A Threat to One Right is a Threat to All Rights

I got into an argument with an old friend and fellow lifetime NRA member over that organization’s support for campaign finance legislation that restricts free speech in exchange for an exemption for itself.

Good on the NRA for defending our Second Amendment rights. Bad on them for squashing the First Amendment in the process.

Things really got heated when I excoriated our NRA for toying with the idea of endorsing Harry Reid. Reid Voted for the Brady Bill, Erik Erikson reminds us.  Politico explains how politics in America makes such bedfellows possible:

First, Reid has a fairly favorable lifetime rating from the NRA. And then there’s the $61 million for the Clark County Shooting Park, earmarked by Reid, which led Wayne LaPierre, chief executive officer of the National Rifle Association, to call Reid “a true champion” of the Second Amendment at an event commemorating the opening of the 2,900-acre park in April. (Politico)
So Reid bribed the NRA with $61 million of taxpayer money, and they in return call this petty statist "a true champion." Disgusting.

Legislation as a Money-Making Scam
It is bad enough that congress exempts itself from its own laws. It is a truly despotic government that enacts laws threatening our individual liberties in order to sell those rights back to the highest bidder. This is extortion--a sickening theft of our birthright.

Progressive America, Negotiated Rights
Natural Rights are down the toilet. The Kagan hearings confirmed that. Congress can make us eat our veggies and progressive jurists like Kagan will stand aside because they see nothing wrong. And her confirmation was a cakewalk.

If government can make a free man play “mother may I” in order to keep firearms, it can also make a free woman ask permission to exercise her God-given right to free speech. Once we open negotiations on our fundamental rights, we’ve already lost. Government ceases to be the protector of our rights and now becomes the gatekeeper, telling us which rights we may exercise, when and where.

Welcome to Progressive America...

Comments

  1. Gorges SmytheFri Sep 24, 09:40:00 PM EDT

    I've been an NRA member most of my life, but for a long time, I've been against the NRA endorsing one supposedly pro-gun candidate over another simply because he stands a better chance of winning. As far as I'm concerned, they sold their very soul when they agreed to drop opposition to that bill. When my dues come up, I WON'T be renewing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. SilverfiddleSat Sep 25, 09:35:00 AM EDT

    I'm a lifetime member, and I won't be dropping my membership. The NRA is ultimately a gun rights lobbying organization, so while I don't agree with some of what they do, I understand why the do it. To be seen as a Republican only organization, they lose influence over half the people.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gorges SmytheSun Sep 26, 12:35:00 AM EDT

    Well, Silverfiddle, I guess I'm getting grumpy in my old age. I left the Republican Party when the best thing they could come up with was John McCain. Left my church, too. Life's getting too short to keep putting up with phonies. I addressed all three issues in various posts on my blog, for anyone that gives a rat's backside.

    ReplyDelete

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