In reading this week’s post, I believe I have reinforced the same belief that many others have come to before me, both conservatives and liberals approach not only historical events, but current events in a manner that coincides with their own unique beliefs on how the world should run. Reading this articles and watching multiple news channels really shows this. What they write or report on and the angle they go with really shows how our two party systems cover a wide spectrum of ideological beliefs, be they political, social, or religious.
One of the articles that caught my attention was “Gun Control—Not According to George Washington.” In the article Ken Taylor makes reference to a quote that George Washington said. The basic summary of the quote being that a free people should be able to have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain some status of their independence from anyone who tries to take it away from them. These made me think of the Whiskey Rebellion. Though the Federal Government did not take their arms away, poor farmers in the western portion of the United States felt that the government had assaulted their freedom by imposing upon a tax that attacked their lively hood. Though not much came out of this event in the end, Washington did not view this tax as an attack on an individual’s freedoms or independence. It is that view that very much centers on any argument pertaining to the second amendment. In this post, Taylor argues that all legislation impacts law abiding gun owners, not criminals. Watching the news I know that is the very core of the conservative argument. I would imagine in an anti-gun blog, the blogger would use current events and laws to support their claim for gun legislation. What they both have in common though is that they both see themselves as defending the second amendment in the way they have come to interpret it.
Every blog, article, and book out there shows an individual’s interpretation of the event and hopefully of some primary source material. One of the greatest appreciations that I have drawn from reading both conservative and liberal articles over the course of the class is the ability to be able to freely express ones belief in generally any matter you can come up with.