I have to admit I couldn't watch this all the way through, partly out of a sense of patriotism and pride in the USA. The message behind this scattershot view of our political structure seems to be that we need fully armed citizens to protect ourselves from our own government. It teeters on the brink of outright, clinical-level paranoia.
I'm not misinterpreting the message. Since this documentary was made, Alex Jones, one of the prominent speakers, has made this clear on television in the wake of a recent shooting of 26 people in a school in Newtown, Connecticut. Jones and the rest argue that we don't need fewer guns. We need more guns. Not just to protect our homes against burglars but, more important, against the coming imposition of martial law by our own government.
One of the talking heads is an expert who claims that when the Constitution says "We the people," it means "We are the people," not the government. We have all these rights and the enemy in Washington is trying to deprive us of them. Since the government has no right to deprive us of our various freedoms, it amounts to an announcement of anarchy or, if you like, extreme Libertarianism.
For an explanation of where this leads, see the work of the libertarian philosopher Robert Nozick. Since you have the right to act on your own, to do what you want with your body, you can sell yourself into voluntary slavery. Well, why not? Who's to prevent you? Certainly nothing in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. Oh, and by the way, when will my right to smoke a big cigar in a fancy French restaurant be restored?
If you're constantly in a state of frustration and outrage, and you're looking for a reason for it, this is the place to start.
I'm not misinterpreting the message. Since this documentary was made, Alex Jones, one of the prominent speakers, has made this clear on television in the wake of a recent shooting of 26 people in a school in Newtown, Connecticut. Jones and the rest argue that we don't need fewer guns. We need more guns. Not just to protect our homes against burglars but, more important, against the coming imposition of martial law by our own government.
One of the talking heads is an expert who claims that when the Constitution says "We the people," it means "We are the people," not the government. We have all these rights and the enemy in Washington is trying to deprive us of them. Since the government has no right to deprive us of our various freedoms, it amounts to an announcement of anarchy or, if you like, extreme Libertarianism.
For an explanation of where this leads, see the work of the libertarian philosopher Robert Nozick. Since you have the right to act on your own, to do what you want with your body, you can sell yourself into voluntary slavery. Well, why not? Who's to prevent you? Certainly nothing in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. Oh, and by the way, when will my right to smoke a big cigar in a fancy French restaurant be restored?
If you're constantly in a state of frustration and outrage, and you're looking for a reason for it, this is the place to start.
