The Second Amendment, which concerns the right of the people to keep and bear arms, has been the subject of great debate for decades. Does it protect an individual's right to arms or only the right of the states to maintain militias? In this work David Williams offers a reading of the Second Amendment: that it guarantees to individuals a right to arms only insofar as they are p...
The Second Amendment, which concerns the right of the people to keep and bear arms, has been the subject of great debate for decades. Does it protect an individual's right to arms or only the right of the states to maintain militias? In this work David Williams offers a reading of the Second Amendment: that it guarantees to individuals a right to arms only insofar as they are part of a united and consensual people, so that their uprising can be a unified revolution rather than a civil war. Williams argues that the Second Amendment has been based on myths about America: the Framers' belief in American unity and modern interpreters' belief in American distrust and disunity. Neither of these myths, however, will adequately curb political violence. Williams suggests that the amendment should serve not as a rule of law but as a cultural ideal that promotes American unity on the use of political violence and celebrates their diversity in other areas of life.
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At this point in the analysis, houever, the prospect of any healthy political future for America has disappeared from the horizon. If we embrace this set of myths, we will have accepted a radically circumscribed set of political choices. And if we remain long in this dark, crabbed cave, in which we start at every shadow, we will eventually become alienated from the better angels of our nature. Arming the right people against the wrong people will not in the long run domesticate political violence. A nation deeply divided against itself on this subject will ultimately collapse in to chaos, incapable of eithher steady government or a united revolution against a corrupt one. Indeed, a nation that does not share a social contract on the use of political violence could scarcely be called a cons... (查看原文)
还没人写过短评呢