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Monthly archive: February, 2009

Plan B: In the Event of a Disaster

February 27, 2009, by Doug No comments yet

Throughout history mankind has always found ways to store up certain valuables for either a rainy day or in case of emergency. State governments in the south, where there is little to no chance of snow, have snow plows in some garage somewhere, just for that “snowy day” that happens once in a blue moon. The prudent among us save up a little bit each paycheck and save for an emergency fund in case a disaster happens. On our computers, we have backup hard drives, DVDs full of duplicate data, and perhaps USB flash drives meant to store data in case we need to retrieve it. As a pilot I am trained and by law am expected to have an alternate route in case the intended one doesn’t work out. And though we must do so by law, we insure their homes and automobiles. And we have life insurance to take care of our families in the event of our death.

It is prudent to prepare for a time when disaster may strike, an unexpected event may occur, or if things just don’t go the way we had planned. This is exactly the purpose of the Second Amendment.

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

The Founders knew that a free and peaceful country was the best route to stable and real prosperity for a nation. The the Constitution was a well-crafted document, though imperfect, which ensured the freedoms of mankind from the tyranny of an overbearing State. To remain free we are free to keep and bear arms. It is our Plan B for freedom.

Barack Obama has recently sought to initiate a new ban on assault weapons. Among the few minor changes, says Attorney General Eric Holder, is this such law. According to Holder, this ban “would help cut down on the flow of guns going across the border into Mexico, which is struggling with heavy violence among drug cartels along the border.” But what baffles me is that the federal government has a hard enough time stopping the flow of drugs into this country. Can Holder really believe an Assault Weapons Ban would keep firearms out of the hands of millionaire drug cartels who have no regard whatsoever for the current laws?

I often hear those against Assault Weapons say rhetorically, “Who needs to have an assault weapon?” There is a very clear answer: we all do. I don’t mean that each citizen must own one. I don’t mean that everyone should have one. I mean that assault weapons owned by private citizens protect against one thing: a failure of the system. It’s a backup, a last-resort against tyranny. It’s Plan B. It is up to “WE THE PEOPLE” to defend and protect our freedom; if nobody is able to do that because they are at a natural and legal disadvantage, then we cannot possibly implement Plan B if such a plan is necessary.

The reality is that the Obama administration does not want to ban all assault weapons. It wants to ban all assault weapons outside its control. The military is free to own and operate assault weapons. Obama’s body guards are free to own and operate assault weapons if they so choose. But if allowing us all to own assault weapons puts us on a level playing field (isn’t that what most liberals talk about a lot?) with the government, the Obama administration doesn’t like that too well. A monopoly on weapons would be preferred.

But against his oath of office, Barack Obama has decided to ignore a very clear Constitutionally-protected right to keep and bear arms. If Obama wants to be able to restrict our Constitutional rights, he must repeal that amendment. Then he’ll not be in conflict with the Constitution.

Doug

Doug Stuart is a committed follower of Jesus and passionate about building for the Kingdom of God through education and mobilization. He is a regular writer at LibertarianChristians.com as well as the founder of Living Loud.

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Why I Care

February 9, 2009, by Doug 14 comments

loveneighborIf you’ve followed this blog for longer than two posts, you’ll probably recognize a familiar theme obsession: liberty. For about the past year I’ve spent much of my studies researching basic economics, philosophy of liberty, and the nature of human action and interaction, all the while thinking about politics in the United States during a notable election season.

Libertarians often get a bad reputation for being selfish, uncaring, and cold-hearted toward those without means. Ranting about personal liberties and freedom from government coercion tend to give the impression that justice is not important to them. Their fight for liberty is seen as a “leave me alone and stop taking my money” agenda. For those whose passion in life is fighting for justice, and for Christians especially who want everyone to be compassionate, merciful, and generous to those in need, this approach seems unbiblical, or without compassion.

I will develop a more theologically-based reason why libertarian philosophy is more biblical than any other philosophy, but recently I realized why I’m so obsessed with this topic. It’s not because I want to be left alone, or because I want to hoard all my money, or because I believe every politician is bad. It’s not because I want an “every man for himself” policy. There are many reasons why I’m passionate about liberty, and just about every one of them has to do with everyone else. My liberties are important, but I’m not poor, I have zero debt, and I have talent and capabilities and other benefits available to me that I had nothing to do with (white, middle-class, etc.). And even though the State forces me to give up nearly 20% of my hard-earned income each year, I still have the means to do fairly well for me and my family. I’m not entirely worried about me right now.

