I support the Second Amendment, of course. I support the military. I support sportsmen and the agricultural tradesmen requiring firearms in their work. Obama supports these positions, too, but this is not the point. It seems appropriate to use the occasion of today’s ruling to highlight the ever encroaching militaristic intrusion in the character of our communities, of the countryside and in our daily life .
I do personally disagree with the interpretation by the Supreme Court mostly on the grounds that it edges us further toward a personal property right vs. a civil right of the People (capital P) to bear arms for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a Militia, solely because it expands this uncivil architectural trend.
That is (for one example only), the guard rails, highway signs and type faces, turning radii, fences, scrub landscape and overpasses of the Eisenhower roadway system (and now much of our secondary road system) is far different aesthetically than, say, Britain’s. There is a reason for this seemingly stylistic difference. It has to do, first, with the role of arms in America, and NOT the turning radius of the Bentley. As this role has evolved, it has advanced, and it has, in fact, changed our built environment, whether you see it in your personal commute or not.
Why else is the national park service at liberty to have a completely different, more civil roadway designs? And the Parkway system in America, which for a time elevated automobile travel to a civil, aesthetic experience, was halted primarily on the grounds that our highways must facilitate military maneuvers.
Andres Duany and other planner have spent their careers fighting the DOT and other agencies, which had become in effect, through their militaristic designs standards, an effectively an arm of the military. As a result they paradoxically act AGAINST the very second amendment rights of the People to be protected to live their life without intervention of the government. Instead we see its influence everywhere.
We could look at the militaristic design of many aspects of America, and yes, WalMart is at the top of my list, and not just because they sell guns. They have physically removed civility, fulfillment, and joy from the marketplace. Also on the list would be public transportation infrastructure, public housing, post offices, airports, college campuses, and much else that the Federal government has built since WWII. These all veer toward utility with no delight.
For the record, if we are to understand it, here it is: “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.” This confirmed the People’s right to be protected, and to form militias to protect themselves, not to collect guns. The Bill of Rights nowhere gave us STUFF. The Bill of Rights was confirming God-given rights of action and control, NOT that we should all have rifles, or a chicken in our pot, or even health care (although these ideas may have merits, they are not civil rights). But arms are NOT a property right.
If we are to design our world as if the enemy has won, well, then, he has already won. And if this is the case, the right of the People to a protective Militia - strong enough that they can freely live in a civilized, non-militaristic society - has been infringed. This is NOT the Platonic or Aristotelian City I understand our best thinkers to be directing us toward.
David
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