Anything Government can do for You…

…it can do to you.


I have been saying that for years.

Now, with the ongoing riots all across the country, the President has suggested using the military to quell the riots.  And, as a result, certain people are outraged.  This, they claim, is a clear demonstration that we are now a dictatorship.

Never mind that if we were actually a dictatorship those people would already be in a camp.

It’s not like the government has never used the military (both National Guard and regular troops) to keep peace and order in trying times in the past even in the “modern era”.  From enforcing desegregation orders in the 50’s and 60’s to quelling riots (exactly the circumstance now) the guard and the military have been used to keep or restore order in the US.

Going further back we have various actual rebellions:  the Whiskey Rebellion, Fries’ Rebellion, John Brown’s attack on Harper’s Ferry, and others.

The 1807 Insurrection Act gives the President authority to use troops if he believes an insurrection is in progress.  Now look at things like those listed rebellions and compare them to what’s going on now.  They all carried convictions of treason fitting the Constitutional definition:


Do the current riots rise to the level of insurrection and “levying war against [the United States]”? I don’t know.  And “I don’t know” is certainly not good enough for me.  I would want to be damn sure of my position before going down that road.

But the interesting thing is the same people who were perfectly okay with the idea that the military might be used against me for my position on RKBA, for limiting the power of government, and general being “pro liberty”, are now up in arms that the military might be used against them.


Once you give the government power, there is no guarantee that it will always be used in ways of which you approve.

2 thoughts on “Anything Government can do for You…”

  1. As Commander Sheridan (Babylon-5) said when ordered to use newly-granted authority to end a dockworkers’ strike, “Never hand someone a gun unless you know where he intends to aim it.”


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