I thinketh Jim you may be making a preemptory adhesion to some authority, or better yet a preemptory adhesion away from some perceived authority (Al Gore). To adhere to an authority or to run away from an authority may be just as bad. Let us look to truth and we will be "saved".

We should never be preemptory. But as we learn in later childhood to "stop asking why, just do it and don't ask questions!", we learn even later that we live in an interdependent world and build on what has gone before. Trust and verify, trust and verify should be our watchword. We do not always have the luxury of verifying first. I give it a five because I agree we should never preempt our options.

We are always in a time of universal deceit it seems. Nehemiah the Prophet said and I paraphrase (can't find a bible right now) "The heart and mind of man is deceitful above all things." It seems that half the population is being deceitful at anyone time. Take climate change for example. There are two sides which one is lying?

A trite dull platitude. Of course we should not accept things blindly and of course we should love our country and call her to a higher standard. A higher standard for ourselves would be to take off the blinders and understand government policies before we attack them. Government policies like science and technology can be very esoteric and complex and maybe not easily understood by all of us or at first glance. It is human nature to be angry at things we don't understand or are blind to. We should also understand the legislative history of things and why it is we are the way we are or have the laws we have befoe we just blindly thorw things overboard wholesale. I did not know it at the time 1973 but this guy was full of platitudes.

I like every body Logan but I don't like your name dropping or attempt at pulling rank based on some claim of academic relationships. If you think for a moment you would know that the Founders (God bless them) did not intend for the new government to be a Republic as you try to describe it with natural, or enlightenment, or God Given rules and regulations that would last a thousand years. They intended that it be a fluid and even revolutionary society. Jefferson spoke of a new revolution every generation. And Lincoln was quoted the other day of speaking of revolution, and this quote from his first Inauguaral Address. The revolution I think he was speaking of was the Republican Revolution that brought him to power. The French as you know have had several republics in between monarchies. So if your idea of US Government is the Roman model or some kind of set in stone republic, get over it that is not what we have nor is it what was intended. You denied that we are a democracy which I define as majority rule. The exact statement was "the US is a republic not a democracy". I accept your explanation above and feel that you have never actually understood democracy correctly or very well. I was taught that democracy includes the rights of minorities, I don't know where it was that you have heard differently.

I don't give a crap who agrees with who. I admit Logan that most on this site agree with Mike, but never forget that this is a very, very, very small site. I was referrring to the universe of public opinion polls, public sentiment and voting by which, whether the dictatorial types like you and Mike, wish to acknowledge it or not govern this country. Now I fuly understand that public opinion and democracy are concepts that are just to fragile and nuanced for your dictatorial brains to appreciate or understand. (Mike says I should look for guindance from Logan and Archer, And Logan says Mike is, well the cats meow.) Mike claims to have been a constitutional lawyer and Logan hobnobs with big shots from the EuroUnion. Archer well his mind has been fried by studying central banking. Logan your lack of faith in the individual as stated above from someone who states he is so supportive of the individual is well confusing to say the least. The bottom line is you guys are all intellectual frauds. After arguing for months about the Republic vs Democracy issue Logan admit well yes we are a majority ruled society and Mike wrote seemingly begrudingly that well yes we are a democracy. First of all what takes you guys so long to be honest and why do you backslide back into your same lame positions. It almost seems that you are on somes payroll to take the BS positions that you take.

Dilution your case with a bunch of lawyers can be a problem. I went through three divorce attorneys and in the end my wife fired her attorney. At the end my two fired attorneys and her one stood in the court room her and I and my remaining attorney closed the deal. The other three were totally bewildered with a look of "hey what happened". I believe it is all a case of communication and credibility with these guys and the more people involved the worse it gets. Its your case and you have a right to run the show not the lawyers.

So thank you all for saying Jefferson is wrong here. It saddens me because he is one of my favorites, and saddens me that I had to pull it out of youse. The sooner this blog becomes one of intellectual honesty rather then pushing ones world view the better it will be. I am also sadden that y'all can not just give straight answers without recrimination. Logan the Tennessee law was similiar to many states where a man could avoid the draft by paying a fee or tax. I think that is a lousy deal in a democracy. All should have an equal right to the honor of being killed for their country.

