So I’m like basically a leftist with regard to most things.
I’m not some myopic libertarian islander that thinks all forms of government are exploitative. I’m not forgetful enough to trust the market alone to stop commerce from turning into slavery. (The history of the East India Trading Company shows what happens in a setting of zero regulation.)
What this means is that among other things I ended up subscribed to a lot of activist left wing news letters. Who for the most part presumably do a lot of good and check a lot of evil.
Well what that means today thanks to the recent flurry of gun control hysteria, is that I am getting a lot of disgusting and hypocritical email.
You all know by now where I stand on this issue but I’d like to share a particularly disgusting batch of petition signature requests I got as a single email and why they are loathsome:
Reenact the Assault Weapons Ban and make it law
As I said here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/103840576618549598514/posts/3K88UjicLQs
The AWB is problematic primarily for two reasons. Firstly and most importantly the definition of “assault weapon” is murky at best. Secondly, the 2nd amendment says “shall not be infringed.” It’s pretty clear that a ban on any small arms counts as infringement. (I’d go even further given the obvious point of the 2nd amendment, but that’s a separate issue. I can no longer link to my essay, as my book is now officially for sale, and part of the terms is not giving the book away for at least 90 days.)
Basically the pro-gun crowd is for the most part worried about a slippery slope. Which I think given the government’s behavior on most issues and the progression of past events in countries which have managed to ban guns (such as Australia), is a legitimate concern.
Increase the availability of mental health services now
They are plenty available. Just no one can afford them. The left bent over fast and happily for the right when it let them and their insurance/pharma owners gut Obamacare, including Obama himself personally executing the public option.
Maybe if the left had grown a spine this never would have happened.
Protect grieving families from politically charged demonstrations at funerals.
Freedom of speech, live with it. This is a market signal. Find a cemetery with a wall and make attendance RSVP. If companies can write their own rules with EULAs and TOCs then so can cemeteries. This is how corporations have enacted a de facto national dress code via employment controls. It would be a simple matter to hire security and enforce a code of conduct worked out with the family in advance.
This is not a matter for legislation. We already have laws to deal with this. They are called property rights. It’s not even about money. If I have a private function and people show up whom I haven’t invited, that’s trespassing, and that’s why we have police.
Walmart: Stop selling assault rifles in stores.
So long as they are legal to own it’s absurd to demand that people or businesses not sell them, especially when “assault rifle” as I said above has no objective definition.
All legislative anti-gun efforts do is create niche and black markets.
So yeah… I’ve in the past 3 days unsubscribed to Avaaz, change.org, and Moveon.
Sucks for them because I was a pretty good promoter for other activist efforts.
Why quit the whole game over a single issue? Because it’s clear to me that in this case they aren’t looking at the facts, and they aren’t being consistent with their rhetoric of freedom and respect for the constitution. You can’t be against NDAA and in favor of gun control at the same time and claim respect for the Constitution. The 4th 5th 6th and 8th amednments are every bit as important as the second and the first.
Their capability to compromise their ethics to exploit a political opportunity undermines my faith in them entirely.
For all I know all their efforts on my behalf are disgustingly compromised, like the fair trade coffee scam.
