They are really going to have to do a better job than this. This is so bad as to be downright insulting, and I’m from north of the Mason-Dixon line.
Category: Politics
Empowering Citizens
It’s a slow sort of day, so I thought I’d dredge up a Belmont Club post from a month or so ago that I’ve been meaning to blog about:
By slow degrees the poisonous idea that government should be left to do things for the public has taken unconscious hold even of minds that would be consciously opposed to the notion. To be sure, government has a unique role to play in setting foreign policy, in exercising police powers and in national defense. But in the War on Terror where the boundaries between private and organizational movements; politics and religion and even between state frontiers is blurred, the idea of leaving everything to the government is probably a prescription for defeat. It is often forgotten that one of of government’s legitimate roles is to mobilize the public. To channel private effort. To recall that the nation consists, not of the “masses” but of individuals yearning to breathe free — and help.
I’m quoting this because I think most of us can identify with this idea; of an engaged citizenry taking responsibility for their communities and nation. Government should engage us, rather than telling us to sit back, relax, and let the professionals handle everything as not to interrupt our happy grazing.
We are all part of what one could call a movement of amateurs; people who want to be engaged, and want to participate in some way in our nation’s civic life, and are looking for outlets to do so. Some of us choose blogging, others choose things like The Minuteman Project. To me it’s all part of the same phenomena; amateurs, ordinary citizens, who want to participate, rather than just sit back and “let the professionals handle this.”
Over the course of twentieth century industrialization, we got used to the idea of a more centrally organized society, and our politics and culture adapted to reflect that. I view that our political culture is still very much mired in the twentieth century way of thinking. The twenty-first century will likely see a movement away from centralized organizations to networked organizations, with people networking together to accomplish goals, either personal, economic, technological or political.
We have a lot of example of this happening already with blogs, and various other types of network organizations forming spontaneously around certain issues. It’s ironic that it was terrorists who were also early adopters of this style of organization. I agree with Wretchard that our politicians haven’t yet really come to understand the need to tap into this networked citizenry. The political system moves more slowly than society at large, and I think it’ll be a few decades before it catches up. But it won’t stop the rest of us from plowing ahead anyway.
Where this has relevance for us as gun owners is that, as most of us already realize, we’re part of our nation’s security system, and now, with the Internet, we’re networked. The left may mock us for our preparedness, for carrying firearms in public, and unwaveringly standing up for our right to do so, but when the shit hits the fan, and no one else is around when something goes down, it’ll be up to us. We’re part of this movement of amateurs, who are not content to just sit back and “let the professionals handle this”, and for that we should be proud.
But if there’s one thing that politicians and bureaucrats hate, it’s an empowered and networked citizenry, because it makes their power less important, and less needed. So we will have a political battles ahead of us. One thing I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older, it’s that people have an overwhelming ego need to feel important, and a big part of the political fight in bringing about a networked, rather than centralized citizenry, and all that implies, is helping people get over their specialness issues. But we as bloggers, and gun owners, are already taking the first steps. It’s my sincere hope that society and government will soon follow. I certainly hope so, because those that wish to destroy us certainly aren’t waiting.
More Crap From Across the Delaware
Jeff Soyer has the digs on New Jersey’s plan to ban 50 caliber rifles. Sadly, this will likely pass; there’s just not enough people left in the Garden State that are willing to fight this stuff. Two hundred people showed up to fight Maryland’s Assault Weapons Ban. I’d be hard pressed to believe we can’t find 200 dedicated gun enthusiasts in New Jersey? Come on folks, show these people who they work for!
Backers of the measure insisted the bill was about public safety rather than gun control. The .50-caliber weapons could fire bullets through a police officer’s protective vest, or could give a terrorist the ability to shoot down an aircraft or touch off a devasting fire at a chemical plant, in an oil tanker or in other settings, Miller said.
Bryan Miller, you are a fucking weasel! Any centerfire rifle cartridge can penetrate police body armor or punch holes through airplanes. Do you want to ban deer rifles too? You say you don’t, but the same thing could be said for any of them. It’s also known that rail car companies test their cars against various small arms, including the fifty. They are impervious to small arms fire.
