Your right to own a gun is more critical to your ability to remain free then your right to vote. The founders of our nation knew that the ultimate power needed to remain with the people and not the government. That is why they enshrined within the Constitution our ability to keep and bear arms.
There are only two ways for one person to persuade another to do something, either through philosophical debate or by force. A firearm is an equalizer of force, giving the weaker person a greater opportunity to match the force of another. This equalization of force will make the aggressor come to the negotiating table where the debates happen.
Democracy has been defined as two wolves and a lamb voting on what they’re having for dinner and a well armed lamb contesting the vote. One of the first things every totalitarian government always does is to disarm the citizens. Disarmed citizens are then at the mercy of a standing army or police force that is controlled by that tyrannical government. That is why the Second Amendment was created.
How is the right to own a gun more important than a right to vote?
Do you think the people who live in some of the worst contrives in the world continue to live under the boot of tyrants by choice? Why don’t the Chinese or the Russians or people living in Venezuela or Cuba simply vote the communist governments out? As the old saying goes, “you can vote your way into communism but you have to shoot your way out.”
Look at the elections held by any tyrannical government throughout the history of the world and you will easily see the answer to that question. Those governments will set up a system where they ultimately control who is elected.
Any real challenger to the regime that controls any nation is eliminated one way or another. One of many examples is the number of people who were critical of Vladimir Putin, the leader of Russia, ending up dead.
The Chicago Tribune reports:
Not everyone who has a quarrel with Russian President Vladimir Putin dies in violent or suspicious circumstances – far from it. But enough loud critics of Putin’s policies have been murdered that Thursday’s daylight shooting of a Russian who sought asylum in Ukraine has led to speculation of Kremlin involvement.
There are many more examples throughout the world showing virtually the same type of control over a nation. People critical of the Chinese communist party regularly end up with the same fate.
Elections can easily become an illusion of democracy
“It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.”– Joseph Stalin.
Many patterns of history repeat themselves with each generation. Those individuals who want to seize control of a nation do not move overnight to take control. They move slowly, one step at a time until they dominate areas of importance and they know any opposition can be easily crushed.
A tyrannical government may give people the option to decide between two puppet leaders that are controlled by the establishment. One candidate will scream against a certain policy done by the current administration but will then continue that same policy once they gain control. There are examples of this very behavior within our own country.
Barak Obama criticized many of the surveillance policies created by the Bush Administration. However, once he took office, Obama not only continued the policies he criticized but expanded them.
According to PBS:
On the campaign trail in 2008, Barack Obama promised to preside over the most transparent administration in U.S. history. “No more secrecy,” he said. “That is a commitment that I make to you.”
As president, however, Obama has embraced many of the same domestic surveillance programs he once derided as a candidate. For the one-time constitutional law professor, the shift has been particularly striking. Here is a brief history:
This is only one of many examples that show establishment control over those who they set up as figureheads. What good would your vote be when all of your choices are controlled by someone else? The establishment is the real power behind the figurehead they put in front of the cameras. In other words, the people only have the illusion that their vote makes a difference.
Armed citizens are a threat to a tyrannical government
Your right to own a gun ensures that any tyrannical government cannot do whatever it wants to you without meeting resistance. When the majority of the population is armed, those in power know that seizing ultimate control will not come without a fight they don’t want.
According to John Locke in his book “Two Treatises of Government“
“whenever the Legislators endeavor to take away, and destroy the Property of the People, or to reduce them to Slavery under Arbitrary Power, they put themselves into a state of War with the People, who are thereupon absolved from any farther Obedience, and are left to the common Refuge, which God hath provided for all Men, against Force and Violence.
Another analogy taken from more recent history, armed people aren’t easily loaded on cattle cars bound for death camps. That is why your right to own a gun is more important to staying free than your right to vote.