Mark Meckler et al?

As I look at the pictures on Drudge this morning, I thought how the cruise liner Costa Concordia listing and virtually on its side, perfectly symbolizes the sinking of the European economy. Socialism has failed. It is right there for all of us to see. Yet, the liberals/progressives here at home, currently led by the Obama Administration, are hell-bent on duplicating this fiasco. The Republican leadership is just as guilty. None of this, of course, would be possible without the complicity of the news media. The number of citizens who love this country far exceeds the number who wishes it harm. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people pay little attention to the finer details or the big picture. They base their opinions on TV sound bites and newspaper headlines. This allows for easy distortion and manipulation.

The arrest of Mark Meckler last December 15 at LaGuardia International was a lead story all across America. Mr. Meckler is co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, the largest Tea Party organization. The news media along with both the Democrat and Republican leadership were salivating over this opportunity to strengthen their false representation of the Tea Party as right-wing radicals. They made maximum use of this opportunity. I am sure that nearly every potential voter read the headlines and/or saw the news clips on TV.

Meckler’s arrest and the windfall of media coverage that followed will have no impact on die-hards, Democrat or Republican. It very well could influence the opinions of some independent voters. It could also have a negative influence on Tea Party members who are, almost to a person, law abiding citizens. It is, after all, the tacit responsibility of the media to demoralize the conservative movement. This was never more evident than their pathetic attempt to compare the anarchist “Occupy” movement to the peaceful Tea Party movement. Most people aware of Meckler’s arrest will never learn the following:

Meckler was arrested after requesting a firearms declaration form from the ticket agent. There are signs posted at LaGuardia stating the right to check unloaded firearms in luggage.

Meckler had a valid concealed gun permit issued in California. The gun was unloaded and locked inside a TSA-approved travel case. The case was locked inside Meckler’s checked luggage.

What Meckler did was perfectly legal in most states. In fact, his actions did not even violate the laws of the state of New York. However, the City of New York is intensely anti-Second Amendment. Meckler was arrested and charged with felony possession of a firearm with intent to do harm. This ridiculous charge was reduced to “disorderly conduct” but significant harm was done to the Meckler family personally. The impact on the conservative movement in general, is yet to be determined.

There have been so many laws and regulations passed over the years that every American violates some of them by simply existing. Refuse to fill out your race on the census form, go to a public event and sing “Happy Birthday to You” (Time Warner copyright) and you may receive a subpoena for violating the law. Using a fake name on the internet can get you arrested and charged with the federal crime of hacking. The “Computer Fraud and Abuse Act” makes it a crime to gain unauthorized access to a web site. This is a third degree felony with imprisonment up to two years in most states. This is yet another well intended law (not all are) with unforeseen consequences. It is written in such vague language that many law abiding citizens have probably been in violation multiple times.

Those in power are free to arbitrarily choose who they will punish/ suppress and who gets a free pass. Like Mr. Meckler, I do not know all of the laws in New York. I confess, possessing only a general understanding of perhaps a dozen of the 725 new laws going into effect in my home state of California in 2011/ 2012. In Texas, Governor Perry signed 1,458 bills into law during 2011 (82nd Legislature) and that is a part time legislature! We can’t possibly know (nor are we supposed to know) what is in all these bills, be they federal, state or local. Our criminal justice system is broken. Excessive regulation allows for capricious enforcement.

The ruling elite, elected or otherwise, will continue to do all possible to control us. The Constitution is an obstacle they must work around. Barrack Obama stated in September 2001, that the Constitution has “deep flaws.” President Obama and those in power lament that the Constitution restricts the powers of government. It isn’t that these people are too stupid to understand that restricting government was the expressed intent of our Founders. It is that they do not wish to accept this fact.

It was Ben Franklin who, after signing the Declaration of Independence said, “We must all hang together or surely we will all hang separately.” On December 15, it was the Second Amendment under attack and Mark Meckler selected for punishment. Tomorrow it could be you.