Rapid Social Change from the Top Down and the Bottom Up

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2A Sanctuaries across the USA, Feb 2020U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- The news is amazing and occasionally unpredictable. Yes, news can be predictable and still be called news, the same way the weather changes consistently but unscheduled ways. I want to contrast several political changes I saw last week. Some occurred because of easily identifiable actors, and some were unpredictable. As Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said, there are knows, unknowns, and unknown-unknowns. Knowns We knew that Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been buying politicians for years. We knew that Virginia Democrats were for sale, but we didn’t know when Bloomberg would have his majority and how far those Democrat legislators would go with Bloomberg’s plans. Mayor Bloomberg consolidated his takeover of Virginia in last November’s election. He got most of the political change he wanted when the Virginia legislature went into session in January. I said most, but not all, because the Mayor was frustrated by some of the votes. His most egregious gun control measures were voted down in committee. That is where a few Democrat legislators rejected some of the confiscatory gun control that Mayor Bloomberg wanted. A few Democrat legislators opposed their party and stood up for the citizens in their district. That too happened for a reason. Politicians have always been for sale, but the wholesale purchase of politicians by billionaires like Soros and Bloomberg is news. Unknowns That brings us to the second unexpected change we saw last week. To understand it, we have to go back to the second-amendment-sanctuary movement started years ago in Illinois. For those that don’t know, Illinois politics are controlled by Chicago. In order to have some small measure of control, some Illinois counties passed local resolutions and ordinances that opposed the Chicago political machine. In particular, Chicago Democrats wanted firearms confiscation while Republicans and rural down-state-Democrats wanted the right to keep and bear arms. Too often, the Chicago Democrats would pass a gun-control law that would take decades to overturn in the courts. To protect their citizens, down-state-politicians in Illinois passed resolutions saying that sheriffs and other local officers would not enforce unconstitutional laws that infringe on the right to keep and bear arms. Democrats first established cafeteria-style law enforcement with their immigration sanctuary cities. Now, that same issue of local control was used to protect the right of self-defense. What started in Illinois didn’t stay in Illinois. The second-amendment-sanctuary movement spread over the next few years from Illinois to Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and to Texas. Bloomberg’s takeover of Virginia accelerated the second amendment sanctuary movement. In the three months since last November’s election, 91 of Virginia’s 95 counties passed 2A sanctuary resolutions. Some cities in Virginia did so as well. A few counties established militia that the sheriff could activate in case of emergency. 2A sanctuaries in Virginia Jan 2020Seeing Virginians stripped of their rights by Bloomberg Democrats, the second-amendment-sanctuary movement spread across the US like wildfire. Sanctuary resolutions quickly passed in Florida. Fifteen states had new counties and cities become second amendment sanctuaries in the last seven days. That is an amazing grassroots groundswell that isn’t controlled by a billionaire or by any national civil-rights organization. The elites couldn't do that if they tried.. but you did. Millions of us made a few phone calls and walked into the meeting of our county boards. We’ve spoken up before, but this particular movement is both unexpected and politically unpredictable. It is American democracy in action. Unknown Unknowns There is one more political change we saw last week. It was expected but unprecedented. President Donald Trump changed the political balance of the 9th US circuit court of appeals. From one perspective, one judge’s confirmation simply continues the slow trend as President Trump appoints more federal judges. Now consider the history of the 9th circuit. That court has been wildly political for years. It was the court you went to when you wanted a statist interpretation of the law so you could expand government power. It was the circuit most overturned by the US Supreme Court. That long-standing political bias changed last week when the 9th circuit upheld the federal government’s defunding of abortion. Trump nominated conservative and originalist federal judges. This is an amazing turn of events since we’ve never seen a Republican president do what he said he would do. That consistency must frighten the elites. Limiting government power and returning the United States to the control of the American people is a dangerous job. It angers the elites like Soros, Bloomberg, and Clinton. I pray for President Trump’s safety.. and for the safety of the elites. We live in amazing times. I’ll keep my eye on the movement to expand Idaho to include conservative counties in Washington, Oregon, and California. That is fascinating, but it leaves me asking one question. Where are the billionaires for liberty? About Rob Morse The original article with references is here. Rob Morse writes about gun rights at Ammoland, at Clash Daily, and on his SlowFacts blog. He hosts the Self Defense Gun Stories Podcast and co-hosts the Polite Society Podcast. Rob is an NRA pistol instructor and combat handgun competitor.