... That is basically what the NRA proposed today, and is the position of all those on the far right who believe that Liberty comes through the barrel of a gun.
The armaments industry laughs at us all the way to the bank.
There is only one true guarantee of Liberty, and that is the rule of Law. As Montesquieu said, "Outside the Law is Tyranny."
The power of the Law is our consent to live by it, and once that is gone, then all the firepower on earth cannot bring it back. Without the Law is Hobbes' life in the "state of nature:" the "war of all against all" in a world where life is "nasty, brutish, and short," and hardly worth the bother of living.
So, who's the real "conservative" here? Me or Wayne LaPierre who would have me pack a pistol every time I taught class? Which one of us really values order over chaos?
This is the seldom seen East Pediment of the Supreme Court Building in Washington DC. The East Pediment sculpture was designed by Hermon A. MacNeil, a sculptor working with the architect, Cass Gilbert. It expands upon the inscription on the entablature beneath; "Justice The Guardian of Liberty" composed by Chief Justice Charles Evan Hughes in 1932. In the center is Solon of Athens flanked on the right by Moses and on the left by Confucius. On the left are allegories of criminal law and enforcement. On the right are allegories of civil law with mercy and prudence.
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