We'll Go Quietly

I hate to even appear to disagree with the Townhall folks, but I really don't feel like being civil. The whole issue is bogus, and the right-wing talkers are stupid for taking the bait.

The violence in Tucson, or anywhere else for that matter, has nothing to do with a lack of civility. I have no problem with Palin "targeting" or with Obama saying "if they bring a knife, we bring a gun". In fact, I would say to the left, "Please bring your guns, figurative or literal, I really don't care."

They call us racists; they call us "homophobes"; they call us stupid. I call them demagogues, traitors, thieves, and cowards. Put up or shut up.

There's nothing uncivil about insisting that the government adhere to the Constitution. That's what it is for - to grant very limited and specific powers to the government and to expressly and clearly delineate the boundaries over which no law, no government, no official, no bureaucrat, no executive, or no legislator may cross without penalty.

The Constitution is the supreme law of this land. No man or woman is above it, and no one is supposed to get special privileges. Honest, hard-working people give up their lives piece by piece every day in this country to try and make things just a little better for their families and their children. The Constitution is supposed to protect them and their property from being stolen and despoiled by governments, groups, and individuals who think it's all right to take what belongs to someone else. Instead the government uses the Constitution and the political structure daily as cover for blatant and unconstitutional intrusions into the lives and property of Americans.

I'm not even picking on Barack Hussein Obama, although my dog would make a better president, if she were eligible. There's plenty of blame to go around as these alleged powers-that-be think it's acceptable to, every year, erode our rights a little further, do a little more to steal or destroy our life-savings, to stick their fingers a little further up our butts in their incessant incrementalism. To hell with them and their encroachment. We have already been too damn nice.

The late, great country comedian Jerry Clowers used to tell a story about his cousin, Marcel Ledbetter. He called it "Marcel's Talkin' Chainsaw". I haven't looked, but it's probably on Youtube somewhere. It's been a while since I've heard it. In brief it went something like this:

Marcel had been out cutting logs, and he was tired and thirsty. The county where Marcel lived in Mississippi was dry, but there was a little "beer joint" just across the county line, not far from where he'd been logging. Marcel had his logs loaded and was really wanting a nice, cold soda, so he stopped outside the little bar and went in. The bartender immediately started talking down to Marcel and bad-mouthing him. He told Marcel to get some shoes and a shirt, told him to get out of the bar, and he called poor ol' Marcel a redneck. Marcel turned and walked out the door, bare feet poked by the gravel, hot and sweaty and still thirsty. On the truck, he had, as Jerry would say, "one a' them light weight McCulloch chainsaws". Marcel fired up his chainsaw and walked back to the door of the bar. It was a screen door, and Marcel didn't bother to open it. He just stuck the blade of that saw in and cut him out a hole to walk through. He then proceeded to saw up tables and chairs and generally wreck havoc upon the place. Jerry summed it up in his last line, "They gave Marcel the beer joint."

All we want is a chance to lay down honest money to quench an honest, hard-earned thirst. The state-run media, the politicians, the insiders, and the corporate conglomerates with their feet up on the table and a beer in hand in the middle of a working day mock us when we come in for looking for an RC or a Nesbitt Orange. Their bought-and-paid-for political minions have created the rules they want, and that they may transgress with impunity. But they throw their Calvin-ball statutes and regulations in our faces and tell us to go on down the road. They tell us to be "civil".

The truth is civilization is not a natural state, any more than a well-kept lawn is a natural state. Sometimes it requires a little trimming. Boys, maybe it's time you talked to Mr. McCulloch.

We'll go quietly ... to the truck.