Thursday, August 20, 2009
"Jews In The Attic" - An Interesting Perspective
Joe Huffman, a blogger and self-professed Second Amendment activist, has a brief essay on an interesting way to look at government regulation -- what he calls the "Jews In The Attic" test:
Will this law make it difficult or impossible to protect innocent life from a government intent on their imprisonment or death? [...] I told them I called this test my "Jews In The Attic Test". Furthermore I told them that if it fails this test no further discussion is really needed, the law must be opposed in the most vigorous manner possible.(emphasis his)
Interesting, no?
I'm sure that some people would oppose this idea as ridiculous, saying that it's paranoid to plan for the day when the American Government would round up loyal citizens and imprison them without cause.
To which I'd reply: tell it to the graduates of Manzanar. It's happened before, and if we're not careful, it can happen again, particularly in times of hysteria.
No doubt the same people would ridicule the idea of America being invaded by a foreign enemy. To which I'd reply: this does not mean that the American military is unneeded; it means that they're doing their job. Similarly, if you think our laws are strong enough to keep Manzanar from ever happening again, I'd say that this means constant vigilance is working, not that it's not needed.
Back to Mr. Huffman. He gives a short list of laws that would fail this test -- in other words, that would make it impossible to protect innocents from the government -- and which therefore, by his lights, should be opposed without question.
Have a look. Some items on his list might surprise you.
