Dr. Edwin Vieira is always insightful on how the Constitution for the United States is designed to function, yet he can also be highly provocative.
For some, especially those conditioned through years of public schooling and programmed by mass media, his ideas can be mind-blowing. Dr. Vieira’s truth-bombs on the American legal system are akin to being smacked into enlightenment with a bamboo stick from a Zen master.
On episode 38 of the Everyday Samurai podcast Dr. Vieira said something that raised some mental red flags: “the American founding fathers were not libertarians.”
Where is this coming from? Does this guy need to read Bailyn’s The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution?
Of course the revolution was about liberty. The preamble to the U.S. Constitution clearly states that the purpose of this more perfect union was to secure the blessings of liberty. So where is this guy coming from?
All will be revealed in due time.
There’s a big difference between modern libertarian individualism and the founding generation that fought to create a more perfect union of political liberty in the English tradition.
Dr. Vieira’s understanding of the pre-constitutional and Constitutional militia system flies in the face of most opinions about the Second Amendment, even from big name advocates, because protected gun rights are not merely about self-defense or an individual right to carry.
Arguing for an individual right has only yielded more restrictions, prohibitions, and licensing schemes. The prominent and well-funded Second Amendment advocates, arguing for the individual right, have only, at best, offered a speed bump on the road to serfdom.
Choosing to fight for your life with one arm tied behind your back is the height of folly, particularly when you’ve already been beaten into a corner.
Focusing on the latter clause of the Second Amendment while ignoring the first is a losing strategy. It ignores how the individual right is an essential component, indispensable, to the functioning of the federal republic as designed by the Constitution.
The real reason government actors are prohibited from infringing upon every Americans’ right to keep and bear arms is so that the whole body of the people, except for public officials, can serve in the militia: institutions necessary to the security of a free state.
It’s not about you.
Sure, the right to keep and bear arms is self-evident and, like all rights in a sane world, government agents should not be able to deny any of these rights without probable cause of a specific crime proven through a due process in a fair and impartial court. Yet there is much more to the story when it comes to the Second Amendment.
This is what most gun rights advocates avoid discussing:
The right to keep and bear arms is protected so that every able bodied citizen can be armed, organized, and disciplined to serve in the militia. The Second Amendment actually imposes a civic obligation.
It is your, mine, and every other citizens’ duty to be armed and trained to execute the law, repel invasions, and suppress insurrections. It is not optional or nice to have but necessary to the security of a free state.
Let’s face it, leaving these essential functions to politicians and bureaucrats has resulted in the dysfunction, social strife, and insecurity witnessed today.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
The legal remedies to restore self-government and effectively end all gun control are already available. This is a true libertarian strategy, even if it may not sound like it.
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
Freedom requires responsibility after all, the founding fathers knew that much. The Constitution is an operating charter for free and independent states to cooperate for mutual security through federation. Central to the operation of that charter is the militia of the several states composed of the whole body the people, except for public officials, and trained to arms that they possess at all times.
This connects your right to keep and bear arms, as well as training in the martial arts, to a deeper social contribution. Let’s hope it changes the debate on infringing legislation.
Be sure to listen to episode 38 and hear what Dr. Vieira has to say about creating real Second Amendment sanctuaries that actually can secure the blessings of liberty.
Share the show with a friend, forward this email to someone who needs this information, and spread the word so we can change the narrative about the Second Amendment.
To your victorious life!
Ken Yamarashi
P.S. If you’re serious about your own personal defense and contributing to a more secure society, get the skills you need by training in a reality focused program: Real Defense.
