Clearing Up A Misconception...

I've noticed, between comments here at MArooned and in posts on other blogs, a misconception about my political views. I'm a conservative. I am not a Republican. At one time, it was rumored that the Republican Party might possibly contain a conservative or two; however, recent events, say, from 1996 forward, just to pick a time frame, have proven this demonstrably false.

I've always laid out my political beliefs thusly:

I hate the Republicans and the Democrats. I just hate the Republicans a little less.

That remains unchanged.

Do I single out the Democrats more than the Republicans? Certainly. One of the signature policies of the Democratic party is gun control - they haz it, and I don't want it. I'm what Unc might term a Second Amendment absolutist - i.e. the "What part of shall not be infringed don't they fuckin' understand???" group. I foolishly think that a gun is an inanimate object, incapable of being "good" or "bad" all by itself - requiring a human (who can be good or bad) to be of any use, good or ill. Ergo, any attempt to curb crime based on regulating the tool used is made of fail.

And they know this.

Time after time, location after location, gun control has proven to be an abysmal failure. Fucking England, which is a goddamned ISLAND, has gun crime even though handguns are completely banned and all other firearms are so insanely regulated as to constitute a de facto ban again. But people get threatened by, robbed with, and even shot at by handguns at an alarming rate.

See D.C., Washington; or Chicago, Illinois as well. Draconian gun bans. Sky high crime. Boston, my beloved city of the water that's dirty, ditto. Mumbles can rant all he wants about guns flooding the city from out of state, but he's full of shit (he is a politician, after all...)

So... Gun control doesn't work, yet they insist on pushing for more, more, more. One or more of several factors are in play here.

1. They thrive on ignorance. One need look no further than Carolyn McCarthy "answering" the question of what a barrel shroud is to see that they have no fucking clue what they're banning. What's the functional difference between three 10 round magazines and one 30 round magazine? Nothing. Not a fucking thing. Maybe 1-2 seconds, tops. Define a "Saturday Night Special".

'Nuff said.

2. They purposefully and routinely embellish, obfuscate, and otherwise outright lie their asses off every time their lips move. How many times were "assault weapon" and "machine gun" used interchangeably in the months preceding the 1994 ban? How many times has the completely bogus statistic of being "43 times more likely to be shot with your own gun" been used (and immediately debunked)? How many times do we have to find out that "children" killed by gunfire includes adults up to the age of 23 to make the statistics?

3. They appeal to emotion and feelings rather than logic. Put up a grieving mother whose son was gunned down in a gangland drive-by gone wrong, who could possibly argue against her impassioned cries to prevent another family from being devastated by gun violence? A police officer senselessly gunned down in a routinely traffic stop makes a sensational anchor for an assault weapons ban - never mind that it's about as statistically relevant as the police officers killed when their doors opened and the door-mounted seat-belt ejected them from the car...

All this, and they still push gun control. Why? Why do they need to lie? Why do they need to cherry-pick statistics to back up their arguments? Why do they need to prop up phony pro-hunting groups to appear mainstream?

Could it be that they really have no interest in controlling crime? Could it be that they're far more interested in removing firearms from the hands of law-abiding citizens?

Every time a gun control bill is passed, we lose more of our precious freedom.

For everyone out there bleating about the PATRIOT Act, or waterboarding, or calling George Bush Hitler's equal, just what the flying fuck do you propose to do about it if you don't have access to firearms?

The lone protestor in Tianneman Square standing up to the row of tanks was a powerful, iconic image. It also didn't change one damned thing. He died. More than likely, his family was thrown in jail, the women raped, the men murdered or sent to slave camps. Equip them with rifles, and see how much harder the task becomes.

Good thoughts and singing Kumbaya ain't gonna cut it, folks. Only the very real threat of cold blue steel being put to the ultimate test keeps these fuckers from breaking out the cattle cars. And every time we allow them to bind us in golden chains, we get one step closer to the ovens.

FUCK. THAT. SHIT.

I will ALWAYS side with the group that trusts me to be armed. Always. Even if it means holding my nose and voting for an authoritarian prick like John fucking McCain. Especially when the Democrats nominate a man who wants to ban all semi-automatic weapons, limit purchases to one a month, renew and strengthen the Assault Weapons Ban, etc. Barack Obama is the most strident supporter of gun control the Democrats have ever nominated.

• He doesn't want me to carry a gun for my own defense.
• He wants to take away my cherished Colt 1911 that I inherited from my grandfather.
• He wants to make sure I can't even have a semi-automatic version of the current military-issue battle rifle.
• He wants to limit my ability to purchase what I want, when I want it - and for those who say one firearm a month is not an infringement, I ask, what, then, is? One a year? One a decade? One a lifetime???

I want no part of it. So I hold my nose and vote for McCain. I don't like it, but I like the alternative a helluva lot less.

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All this, basically, to try to explain why I've been cheerleading the GOP recently. I don't want to. But the Democrats have forced my hand...

That is all.