Posts by ScottStrohm@www.minds.com
 (DIR) Post #AaApPgXL6MoqJX8UXQ by ScottStrohm@www.minds.com
       2023-08-15T00:52:21+00:00
       
       2 likes, 1 repeats
       
       Do you exercise the Second Amendment? Why or why not? Not sure whether to answer "yes" or "no" to the specific question. I would suggest that one doesn't “exercise” a Constitutional amendment. I exercise natural rights. As you are likely aware, amendments (to the U.S. Constitution) were written to prohibit governments from abridging the natural rights of citizens (I use the plural of government because, if I understand it correctly, ostensibly no state or local government is allowed to make laws that violate the Federal).So, I might say that I exercise my physical body. I exercise while I ponder God, while I raise my family. Every time I am out in public, I exercise situational awareness (in an attempt to never need to use deadly force to protect myself and my family). I exercise as I study history, politics, farming, hunting, …(It is an easy exercise to observe and marvel at the existence of the complex universe.)For many years of my life I believed that the Constitution was a great attempt at defining AND limiting a government for the benefit of freedom. I no longer believe that. Because it didn't work. The U.S. government is much, much too big (as are a preponderance of city and state governments). Surely the U.S. government has morphed into an entity MUCH worse than the founders imagined possible. For almost 50 years, I've spent time regularly exercising my God-given rights, among which is the right  to self defense—though I didn't even realize this until more recently; for most of that time I thought I was just living in a society that respected freedom (truth, justice, …).The spring/summer I was a middle-aged teenager, I planted my first ever vegetable garden (never before really knowing any farmers or knowing anyone else who planted a garden). That fall, for the first time, I went white-tail deer hunting with my dad. That year I took my first white-tail deer. I taught myself how to butcher it (by researching at my local library using a card catalog to find reference materials). I was successful! What a great learning experience. I grew a garden for 3 summers. Many years passed while I moved away to study. I lived in that big city for more than a dozen years. As the years passed I felt less and less connected to the earth. During that time, I was assaulted and robbed more than once (not just by thugs, but also by governments). Eventually I moved back to be near rural areas (where people were literally as well as figuratively more down to earth, less damaged by big-city corruption). I again took up an interest in White-tail deer hunting. Practiced. Got better. Became a successful hunter of that game. Started a family (and now, have raised three children). Have harvested dozens of whitetail deer over the years to provide healthy food for my family. For most of the past 30 years I've grown gardens. My wife and I are micro-farmers. We have but a typical tenth-of-an-acre suburban property, but have learned to grow an incredible amount and variety of food, herbs, mushrooms, ...During that time I'd like to think that I've learned much—not just about hunting or gardening.I'm not sure if governments have become more corrupt during my life or if they have always been corrupt. But, now, I have no doubt about the corruption of governments, Oligarchs, and the many millionaires who pervert governments through deception and other insanity. Constitutions and governments become worse than moot when wielded by tens of thousands of insane humans who have made it law that they can't be fired or prosecuted for crimes—including crimes against that Constitution. That Constitution becomes a weapon against reasonable citizens, against reasonable society. Against truth. Against God. If society has no mechanism for bringing Justice to the criminally insane, then it will perish, sooner or later (as they ALL have for all the millenniums of which we are aware). Until “civil” societies embrace a way to do what must be done to provide for justice, what we think of as civil will continue to disintegrate into what we have experienced as mayhem.I now know that for some time (certainly in my lifetime) “civil” society is attacked and controlled by the most insane of humans. And that has created our violent social environment. It is worse than lawless; and no lawless society has ever endured for long. Mayhem brings dangers by definition. It has been interesting to see more and more states adopt Constitutional Carry laws. I carry regularly (nearly every day—because I'd rather have such protection and not need it, than need it and not have it).https://www.minds.com/