PS: When your neighbor or you reneges on the compact you or they have a right to nail you or them for breach. This compact is what drives all taxation.

How is your friend Mr. Bruton, Logan? Yes you do have that power Logan but you express it funny like everything else. You and your neighbors have the power to agree to a compact that each will pay into the common good. As you well know it happens all of the time.

Not many agree with you Mike especially since they vote and are poll by public opinion. Only if you believe that those things are rig and fraudulent does your harangue hold true.

Mike get a grip man. I just reread your post. T. Jefferson was talking about colonial government with no representation. That was the despotism. As I mentioned earlier about all the hell we do in this country is vote and take polls every other minute. So you can't blame anything on anybody but yourself and your friends whom you have been unable (either through lack of skills on your part or because your basic thesis or philosophy is wrong) to convince of the rightness of you views. Sorry but your wrongheadedness or dismal skills does not give you the right to resort to fire power, at least in my opinion.

I like this quote. My experience is that most on this site only have axes to grind and put forth little of a positive nature. They are anti this and anti that. It has occurred to me that the love of guns for taking on or protection against "corrupt or power grabbing government" as expressed by some is no diiferent than the jihadist phiolosopy of radical Islam. The idea being essentially a moral one of constant vigilance against immorality, corruption etcetera. Many people apparently need to have a vision or hope of ultimate victory or of overcoming something in order to be happy. For Christians it is the blessed hope and fighting the good fight of morality, for the jihadists I guess it is similar, and for the Americans who harbor some conflict in the future against "them" the brief case carrying Potomac crowd etcetera get a form of spiritual directedness also. But I just wondered today what the world would be like if all of these revolutionaries (even if just mental ones) would rid themselves of their hate and replaced it with positive vibes. What kind of world would we have then.

I only give it one star because today such a thought is simply a common place. That is what we all believe and what we argue about "what does the Constitution" the Sovereign say. When Hamilton wrote this maybe it rated a much higher mark. But today well it to me it just rates a "Duh well yeah man right on."

Chris how can you be so shallow and naive. I love this quote and agree with it completely. We revolt and overthrow our government to a greater or lesser degree every election day. We vote on every member of the peoples house every two years, and 1/3 of the senate. We vote to keep or throw out the President every four years. What would prefer a revovling door ala Argentina style. It is interesting that Lincoln said this at his inauguration in which he was celebrating the revolutionary ascendance of a brand new polictical party - the Republicans. We all know or based on the thought processes of some commentators to these pages I hedge that statement, and say that some may know that the Constitution can be amended any time the people desire, and elections are truly revolts. No where in this quote is mention made of the use of force and I am sure Lincoln did not intend to imply any. Ken we have discussed soverignity on this site many times. I have concluded that it means "absolute authority". One should give it up very cautiously because once you give it up you can get it back except by force. The colonies by joining the union gave up absolute authority soverignity to the Union. The only way a state can leave is if the Union the Soverigen says so. The southern states tried to take it back by force but were unsucessful. Again as some of us may know the Constitution was written to form "a more perfect union", the previous effort of the Aricles being felt by all to be weak and ineffective. What is more perfect about a Union that anyone can walk out of at anytime for any reason.

Historical industry has succeed by welfare from the people and their government. Wide tracts of land were given to the railroads. Massive highways were built at public expense so that car makers could make a profit selling cars. Industry has been polluting the peoples rivers, lakes and streams since the founding of the nation. The micro economy of industry cares only about their stock holders and to hell with the rest of us. Thank got for the united people and their government which has given us clean air, cleaner water etcetera. We would otherwise be poisoned by American Greed.

Can anyone tell me in one sentence where the Constitution says that it is our duty to bear arms. Straight answers cut out the BS. I think it a good idea and would end this NRA business and sneaky concealed carry crap etcetera. But just because I think it is a good idea does not give me the right to say that "the Constitution requires me to be armed or that it is my duty to be armed". And Jefferson has no more rights than the rest of us and no less. A sentence Logan please not a book.

Archer is correct. Government employees are doing the same job that the individual has commissioned him to do in his place while the indiviudal is out taking care of his other business. An individual cannot ward off the enemy, collect the taxes, provide for his self defense, etcetera while still trying to earn his own living thus he employs public servants. The public servant employee is working for the individuals. Public employees know respect and honor this relationship just as do our brave troops who die for this relationship borne of loyaty to the public.

Interesting idea Chris.

Go for the truth Jim and stop worshiping authority figures. Am I right about the Constitution or not? Mike from Norwalk also stated the other day that we are not required to bear arms. I suggested that if we all walked around with a gun on our hip it would put and end to this gun issue once and for all, so I was kind of in agreement with 'ol Tom. Mike said forcing people to carry an arm would be unconstitutional. I still do not know where in the Constitution it says that "it is our duty".

Those folks report to the President who is elected by the people and who administer rules and regulations put into place by the people. Bureaus were established to circumvent the political grab bag that existed in the 1800's where politicians rip everything and everybody off. Professional bureaus are a good thing by comparision. If the pols like Candi Rice and John Ashcroft had listened to the pros like Richard Clarke and the Acting Director of the FBI terrorism would have been handled a lot differently. Let support our prof servants that are working for us.

Many complain about the size of government without really thinking about it. For example the Treasury Dept is approx. 130,000 persons of which the IRS is approx. 90,000. Some think this is large. If you consider that the largest banks in the country have over 100,000 employees and, that thier are hundreds of banks the size of the government, government size pales beside that of the banking industry. Take this analysis to every industry such as auto, oil, etcetera and government does not appear to be so big. The view that government is big is also predicated upon the fact that we all are stock holders if you will in the government. We all have a right to have a say and a right to know what is going on. We have no such right (unless we own common stock) in reference to corporations big or small. If people could constanly harp about the management or mismanagement of Ford, GM, Bank of America etcetera we would have a much bigger field day than we already do with our governments.

Like to know where Jefferson got this. The Constitution says that the right to bear arms shall not be infringed (so as to keep the militia well formed) to my knowledge it does not say that we have a duty. The General Military Law of the United States does say that all men between 17 and 45 are in the unorganized militia so that it can be inferred from that law that yes these men should be at all times armed. That law is not the Constitution however. Since Tom appears to be misstating his case in reference to the Constitution of the US I give him only a one.

And so it has continued for 232 years. Since we have no "rulers of the people" just a revoving door where 100% of congress, 1/3 of the senate is "changed" every two years, and the White House every 4 all we have is the "people". May all power to the people continue for the next 231 years. Many on this site are against rule by the people, they want a rule by what they call "natural" law or "God" instead both concepts are anothe form of despotic rule or at least have been used that way in the past.

Mike here you are saying that it was constitutionally justified but it was not used. Why or why was it not used. The rioters thought it was justified because of the cops got off on beating Rodney King. The cops were wrong but you got to be inhuman not to see their side after being led on a danerous high speed chase endanerign themselves and many other innocent people. My understanding of the event and your explanation of it is that the Koreans used force against the rioters not the police. No one has given a real or hypothetical example of when deadly force can be used against police or government. If it is such an important issue with you and them I think you should repeat it over and over. Self defense and police protection are not opposites but complementaries. You need to change your thinking. The argument to fight police and govenment while appealing to some and apparently even mouthed by Humphrey is a quaint and appealing one, demonstrating people power that we love so much in our democracy and rightfully so. The fact that it has never been used to successfully combat police or government policey just shows how quaint and cute but unrealistic a notion it is. It is like the fact that a person can disrespect the nation by burning the flag. Because one can do this virtually no one does. Assuming that we really do have a right to attack the police or the "corrupt" (in ones personal opinion) government no one does it simply because it is such and easy right to exercise. If we passed a flag burning law our jails would be full of people who burn the flag just to protest the law. We love the flag voluntarily not from forced compulsion. We do not need force against our government because we turn the bums out peacefully every two years from the Congrees, 1/3 of them from the Senate, and 100% of 'em every 4 years from the White House.