Dick Armey

[Jim heartfield]

In message <3.0.1.32.19990123163020.0074beb0 at pop.mindspring.com>, pms
<laflame at mindspring.com> writes
>>> A friend from Georgia just last night told me that at some point Cobb
>>> County passed an ordinance requiring all county residents to own a
>>> firearm. She didn't know if it held up/was challenged in court. 
>>> 
>>> frances
>>> 
>
>No. This is true. But it wasn't Cobb Co. It was the city of Kennesaw. Where
>I spend most of the holidays.  I'll ask about current status, but it was in
>effect for sometime.  My Kennesaw friends illegally owned no firearms.

In his excellent book Militarism and Anti-militarism, the Spartacist
Karl Liebknecht argued that the arming of the populace would be the best
guard against the state's monopoly of violence, as well as the best
guarantee of democracy and peace. Since he was killed by the state
militia of the Freikorps, you can see why he wanted to share out the
firearms.

I'm interested to know when it became a radical position to disarm the
populace, and a conservative one to arm it. Is the left more happy to
see the state exercise a monopoly over force than the right? Or does it
feel more alienated from the people?
-- 
Jim heartfield