Does anyone remember a time when Media Matter for America was a relevant – or accurate – news source?
Since yesterday's publication of Dana's book, Hands Off My Gun, the folks over at Media Matters have had a collective conniption, and the smoke they've generated by repeatedly rubbing those two lonely brain cells together has been, well, amusing.
First, they accused Dana Loesch of misquoting the words and intentions of the Founding Fathers. I'll say that again, so you can get the full effect. They accused Dana Loesch of misquoting the Founding Fathers. It would be easier to believe that Paula Deen gave up butter or that Chris Matthews endorsed Sarah Palin.
Second, they actually attempted to prove her quotations to be erroneous, but what they actually proved was something entirely different: their lack of understanding of American History. They kept sticking on the fact that many of the Founding Fathers spoke of arming the people in “well-ordered militias,” but it very quickly became clear that they failed to recognize the context. A “well-ordered militia” is simply a group of like-minded citizens who are properly trained to handle weapons. Remember that “well-ordered militia” that gave the British hell in the present day Carolinas? That was a man – an armed, private citizen – named Francis Marion, who along with a few of his neighbors, decided that he had had enough. A handful of them, without any official military training or direction, managed to dismantle the hold that British troops had on the region.
The American Revolution was carried out in large part by armed, private citizens. The Constitution was written to protect their right to remain armed, private citizens. To assume that any of the Founding Fathers advocated anything different is willfully ignorant.
One needs only to read a few simple lines from George Mason (who inspired the United States Bill of Rights and wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights):
What is the militia? It is the whole people, with the exception of a few politicians.
To disarm the people is the most effectual way to enslave them.
