Rattlesnake

I
Let us examine ourselves. The rattlesnake is found in no other quarter of the world besides America. She never begins an attack, nor once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage...she never wounds 'till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her.

This is the America that we need to be. The reason that the rattlesnake does rattle is that it lived among the herds of roaming buffalo. Simply stating to her neighbor, ‘I am here, do not step on me’.

This is the America that our founding fathers stated us with.

How much easier would it be living with our neighbors in a harmony, neither allies nor enemies, merely friendly neighbors saying ‘hi’ over the fence?

Examining the way we have shed this neighborly image and deployed our resources all over the place, reveals that this has certainly brought us trouble.

It seems that although the border to Mexico remains open and unprotected, the North/South Korean border is secured. Strangely, the Korean border has American troops there to provide the service.

So, it would seem simple that we as Americans not only have the ability to seal a border, we also have the able bodies to actually secure it. This is a geographic issue, not a legislative or monetary one. All that is required is a simple Department of Defense change of orders for some of our servicemen.

This would be the proverbial ‘two birds with one stone’. The Mexican border would be secured and we would be out of our neighbors business. It is like stepping into their backyard to hold the kids from bickering. As long as we are there, holding them apart, then they are always separated and shouting. If we get out the way, the fight would soon be over, if it continues at all and a peaceful hug would be begin.

There are many issues that we as the 'non-rattlesnake America' have perhaps aided in. But, more often than not, we have only created more issues in the process.

We cannot solve everyones problems, we need to focus on our own. How much good can a Doctor do in a surgery, if he has a broken arm? First, the physician must focus on his own individual healing, before attempting to aide another.


II
If you've been following the Diebold case in California, you know that electronic voting has proven easier to corrupt than any other form, and is being abandoned now by many states. Most proponents of electoral reform want to return to paper ballots, this would be great since from our long, bitter history, gun owners know, probably better than anyone else, how easily polls can be subverted.

It generally starts with how you ask the question.

We live in a Republic, not a Democracy; let me explain it this way. A Republic is a representative caucus elected by the people to govern. A Democracy has you place your life, liberty, and property, and the lives, liberty, and property of your family, in the hands of 300,000,000 products of the public school system. I don't know about you, but I won't let my next-door neighbors tell me what to do, and I certainly don't want 300 million "neighbors" telling me what to do, either.

The reason that we don't have direct democracy in America, and were never intended to, is that the Founding Fathers, extraordinarily well-informed with regard to history, were every bit as worried about majorities violating the basic human rights of minorities as they were about the tyrannies imposed by kings. They installed some safety-valves in the system. Some of them -- like the election of U.S. Senators by state legislators, rather than by popular vote -- have been ruined over the years. Others, like the Electoral College, are barely hanging on.

At one time, in fact, you couldn't vote unless you had something -- real property -- to lose in the process.


"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." ~Samuel Adams~