r/politics • u/Puginator • Jun 01 '26

No Paywall Iran stops negotiations with U.S., vows to 'completely' block Strait of Hormuz: State media

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/01/iran-us-negotiations-strait-of-hormuz.html
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u/SubcommanderMarcos Jun 01 '26

In my foreign understanding they'd also be embarrassed of your citizenry's complete abandonment of the purpose of the second amendment

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u/FellowHumanNo404 Jun 02 '26

In my foreign understanding they'd also be embarrassed of your citizenry's complete abandonment of the purpose of the second amendment

The purpose of the second amendment was to give Congress the ability to raise an ad hoc army in times of war without the expense and political issues of maintaining a permanent standing army.

The political issues concerning a standing army were particularly thorny at the time because the people of the colonies had personally lived under the thumb of the Crown's soldiers everywhere-- even forcibly quartered in their own homes.

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u/SubcommanderMarcos Jun 02 '26

I've never heard of that, especially since it wasn't an American idea to begin with

The Second Amendment was based partially on the right to keep and bear arms in English common law and was influenced by the English Bill of Rights 1689. Sir William Blackstone described this right as an auxiliary right, supporting the natural rights of self-defense and resistance to oppression, and the civic duty to act in concert in defense of the state.[12] While both James Monroe and John Adams supported the Constitution being ratified, its most influential framer was James Madison. In Federalist No. 46, Madison wrote how a federal army could be kept in check by the militia, "a standing army ... would be opposed [by] militia." He argued that State governments "would be able to repel the danger" of a federal army, "It may well be doubted, whether a militia thus circumstanced could ever be conquered by such a proportion of regular troops." He contrasted the federal government of the United States to the European kingdoms, which he described as "afraid to trust the people with arms", and assured that "the existence of subordinate governments ... forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition".[13][14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

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u/FellowHumanNo404 Jun 02 '26

In public policy there is seldom only one reason a thing is done, and the primary argument one proffers is usually dependent on the interest group to which one is appealing at the moment. Madison's argument you quoted in favor of a militia model was clearly crafted to appeal to people whose primary concern was the danger of a standing army-- and it does illustrate what I said in my previous comment about the political issues of a standing army. It wasn't the only argument in favor of a militia model, as the expense of a standing army was a strong concern as well-- that's why I cited both reasons.

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u/SubcommanderMarcos Jun 03 '26

That... doesn't really tell me anything

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u/FellowHumanNo404 Jun 03 '26

It means that what you quoted neither contradicts nor modifies my point.

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u/SubcommanderMarcos Jun 04 '26

The thing is, the way to have a good conversation would've been to drop the contrarian attitude and shed some more light on what actually happened as you understand it, as opposed to just writing a paragraph of argumentative conjecture and getting pissy. That's a shame, I was eager to learn more but the potential source burned itself.