I had my best
drink of water when I was five. My older brother,
Dana, and I were helping Dad trail cows to a fresh
pasture, or as fresh as pastures were in July on the
alkali flats east of Ingomar. It seemed like I had
been in the saddle all day and I was hot and thirsty
when suddenly our leads hit a reservoir. Within
seconds, the cows were frolicking belly deep in the
muddy water. Dad sensed a mutiny in his thirsty
cowboy crew, so he told us to swing off our horses.
(Saying "swing off" makes it sound like we were tall
enough to reach the stirrups and could actually
swing off. Dana rode an old hand-me-down saddle with
stirrups 12 inches longer than his inseam and I rode
a bareback pad which never had stirrups, so rather
than swing, we plopped to the ground.) We silently
stared at the reservoir full of cows and muddy water
and wondered if we were thirsty enough to drink the
sludge.
Dad took off his boots and waded in to his knees. He
motioned us to join him and one at a time we crawled
onto his back while he swam us out to the middle of
the reservoir for a drink of clear water. The cows
did not purposely stir up the mud, so I hold no
ill-will against them. Politicians, however,
intentionally muddy up the water to manipulate
voters which is today's point.
Here are two Americans truths which have been
muddied over the years. Number one, our rights come
from God just as Thomas Jefferson stated in our
Declaration of Independence. Prior to 1776, the
conventional wisdom held basic rights came from
kings and thus could be granted or taken away at the
whims of rulers. Jefferson's premise of Divine
rights means one man does not have the right to rule
another and 50,000 patriots spilled blood just to
prove such. Number two, our founders instituted a
constitutional republic purposely limiting the power
of the federal government. With our Constitution
being the supreme law of the land, a simple majority
vote could not revoke the natural, God given rights
of a lone citizen. Mob rule has no place in America.
Progressives abhor these constitutional limitations
because it hinders their ability to give away free
stuff; the narcotic of Marxism. They avoid these
restrictions by doing two things: First, deny the
existence of natural rights. Once God is removed
from the equation, it is easy to fool the masses
into thinking their rights come from government.
Second, mislead the public into believing we are a
democracy where majority rule magically grants
legitimacy to any newly created right. Sadly, this
is happening today.
The right to self-defense; to protect ourselves, our
families, and our friends, is a natural right and
the Second Amendment prohibits government from
infringing on this right. This is clear and simple.
However, to fully advance Marxism, progressives must
get firearms out of the hands of American citizens.
An outright ban would be political suicide and
bloody, so progressives subtly disguise the argument
and chuckle while citizens vote their gun rights
into extinction. For example, the new and very
progressive Montana Sportsmen Alliance selectively
endorses candidates who agree with their spin the
Second Amendment is actually about sportsman access
to private property. (I do not anticipate their
endorsement; especially after they read this
column.)
If a majority of Montana voters elect officials
willing to trample the natural rights of property
ownership so as to advance newly created sportsmen
access rights, where will this stop? Could
government suspension of the right to keep and bear
arms be far behind? Do not let the Montana Sportsmen
Alliance muddy the waters. The Second Amendment
prohibits government infringement on the natural
right to self-defense; nothing more, nothing less.
Voters best elect citizens who intrinsically know
such. I do.
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