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The
Below Comments Relate to this Newslink:
The NRA sees a bleak Hobbesian world. So why does it want to arm individuals with guns?
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com
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Doing so is difficult, however, because Hobbes argues that in the absence of government, individuals will frequently attack and kill one another in what he terms “the war of all against all.” It is not that he thinks humans are evil; far from it. But he argues that our natural tendencies — vanity, competitiveness, fearfulness and glory-seeking — will inevitably lead us to fight, and frequently kill, each other. As a result, without government, human life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
Faced with such a bleak existence, Hobbes argues that there is only one solution to the problem of a violent and chaotic world: a government with absolute power. |
Comment by:
MarkHamTownsend
(4/20/2018)
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I wonder if the author considered the possibility that the NRA took its position not by a silly conflating of John Locke and Thomas Hobbs but by a serious consideration of our modern condition, informed by the philosophies of those who support and donate to the NRA? |
Comment by:
PHORTO
(4/20/2018)
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False dichotomy. But then, what else would you expect from WaPo? |
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QUOTES
TO REMEMBER |
"Some people think that the Second Amendment is an outdated relic of an earlier time. Doubtless some also think that constitutional protections of other rights are outdated relics of earlier times. We The People own those rights regardless, unless and until We The People repeal them. For those who believe it to be outdated, the Second Amendment provides a good test of whether their allegiance is really to the Constitution of the United States, or only to their preferences in public policies and audiences. The Constitution is law, not vague aspirations, and we are obligated to protect, defend, and apply it. If the Second Amendment were truly an outdated relic, the Constitution provides a method for repeal. The Constitution does not furnish the federal courts with an eraser." --9th Circuit Court Judge Andrew Kleinfeld, dissenting opinion in which the court refused to rehear the case while citing deeply flawed anti-Second Amendment nonsense (Nordyke v. King; opinion filed April 5, 2004) |
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