The ability to do something posted 7/15/2009 12:12:12 PM | 0 kudos what's this?     report abuse

thenewguy295

Doing something and having the ability to do something are not the same thing. That gets lost on a lot of people who decide to restrict the ability of someone else to do something that they haven't actually done but might do.

Prohibition of alcohol is an example, so is the war on drugs. The problem is that neither of these actually worked to keep the offending substances out of the hands of people that wanted them, meanwhile the rest of us are (or where) treated like criminals because of what we might have done. So people that can responsibly handle alcohol or marijuana use are (or where) criminalized.

Take violence as another example. Most of us have the ability in some way or another to harm another person. Most of us could kill someone if we really had to but most of us haven't, even when we could have done it legally or gotten away with it.
I could have shot a kid back when I was in the service. He went into a restricted area where deadly force was authorized but I knew he wasn't trying to steal weapons, he had to take a leak and it was a shortcut to the head (bathroom). I probably could have shot him and gotten away with it, he knew he couldn't go in there and knew deadly force was authorized so there was no excuse and I was armed with a loaded M16, an "assault rifle", a "bullet hose" a fully automatic machine gun whose fatal charm no man can resist, something you are forbidden to own because of what you might do with it. But, why would I do that under those circumstances? I had (and have) no need or desire to kill anyone to prove something to myself. Still if I had to shoot in self defense or say, we had some sort of terrorist event, I believe I could shoot justifiably (or use some other form of violence against an enemy) and not have any qualms or guilt over the unpleasant experience. You probably could too but, are we being asked to really participate in our own defense against crime or terrorists? No, not really, we are supposed to let someone else do it for us. Why? Well we could never be as prepared or efficient as 'the authorities', the ones that let 9/11 happen in the first place and continue to parole violent felons. 'We' might be more a danger to ourselves and others etc etc. Instead of mobilizing millions of Americans, 25 million veterans, 40 million hunters, 80 million gun owners the government would rather get a bigger budget and do it themselves. After all what possible knowledge and experience could all those veterans and hunters have that the gov't couldn't teach an 18 year old in a few months?

I think a lot of people are projecting what they are afraid they might do on to other people and their egos can't handle it, or they are being manipulated to do so by groups with their own agendas. Another for instance. When I lost my job of twenty years, one of my friends suggested I try to leverage my gun collection and military experience to get a larger severance package. In other words somehow insinuate that I might go on a shooting rampage if I didn't get more money. I said I would never do such a thing and his response was, 'they don't know that.' Of course I didn't do it and never would.
What I found most interesting though is that this is a person that doen't believe in private gun ownership, he's a gun control advocate! And has anger control issues of his own. I know he's had at least one PPO against him and I've seen him get extremely angry and aggitated over minor things and even saw him grab someone by the shirt front as if to hit him during a board game. Hmmm perhaps he is projecting his issues on to me. So I should suffer for it and give up my rights?

Political parties, special interests, politicians and the government all profit from the fear of what law abiding citizens might do with the ability to do some particular thing. Meanwhile people that really are committing crimes, drug, alcohol, violence etc are being turned out onto the streets everyday even though they have proven histories that should keep them locked up and we are being penalized for their actions.Our borders are still highways of illegal travel, eight years after 9/11, after billions of dollars spent to 'make us safe', millions of illegal crossings happen annually and somehow, according to the authorities, millions of firearms are being illegaly brought into Mexico from the United States. Doesn't that make you confident in our government's ability to stop terrorists, dirty nukes, biological and chemical agents from crossing that same border and to protect you?

Doing something and having the ability to do something are not the same thing. Maybe it's time we gave ourselves some credit and let us do some of these things for ourselves.

Copy & paste to friend: (Click inside box; Ctrl + C to copy; Ctrl + V to paste)

Blogs by thenewguy295: I DON'T HAVE HERPES!!!! A third summer without AC What EXACTLY is the Obama / National** health care plan???? Plant a tree Collective rights theory Hilarious The fear of poop U.S. military to replace all communications with twitter 230 MPG Chevy, way to go GM! An apology to all. Common sense, let someone else do it. Skunks The ability to do something Psychic matchdoctor blog Heroes, villains and the unnoticed.. 90% of Mexico's guns come from the U.S. Another salute to the greatest generation. General Motors died today Great Britain - the death of a nation Our government is run by morons! Modern science reveals it is now okay to end sentence with preposition, of. The days are getting longer! President Obama orders Guantanamo closed Y2K Survivors Emerge Handy reminders