Rep. Steve King (R-IA) Explains the Second Amendment

[Glaug-Eldare]

40. Like ours, the U.S. Constitution is also a compact.

Last edited Sun Oct 7, 2012, 02:48 PM - Edit history (2)

If the federal government breaks that compact so severely that its destruction is necessary, it is no longer a legitimate authority, and its labels of "treason" and "loyalty" have no substance. After all, many writers, protesters, and activists have been executed under the duly-enacted laws of dictators.

King George III lost the right to govern the American colonies by despotic abuse.
Louis XVI lost the right to govern the Kingdom of France by clinging to absolute monarchy.
Saddam Hussein lost the right to govern the Iraqi Republic by acting as a violent dictator.

The entire point of the American Revolution was that the people are the sovereigns, and that the governors serve at their pleasure. The Declaration of Independence is not law, but I believe it makes this abundantly clear: "...Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new Government..."

It's not time to fight, not by a long shot, but it is the right of the people to fight when pressed. A government can be illegitimate -- the will of the people cannot.