberalism. It is the rule of an easily transmutable theology. Rule by theology is whatever the most powerful local imam with an army of thugs says it is. I would stay out of California and Saudi Arabia for the same reason.
This leaves us with the problem of what to do when the local theologian tramples your rights. The English king was not elected. The patriots at Concord and Lexington had no choice but violence. Today’s leaders are elected. We have all agreed to a social compact where we live within a larger system that serves (we hope) the public’s need. We do have the ability to change that system with the tools and levers available. If we resort to violence instead, how are we any better than the socialists?
The primary goal of a revolution is to capture the good graces of the public at large. If conservatives run around blowing people up how will you capture that which will allow you to eventually win? Educating the low information voter should be the goal. I think the last three Republican presidential candidates, for example, did little to differentiate themselves from the opposition. Given the views of those candidates, I’m not sure there was a difference. Harry Truman said, “I may not win running as a Democrat, but I surely won’t win running as a Republican.” I think that Dole, McCain and Romney ran as Socialist Lite. The conservatives stayed away to “punish” the Republican party. Perhaps the answer is not revolution, but a revised Republican party.
In any case, I’ve read plenty about revolutions and social unrest. Millions of people in otherwise rich areas starve to death or die of easily treated diseases. Once you start an insurrection it gains a life of its own. You can control the first shot, but not all suffering that comes next.
I’ve been working for candidates since 2008. I wish I’d started sooner.