The state of Paranoia

Going on the internet, the first thing I see is a picture of an old-style revolver with a caption about gun-control.  Having read the 2nd amendment recently (previous blog made me do it) I see that it does state that a "well-regulated militia" is good.  Well-regulated screams gun-control.  The statement that is more often heard is "right to bear arms"  which to me says weapon, not gun, but the watch command for this particular amendment is the NRA and they are all about the guns.  The point being, not that I think the well-regulated militia should carry butterknives, but that the amendments doesn't really remove such things as atomic missiles and grenades and flamethrowers, so assault rifles are also still just arms.

This is where I'm going to take a weird turn, because of my personal paranoia---if something is well regulated--regulated by whom?  Simple question.  Most people think the obvious answer is the government, but the amendment was written just after the American Revolution with the intent of making sure that the people of the USA maintained the physical ability to protect itself from its own government in the event that government became corrupt and stopped truly being for the good of all the people.

A recent research article by some high-falutin school stated that the government that is usually called a democracy and is actually supposed to be an republic and is actually an Oligarchy and maybe always was--also.  Yikes, sounds scary, maybe fattening, maybe infectious.

(who doesn't love the internet)

• ol·i·gar·chy
• [ ólli gaàrkee ]

1. small governing group: a small group of people who together govern a nation or control an organization, often for their own purposes
2. entity ruled by oligarchy: a nation governed or an organization controlled by an oligarchy
3. government by small group: government or control by a small group of people.

"An oligarchy is a form of government in which most of the political power effectively rests with a small segment of society, typically the people who have the most wealth, military strength, ruthlessness or political influence. The word "oligarchy" from the Greek words olígos, which means "few," and archo, which means "to rule". Some political theorists have argued that all societies are inevitably oligarchies, regardless of their supposed political system."

Well, no arguments on that research, looks pretty obvious.  

So, about the paranoia and the "arms".  Should we all be without them?  Should we all have them?  If they pry your gun from your dead, cold fingers, will all of the regular folks be searching great-grandma's barn for a pitchfork?  
Will we all start inventorying the sports, camping and yard equipment for possible ways to protect ourselves from our own government gone awry?  
Do regular people really do that?

Below is a list I stole from the internet of revolutionary war patriots.  It is interesting in that most of those names are pretty well-known and became rather powerful after the war.   But were they regular people before the revolution? (the following is a long list of revolutionary guys and a female or two with comments about their pre-revolutionary station in life. Read it or skip it, and we will go on.

Adams, John - Second President of the United States, 2x vice-president, before the revolution he was from modest means but very well-educated. (ok, ideaslistic leader--that's cool)

