The 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 Constitution of No Authority

“But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain — that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case it is unfit to exist.”

Power concedes nothing without a demand

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”

Power tends to corrupt

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

The voter and the questions

“The democracy has a right to answer questions, but it has no right to ask them. It is still the political aristocracy that asks the questions. And we shall not be unreasonably cynical if we suppose that the political aristocracy will always be rather careful what questions it asks.”

The foundational first-person plural

Dexter Taylor paraphrases Roger Scruton: before defining the proper roles of government and citizens, a people must be able to say “we” and “us” and mean it.

Culture is upstream from politics

“It was Andrew Breitbart who said, ‘Culture is upstream from politics.’ Well, obviously the first-person plural — the we, the sacred we — is upstream from culture, because for there to be such a thing as our culture, there must be such a thing as us.”

Education and the oldest ideas

“Our children are subjected to all the newest ideas. The problem is that, in some cases, they haven’t been exposed to the oldest ideas, which should happen first. That is what education means: to be so sure of something that you dare tell it to a child.”

Common sense and civilization

“Common sense is a sediment of past history. It is the form in which the people’s mentality has crystallized over centuries. To change civilization, one must first attack this common sense.”

Despotism and isolation

“Despotism, which is of a very timorous nature, is never more secure of continuance than when it can keep men asunder; and all its influence is commonly exerted for that purpose. No vice of the human heart is so acceptable to it as egotism: a despot easily forgives his subjects for not loving him, provided they do not love each other.”

Black Tulsans and armed self-defense

“The entire dynamic changed — the racial dynamic changed — because Black Tulsans had stood up and defended themselves.”

3D-printed firearms in New York

The episode includes a clip from an Eyewitness News ABC7NY interview with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg about New York legislation intended to prevent 3D printers from producing firearm components.

Dexter Taylor’s Second Amendment legal fund

Support the legal appeal discussed in the episode.