Out of the Barrel of a Gun
ABC7 reports that the San Francisco City Council has passed a resolution in support of the Iranian election protestors. They call it “a strong message“, and make a point of emphasizing that the vote passed 11-0, as if this should make President Ahmadinejad sit up and pay particular attention.
In the meantime, security forces are shooting people in the streets, senior clerics are calling for executions, and The Wall Street Journal reports that the government is charging families $3000 “bullet fees” before allowing them to recover the bodies. Somehow I think that San Francisco’s “strong message” is having slightly less effect than expected. The “activist movement” doesn’t like to admit this, but ultimately, posturing can only change people who are willing to listen. Barring treaty, trade, or threat of war, a people cannot compel a foreign government to heed their concerns, and it’s silly to expect that they could. As Iran too clearly illustrates today, a people cannot even compel their own government to heed their concerns, if it can force them back to silence without fear of reprisal.
槍桿子裡面出政權.
Political power comes from the barrel of a gun.
It was true when Chairman Mao wrote it seventy years ago, and it’s true today.
Edit: Last year, the Texas Review of Law and Politics released an interesting comparative study of nations’ civilian gun-ownership rates and their degrees of personal/economic freedom.
Yes…I agree. Political power really does come from the barrel of a gun–it’s one very good way to get people to listen who aren’t willing to change.
It’s sad but true.
Sometimes it’s the only way, isn’t it?
As an American, that’s the thing I love about the Second Amendment. Americans aren’t allowed to bear arms; they have a right to them. Americans aren’t allowed political power; they aren’t allowed to vote; those are ennumerated rights. The philosophical distinction seems important to me.
I hope you had a wonderful Fourth of July!
It does feel that way, yes.
Heh, thanks to John Locke, we do have such rights. It is quite an important distinction and awesome to look at too, really. Allowing implies the government’s being nice and, well, allowing you to do such a thing like vote. But if it’s a right, it’s all up to you :]
Thanks, I did. I hope you did too :]
I personally thank James Madison and George Mason, but for sure, Locke was a heavy influence on their thinking. We owe all of those great thinkers a great debt of gratitude, and a great responsibility to remember their work.
I remember more of what James Madison did than George Mason (so much for APUSH).
Agreed. Though I think the best way for that is to simply live out the Bill of Rights.
It’s a depressing truth and I suppose the only thing I can really do at this point is be glad that I live in a country that was based on basic concepts of human rights, although it occasionally took a while for everyone to be considered human. Faults and all, I do think that America is one of the better places to live.