Reblogged:First & Second Amendments: The Last Men Standing

[Michael J. Hurd Ph.D.]

You’ve heard the phrase: “The last man standing.”

In America, with respect to liberty, there are two men left standing: The First and Second Amendments. Freedom of speech, and freedom of self-defense. The first refers to freedom for the mind, the second to freedom of the body.

There’s a reason America’s enlightened founders put these two first in the Bill of Rights. Quite simply, they’re the most important, and in that order.

For decades, the progressive movement in the United States (with plenty of help from the conservatives) has frittered away our other rights until they’re no longer recognizable.

The only two rights left, at least in theory if not practice, are the right to free speech and the right to own weapons for self-defense.

Together, these rights stand for the right of a full, complete human being: mind and body. These are the two rights that a totalitarian/authoritarian government cannot stand.

Authoritarian governments are happy to provide us with all the goodies most of us now cry out for: free health care, free education (including college), free food stamps, free cell phones, free trillion dollar subsidies when our banks or businesses go under, and all the rest.

Just like an authoritarian parent or any other kind of control freak, today’s politicians (both parties) understand that once you take care of someone, you rule them. They make you dependent precisely so they can control you. It’s not complicated, and none of it is new.

Now, with more than fifty percent of the population on some form of government (direct or indirect) handout, subsidy, job or benefit, the government of what used to be the land of liberty stands ready to go after the final two liberties. You literally see Hillary Clinton licking her chops. It’s not just her, but the whole movement of statism and authoritarianism embodied by the self-serving, Imperial City named after the great man, George Washington.

First, they have to take away our guns. You might not own a gun, and you might not care to own one. That’s not the point. The point is: You have a right to own a weapon of self-defense, if you choose. Once law-abiding people lose that right, this means government now has a monopoly on the ownership of weapons. What happens if that government crosses over the line, so much so that the government itself becomes illegitimate? That’s none of your concern. The control now belongs completely to the government, giving it a blank check to do whatever it wants.

Next, they take away freedom of speech. Already, it’s happening. The Federal Election Commission is just one government agency empowered to restrain freedom of speech by defining what’s acceptable and unacceptable to talk about in election campaigns. The IRS can selectively audit and harass political groups it considers a threat to the government’s power. The Obama administration openly did so with the Tea Party movement. Once busted, they did not apologize or back down. Many of those organizations have been quieted, as a result. What do you think the Hillary Clinton administration has in store for dissenting opinion, given Obama’s success thus far?

The founders of America understood what most of us shamefully evade today: Once the rights and liberties of individuals are extinguished, the Constitution that existed to uphold those rights now becomes meaningless. The most precious and principled parts of that Constitution are under attack.

We’re at the stage where we still have a theoretical First and Second Amendment, but not so much in practice. With only one more appointment to the Supreme Court, which Hillary Clinton will make early next year, the Constitution is effectively over. Because while conservatives on the right often disagree with each other, leftists and progressives are always in unison, especially when it comes to the suppression of individual rights for the sake of government control. Even without a President Hillary Clinton, the trends were probably inevitable, because few if any Americans today seem willing to defend these rights.

The final stage will come once the federal government more openly and “honestly” begins to attack the First and Second Amendments. It happens when citizens are ordered, en masse, to hand over and confiscate their guns, and to shut down or censor websites, books or speeches offensive to the powers that be. Yes, it’s America, and given our tradition of liberty there will be complex and mind-numbing rationalizations and justifications. But at the end of the day, you’re either free, or you’re not. And if you’re not, you will know this when you’re neither allowed to own a gun nor speak freely about what you think, even when it’s politically incorrect. Remember: under one-party government, there won’t be any way to stop it.

What has saved us up to now, in part, has been divided government. But careerist Republicans and Democrats, as we learned from the Donald Trump experience, have merged into one party. They’re all on the same team, in favor of their own power and against the liberty of Americans. Sadly, most Americans seem to be with them, at least the plurality required to give them the sense of legitimacy they so crave as they gradually erase our freedom. Election Day will tell us more, but the lack of outrage or opposition to years under the Obama government may have told us all we need to know.

Of course, a vocal and determined minority can still save the day. That minority of liberty-loving individuals will be aroused as never before, particularly once it becomes clear to our existing politicians that they have a green light to go ahead with a “third term” for Obama and everything that implies.

The real test will come when it’s time to hand over your weapons, and when it’s time to consult government regulations for proper and improper speech. Yes, it can happen here. It has happened in every society of human history. The First and Second Amendments are all that stand between America and a real dictatorship. We ignore them at our peril.

Follow Dr. Hurd on Facebook. Search under “Michael  Hurd” (Rehoboth Beach DE). Get up-to-the-minute postings, recommended articles and links, and engage in back-and-forth discussion with Dr. Hurd on topics of interest. Also follow Dr. Hurd on Twitter at @MichaelJHurd1

Dr. Hurd’s writings read on the air by Rush Limbaugh! Read more HERE.

The post First & Second Amendments: The Last Men Standing appeared first on Michael J. Hurd, Ph.D. | Living Resources Center.

View the full article @ www.DrHurd.com