Monday, March 30, 2009

Good one, Ben!


Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. - Benjamin Franklin

4 comments:

an Donalbane said...

These days the lambs better get armed or they'll be sheep for the slaughter.

Anonymous said...

Just wait for the Dew to weigh in with some 'ewe' comments.

Don Dodson said...

In the Federalist Papers, the framers of the Constitution talk about why they structured the government the way that they did. They recognized that a pure democracy, where the majority gets to decide every issue, creates opportunities for the majority to exploit the minority.

They established a two-house legislature to prevent faction rule. The Senate was intended to be the slower-moving, more deliberate, more cautious body, where the rash ideas of the House would be thought over and the bad ones would die. Clearly that is not happening today.

The judiciary was intended as a check on the power of Congress and the President, but activist judges are not doing their job of interpreting the Constitution.

Fortunately, the framers included one last check on the government to prevent it from becoming tyrannical: an armed citizenry.

But the Second Amendment is under assault today, as well.

an Donalbane said...

Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty.