@solarion:
Believe it or not, I agree with you on your last post more than I disagree with you.
Sure I believe you. Why not?
IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW THIS TURNS OUT. This is just the latest installment of government overreach and stupidity. This isn't a boxing match it's the death throes of American society we're witnessing. We're on the brink of economic collapse and our federal government is wasting huge amounts of resources we don't have chasing around some stupid cows, threatening people's livelihoods, and endangering lives. They're charged with defending the borders and upholding US immigration laws, but
*NOTHING* can make them do it, yet somehow they have the time to dispense taxpayer funded weapons to mexican drug cartels, invade gibson guitar, and vilify anyone with the audacity to sell raw milk. It's mind numbing. At every single turn the federal regime provokes. Good thing they have all those hollow point bullets.
I've held more or less the same basic concerns with varying degrees of agitation for about 15 years now. Intellectually I always told myself that things can persist in a steady state for longer than expected. Steady-state in today's America is not all bad. We win some and lose some and the world turns. I believe we are generally on the descent (empire building, extrajudicial killings and gulags around the world, increased stratification and various levels here at home, etc.) Many of the most dangerous losses are hidden beneath the surface (e.g., the domestic surveillance frameworks, 'fusion centers', etc) which, if anything, makes them more of a threat.
I theorize that there will probably be a step function event that will shift American society sharply. Most likely it will be an economic jolt of some sort, and will be more-or-less out of the blue...or will seem that way to most people.
At such a point it will be imperative (for us citizens) to have every tool possible at our disposal. This includes communications abilities (e.g., something like today's internet), economic abilities (e.g., something like today's Bitcoin), and yes, the means of violent resistance if it is unavoidable that the least-bad option (e.g., today's freedom to keep and bear arms.)
(As an aside, I'd further note that it's the
potential for violent resistance which is the real value here. It acts as a very real limit on the flexibility of what a central government can do on various fronts since the cost in terms of support would be huge. Tactically any arms we might possess are of limited value. Strategically they have much more value.)
I don't know when a jolt such as I've mentioned will occur, and hope it never does. If/when it does, it could be decades away (or it could be tomorrow.) I will say that one of the things I look for as an indicator that such a jolt may be approaching are attacks on the three areas I mentioned. And others.
When the militia loons shoot their wad over some inconsequential deadbeat rancher like Bundy I don't consider it all bad. These types are what I would consider a liability. I don't trust them and I'm happy to be rid of them. If anything I suspect that they are the types that could be flipped by the Govt and become part of the problem (in the form of death squads and such which our govt is demonstrable fond of employing.) The trouble is that they take a lot of our otherwise needed tools with them.