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Where is the Supreme Court in all this mess, would be my question. ...
The US Supreme Court has it's share of problems, but compared to the other two branches of government, they don't really cause you much of a problem. Oddly enough they are the only branch of government that has kept close to their role as imagined by our founding fathers. Compared to the size or the rest of the government, the court system is nothing.
In my opinion, the Supreme Court has gotten worse in the last 20 years or so. I believe it's because in those last 25 years, presidents of both parties went from appointing the best jurists they could find to appointing people that were of the same political mind. This has greatly reduced the quality of the results.
As for your right to bear arms, the full text of the second amendment is "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
Oddly enough the court has never ruled on exactly what this means. Like a lot of other issues there are two possible interpretations. The first is what many groups like the NRA believe. That is, anyone should be able to own guns. The second is that only the members of "a well regulated militia" may own guns. In other words the government may not prevent the state militia from having guns.
The court has upheld just about all other gun control laws. Many states have laws that forbid people with criminal records from owing guns. Others have laws that forbid people that have a domestic violence restraining order against them from owing guns. New York state has had the "Sullivan Law", which requires a police permit before you can own a handgun, has been on the books since 1911.
Oddly enough, I really do think MDP's notion of an Emperor makes more sense than a puppet figure-head like a President. And certainly cuts the red tape and BS from a commmittee for this and a committee for that. And elected officials that can actually make their own pay raises and the like without any other agency(or committee) to stop them. Who watches the watchers?
Anyway, short term emperorship(like 4 or 6 years) with complete autonomy is starting to sound more and more like a plan. Hell, who knows, maybe we could end up like China's greatest period in history when they were ruled by emperors.
I say change is good and inevitable and greatly needed. The current system is stagnant and needs a kick in the ass.
As a kid I saw all the Skater kids with the big red "A" with a circle around it meaning "anarchy." I made a blue "M" with a circle on a black T-shirt that read "Monarchy, let's control those who can't control themselves."
For guns, I don't have one and don't think there should be one in my house BUT I am very happy that there are people around me who do. I have little kids and a wife who gets depressed........at least when I get home from work......
The Feds have grown way outside the scope of the Constitution. This country might just stay solvent if the line is drawn. No more money except to fund the programs that already exist. No new programs and no more increased funding......even for the military. I hate to say it but the military pencil necks often mismanage.
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Ask me why you shouldn't go to Friends University!
World Ideologies as Explained by Reference to Cows
Feudalism
You have two cows. Your lord takes some of the milk. Pure Socialism
You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else's cows. You have to take care of all the cows. The government gives you all the milk you need. Bureaucratic Socialism
Your cows are cared for by ex-chicken farmers. You have to take care of the chickens the government took from the chicken farmers. The government gives you as much milk and eggs the regulations say you should need. Fascism
You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them, and sells you the milk. Pure Communism
You have two cows. Your neighbors help you take care of them, and you all share the milk. Real World Communism
You share two cows with your neighbors. You and your neighbors bicker about who has the most "ability" and who has the most "need". Meanwhile, no one works, no one gets any milk, and the cows drop dead of starvation. Russian Communism
You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government takes all the milk. You steal back as much milk as you can and sell it on the black market. Perestroika
You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the Mafia takes all the milk. You steal back as much milk as you can and sell it on the "free" market. Cambodian Communism
You have two cows. The government takes both and shoots you. Militarianism
You have two cows. The government takes both and drafts you. Totalitarianism
You have two cows. The government takes them and denies they ever existed. Milk is banned. Pure Democracy
You have two cows. Your neighbors decide who gets the milk. Representative Democracy
You have two cows. Your neighbors pick someone to tell you who gets the milk. British Democracy
You have two cows. You feed them sheeps' brains and they go mad. The government doesn't do anything. Bureaucracy
You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. Then it takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows. Pure Anarchy
You have two cows. Either you sell the milk at a fair price or your neighbors try to take the cows and kill you. Pure Capitalism
You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Capitalism
You don't have any cows. The bank will not lend you money to buy cows, because you don't have any cows to put up as collateral. Enviromentalism
You have two cows. The government bans you from milking or killing them. Political Correctness
You are associated with (the concept of "ownership" is a symbol of the phallo centric, war mongering, intolerant past) two differently - aged (but no less valuable to society) bovines of non-specified gender. Surrealism
You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.
Linear Mode
