E-Newsletter No. 122            February 2024

Tyranny – Cruel, unreasonable, or arbitrary use of power or control.

Tyranny has always existed in history.  In the mid- to late 1700s, the source of tyranny in America was King George.  Over half of the text of The Declaration of Independence was a list of grievances, documenting the tyranny the colonists were experiencing. 

In today’s world, tyranny can emanate from a wide variety of sources – – the federal government’s Administrative State, from state legislative bodies, and even from a “democratic” majority that wishes to exercise its power over other people’s lives.  A companion word that accompanies tyranny is coercion – the use of power to achieve a result that other individuals oppose.

Let’s start with the Second Amendment.  The government’s desire to restrict our citizens’ rights to keep and bear arms emanates from the Democrat party and its leadership in the federal government.  The Left was able to pass a federal “assault weapons” ban in 1994, which subsequently expired in 2004.  Subsequent studies on the effectiveness of the ban, including a congressionally mandated study, a 2014 study published in a book by the Oxford University Press and a 2020 Rand Corporation review, concluded there was no compelling evidence the ban saved lives.

However, the Left’s desire to impose its will on our country’s citizens has not abated.  Another tactic of the Left is to pass legislation at the state level, in the hope that a state law will help set a precedent that can then be applied in other jurisdictions.  Fortunately, these laws have consistently been overturned by the US Supreme Court, which has the responsibility to follow the original intent of the US Constitution to protect our citizens’ unalienable rights.

History has many examples of what tragically happens when citizens’ unalienable rights are violated.  The list is long, but we will only mention one of the most tragic examples.  In November 1938, the Verordnung gegen den Waffenbesitz der Juden prohibited the possession of firearms and bladed weapons by Jews.  We all know what happened to the Jews in Germany in the subsequent years. 

It is oftentimes said that one of the primary reasons for the Second Amendment is to protect our citizens’ rights listed in the First Amendment.  That is the discussion for next month’s newsletter.

_     _    _     _     _     _

BTW – As you may recall, Congress “punted” (yet again) on the federal government’s budget for the year that began last October 1^st.  The new targeted date for some of those appropriation bills is now March 1^st and is March 8^th for the other appropriation bills.  Let’s see what they’ll do (or not do).      

US Debt Clock – – January 1^st – $101,230 per citizen / February 1st – $101,640