Arguing About Definitions

We seem to be arguing about definitions lately, which is usually a waste of time. Many English words have more than one definition, so what matters is what you mean when you say that word. In general, a militia is a part time citizen army. The militias to which the Second Amendment refers were sponsored by the states, and the colonies before that. The militias that were running around the woods a few years ago were not sponsored by any state, so they were not the same thing. The National Guard now does the work that the state militias used to do, and also some other things. This means that a state militia would now be redundant, but I still would like Michigan to have one in case you city slickers get the notion that you can come up to God's country and run rough shod over us.

I seem to remember that we looked up "yeoman" before, and it also had more than one definition. The Midieval yeomen to which I have been referring were independent landowners who lived outside the feudal system of lords, vassals, and serfs.

The "dry guys" must have believed that the constitution did not allow for Prohibition because they thought it necessary to pass the Sixteenth Amendment to make it legal. The drinkers must have opposed that amendment, and refused to honor it once it had been passed. I doubt that Prohibition caused many drinkers to give up drinking, and it may have inspired people who didn't drink before to take it up. You know, the old "forbidden fruit" thing.

I already told you how gun ownership makes the world a better place, it enables people to hunt, and to defend themselves and others against criminal attack, should the need arise. Truth be known, very few gun owners will ever need to use their guns for defense, but it makes them feel good to think that they can if they have to.

 Like I said before, I don't mind getting my hands dirty doing something that I want to do, but I'm not interested in doing something that I don't want to do, whether or not my hands get dirty in the process. If I wanted to be "where the action is" I wouldn't be holed up in the swamps of Northern Michigan. I am currently getting all the action I want just plowing snow and shoving wood into the furnace. As a matter of fact, with the winter we are having, I could do with a little less action! Where is global warming when you need it?

I have not read all those weapons laws, but I thought it was common knowledge that civilians were not allowed to possess certain military weapons like machine guns and bazookas. Are you disputing that?

Funny that you should say my guys are in control, I thought that your guys took over this country back in the 60s and my guys have been trying to take it back ever since. It's true that gun control seems to be a hard sell lately. Maybe that's because there are already plenty of gun laws on the books. Maybe it's just because people don't like Obama anymore. It's not unusual for a president to become unpopular during his second term.

One thing for sure, if my guys were in control of this country, we wouldn't be having all this foolishness about gay marriage. I recently read an opinion piece in our paper that said gay marriage can't do traditional marriage any harm because traditional marriage went down the tubes a long time ago. About half the married people in this country end up divorced, and the other half wish that they were. Maybe they have a point there, but that still doesn't mean I have to vote for it.