[Durus]

"You know that Gadsden flag, the ‘Don't Tread on Me Flag' with a rattlesnake is so important," Matthews said. "They believe, a lot of people in the right - that the federal government has replaced the British as the occupying force in North America and they have to be ready to fight it. It's serious business."

It's a bit of a meandering thought as is typical of Matthews, but, in a rare lucid moment he actually stumbles over a truth. The Gadsden flag is important as it was a symbol of defiance in the face of tyranny. Our Founding Fathers created the constitution to prevent tyranny or failing that it provided protection to the rights we would need to fight tyranny. While I wouldn't say that the majority of conservatives feel that the Federal Government is equally tyrannous as was British rule, we always have to be ready to fight tyranny and we always need to be watchful for incremental encroachment. The lustful desire for power in certain people never sleeps, and there is always another to take their place if they fail. People that wish for freedom and justice must be equally implacable. Chris Matthews need not question our resolve. It's that resolve he must demonize it as it stands in the way of his socialist utopia where he and his ilk will bear all of the ill gotten power they so desperately crave.

[lentulusgracchus]

While I wouldn't say that the majority of conservatives feel that the Federal Government is equally tyrannous as was British rule, we always have to be ready to fight tyranny ....The lustful desire for power in certain people never sleeps, and there is always another to take their place if they fail.

Some Constitutional Originalists of an Antifederalist (Jeffersonian) inclination say they think Hamilton intended the Constitution to be a hobbyhorse for just such power-seekers, who would use the General Welfare clause to build a centralized, imperial government on the ruins of Liberty. It's always been said about Hamilton that he was not-so-secretly for "monarchism without the king".