Opus 2013-67: Cornerstone Considerations: Redress of Grievances

Yesterday when I checked Drudge I didn’t see anything about the California cop killer.  I assume the hysteria is dying down but it does raise a lot of important questions. 

Media filters:  I have seen repeated references by people who read the entire “manifesto” and reported that the man was a left wing, gun control advocate and Obama supporter but none of this was coming out in the news.  Way to go, MSM.  You never disappoint us or let us down with your consistency.

Gun control:  If only the police are to have guns, what happens when a policeman goes rogue?  This would seem to run contrary to the demand for more gun control, but that is not the way it will be spun.

Redress of grievances:  Consider the First Amendment to the Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

We are all familiar with that.  We hear about most of them on a regular basis.  What about the issue of “redress of grievances”?  What do you do when you can get no one to listen to you?  What do you do when you have a government that is so invested in maintaining its own power that they ignore the will of the people?

We just had a trained policeman who went “postal.”  Some have posted about how he was raging against the mistreatment he received while on the police force.  Some are labeling him as a “folk hero.”  At church last night we were discussing what made people radical and who we thought was radical.  The goal of the discussion was to show how Jesus was radical in what he taught.  At one point the high school students at one table yelled out the name of the man we are discussing.  In their minds he was a folk hero already. 

Why?

Why do we feel so powerless to do anything about the wrongs we see and experience?  How many of us have wanted to go “postal” in our imagination.  Admit it.  Haven’t you ever wanted to ram the guy who cut in front of you in rush hour?  Haven’t you ever wanted to pick up the trash someone just dropped and stuff it in their mouth?  This are petty, self-centered issues.  What happens when the injustice is systemic, perpetual and coercive?

Sometimes the only answer to tyrants is violence.  Most of us will continue to try to get along, to follow the rules.  Most of us most of the time.  But what about the day when all your options are gone?  What do you do with a local police chief who is so corrupt that your children are not safe in your home?  What do you do with a judge who passes down sentences based on how much graft he pocketed?  What do you do with an abusive husband that leaves you black and blue and literally broken?  What do you do with a father who is molesting you?

The important part of the answer to these questions is to get busy doing what you can while violence is not seen as the only answer.  As citizens we can start by voting carefully for our city councils and school boards.  We can think of running ourselves.  We can get involved in helping people get elected who are willing to limit the reach of government.  If they don’t live up to their promises, vote the suckers out.

If you are in a position of power or authority, you might want to see what you can do to improve the situation before the masses feel that violence is the only answer.

There is still time, but the clock is clicking.

homo unius libri