Michael S. Rozeff
Lew Rockwell Blog
Obama is orchestrating and staging an anti-gun push in Chicago’s South Side. It is his way to build an emotional basis for gun legislation. Several MSNBC commentators are making highly emotional pitches against guns as they cover this event.
Naturally this elicits counter-reactions from those many, many millions who oppose the government on the gun issue and hear the coverage. Among his gun opposition, Obama’s push reduces respect for him, his office and all government authority. Clearly, against these millions upon millions of gun owners, he would use raw power to get his way if he could, and not authority gained from their cooperative consent. They recognize, if only implicitly, this substitution of power for authority. Obama would use executive orders if he could. He’d issue bans if he could. He’d twist the gun issue into a public health, safety and welfare, or even terrorist issue, if he could. He would have the agencies of government issue constraining rules. He would use many means to disarm Americans, and they’d all be means of POWER.
A state that relies upon power to govern, not authority bestowed on it from those it governs, is illegitimate. It loses its justification to govern. This is the case today in America on the gun issue and many other issues. The government has again and again legislated against the wills and support of millions and millions and millions of Americans. It has relied on power to enforce its laws.