I have a job where I tell people what to do on their own property, which they pay the taxes on, not I. My area is very rural, with few big towns. You sometimes read in the papers about my area being known for having a lot of members of the Aryan Nation, or the KKK, or especially paramilitary groups. I know there are some of the latter up there. I do not know of anyone being in the first two groups, although I do not doubt it. It is beautiful country up there.
All of this does not bother me, because I grew up around guns. So when I end up in their houses for whatever reason, the loaded rifles behind the door, the pistols hanging over the chair by the dinner table, and the shotguns leaning against the couches do not bother me at all.
I have to enforce specific areas of civil law. No one likes that. Not even me sometimes. But, I try to treat everyone equally. That is hard sometimes, as I have a lot to do, and it may seem that someone else is getting off Scott-free for a while. But I get around to everyone sooner or later. I believe that in good government, everyone gets treated the same. No playing of any favorites.
Someone may get a fine, but I will meet with them to try to help them to figure out how to best comply with that violation. They know that if they call me, they can talk to me, and I am listening. I am the only government guy most of them know face-to-face. They know that if they go off on an anti-government rant, and start yelling at me, I will not take it personally, and I will let them get it off of their chest. Besides, half the time I have to agree with what they are saying, but cannot admit to it.
Surprisingly, I get along pretty well with most of them. They tell me that the symbol I have on the door of the vehicle that is provided to me to do my job might as well get replaced by a bulls-eye. They are not totally joking. I take it all in stride. I have been doing this for 14 years, they are sort of used to me, and I still feel a whole lot safer doing this than when I tried teaching high school. I gave that up for Lent.
There are a lot of different perspectives up there in the rural north, but there is one overriding theme. They do not like the government interfering with every aspect of their lives.
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I can’t blame them.
I was in a particular place looking for one of my guys today, and as I was leaving, his son showed up. Let’s call him Atlas. It turns out that Atlas and I are both Democrats. Atlas was telling me how, even with his insurance copay, his doctor was charging him $700.00 for an office visit. He did no testing, nor any procedures. Just talked to him for a minute, and gave him a prescription. I told him to turn this scumbag in for insurance fraud, and to get a new doctor. Atlas said that he could hardly keep up with the bills that keep coming in. I told him that, actually, neither could I. Atlas said that pretty much everyone he knew was pissed off at the way things are going in this country.
Eventually, we ended up on the 23 Executive Orders. I said that some of them did not look too bad, on the face of it. The others, well, it depended on which way you go. If you go this way, it would be fine. Lean that way, it is not good. Atlas agreed. He asked me, “And which way do you think they will go?” we both knowing full well I need not answer that.
We both wondered how someone who claims to have been born and raised in this country could be so out of touch with the people as to have even been considering any kind of outright gun ban. That is just crazy. That is simply suicide. There are plenty of fed up people here, some real nut-cases, some of them feel they have nothing left to lose, and they are wound so tight, that it would not be a surprise if someone finally decided to take Obama out.
I said that such a thing would not be good for the rest of us. Atlas just shrugged. I knew what he meant by that.
I said I have heard this discussion before, more than once. Atlas said he heard it just yesterday, and that the guy talking was getting more keyed up as he went along. While it is never a good idea for anyone to assassinate a president, to assassinate anyone for that matter (think, “murder”), it has definitely happened historically. Up until recent years, we had someone shoot a president in this country every 20 years. So it would be no surprise to me if it regrettably happened. I do not support this, I would not condone it, but people who have no hope and think that they are about to lose everything they believe in are always very desperate. They lash out at what they think is the problem. Atlas said he would not be surprised at all if it happened either. And soon. Up there, everyone thinks Obama has been ruining this country ever since he got in.
Some people seriously think that Obama has a death-wish. Can he really be that blind to the possibility of someone trying to kill him over this? After all, is he not coming up against a group whose very members (those who own and know how to use guns) are the best equipped to try something as brazen as this? It is it stretching the imagination to think that those who are pre-disposed to something like assassinations might also have a predilection for violent video games and movies, guns, shooting, knives, poison, bomb-making, you name it?
