It means, don't count your chickens before they're hatched! ;-) But with no gun, for sure there will be no bird (metaphorically speaking...)

Absolutely!! Well said. And it is SO true that character assassination is the preferred political strategy of the collectivists -- misdirection and mass psychology, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain... Let's remember that American liberty was inspired by Common Sense and Self-Determination.

It was the line 'the oppressor defining the nature of the struggle' that I liked! The Gandhian response is committed non-compliance on a massive scale -- a general strike. But when it is but one man against the power of a State, particularly in a courtroom where the violence against the individual is buried in legalese and justified by statute, the same strategies do not apply to all. Remember that in the end, Gandhi himself fasted until nearly dead to get Indians to stop killing each other.

The freedom fighter can't always secure the battlefield to his advantage, and as Mandela said, 'often left no recourse ... at a point, one can only fight fire with fire.'

I am referring to the quote, not the man or the political shenanigans of the African parties -- few of which seem to espouse much more than military gang rule, as far as I can tell.

Place blame where it belongs -- with the murderers. The Left will have to come to terms with Islam and Sharia -- they can't be everything to all voters. Stop blaming the NRA or the Right for gun violence, and hold the perpetrators to account for their actions and their motivations. America does not have a gun problem, but it does have an Islamist jihadist problem which the Left has been trying to ignore for too long. The chickens are coming home to roost.

No agenda, Robert. How about an intelligent response if I have misunderstood. Sounds to me that you are implying that depending on how horrific a crime might be, the more compelling the argument to empower the state and disempower the individual.

Mike, that may be, but not all nations are on the same development path. Africa has not really ever recovered from British and European colonization. I am afraid Gandhi and India are unique -- and remember, that the Indian people also rose up in arms against their neighbors. Who could fast for peace today and get it?

Christians on the battlefront do not walk into bullets -- they fire them!

Why do the people need guns then? To fight fire with fire.

Both David and Mike have made ad hominem arguments.

Wrong, Robert. Guns are power -- just like a wood chipper. Each have a purpose, but they are dangerous tools. If someone happens to choose to kill someone by throwing them into a wood chipper, we would not then make wood chipper's illegal.

Let's return to the proper definition of crime: an act performed with malicious intent. We cannot criminalize every method used by the malicious -- it would never end. Secondly, all are INNOCENT until proven guilty -- so making laws that prohibit guns on the chance that the person might commit a crime with them is indeed treating people as guilty before they have even committed ANY act.

If YOU personally do not have the right to dictate to your neighbor whether they may possess arms, then your government representatives do not have that right either -- and the federal Constitution and most State constitutions protect the right from government specifically.

As for all this calling for background checks -- more background checks are done now than ever before, but the problem is the background check database is not updated regularly. The real goal is to outlaw guns -- background checks are only to set up the government bureaucracy that will be transformed into enforcing gun prohibition.

Any politician espousing gun prohibition is promoting totalitarianism -- period.

Wake up, people. Why is America falling? Because that is the plan!

Hear, hear!!!

The 'stronger' can be a minority but with a lot of political clout (i.e. money and people in positions of influence). Just look at the LGBTQ movement -- I mean, sheesh, these are clearly a very small minority of the population, but look at the political power they wield. Of course with a gay president and a transgender first lady (or should we say First Queen), LGBTQ is in everyone's face now. ;-)

Not entirely sure how to rate the quote. Mandela was no Gandhi, but apartheid was real. Something had to give -- it is/was war. Unfortunately all is fair in love and war. History too often repeats itself that the newly freed oppressed soon oppress others -- South Africa is not the only example.

Jeez, this is starting to really happen in the US now. ESPN fired baseball legend Curt Schilling and then edited him out of the documentary "Four Days in October," which details the Boston Red Sox's epic four-game comeback against the New York Yankees in the 2004. Known as "the bloody sock game," ESPN took out the scenes of Curt Shilling -- and he was the one with the bloody sock. In Puerto Rico, federal attorneys are launching a 'Climate Fraud Investigation' against Exxon -- 20 more US attorneys general are preparing to do the same in the US. The Bureau of Land Management is claiming more land under federal control (i.e. ownership -- which they are forbidden to do) than there is land NOT under their control -- claiming all unpopulated lands as their own. The ignorance of the People and the several States is unbelievable!

Anything built upon lies will require constant energy to prop up -- when that falters, expect a collapse...

Wow, Mike, right on -- you are on a roll today!

Without the force of the media, the politician would be essentially powerless.

US health care is a racket to protect the pharmaceutical hold on the medical industry. The AMA is a corporate monopoly that has managed to criminalize any health care service that is not beholden to their union. As a result, alternatives to 'cut, poison, burn' are ILLEGAL and will result in the loss of licenses of physicians who merely recommend any modality that is not 'approved' by the AMA, a private organization. Yet if a non-licensed person provides these services, they can be fined and imprisoned. An apple grower may not even state that apples are good for you -- because that would make them a drug (I guess because only drugs are good for you.)

US health care is so expensive because too many people have their hands in the pie. For every $1 Medicare spends, at least 50% of it goes to administration before it even gets to the health care provider. Insurance companies have to make a profit, hospitals have to make a profit, drug companies make a HUGE profit, government bureaucrats have to be paid, oh, and the patient needs health care. Like government schools where employing people is the primary goal rather than educating students, government run health care is about distributing the profits more than the actual health care.

All 'socialized medicine' is not the same. What we are talking about is the insurance and the medical care monopolies that write legislation to require citizens to be treated and governments to pay for it. Yes, you MUST have health care, whether you want it or not. Frankly, most of the folks I know that have been treated by this system, end up on medication for life with many health complications to follow until eventual death -- and medical costs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's like treating scurvy with chemotherapy -- commercial medicine is still in the dark ages because actual cures are competition! And illegal...

