If you have not read the books or seen the movies I would suggest that you do so. There is quite a bit to think about in their contents. I recently saw the new Hunger Games movie with my wife. It got me thinking about a conversation we (my wife and I) had in April of this year over email. At the time I was angry over taxes and the almost war with Korea, and my wife said I was just like the character Gale. I've decided to include my response here, despite its length, as I find it even more pertinent than when I first wrote it.
I am admittedly naive about a lot of things. I grew up, going to school, and learning about what a great place America is. How we are the freest nation on Earth. That our revolution was fought to throw off the chains of tyranny and establish a better form of government (quite a rosy picture of our county, isn't it). I've read the founding documents and supporting articles/arguments from the founding generation and understand them. The government was designed to have checks and balances, to keep any one branch from rising over the others. All powers not explicitly granted were reserved to the states and to the people, so that they, too, could keep the federal government from growing too powerful and oppressive.
I don't really know when it happened, but I have had an awakening, a realization of how things really are right now. Our government is completely out of control. It continues to abridge our God-given rights because they think they have the authority to do so. They continue to rob the citizens of this country of their wealth, through taxes and imperialistic wars and rising inflation. They enslave our posterity with debt to pay for bread and circuses for the masses, just to buy their votes and retain an ever increasing power. The federal government is clearly beyond the bounds that were set for it in our Constitution.
This is the source of my anger. I see the same, and greater, tyranny and oppression that England used in the 1700's. It is more subtle in many ways, but it is still there. The injustice that is being paid to our countrymen, and will be paid to future generations, burns like a fire in my heart and in my soul. I was purposefully deceived and am continuing to be oppressed. It is the same for the woman that I love, for the children I hope to have some day, for all of my friends and family, every person that I hold dear. But it doesn't have to be that way!
For over a hundred years, the government stayed mostly within its bounds, confined to only those tasks for which it was created, and there was liberty. People could start a business without being crushed be burdensome regulations and taxes. People could engage in free trade. They had privacy and security in their person and effects from the intrusions of jack-booted thugs demanding their credentials! The Constitution may not be 100% perfect, but for the most part it works when it is followed! That fact - that this shouldn't be happening - drives my anger, my passion, and my resolution that something has to change.
Voting continues to fail as a means of rectifying the situation. Both "parties" continue to further the expansion of power using the exact same techniques under a different guise. "Voting the bums out" only gets us new bums who will continue down the same path. And they will. They will continue to push the citizens of this nation right up to the brink, the same way that King George did.
I know the "Civil War" was not just North vs South. It has been presented that way to disguise the largest issue: the mad power grab committed by the federal government. The Constitution was a voluntary contract between the states, created AFTER the states. The sovereignty lies with the states, which delegated power, and as such can recall it as they see fit. The "Civil War" eviscerated this notion. It was one of the biggest, if not the biggest, push down the road that we are currently on.
Fortunately states are starting to reassert their dominion. Several have said pot is fine. Others have said that you can produce and freely trade in natural, unprocessed foods. Others still have said any arms made and retained in the state are not subject to federal oversight! It is the rebirth of liberty right before our very eyes! But the federal government will try to squash it, and indeed they have started. Federal agents now have arrest authority in Colorado (thanks to the fed's stooges in the state legislature), and this will be used to crack down on citizens and sheriffs that will not comply with gun control or drug control. They will ignite a war.
When I said I welcome it, I meant I preferred it to open war with Korea. I don't welcome the pain and bloodshed that will come with it. It is terrible to contemplate. But the alternative is so much worse. It will be a return to feudalism, to slavery, where a few control and impoverish the many. No one shall be free. In contrast, war would be a welcome alternative, even if we lost. For our conscience would be clear. We could stand before future generations and before God and know that we did what was right, what was necessary.
This is why I said what I did about the taxes. I cannot continue to support something that I know to be unjust and immoral. It is also why I said I would rather have the fight be in my lifetime. I would rather struggle and possibly die, so that you, and our children might know freedom! That they might know that I would not waiver in doing what is right, that I loved them more dearly than myself. This is precisely why I carry that 1911 when we are out. I am prepared and ready to use lethal force to protect those I love from the evil in this world (and that is precisely what these murderers, thieves, and tyrants are). And if the cost to protect you is my life, then I am ready to surrender it that you might live, that our children might live, and that you will know that I love you.
I know that you fear losing me. I fear losing you. And that is a large part of what it means to be in love. I fear dying. I have for a long time. And I used to think that killing someone was bad, across the board. It wasn't all at once, but I have come to know that isn't true. Righteous killing is what occurs in a defensive war, one where you fight to protect the lives of your family and countrymen (and hence why aggressive, preemptive wars are evil). It is what occurs when you kill someone that is trying to kill you. God gave you life, and you do not have the right to take it yourself or to let someone else come and take it from you.
That is why armed self defense is a moral imperative! (and a great source of my anger at the gun controls initiatives, but more on that in a minute) It is why Christ admonished for those that don't have a sword to sell their cloak and buy one! Some will argue that in the garden He told Peter to get rid of his sword, to not use it for defense, but this is not true. He said to put it up, to put it in its place. He did not need Peter's protection, he could have called forth legions of angels. He was saying that He needed to be taken, to be crucified, that we might be saved. He was not negating what he had previously said.
Coming to know this has given me peace in my fear of death. Do I want to die? No! I want to live with you for a very long time, building a life in love. But if I must kill someone or die to ensure that you might live, then so be it. It is for these reasons that I say that I am not like Gale. If it comes to bloodshed, it shall be against those that are fighting to oppress us. Not their families, not their children. Doing so would invalidate the entire purpose of fighting. Each death would be damnation to my soul. I will not do it, I will not support it. Any violence on my part will be directed at those that propagated the growth of tyranny, through legislative fiat or armed force, because that is where it belongs.
Yes I am passionate, especially on guns. I am fascinated by them and I like just about every aspect of that topic. But the reasons above are the source of my deep seeded anger and passion against all efforts to restrict people's right to armed defense. Were Patrick Henry, George Mason, Thomas Jefferson, or any of the other founders of this nation any lesson passionate in their pursuit and defense of liberty?
The problem with Gale is his hate. IT blinded him to the course he could have taken. He hated the people, and felt they must die. Yes he was angry, and passionate too, but his blinding hatred was his folly. I am severely passionate. I am angry beyond words! I hate the actions that have been and are being taken. But I do not hate the people behind those actions.
I know that I am not perfect, but I am trying to be a better man. My place is not to judge them for their actions. But it is my place to resist their actions, up to and including ending their life if necessary.
The best summary for all of this is in a quote from Patrick Henry. I feel it perfectly embodies what I have said.
"Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it , Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"
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