Personally, I cannot conceive of anyone who runs for higher office not having thought about the possibility of some whack-job trying to kill them. I do not believe that Obama thinks that everyone in this country loves him so much that not even one of them would ever consider hurting him. I cannot conceive of any presidential candidate thinking that, let alone the candidate who is finally elected. It is a sad reality that people commit homicides by any means possible when they are motivated to do so. Generally, it is done out of the passions of the moment, or for reasons that are of deep personal importance to the perpetrator. The second group contains the cold, meticulous planners, the lone wolf types who have committed the most recent mass-shooting tragedies.
So, I have to assume that Obama considered this possibility before signing his 23 Executive Orders. Maybe he truly believes in what he is doing, and thinks this is the right thing to do for the country? Maybe, in true liberal fashion, he believes that he needs to risk his very life for the cause of the universal liberal ideology? Maybe, deep down inside, he even wants someone to try it; and, if the perpetrator succeeds, by his sacrifice, or does not succeed, by becoming a potential victim, Obama’s Party’s agenda will have to come to fruition?
I personally do not think that he is that much of a true believer. I think he has become deeply worried the past few days, due to all that you read out there in cyberspace. There is a lot of violent rhetoric being shared, and some of the writers mean it. I think Obama is just more of an opportunist who knows that he has overplayed his hand this time.
If some idiot does try doing this, you best expect a backlash against guns, their owners, and all of the gun rights proponents. All of your recent gains will be turned upside down. So, if any of you out there are thinking about pulling such a stunt, you need to completely reconsider. You will significantly tarnish our cause, as has every cowardly wacko that goes into a gun-free zone and starts unloading on innocent people who are running the other way. Just remember, no one who has shot a president has ever gone down in history as a hero. If you are thinking that you will be different, just forget about it.
If you know of someone who you think is seriously planning this, you need to report it. We can’t have one whack-job ruin everything we have gained and done recently.
You may think that this was a loss, but we won. We checked Obama. He had to do something to shut up his side who were demanding immediate action. I expect that when the Courts and Congress are through with him, it might be a check-mate. He will have to deal with the backlash from this for a while. So will the Democratic Party. In the meantime, do everything you can to block his proposals in Congress. Keep writing to your Congressmen, and even to Obama. Join the NRA. 850,000 people did in just a month.
We will know the answer to everything in 2014 and 2016. In the meantime, keep on working like you have the past few weeks. They heard you loud and clear. They know that they were on the brink of initiating an open rebellion. It was just one touch of the pen to the paper away. The country is still a powder-keg with a short fuse. They know that even now, the States and Counties are one-by-one passing legislation that makes the enforcement of Federal gun laws there felonies. We are taking our country back, one State, one County at a time. Keep up the good work. Remember that you need to be working at the local level too. That is important too. But keep up the pressure on Obama and Congress, never let up, never let them forget where you stand. And never let your guard down. You most trust the snake you can see lying in the grass right in front of you.
Obama was considering some outright bans. He had to back off. Make no doubt about it, this is a Civil War, an American Revolution. Those in the know realize that the Revolution has never ended. Indeed, it can never end. For now, we fire volleys of words and briefs and Court filings and appeals back and forth, as we have done for over 200 years. Obama inflicted a few flesh wounds, but we won the battle for today. Free people still stand against all tyranny, even the attempted tyranny of our own government. The battle continues tomorrow. And the next day. And the next. The wounds will heal in future administrations. Stay patient and well-regulated.
Now, here’s a little something for the conspiracy theorists. I am going to play the devil’s advocate. Suppose someone tried to shoot Obama, but did not succeed. Would you as a conspiracy theorist believe that this was legitimate, or would you believe that the alleged attempted shooter was a true believer on their side, who himself was the one with the death-wish? That this alleged attempted shooter was put up to it, and was willing to die for the cause of the Elitist Agendanistas? I’m just throwing that one out there, so they know that we are onto the possibility of them coming up with and trying to get over on us through such a disturbing idea.
Stay vigilant and strong, America.
Gary W. Harper
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