You can damn well bet that Cuban oncologists do not prescribe $250,000 radiation and chemotherapy treatments -- they most likely prescribe cheaper protocols. IN fact, people go to Mexico and Germany for alternative cancer treatment centers with much higher cure rates -- these centers are illegal in the US. Look no further than the AMA for the high cost of medicine. Without a free market of medical services, the cost will ever rise.

I give it 5 stars in thanks for Bradford documenting the experience. I read the whole journal, and Bradford explains the very good intentions used for the voluntary communal arrangement.

"The experience that was had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years, and that among godly and sober men, may well evince the vanity of that conceit of Plato and other ancients, applauded by some of later times; -that the taking away of property, and bringing in community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser than God."

But as Bradford explains later in the journal, "After this course settled" and after many trials, tribulations and prayers, the community finally prospered. Bradford notes:

"Yet let me here make use of [the Lord's] conclusion, which in some sort may be applied to this people: That with their miseries they opened a way to these new-lands; and after these storms, with what ease other men come to inhabit in them, in respect of the calamities these men suffered; so as they seem to go to a fish feast where all things are provided for them."

That's capitalism.

Unfortunately true, and unlikely to ever change in humankind. The thief and murderer are to be prepared against -- easy prey attract them. It's because of this that people form townships for mutual protection and prosperity. For the same reasons, people do not create rulers over themselves to exploit -- they may still end up being conned into it though, and they will always need to maintain enough power to keep the government in check.

The Clinton's come to mind -- frankly a lot of Democrats' histories are starting to come out as nothing short of gangsters.

Americans have a real 'responsibility disorder.' They don't know what they are responsible for except what others tell them. Herded since 4 years old through institution after institution, responsibility is reduced to obedience to the commands of 'authorities' like teachers, police, and government 'officials'. Then of course in order to even play the game, you have to have a banker who will extend to you huge lines of credit so that you can mortgage your future labors to pay for your 'life lease' today. Talk about 'unsustainable development' ! Then the 'blame' is placed on the political opposition -- not the fact that the people have attempted to delegate their own personal responsibility to the government. They have been disempowered by their government and told the reason is that the 'rich' took it all, so tax them. Without integrity and honor among the people, well, they will reap what they sow. Patrick Henry, Red Hill may be right...

cal, knowledge is power -- how one wields power determines the result. The common folk are generally ignorant of history, and the power-hungry can learn from history how to exploit the 'suckers.' These rackets are found throughout history in most every 'civilized' society, preying upon the passions and gullibility of the uneducated (or more accurately, 'domesticated') and powerless.

That's why the morality, honor, and integrity of the people are so important -- otherwise, they are easy marks for every con man down the line, of which there are always plenty. People who can talk you out of your money -- even talk you into robbing the guy next to you and 'giving' his money, too. Now THAT is a racket: politics! Thus, indeed history is but a record of the "crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind."

Bastiat nails it, once again. SO many nations have been down this dead end before -- the common sense of Bastiat's accurate observation is unassailable. Thumbs up to Mike!

Without getting too much into 'religion' I would agree. Mike has distinguished religion several times as 'true piety in practice,' and with that I can agree.

The advance of socialism requires the redefinition of words so that the meaning of existing agreements can be twisted to mean something else -- even the exact opposite of the original intent. Socialists call themselves 'liberals' but the political ideology is rooted in authoritarianism, the bane of classical liberals. Socialism lays claim to society itself and orders it to suit the fancy of a ruling class. This is not 'liberal' in the true sense of the word.

So 'progressive' is another word co-opted by socialists. What is progressive about socialism? Only that it is progressively taking over, that's it. 'Progressive thinking' used to mean thinking outside the box -- but progressive socialism is all about defining the box in which to put all, not figuring out how to get out of the box, or even any new ideas ever again. Socialism is the last good idea -- after that, no opposition is allowed.

Twisting of the language is a lawyer's bread and butter -- and the politician's trade. Each new unconstitutional statute rests on the precedent of the one before it until there is no division at all between a person and a group until only well funded groups trump the rights of individuals all in the name of 'social justice.'

It is war, is what it is. The socialists are the biggest instigators of wars around, yet all they want is 'peace.' Ignorant hypocrites voting for other people's money -- which they never get, only the government and its armies of bureaucrats. They worship thievery, plain and simple. The socialist 'order' does not reduce all to equal station as envisioned. There still remains a ruling class that governs the now debilitated common people -- that was the intent all along, but the masses are essentially dumb and easily moved by propaganda and guns. 'Service' is now 'servitude.'

Freedom is Slavery, and all are equal except some are more equal than others ...

Mike, nails it!

As for Ignorant Australia above, it's nothing but the same old, tired, cognitive dissonance, group-speak, knee-jerk programming. Such useful idiots are but puppets on a string, only helping to prop up their own oppression -- and everyone else's. Hypocrisy and Ignorance are the pillars of their creed -- with a heaping helping of Envy to boot. Power is their God, and the State their church, the people divided into mobs ruled by a mafioso hierarchy that rolls its way to the top to a handful of ruling councils, dividing the spoils of the whole world among them. World Fascism is the model, under the thumb of the central banks that hold the debts of the entire world in their hands. Have a nice day! ;-)

Brilliant! Voluntary membership in a union is fine -- it is the right to associate. But to compel workers to join and support a union as a condition of employment is a corruption. Great observation, cal!!

Same for the right for illegal immigrants to vote... What Americans seem to have forgotten is that not everything is up for vote, and those that we elect do not have the right to take from one to give to the other any more than the voters do. Elections have turned into voting in the Chief Thief in hopes that the voter will get a share of the spoils.