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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 |
| By calling attention to a well-regulated militia for the security of the Nation, and the right of each citizen to keep and bear arms, our Founding Fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy. Although it is extremely unlikely that the fears of governmental tyranny, which gave rise to the second amendment, will ever be a major danger to our Nation, the amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic military-civilian relationships, in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of the country. For that reason I believe the second amendment will always be important. --JOHN F. KENNEDY |
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