There was a time I would sit here at my computer with my mouth agape over some new expression of folly. After awhile, I got more used to it. So common is the lack of “common sense,” I’ve given up on expecting to see much of it. Instead, I find there are times when I just have to lean back and wonder why more people aren’t saying sensible things to counter the lies. There are some, but nobody bothers to read their stuff, apparently. So we end up talking to each other. I worry our numbers are declining. So today’s post is an attempt to state the obvious, in case someone wanders by to see.
It’s illegal for me to suggest we shoot those who would propose or encourage gun confiscations. So I won’t do that. But confiscation of privately owned firearms is coming to the US. There are a class of people, both in and outside government offices, who are so evil they deserve to die because they are such an unspeakable threat to human life. Their only reason for pressing this is to ensure they can have you killed without much hassle. Our problem is, they are the dominant form of life in the US Congress, along with most unelected bureaucrats in the federal government. Unless some pretty radical and forceful action is taken right soon, we can expect all the nightmare dystopian fiction to be tame compared to reality.
No government in human history has ever disarmed a population except for one purpose: ensuring that population cannot defend themselves against hateful action from government officials. It simply is not possible to disarm common folks for any other reason. To suggest it is for our own good is speaking for Satan himself. If you are worried your armed neighbor is a threat to you, arm yourself. You are otherwise too stupid to live. There is no possible way any human society will ever be mature and modern enough to have no further need for self-defense.
The same can be said of banning, restricting, or otherwise provoking civil government to get involved in just about every other human activity. Whatever it is you want from civil government, they will display the lowest level of competence possible. Skillful, wise and sensible people want no part of government service. Bruce Schneier reminds us:
None of this is new. Criminals have used telephones and mobile phones since they were invented. Drug smugglers use airplanes and boats, radios and satellite phones. Bank robbers have long used cars and motorcycles as getaway vehicles, and horses before then. I haven’t seen it talked about yet, but the Mumbai terrorists used boats as well. They also wore boots. They ate lunch at restaurants, drank bottled water, and breathed the air. Society survives all of this because the good uses of infrastructure far outweigh the bad uses, even though the good uses are — by and large — small and pedestrian and the bad uses are rare and spectacular. And while terrorism turns society’s very infrastructure against itself, we only harm ourselves by dismantling that infrastructure in response — just as we would if we banned cars because bank robbers used them too.
It may end up a necessity to regulate some things, because the rest of the human race as a whole tends to be utterly stupid when congregated in large numbers. However, we should always view them as the last refuge of a failing society. When you come across a nest of whiners demanding “the government must do something about X,” you are hearing from those least capable of judging what matters most in this world.
The proper approach is realizing there is no possible way to prevent most human stupidity, so make plans to clean up the mess afterward. Nothing else makes sense. The only path to prevention of most stupidity is a close, neighbor-in-your-kitchen community. Get involved and stay involved. Don’t ever consider it appropriate to shove the task off on another. You do it. Be prepared to sell to others in the community the idea someone whose actions are intolerable must be ostracized or pushed out. Make no laws preventing such a thing. Recover the unofficial office of village elder who is capable of keeping a sense of proportion. Yes, it inevitably leads to a certain elitism, but only idiots believe we are all equal. God never said that, except to note we are all equally deserving of eternity in Hell. We are most certainly not equally capable, and certainly not interchangeable in any way, shape or form. Only those closest to you, who love you, are capable of giving your just due, be it good or bad. Until people get involved and own a piece of the action, they won’t bother to exert any effort to make life better.
God invested a lot of effort to make clear to us what works in this fallen world, and what does not. Every generation, it seems, comes up with a new way of defying that. The first thing they want to do is bury the fact we are all fallen. After that, anything goes. He warned about that. But because He allows folks to choose whether they’ll listen to Satan or Him, He only gets involved when things threaten to go too far to salvage. The last time He was really patient, it required leaving only eight humans alive on a big boat. That was to prove to us why He has to keep an active hand in things, as with Babylon I. We keep trying to build our own staircase into heaven.
Can’t get there without Him. You can’t even get what little blessings He has promised for this world alone, never mind eternity, unless you refer to His revelation. I’m not interested in your education, logic, finely honed reason — you aren’t God. He’s a lot smarter, and He most certainly has spoken. I’ll be glad to help you understand, not because I claim to be smarter, but because I’m just one of millions who can see this, and happen to have some small talent for saying it in American English.
