But, like the frog in the pot of water, many Americans have no idea that things have changed.
Interesting.
I think the answer to "What did you people do to your country?" is really two answers.
First, we let the idea that "everything is relative" expand to such a pervasive degree that you would be utterly unsurprised to hear someone say "what's true for you isn't necessarily true for me." Which shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the nature of truth and indeed logic itself: even a child knows about the axiom which in formal logic is called 'the Law of Non-Contradiction' which states that no statement may be simultaneously true and false. Applied to language, especially legal language, this [relativism] is a disastrous philosophy because then words no longer have a definite dictionary-meaning -- what's true for you isn't necessarily true for me, or anybody else, remember? -- but are instead based solely on their emotive-connotations.
Second, we have let our officials get away with making-up things as they go along. This is partially supported by the second-part of the previous reason: words lacking meaning. It is precisely here that things like "it's for the children's safety" come up as excuses to enforce a statute which is itself illegal.
For Example:
| New Mexico State Constitution Art II, Sec. 6. [Right to bear arms.] |
|---|
| No law shall abridge the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms for security and defense, for lawful hunting and recreational use and for other lawful purposes, but nothing herein shall be held to permit the carrying of concealed weapons. No municipality or county shall regulate, in any way, an incident of the right to keep and bear arms. |
| vs. |
| NMSA 30-7-2.1. Unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon on school premises. |
| A. Unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon on school premises consists of carrying a deadly weapon on school premises except by: (1) a peace officer; (2) school security personnel; (3) a student, instructor or other school-authorized personnel engaged in army, navy, marine corps or air force reserve officer training corps programs or state-authorized hunter safety training instruction; (4) a person conducting or participating in a school-approved program, class or other activity involving the carrying of a deadly weapon; or (5) a person older than nineteen years of age on school premises in a private automobile or other private means of conveyance, for lawful protection of the person's or another's person or property. B. As used in this section, "school premises" means: C. Whoever commits unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon on school premises is guilty of a fourth degree felony. |
Now, my polling-place here happens to be an elementary-school; suppose I took my firearm there -- open-carry, so as to not have to deal with concealed carry issues/technicalities/restrictions -- when I went to vote. Would I be in violation of the law? Why or why not? [The State Constitution specifically says "No law shall abridge the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms for security and defense," and a simple reading of the rest of the sentence yields a list (of further prohibitions against laws) and the qualifier 'lawful' is applied ONLY to those last items.]
Or, another example, and far more illustrative of the "authorities make crap up" argument. City and County Courthouses have posted on their buildings "No Weapons," despite that the State Constitution says "No municipality or county shall regulate, in any way, an incident of the right to keep and bear arms." AND, furthermore, there is NO STATE LAW which restricts weapons from therein! IOW, it's "because we say so" and if you *dare* to defy them, how much do you want to bet they'll sic their uniformed minions [be it city police or county sheriff deputies] on you?