Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ucla-cs.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!sdcrdcf!trwrb!cepu!ucla-cs!reiher From: reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Re: Gun Control again Message-ID: <682@ucla-cs.ARPA> Date: Sun, 12-Aug-84 00:43:45 EDT Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.682 Posted: Sun Aug 12 00:43:45 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 8-Aug-84 08:10:33 EDT Organization: UCLA CS Dept. Lines: 72 In response to Carl D.'s article: >I don't care what anybody thinks about our country, we are NOT "One >Nation Under God", we are One Nation Under Whoever The Hell We >Elect ! Ever heard of checks and balances? The Constitution was written with a view towards preventing this sort of thing. The illusion that the President rules the nation is just that: an illusion, even in this era of the so-called "Imperial Presidency". Even popular Presidents have trouble getting their programs through Congress, and sometimes find them shot down by the Supreme Court. And don't tell me that, as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, the President can enforce his will militarily. Army, Navy, and Air Force officers take an oath to uphold the Constitution, in addition to obedience to higher authorities. In fact, the duty to defend the Constitution is clearly the highest duty of the officer, according to the wording of the oath, superceding that of obedience to superiors, including the President. There is less chance of a military supported coup in this nation than there is of Chernenko converting to Roman Catholicism. Traditions protect us much more than gun owners, some of whom would probably side with any usurper who promised a return to good ol' "conservative values" while pretending to observe the gun owners' favorite parts of the Constitution. Since this is net.flame, I feel that I can fairly express this opinion: anyone who seriuosly believes that the right to bear arms is a significant factor in preserving this nation's liberties is an ignorant yahoo with too little intelligence or common sense to be allowed to see a firearm, much less own one. >(Don't kid yourself into thinking that the German's were firm supporters >of his [Adolf Hitler's] theologies, it was certain death to speak out against >him !) One thing about Adolf Hitler: he was perfectly honest about his long- range intentions. Everyone in Germany knew that he intended to remove all Jews from Germany somehow, and everyone knew that he intended to remilitarize, and everyone knew that he intended to get back all territories Germany had lost in WWI, and everyone knew that he intended to destroy the Soviet Union when opportunity presented itself, and everyone knew that he planned to have Germany become the predominant power in the world. He wrote it all in a book called "Mein Kampf", and said it in many speeches. That's why they elected him. Now, you may argue that Germans didn't forsee massive death camps, or an apocolyptic world war, but these weren't that far from what Hitler promised. >Hitler came to power because he was a smooth talker and fed on the >idealls of the german people (much like any political convention), not >because he felt that Jews should be wiped from the face of the Earth, >that everyone should be 6 foot tall and blond, or that Germany should >rule the World ! Had they known he even thought these things do you >honestly think they would have let him rule their country ! Yes, I think they would have. In fact, I think they did. Germans of that time really did feel that, as a race, they were superior, and, at least, deserved a much greater say in how the world was run. They felt they had been betrayed in WWI, and that they had been badly treated by the Allies. They wanted to get back what they felt was rightfully theirs, never mind that Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and France had different opinions. As far as the genocide of the Jews goes, people nowadays don't seem to realize just how socially respectable anti-Semiticism used to be, especially in Central Europe. If Hitler had actually run on a platform saying "I will kill every Jew in Europe", I doubt if it would have cost him many votes, since the Jews were voting against him anyway. It's also worth remembering that Hitler swiftly overturned the German Constitution, which he could do since it, and democratic traditions in Germany, were less than 15 years old. Our Constitution has been around almost two hundred years. You don't build strong traditions in 15 years, but you do in 150. -- Peter Reiher reiher@ucla-cs.arpa {...ihnp4,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!reiher