Dear David F,

On a number of points I respectfully disagree with your proposal that the right to bear arms is invalid contemporarily.

The police force is an institution of the sub-national (state) level of government and so is controlled by the State Government. Yes there are elements that manage that control- such as the Westminster Principle.

The question of whether a top down or bottom up approach to the power of deadly force is approapriate is a way of analyzing the validity of the power structure. Usually there is a combination of bottom up and top down approaches are used in abstract problem solving.

All levels of the hierarchy have the potential to abuse the power of deadly force also there will never be perfect safety and so there needs to be a balance. The main question then is where the balance should be and how should it be measured.

Individuals within society have views that are based on their perceived positions in the society. From your views I would assume that you believe you have the ability to influence the State Government but perhaps not the Federal Government. For this reason you perhaps wouldn't consider them a potential threat to you. Where as my views indicate that I perceive I have little or no influence over the government either at the Federal, State, or Local levels- this is why I advocate "Individual Power".

All Nations are a sum of the views at the different levels. It indicates the level of fragmentation or cohesion, etc.

There have been a number of comments in other threads by our esteemed members on individual firearm ownership and it's risks and benefits.

Alvin Toffler in Power Shift said that power is based on three components- Knowledge, Money, Deadly Force- looking at a number of case studies in ancient and contemporary periods I agree with his view.

I have come to the view over many case studies and studying great thinkers that Individual Deadly Force is necessary for a legitimate power structure- but I don't own a firearm myself.

I see the rising influence of feminine forces in the community as one of the influences opposing Individual Deadly Force. In the animal kingdom guarding the group is commonly a male task- perhaps there is something physical within us that has let to this asymmetry between the sexes. Perhaps the feminine psychology has an unwarranted underestimation of danger in their surrounding environment.

The nature of the mind contains many elements which are unknown. A relatively short time ago it was discovered that male and female brains are different due to testosterone in the womb. To me that means we need to trust the systems that have stood the test of time- but it sort of contradicts the concept of evidence based policy (so does the concept of democracy).

The concept of how power should be structured in communities has been going on for thousands of years by much better people than you or me and will be going on for thousands of years after this. We can drive the vehicle that is our community better but it's also important not to crash the car. I'm always suspicious of those that want to change the power structure that they only want to do it for self serving reasons. That's fine as long as they understand that people have a right to discuss the validity of the changes and despite the perceived rationality (or accusations of non rationality of the masses) the masses have the right to choose- whether in a democracy or not

I'll give you a weapon to beat me with- lets see how you use it.

You could argue that my approach is over philosophical (and I've only alluded to it) but this is my touchstone as many pragmatic approaches appear to have led to tyranny. The solutions that have been chosen for practicality in the short term have failed in the longer term.

Communities especially contemporary ones have complex relationships- in order to understand them sensitivity is required- in science and in engineering "to avoid runaway complexity often a simplifying principle is necessary". Engineers say "more parts more failures"

Dear Canem Malum,

You wrote: "The concept of how power should be structured in communities has been going on for thousands of years by much better people than you or me and will be going on for thousands of years after this."

The people who are discussing the nature of power may be much better than you or me, but the people who take power in my opinion are usually worse. In my opinion a desire for power means that one is unfit to hold it.

The America my generation loved unconditionally may never have existed
We, men too, cried at the death of Kennedy, he may have been the second last great leader Obama being the best post ww2
Trump is a symptom of America, a nation of great wealth, that ignores those living in that country who have nothing
Trump has given us a timely reminder, we must look to our own defense he has taken the trust out of his country

"Obama being the best post ww2 [president]"

Struth, its like Belly grew up in an alternate universe.