I am writing in response to the article “The Slippery Slope of the Second Amendment” by Bonnie Jean Feldkamp [5/15/23 TPP] and numerous others on the subject. I remain utterly disheartened by a strange fact: None of the writers ever brings up a contextual reading of the Second Amendment, not even Clarence Thomas, who wrote the Supreme Court opinion in the Bruen case in June 2022 that struck down New York’s concealed carry gun law. In my research I have pored over 18th-century New England town record books, the source for helping to understand the intent and context of the amendment. In order to maintain a well-regulated town militia, eligible, able bodied males were allowed to own a gun since the town did not supply them. In these town meeting record books we find lists of the men in town who belonged to the town militia. No women, slaves, handicapped persons etc. are found in the lists. That is, contextually, the right to bear arms was very restricted to able bodied white males and is not universal. Therefore, the Second Amendment is simply not applicable any more, given its original context which no longer exists: Adult White Male Town Militias.
Owning guns is now a convention outside the Constitution that has accrued to the general population simply on its own with no institutional context at all and is solely open to management by local, state, and national legislating bodies. The Second Amendments is an aberration that has absolutely no relevance or “context” any more.
VINCENT F. LUTI, Westport, Mass.
The Second Amendment states: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
We now have a well regulated militia called the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard as standing, full time defense organizations (as well as the sprawling Homeland Security Agency) that have been issued their own weapons to protect us from foreign aggressions.
And they have some pretty damn strict rules about carrying them. In my two years in the Army, I was issued my M-1 for parades and for guard duty, and as far as I can remember never was issued ammunition. In fact, the weapons were kept locked in the supply room until they were issued for those purposes.
Anybody walking around the base with a rifle, much less a loaded rifle, would face court-martial and probably do some time in the stockade.
Kyle Rittenhouse aside, I would say these guys understand weapons better than us.
BUSHROD LAKE, Santa Fe, N.M.
[Editor’s Note: We think “militias” in the Second Amendment refers to state-regulated militias, such as state National Guards and law enforcement agencies, as opposed to the national “standing army,” and other federal armed forces, but otherwise we take your point.]
“The lack of money is the root of all evil.”—Mark Twain nnTo listen to MAGA/GOP purists, one would think that 92-year-old Democratic billionaire, Jewish philanthropist and Holocaust survivor George Soros had cornered the market on political contributions. He might be #1 in that category, but those right behind him vote a straight Republican ticket and back it up with their checkbooks.
According to Open Secrets, a DC campaign finance nonprofit, Soros topped the list at $128 million spent on the 2022 midterm elections. However, the next four gave exclusively to GOP candidates, led by shipping magnate Richard Uihlein at $80 million. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Beneath the surface is the “dark money” funding by shadow nonprofits that do not have to disclose their donors. And you can blame the Supreme Court for allowing such clandestine deception.
The horrendous 2010 Citizens United 5-4 ruling trashed legal precedent that supported limits on campaign donations designed to prevent abuse, corruption, and bribery by candidates at all levels. The majority opinion erroneously claimed that “(corporate) expenditures … do not give rise to corruption” and that political contributions are protected as free speech under the First Amendment. Only the Dred Scott decision in 1857, a prelude to the Civil War, was a worse Court ruling.
The floodgates were now open for unlimited cash and political manipulation with strings attached, and no one profited more from Citizens United than Koch Industries and its Americans For Prosperity, a big supporter of The Tea Party agenda. Because much of their war chest is hidden from view, it is difficult to ascertain how much Koch, heavily vested in gas and oil, bankrolled their fight against climate change, tax reform, and other progressive causes. Suffice it to say that Soros might not occupy the top spot when all levels of contributions, both open and otherwise, are taken into account.
Next time you hear MAGA/GOP rants lambasting Soros as their favorite punching bag, remember that their propaganda is bought and paid for by megadonors who expect a profitable return on their investment. Behind their red, white, and blue veneer lies a sea of $$$green$$$. When money talks, fairness walks.
ED ENGLER, Sebring, Fla.
The recent leaked documents acquired by the Washington Post have information about the evil “terrorists” in Afghanistan behaving badly, and planning future attacks upon Americans.
