|
|
|
NOTE!
This is a real-time comments system. As such, it's also a
free speech zone within guidelines set forth on the Post
Comments page. Opinions expressed here may or may not
reflect those of KeepAndBearArms staff, members, or
any other living person besides the one who posted them.
Please keep that in mind. We ask that all who post
comments assure that they adhere to our Inclusion
Policy, but there's a bad apple in every
bunch, and we have no control over bigots and
other small-minded people. Thank you. --KeepAndBearArms.com
|
The
Below Comments Relate to this Newslink:
The NRA sees a bleak Hobbesian world. So why does it want to arm individuals with guns?
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com
|
There
are 2 comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
Doing so is difficult, however, because Hobbes argues that in the absence of government, individuals will frequently attack and kill one another in what he terms �the war of all against all.� It is not that he thinks humans are evil; far from it. But he argues that our natural tendencies � vanity, competitiveness, fearfulness and glory-seeking � will inevitably lead us to fight, and frequently kill, each other. As a result, without government, human life is �solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.�
Faced with such a bleak existence, Hobbes argues that there is only one solution to the problem of a violent and chaotic world: a government with absolute power. |
| Comment by:
MarkHamTownsend
(4/20/2018)
|
| I wonder if the author considered the possibility that the NRA took its position not by a silly conflating of John Locke and Thomas Hobbs but by a serious consideration of our modern condition, informed by the philosophies of those who support and donate to the NRA? |
| Comment by:
PHORTO
(4/20/2018)
|
| False dichotomy. But then, what else would you expect from WaPo? |
|
|
| QUOTES
TO REMEMBER |
| The supposed quietude of a good mans allures the ruffian; while on the other hand, arms like laws discourage and keep the invader and the plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside...Horrid mischief would ensue were one half the world deprived of the use of them... � Thomas Paine, I Writings of Thomas Paine at 56 (1894). |
|
|