Another One Gone – Mayor Wolf
Mary B. Wolf, Mayor of Williamsport, PA (North/Central PA) has resigned from Mayor Bloomberg’s coalition of gun haters. I guess folks in Williamsport have some good sense, which is a lot more than I can say for John Street and the other Philadelphia politicians:
I have learned that the Coalition may be working on issues that conflict with legal gun ownership and that some action on your behalf are dubious. I have also learned that other mayors from cities large and small across the country have withdrawn their names as supporters of the Coalition. This letter informs you that I too, am withdrawing from the Mayors Coalition Against Illegal Guns.
Thanks Mayor Wolf, for choosing to no longer associate with this group. You do your city and our state a good service.
Further Thoughts on “Zumboing”
I started a comment in the last thread and decided it would probably be a more effective post. Sailorcurt mentioned in a comment:
I disagree with the big picture conclusion however: the implication that we can’t be more effective if we mobilize on Washington Politics like we did on Zumbo.
I wouldn’t really assert that conclusion. I think Zumboing does make us more effective, but it’s just another tool, and we’re not at the point yet where we can expect that tool to have as much of an impact on Congress as it did on the industry as a whole, for the reasons I pointed out. I will never discourage people from writing their Congress Critters on the gun issue, and I think it’s a good idea to do that often. But the points I was trying to make, sorry if they weren’t clear, were:
- We have to continue bringing more people into the RKBA community.
- We have to continue traditional forms of political lobbying, and that is going to still represent most of our political muscle in Congress.
- We can’t count on Zumboing tactics to have the same effect on Congress they had on the industry.
But the more I’m thinking about it, the less I think we can talk about Zumboing as if it’s something we have under our control. The community saw an issue and, collectively, decided to go after it. It’s not like we had a leader sitting in an ivory tower, announcing “Smithers, release the hounds!”. I’m not sure that would even be desirable. When the next big thing comes down the pike, we’ll know, and will spontaneously organize.
I’m not saying it’s a bad thing at all, or that we shouldn’t do it. Just that we shouldn’t expect too much of it, and figure that other forms of activism (I hate that word) we’ve traditionally used are now less important, because this form will be effective.
Zumboing Politics
I want to talk about another meme moving around in the gun blogosphere that goes something like this: “Wow, look at what we managed to do to Jim Zumbo! If we only applied that kind of pressure to Congress, we’d be buying MP5s from Wal-Mart in no time!”. Oh, how I wish that were true. But it’s not.
What we have done with the Zumbo thing is demonstrate that shooters, particular we evil black rifle shooters, are now a force to be reckoned with within the shooting community. When we talk, the industry listens. This makes sense for them, because we constitute one of the growth markets for the industry. We’re buying more rifles, we’re buying more ammunition, and we’re active politically. They can’t afford to piss us off, so it’s no surprise they dumped Zumbo like a hot potato when we started to squeeze them.
That doesn’t translate into political power outside of the community. Jim Zumbo was one man, and the number of players in this industry are few, and they depend on us. Once you’re talking Congress, you’re talking 435 memebers of The House and 100 members in The Senate. Now you’ve gone from a handful of people you have to infleunce, to 535 people. And those 535 people have hundreds of other interests they listen to, and can count on for votes and money. In short, we can rule our little estuary, but that’s not to say we’re the big fish once we swim into the sea.
The new voice we’ve found as a community with the whole Jim Zumbo thing is great, and useful. It will come in handy the next time we have a big political fight on our hands. But we still need to reach out to more people who might not be as involved or as informed as we are about these issues, and will still have to play the dirty game of politics as we have been. What I don’t want to see happen is people thinking, because we managed to destroy Jim Zumbo’s career, that we can just make demands on politicians and get our way; we can’t.
We’re still just another interest group, a powerful one, no doubt, but there’s still a lot of work to do. Zumboing will be another political tool in our arsenal, but we will have to be careful about how we use that tool. Using it in the wrong place or the wrong time could wear it out, and ruin it’s political effectiveness. So my advise to everyone out there is that we continue to work hard to bring more people into the issue, and not get too cocky with our new found power.
