The 2nd Amendment was not put in place to protect against tyrannical gov't.

[rrneck]

62. So predictable.

You leap right to some sort of pitched battle with the 82nd Airborne. A friend of mine was a DI in the 82nd and served in Desert Storm. You know what his attitude toward armed conflict with a hostile invading force is? Upgrade. He is perfectly willing to take a Ruger 10/22 or a knife and kill the other guy for his weapon.

You don't seem to understand it's not just about the gun. People fixate on the gun way too much. While I expect that it's true that repressive regimes don't immediately unleash the military on people, but rather use disappearances, selective enforcement of the law, irregular paramilitary "thugs" and other assorted unpleasantness to subjugate recalcitrant populations, it's not about the fight itself but the continuum of force that leads up to it. Because in the end whether it's a common criminal, a government thug, or a professional soldier you have to face the stakes will be the same. But the path you take to that moment may well determine whether or not you actually have to face it.

Has it occurred to you that the Bill of Rights implies a continuum of force?

First Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Second Amendment
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The people have a right to speak out against injustice, to collectively speak out, to physically make their presence and their demands heard, and document their grievances. Failing those options, the people have a right to fight. You have a right to fight against a common criminal, and you have a right to fight against a criminal government. There are no guarantees you will win, but you have the right to try.

From The Lion in Winter
Prince Richard: [the sons - in the dungeon - think they hear Henry approach] He's here. He'll get no satisfaction out of me. He isn't going to see me beg.
Prince Geoffrey: My you chivalric fool... as if the way one fell down mattered.
Prince Richard: When the fall is all there is, it matters.

You're a lot less likely to get assaulted if your assailant thinks he will get his brains blown out. If he expects a serious fight, he probably won't engage but rather seek easier prey. That's because bullies don't want a fight, they want an easy victory. But if you walk around advertising that you won't resist or expect to lose a fight, every bully in town will come looking for you. You have already been defeated by your own attitude.

And another interesting quote from Lion in Winter.

Henry II: I found out the way your mind works and the kind of man you are. I know your plans and expectations - you've burbled every bit of strategy you've got. I know exactly what you will do, and exactly what you won't, and I've told you exactly nothing. To these aged eyes, boy, that's what winning looks like!

When you announce to the world exactly what your limitation are, your adversaries will know exactly how far to go to defeat you. When you tell the world you will never fight, a fight is exactly what you will get. Or, more specifically, an ass whipping is what you'll get.

How do you feel about the New Deal? These events and many more helped set the stage for it.

Battle of Blair Mountain
Pullman Strike
Streetcar strikes in the United States
Colorado Labor Wars
1905 Chicago Teamsters' strike
Pressed Steel Car Strike of 1909

There's plenty more here. Those workers battled the police, mercenaries hired by industrialists, and the military. They weren't fucking around, and those events were living memories for a lot of people when FDR was elected. People fought and died for social progress on American soil, and anyone who calls themselves a Progressive would do well to remember that.

If you're satisfied to be a keyboard commando go right ahead. If your idea of ultimate political action is "occupying" a public space you have a lot to learn. If you think the oligarchs that want to own this country and everything and everyone in it will stop with squirting a little pepper spray you may have a rude surprise in your future. We have begun to turn a corner and I hope we will keep turning it. I am very interested to see what kind of liberal sits in the Oval Office after the Biden presidency. But success is by no means assured, and it seems that not a few of our fellow Democrats have opted to take precautions no matter whether they will work or not.