Adams, Samuel - American Revolutionary--while now known for his great beer, he was the son of a prosperous brewer with political tendencies--I do like the beer) Allen, Ethan - American Revolutionary War patriot, hero, and politician.  (militia, more of a regular guy leader than a born-to-lead oligarch.)  Got to love those guys from Vermont. Arnold, Benedict - American General who defected from the American to the British side--originally his father was a successful businessman, then bad luck and ETOH took him down, so high roots, with a hard row, and while a general, became a spy and traitor.   Or was perhaps just a pragmatic politician waiting for his chance) Dickinson, John - American Statesman and member of the Pennsylvania Assembly. A child with a privileged upbringing and private education, no shock to find him leading. Draper, Mary - Woman who helped soldiers during The American Revolution  (OK, I'm impressed, but never heard of her when studying the American Revolution in School in the 1960's and 70's.  Her contribution was to make food and clothes for the troops, can't think that made her much different than any other woman with patriot ties---this is why I hate the token attempts to recognize women at a time that women were not really recognized) Franklin, Benjamin - American Statesman.  What is not to love, one of 17 children, stopped school to work in the family business, truly an idealist, thinker, and amazing man.  How many men like him are lost due to the increased numbers of people in our population, where money buys more opportunity than heart/brains/or hardwork. Greene, Nathanael - American General during the American Revolutionary War, a regular guy that loved books and had high ideals, but why have I never heard of him before? Hancock, John - American Politician, Entrepreneur, and Soldier, businessman and politician, raised comfortably as friends with the family of our second president.  And he wrote big! Henry, Patrick - Founding father of American Revolutionary War and governor of Virginia, planter, attorney, orator, politician.  He would never have gone to a party where I was invited as a guest. Jay, John - The First Chief Justice of the United States, born into a wealthy family of merchants and politicians, a lawyer and statemen.  At least I had never heard of him. Jefferson, Thomas - Third US President and Co-Author of the Declaration of Independence, no matter how much I admire him, there is no way to pretend he wasn't born into an elite position in life. Jones, John Paul - Captain of the American Navy - "I have not yet begun to fight"  This is a man with earthy roots, one of the few in this list. Knox, Henry - First United States Secretary of War, owned a bookstore and was friends with George Washington. Lee, Richard Henry - American Statesman.  Formal education in England, political position granted before the revolution. Lee, Francis Lightfoot - Active in Virginia politics and signer of the Declaration of Independence, politician before the war, classically educated son of a planter (reads plantation owner) Madison, James - Fourth President of the United States, father was the largest landowner in Orange County Virginia. Monroe, James - Fifth President of the United States, decidely middle class roots. Moore, Margaret Catharine - Helped the colonists during the Battle of Cowpens.  Amazingly, I think you may need to be related to her to figure out why she is on this list.  I'm betting that there were no leaders that were female during that war, it was just not done. Paine, Thomas - Author of "Common Sense" and Revolutionary, middle class, an activist, I'm impressed. Prescott, William - American colonel in the Revolutionary War, a militia man, yea! for regular folks. Revere, Paul - American Activist and Artisan, specifically a silversmith, not exactly the craft of a poor person, but I like artisans, they work with their hands and that keeps you in touch with your own roots, plus I always liked that midnight ride. Rush, Benjamin - Signatory of the Declaration of Independence, another planter's son, this one educated as a physician.  Not exactly the salt of the earth, but that profession was different back then---read between those lines. Warren, Joseph - Doctor, Soldier and Statesman of the American Revolution, given a commission to lead, chose to serve as a private, killed in battle, this man seems to be the stuff of heroes and legends.  Of course, I would hope that no one thinks a private that didn't get a chance to lead was any less a loss, but I really am impressed. Washington, George - First President of the United States, family was rich/influential when arrived from England, receiving land from the King, then they lost it over politics, moved to Virginia, and George Washington's father who was quite ambitious acquired quite a bit of property in the form of land and slaves.  George inherited this  rather early on. So, while a few of the lesser known revolution leaders were from average, granted middle or better, but not the already rich and powerful, the majority were already leading things.  The already rich and powerful were not revolting to save the regular to poor people, they were trying to not share their wealth with the motherland--or her royals.  Those individuals would probably love the current practice of mostly taxing the already over-taxed and underfunded middle class to destitute. For those that were not in that apparently well-off but from the writing, high-minded and idealistic oligararchical individuals, there were a number of just plain folks that showed heroism, selflessness, ingenuity, and just plain hard work.  I never heard of most of those.  Except Ben Franklin, what's not to like about Ben. So, most people act as if there has never been another reason to revolt, not since the great documents created by the founding fathers.  But I think that a civil war is just a revolution where only half the folks decided to revolt---and they lost.  I'm glad they lost because the last thing we need is another excuse to treat poor and powerless people like chattel, but if they hadn't lost, the south would have some other country name and history would read very differently. Could we have a revolution in this country today?  Revolution reads as WAR.  War is not a good thing.  It doesn't guarantee anything except a smaller population at the end.  Plus, if you haven't noticed, the leaders these days rarely enter the fray.  And who would be the leaders of such a thing.  We currently have militias, but most are quite extreme, frequently neonazi or survivalist mentality, or those with a strong desire to start a new and incredibly self-serving religion aimed at meeting the leader's needs at the expense of all the members.    I like to think that there are not enough people willing to follow those people to start much of anything.   Do I think our own government could become so awful that the people will rise up?  So far, we don't even vote most of the time.  We are so worried about our own little lives we don't see the big picture.  Everything is gradual or behind the scenes.  Most of us don't know enough about our taxes to be able to tell if they went up or down until we do them at the end of the year.  If anything else changes, income, deductions, anything, then we still don't know.  In our country the facts about tax rates are obscure and little talked about.  The laws that are changed require that an individual seeks answers from multiple sources as the news is not from a free press but from multiple bought and paid for presses.   I do think it is not too late to fix our current government.  Peacefully and fairly. We will see.