Why We Need To Be Watching

With the news, which has been confirmed by mainstream media, that the Department of Homeland Security has purchased billions of rounds of ammunition, fully-automatic weapons, and armored vehicles, things are beginning to look a little scary in the good ol' US of A. Add to that the reports of 30,000 drones filling our skies by 2020, and you've got something right out of George Orwell's 1984.
Though generally dismissed as the paranoid ravings of the conspiracy theory crowd, these facts are, nonetheless, disturbing. As Ralph Benko writes in an article for Forbes, "... 1.6 billion rounds would be enough to sustain a hot war for 20+ years.  In America."

As far as I can tell, there are only two scenarios in which a government law enforcement agency--not the military--would need this much ammunition: 1) They are expecting an invasion and attempted occupation from a foreign enemy, or 2) they are anticipating massive civil unrest right here at home. Since our country hasn't been invaded in a heckuva long time (unless you count 9/11, which is a totally different story), I'm tempted to go with scenario number two.

This would seem to mesh with the sudden push to dismantle the Second Amendment and deprive American citizens of their right to keep and bear arms. Though the current fiasco is centered on so-called 'assault weapons' and magazines which hold over ten rounds, our government rarely stops once it gets its foot in the door.

Unfortunately, we have already been acquiescent while our rights under the Fourth Amendment have been silently eroded due to the Patriot Act and other legislation. We were told that, in order to ensure our safety, we would have to give up certain expectations of privacy. If the government does plan a gun grab, they are already well on their way, since our right against unlawful search and seizure is now questionable at best.

Many citizens seem to have already given up, preferring now to spend their resources on prepping for the inevitable. While there is nothing wrong with being prepared and everyone should have a plan of action in case things go south, I think that there is still time to make changes through our political system. Sure, the system is corrupt, and the old guard will not simply hand over their power willingly, but We The People still have a very powerful weapon at our disposal: the United States Constitution. 

The founders of our great nation gave us this tool to use in just such an emergency as we now face. Their foresight has given us a means to fight back, and fight back we must. For if we stand idly by while the powers that be strip us of our individual rights, we are doomed, and not just by the hand of a corrupt and misguided government, but by our own, as well.

If you have never before been involved in politics, do so now. We must get rid of the old guard and elect into office those who share our principles, and we must hold those individuals to their oath to follow and guard the Constitution at all costs. Only then might we steer our course back to the path our founding fathers envisioned when they created this great nation.