So it all comes down to fighting for the liberties of everyone else. I can’t educate the poor in inner-city Philadelphia. I can’t feed the poor in downtown L.A. I can’t clothe the homeless in New York City. And if I wanted to, I can only do so much. So that leaves me with only a few options:

  1. Use as much of my 0wn resources to feed, clothe, and educate as many as I can
  2. Rally support of others to use their own resources and pool together to feed, clothe, and educate as many as we can
  3. Use the force of the State to make others give up their resources to use them for my own good will toward those in need

With my limited resources, Option #1 only gets me so far. With my limited charisma, Option #2 only gets me so far. Within ethical boundaries, Option #3 is a power-play over the rest of society. How on earth can I believe that to do good I have to enroll the organization (the State) with the most amount of weaponry to enforce upon others my sense of good will? So much “public good” and “common good” actions are justified under the unethical proposition of Option #3. The State is a power-play over others, whether it be by forcing one to give up his resources, or if it means forcing another to adhere to a friendly tyranny (“common good”). For me to avoid Option #3 at all costs is to consider my neighbor as better than myself. It is to respect the property of those around me. It is to honor God’s giving to them resources to steward, and not take those stewarded properties as my own. Options 1 & 2 are the best efforts I have at my disposal.

I care so much about this because it is the only consistent way for me to live as a Christian and not violate the rights of one group while fighting for the rights of another. It is the only consistent way to treat people as equals. It is the only way to fight for the rights of people I do not know.

There are a lot of people that I don’t know and will never know. But I still care about them.

Doug

Doug Stuart is a committed follower of Jesus and passionate about building for the Kingdom of God through education and mobilization. He is a regular writer at LibertarianChristians.com as well as the founder of Living Loud.

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Another fear-mongering President

February 5, 2009, by Doug 2 comments

(UPDATE: Here’s a link titled “Continuity We Can Believe In.”)

obamaPresident Obama has been pushing Congress to pass a “stimulus” bill to rescue the United States from a failing economy. Every day I listen to or read the news, I hear Barack Obama saying that if we don’t do something NOW, we’ll never recover from the recession. 

Sound familiar? It should, because it is precisely what government seeks to do during a crisis, real or fake. Talk up the threat, explain to the people why they are in imminent danger, and make them believe that the government knows exactly what to do with a complex situation. Use the word “crisis” often, and instill fear in the hearts of everyone. Urge lawmakers to pass your agenda. If it fails, keep asking for more, because throwing more money at the problem always fixes it. 

As Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel recently said, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste…  This crisis provides the opportunity for us to do things that you could not do before.”

This is exactly what George W. Bush did when we went into Iraq. Push something through, very quickly, and talk about data that support your point of view. Shut out all other perspectives, or polarize them and call them crazy. Use the media to support your mission, and the people will passively accept that you have their best interest in mind. 

And we thought we voted for “change.”

Can somebody please explain to me why this fear tactic is legitimate?

Doug

Doug Stuart is a committed follower of Jesus and passionate about building for the Kingdom of God through education and mobilization. He is a regular writer at LibertarianChristians.com as well as the founder of Living Loud.

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Learning Our Lessons?

February 3, 2009, by Doug No comments yet

In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute. In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated….

Nor should we turn a blind eye to the fact that the spirit of free enterprise, including the principle of personal responsibility of businesspeople, investors and shareholders for their decisions, is being eroded in the last few months. There is no reason to believe that we can achieve better results by shifting responsibility onto the state.

(From Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s speech at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.)

putinWhen the world is at its most vulnerable moments—when a crisis is looming—we as humans are responsible for being vigilant to defend and support ourselves while looking out for each other. Putin, of all people, recently spoke about the economic crisis in such a way that would render him (at least for the moment) a cautious, if not wise, economist:

The unjustified swelling of the budgetary deficit and the accumulation of public debts are just as destructive as adventurous stock-jobbing.

America did not learn the lesson of FDR’s New Deal. Indeed, we celebrate the tyranny of the State with all that FDR accomplished in the name of progress and in spite of a nationwide crisis. Yet we must learn our lesson and not repeat history, as we are apparently going to be doing.

Doug

Doug Stuart is a committed follower of Jesus and passionate about building for the Kingdom of God through education and mobilization. He is a regular writer at LibertarianChristians.com as well as the founder of Living Loud.

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