Think Progress » Broun calls Pelosi a ‘domestic enemy of the Constitution.’
At a town hall last week, Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) continued his campaign to inject over the top, paranoid rhetoric into America’s political discourse. “I’m chairman of the Second Amendment Task Force fighting for Second Amendment rights. Those gun rights are actually critical to prevent treason in America,” said Broun, [mjh: How, by shooting guys like Broun?] according to Athens Banner-Herald reporter Blake Aued, who provided a transcript of Broun’s remarks to TPM. Broun then said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is one of the “domestic enemies of the Constitution” that he says he swore to defend against:
I’ve gotten to be good friends with Justice Antonin Scalia, who he and Justice Clarence Thomas are the only ones who have any concept of what the Constitution is supposed to be and, and do what they’re supposed to do as justices by upholding the Constitution. But, in fact every, when I was sworn into the Marine Corp, I was sworn to uphold the Constitution against every enemy, foreign and domestic. We’ve got a lot of domestic enemies of the Constitution (applause) and one of those sits in the speaker’s chair of the United States Congress, Nancy Pelosi.
Previously, Broun has said that President Obama wants to go “down the road” of Hitler and has the pieces in place to “establish an authoritarian government.” He has also said that Obama, Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) are part of a “socialist elite” that wants to declare martial law in America.
Think Progress » Broun calls Pelosi a ‘domestic enemy of the Constitution.’
Read that again. This guy was a marine and claims his duty to protect the Constitution. How? By armed insurrection against duly elected representatives. INSANE! Again: Idiots like Broun will deny any culpability at the first bloodshed. That blood will be on his hands and his compatriots.
Are you kidding? Why do you think the framers of the Constitution added
the Second Amendment?
“The said Constitution [shall] be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of
the press, or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own
arms.†– Samuel Adams, debates & Proceedings in the Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 86-87.
“No free man
shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last
resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.” – Thomas Jefferson, proposed Virginia constitution, June 1776. 1 Thomas
Jefferson Papers, 334 (C. J. Boyd, Ed., 1950)
“One of the ordinary modes, by which tyrants accomplish their purposes without
resistance, is, by disarming the people, and making it an offense to keep arms.” – Constitutional scholar and Supreme Court Justice
Joseph Story
Since the establishment of the Constitution, how many times have armed
citizens challenged the government? Is it possible that respect for the rule of law and the outcome of elections has been half as
important to the survival of America as have guns? No,of course not, the only thing keeping us going as a nation is your gun. Thanks.
peace, mjh
Many might think Broun is a bit radical, but I know others who think
he’s right on.
I’m in favor of reclaiming our country through the ballot box. An uprising may produce leadership I or you may
not like. This also is frightening. Thanks for the comment.
rdm
Well, you really have to admire the
kind-of bravery of anyone stupid enough to keep a loaded gun in their home.
When study after study demonstrate the overwhelming
likelihood that their own weapon will be stolen and used in some crime, used against them and their families on the premises, or used by
family member against family member. Rarely is there a true “Protected By Smith and Wesson” moment as promoted by the NRA. “Well, by
golly, there’s this here study from the NRA that says that’s not true!!”
Against all these odds, many people bravely choose to
believe they will evade the statistics. These are very likely the same people whose retirement plan emphasizes regular visits to Indian
casinos and who used to answer Ed McMahon’s junk mail entreaties.
The gun insanity in America, however, is very similar to other
seemingly nut-case rituals seen in other places and is equally worthy of anthropological study.
During WWII in New Guinea it was
the “Cargo Cultists,” witch doctors who thought they could coax riches from the sky. In the Mideast, even today it’s the ubiquitous blue
glass Evil Eye amulets that keep bad things from happening to the wearer. Catholics feverishly cast holy water and thick incense clouds
as protection against whatever.
In America, it’s a fetishistic attachment to guns, guns, and more guns against all reason.
The fact that tyrannical governments have not reared their heads here in a couple hundred years? So what!
The noted gun-
toting soccer mom in Lebanon, PA, getting her head blown off by her husband during a video chat? She was careless!
A few tens of
thousands of Americans dead each year in gun violence, domestic violence, gun accidents, gun suicides? It didn’t happen to ME!
Hey, the America bullet-ridden body count is the continuing price of freedom that I’m SURE the Founding Fathers would glowingly
endorse were they alive today to witness this.
I’ve been
busy lately and haven’t seen your reply. Maybe we should review the remarks of our founding fathers on personal possession of arms. I
can not defend myself with an unloaded gun in the home.
“I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the
people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.” George Mason
Co-author of the Second Amendment during Virginia’s
Convention to Ratify the Constitution, 1788
“A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves …” Richard Henry
Lee
writing in Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republic, Letter XVIII, May, 1788.
“The people are not to be disarmed of
their weapons. They are left in full posession of them.”
Zachariah Johnson Elliot’s Debates, vol. 3 “The Debates in the Several State
Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution.”
“… the people are confirmed by the next article in their right to keep
and bear their private arms” Philadelphia Federal Gazette June 18, 1789, Pg. 2, Col. 2 Article on the Bill of Rights
“And that the
said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the Press, or the rights of Conscience; or to
prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms; …” Samuel Adams
quoted in the
Philadelphia Independent Gazetteer, August 20, 1789, “Propositions submitted to the Convention of this State”
I hope this to be my
final comment.
Rick- You’re welcome back anytime. You represent your views clearly and
calmly. However, I wish someone would be as thorough in documenting the Founders views on slaves, Indians, and women. It might make for
an interesting commentary on the times and the need for change over time. Separately, the Founders knew about tyranny but probably
couldn’t imagine gangs, drug cartels, children shooting themselves and each other, spouses shooting each other, or the vast amount of
money spent on guns. Do you think George Mason would admire someone who owns dozens — hundreds? — of guns, including the kind of
destructive power available today? peace, mjh