“War” experts here in the US advise not to put “boots on the ground” in Afghanistan, but instead they recommend taking out “terrorist” leaders with drone missile strikes. If in 2002, when the US was planning to murder and terrorize innocent Iraqis with a massive terrorist attack called the Iraq “war,” let’s say the Iraqis were able to use the same approach — take out the terrorists who were planning to harm innocents, take them out with drone missile strikes.
Iraqis would not have done anything like putting “boots on the ground” in Washington, D.C. All they would have needed to do was take out Bush, Cheney, Biden and some war planning generals at the Pentagon — and 400,000 innocent Muslim lives would have been saved.
Here’s the problem, though, even when taking out a few murderous White guy “war” mongers to save 400,000 Muslims in Iraq, this stupidity and arrogance of White America would frame it this way: Only the killing of our White supremacy capital would be the crime, the “war” planning to kill innocent Muslims would not be seen as the crime.
But Muslims planning to kill Americans is a crime. Any pre-emptive attack upon Washington to stop “war” planning upon innocent Muslims, whether successful or not, could start a world “war.” Simply because White supremacy would need to be re-established.
Get it — it is not about peace, freedom, democracy or truth, or justice; those in Washington, their primary job is to keep White supremacy in place. They will do whatever it takes.
Don’t be afraid, but do be careful. Nothing is more dangerous (as Afghans and Iraqis found out) than White supremacists who have a zillion dollar superpower military. …
FRANK ERICKSON, Minneapolis, Minn.
In your 5/15/23 Letters, David Quintero notes [in “Myth vs. Truth”] that Thomas Jefferson came to an appreciation for the Bible by picking out the parts he found believable for a book of his own on virtuousness. Many do that, and it does have its points., But there is so much more there.
Many denominations have been born based on what one person found most believable and rejected what they didn’t find so.
But reading the whole Bible will give one things to ponder. A college professor of mine in sociology said we didn’t have to believe what his class content was, but they had to know what he taught. The Bible is like that. Just the Gospel of John tells those who would be His followers why all that Christ/God/The Bible says will be of benefit. Why have just crumbs when you can have the whole loaf?
There are Biblical scholars’ works to consider, too.
CHERYL LOVELY, Presque Isle, Maine
Amy Goodman’s and Denis Moynihan’s memorial to Malcolm X’s life work [“Malcolm X: His struggle continues,” 4/1/23 TPP] deserves commending, in particular because they zero in on the scarcely recognized role of the FBI, if not the CIA, in both his and M.L. King’s murders. The long-warped bigot [J. Edgar] Hoover loathed the randy Kennedy brothers and was surely implicated in those two infamous mobster rubouts, too.
Whether the truth can be exposed and “justice served” is dubious indeed, since cowardice and viciousness runs deep in those shameless compromised organizations being sued, but thanks are due for hoping they might.
VIRGE MacLEOD, Bonners Ferry, Idaho
Justice Sonia Sotomayor spoke openly of a STENCH at the Supreme Court. But was she also speaking cryptically? Could be: ClarENce THomaS.
CARL HANSON, Albuquerque, N.M.
For old-timers like me, the years before the computers took over were halcyon days. Now we seem to dwell in a halcyon daze of confusion and turmoil — and blessed are the Amish, the bookish and the peacemakers, a.k.a. children of God.
It seemed the home computer would enhance our democracy, and perhaps it has in various ways. Yet the innovation that opened the gate into cyberspace has also brought the dystopia of cybercrime.
Alas! Privacy isn’t what it used to be — but then, neither is anything else. Confronted with “Identity theft” we must pay dearly for the advantages of the modem, to cite just one prickly problem. And can we imagine the foregone solace enjoyed before cellphones?
WILLIAM DAUENHAUER, Willowick, Ohio
You know, over 160 years ago, we fought a war for the good of our country against the CSA, the Confederate States of America, and we won.
Today, we are again fighting a war for the good of our country against another CSA, the Corporate States of America, and we are losing, big time.
MIKE EKLUND, Mercer, Wis.
From The Progressive Populist, June 15, 2023
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