What happens if gun ownership is not enough?

[bwaites]

At the risk of initiating a s**tstorm, I have to point out that "conservatives" have no more in common with hard core libertarians than they do with hard core leftists. As such, urging that we "forget our differences" and team up for our common goals is a fool's errand. We don't exactly HAVE common goals.

Yes, there are areas of intersection. There are areas of intersection with the leftists, though they are smaller.

A Tea Party movement sort of thing is the one avenue that I think we have to use those areas of overlay. The Tea Party brought disparate groups together based on a single point of shared interest, ignoring the differences. I think that's about all the conservatives, neocons, libertarians, free-staters, classical liberals, et al, can hope for by way of cooperation. The left ruthlessly culls the outliers, where our outliers simply take their balls and go home. But the left is (by the very nature of its adherents) able to capture a much larger portion of their pool, while we individualists tend to take more of an all or nothing view-- which is why we're losing.

Anybody who wants to argue libertarianism with me (A former libertarian) take it to IM, please, and don't futz up the thread.

Which is exactly my point. Trying to lump conservatives, (the real kind, not the RINO kind), and Libertarians won't work.

The only way that I see anything work is IF conservatives, Tea Partiers, Libertarians, free staters, etc. get behind an agenda of small government and a return to Constitutional government. That means getting them all to agree that there will be no diversion from restoring a small government, as envisioned by the Framers of the Constitution. Unless that happens, we won't have any political success on any front. And I fear that we are far past that point.

Using the Second Amendment as a rally point MIGHT be a strong enough siren call to do that, but I doubt it. There are far too many "live and let live" neo-cons, Libertarians, etc. that do not feel that the 2nd Amendment is the defender of all the rest. They do not understand and do not believe that democracy has always worked if, and only if, there is a threat to those in Government from the citizens. IF the Government does not fear the citizens, then the only possible result is increasing bureacracy and eventually totalitarianism.

OK, thats actually too much politics away from the 2nd Amendment.

HOWEVER, I am willing to allow this thread to take on some organic shape IF, and only IF, we can stick to how we can emerge from this dark time. That means we need to develop and propose solutions, not bitch and moan!

NO attacking others, no name calling, no "its THEIR fault". At this point its ALL our fault, and unless we change something, we will surely get what we deserve!