PoliticsNY on McCarthy
Check out what PoliticsNY has to say about their Congressional Delegation. Particularly Carolyn McCarthy:
| Nita Lowey (D-Harrison) | Very Good | Very Good |
| Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan) | Poor | Below Average |
| Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola) | Poor | Poor |
| John McHugh (R-Pierrepont Manor) | Below Average | Below Average |
| Michael McNulty (D-Green Island) | Below Average | Below Average |
Those are rating for 2002 and 2003 respectively. You have to scroll all the way down to the “poor” section to read the comment:
Carolyn, it’s a year later and we’re still waiting for you to tell us about your second highest priority. McCarthy, a registered nurse whose life was changed forever when a lunatic on the Long Island Rail Road killed her husband and severely injured her son, got herself elected to Congress on the strength of the gun control issue – and the odd behavior of the Republican incumbent. Now seven years have passed, and McCarthy’s gun control agenda is no closer to passage than on the day she arrived in Washington. It’s time to get a new issue – or get out of Congress.
I couldn’t agree more! Four years after this comment, she’s, thankfully, still no farther along.
“People are often stupid”…
… and “Bureaucrats are the same stupid people, with bad incentives.”
So says Megan, referencing an earlier post:
Which brings up one of my perennial peeves about people advocating national health insurance or any other big programme: they point out all the ways in which public choice problems make the current system suck, and then proceed to outline their future plans as if those problems will somehow magically fall away in their system. Companies won’t lobby. Voters won’t demand that every stupid alternative procedure they can complain about be covered, much less react to the lack of a price signal by using more of everything. People employed in that sector won’t band together to keep wages high and productivity as low as possible. Bureaucrats won’t shift priorities to minimizing their own political risk, rather than maximizing the level of service provided to the public.
Both her first and second observations I think are quite good. I’d also recommend reading the original Tyler Cowen post linked to if you follow the last link to the quoted post.
I don’t talk much about health care because it’s one of those subjects where I don’t trust anyone who tells me they have a good solution to the problem. The more I understand about the problem, the less I think I understand it, and the less I think anyone else understands it either.  This is, of course, going to naturally make me skeptical about government solutions to the problem.
They Can Have My Lightbulbs…
… when they pry them from my cold, dead hands:
[Australian] Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull this morning announced standard incandescent light bulbs would be phased out within three years in a bid to reduce energy consumption.
“We are introducing new energy efficiency standards and these old lights simply won’t comply, they will be phased out and basically over a period of time they will no longer be for sale,” Mr Turnbull said.
What about sockets that won’t take compact flourescence? I like my halogen spotlights, thank you. What about the fact that those flourescent bulbs make me feel like I’ve been institutionalized? Not that it’s really a concern for those in power, because all that matters is that we’re unable to make choices for ourselves, at least not the “right” choices.
I really hope we can move to Mars eventually, because honestly, it’s just not going to stop until government runs every aspect of our lives. Oh sure, you’ll still have some freedoms, except the most important one: choice.
Carolyn McCarthy Hates Due Process
To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to extend the firearm and ammunition prohibitions applicable to convicted felons to those convicted in a foreign court.
I’ve always said fighting these people is about a lot more than guns. Removing someone’s liberty based on the actions of a foreign court violates our right to due process. McCarthy is not just anti-gun, she apparently has no issues with suspending due process and subjugating our legal system to foreign powers. This one has 5 cosponsors who I wish you could see so I could tell you who else is violating their oath to uphold the constitution.
But if that’s not enough for you, there’s H.R.1167:
To increase public safety and reduce the threat to domestic security by including persons who may be prevented from boarding an aircraft in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and for other purposes.
On the no fly list? Lots of people are and we don’t know why or how to get off. Now you won’t have any second amendment rights either. Foreign citizens already can’t by a firearm legally; that’s reserved for citizens and permanent residents. So who is this meant to affect?
Carolyn McCarthy is violating her oath of office by crapping all over the constitution she promised to uphold. It’s time for the Congresswoman to revisit some wisdom from James Madison in Federalist 51:
If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.
Emphasis mine. Due Process is one of those obligations set on government to oblige it to control itself, and the second amendment is the last resort of auxiliary precautions. How can Carolyn McCarthy support these things and still claim to be serving our country and upholding her oath of office? I’d really like to know. I’m disappointed more of her constituents aren’t asking.