The Politics Of Gene Wolfe

Lee Berman · 02 Jul 2010, 17:38 · from 2010-July.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2010 13:38:36 -0400
Subject: (urth) The Politics Of Gene Wolfe
Message-ID: <SNT123-W35B8EE0DB157A30F9FC3C8CFCE0 at phx.gbl>

>>> The intent of the second amendment is to allow the citizenry to more
>>> readily defend themselves against the government, when this becomes
>>> necessary, as it inevitably does.

There is a classic A.E. Van Vogt story called The Weapon Shop which addresses
this issue using that interpretation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weapon_Shop
Great pulp SF story. I loved it.

And didn't Gene Wolfe mention Van Vogt in Fifth Head of Cerberus? I bet he has
read that story.

Anyway, the wording of the Second Amendment is- 

>"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State,
>the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

To me this wording suggests an interpretation counter to the standard
Libertarian view which seems to focus on the word "free" and ignores the other
26 words. Bearing arms would seem to be meant for the defense of the state not
to attack the state or defend against it. A "well regulated militia" sounds like
a state organized function to me not some sort of individual defense against
the state or lawless brigands or wild animals. 		 	   		  
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