Loved your article about homeschooling. My son and daughter were homeschooled, and are now continuing the tradition with eight grandchildren. The grandchildren are so far beyond the “normal” level of education that many people feel they must make excuses “well, your children are obviously geniuses.”
One scene from Alexis de Toqueville’s Democracy in America stood out in my mind: a high school class engaged in debate in the town square, in classical Latin and Greek.
If the event was held in the public square, does this not suggest that the public could appreciate classical Latin and Greek? This was not the geeks speaking to the geeks; this was a set of bright students speaking to the public of which they were a part. Elsewhere, Alexis de Toqueville remarked on how widespread was the understanding of the Constitution.
We greatly underestimate the desire and capacity among children for learning. I taught my 6 year old grandson how to add a series of consecutive integers, starting with an explanation of that old formula n(n+1)/2, which was taught in high school.
I wanted to know how well he could generalize, so I asked the sum of the even numbers from 2 to 50. He had the answer while I was still putting my mind in gear. In the future, I shall have to pre-compute answers to my little test questions, lol.
Thank you for your articles, which I always enjoy.
While I don’t think the act will ever fly in the U.S.A. It is alarming. But there is much food for thought in the effort.
We North Americans, U.S and Canada, are among the very few nations that use the Boxer primer in our ammo. The central flash hole in the cartridges makes it easy to punch the spent primer out and simple to reload the cartridge. Most countries use the Berdan primer with three off center flash holes, making it very difficult to remove the spent primer and reload the cartridge case. I believe this was intentional to prevent their people from reloading ammunition. Think about who uses which type of primer and their form of government and the truth will slowly sink in.
Here we should give thanks that our “Commie sit down to pee pen raised rabbit liberals” do not understand firearms or ammunition. The technology to serial number all ammo and I.D. Fired cases to the gun they were fired in does not exist and the bureaucracy to do so would be enormous and ultimately be a failure. BUT! A Federally mandated switch to Berdan primers would render all of our ammunition un-reloadable. I think an attempt to do this is coming “As sure as God made little green apples!” Let’s stay alert for the attempt!
Leon Kania
Ex Captain, 5Th Special Forces, Viet Nam
The [linked] article by Mr. John Silveira is woefully out of date. Leaving the article in its current state only adds to the misinformation, panic, and stridency generally found on the internet and in mass emailings of dire warnings regarding our personal liberties. The Ammunition Accountability Act, in every form and everywhere introduced, failed. It was never brought to a vote in any of the 18 states in which something of this nature was introduced, either dying in committee, dying due to no action taken, or even having been withdrawn. Though the tools of research and verification are at the fingertips of anyone possessing a computer and who could read the article at the above link, the tendency all too often is to immediately post such misinformation to everybody they know, distributing concern, unease, and panic, while contributing nothing constructive. There is no current threat from the Ammunition Accountability Act or anything resembling it anywhere in the Union.
As a matter of service to your readers, the author might compose a follow-up article, updating the fate of the bill in each of the states, or even just a paragraph denoting that the bills are currently a dead issue. Perhaps your editorial staff would undertake the project. Will it/they resurface? It is likely, even probable. And that would be the time to update once again, inform and motivate the reading/shooting public to the new threat. Letting old, inaccurate, outdated information stand serves no good purpose, informs no one, and only leads to useless spam, and frankly, de-sensitization of the reading/shooting public to real, clear, and present threats to our liberties and the 2nd Amendment.
Respectfully,
John L. Corstorphine, Jr.
John,
Thanks for calling that to our attention. The author just added to the article a couple of paragraphs updating the current status.
I always ask my friends when they send me articles like this or about other government intrusions, “when do we start shooting”.
I have read about this before and at this point in time I would say that it would be the spark to ignite more than anyone proposing such a policy would have bargained for.
However, that piece was published in 2002 and in the seven years since then, things have gotten worse for those who believe in personal freedom and personal responsibility.
Perhaps now that the major media has finally realized their half-century-long dream of partnering with committed socialists in the White House and leading both houses of Congress, the masses you speak of will wake up one day to find an America that is far different than the utopia they were promised…and then do something about it.
But honestly, Randy, I’m not betting the house on it. There’s just too darn much for them to watch on TV.
I enjoyed your article a great deal and your conclusions about the Constitution not authorizing the current governmental train wreck are spot on.
But you failed to mention some small but important items — that officialdumb possesses far more ordinance than the entire populace combined.
All of the mice agree that the cat needs a bell…but who is going to tie it on him?
You might consider some remedy thoughts in an article some time. At some point the opposition strategies will devolve to confrontation. If that is to be non-civil war then strategies must be developed ahead of time that avoid violence. A very tall order since officialdumb is fond of violence.
Pulling all money out of banks and closing accounts en masse would cut the most tender flesh on the statists. Or a state banking system such as North Dakotas. (They have $1.5 billion in surplus state budget funds. Who else has that?) So would going to barter systems. So would pulling kids out of public schools. And of course, states rights laws which actually have teeth would make great tools. there many options, but all require citizen cohesion.
I have spent decades on this line of thought. It is fairly easy to create chaos that leads to civil war that leads to some Stalin character that rules for 80 years to ruin. It is far more difficult to stage non-violent opposition that wears down the elites to the point of departure so that statesmen can take office. Jesus said, “Consider the unrighteous judge…” A great plan. Elites love the best seats at the feasts, greetings in the market and titles. That is why they want the office. Booing and rotten tomatoes and disrespect make them pout and go home. Look at the current Town Hall Meetings and the reaction of the bloated toads.
You write well. Perhaps you could tell us all how to do things that work without our homes being burned to the ground by the New World Order troops. My great concern is that without such plans, the end result will be just that, only an iron fisted dictator will hold the power.
I wandered to your site somehow, and find it absolutely amazing.
I have two cast iron fry pans, which I love. I plan to try the 200 degree seasoning method. I do clean them with salt and a nylon scrubbie and they are wonderful!
That was a pleasant article, but the one about civil unrest I found quite disturbing, mostly because it put into words things I have been thinking about for some time. I also have read something about how the United States is currently divided into five districts with special military units and directives for each area, should the citizenry get out of line. Pretty frightening stuff. We personally are sure not prepared to deal with something like this, but have started to work toward putting in a wood stove, and stocking up on emergency supplies.
Again, thanks for addressing issues that most people don’t want to think about—but should.
I wish we lived next door to you, or at the most just around the corner or across the back fence. Both my wife and I just love the way you write — it would be so much fun to meet and talk from time to time.
For those of us who live in the Socialist Republic of Boulder County, Colorado, secession seems highly unlikely especially when most here still get goose bumps up their leg when they hear BHO and when they learn that zillions of taxpayer spendulus money is heading their way.
