Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Congress woman Gabby Giifords has been shot.

If their kids are going to grow up to be politicians too, it's tough for me to feel too bad for them.

The only thing you got right is that I'm anti-Constitutionalist.

I'm not going to say it was right for this particular congresswoman and judge to be shot; but however right or wrong it was, it was more wrong for the other people and the little girl to be shot.

There was a span of maybe three months or so a few years back when it's only by the grace of God that I didn't set my affairs in order, withdraw a bunch of savings, toss a rifle in the truck, drive to Washington, and pot me as many politicians as I could before they got me. My objective is to suck power away from the State, not to hand it more.

Plumbers and farmers and doctors help people. Politicians hurt people. To me, a politician is a peg or two lower on the scale than an armed robber.

In my world, if somebody commits a crime (initiates force) against you, you're the only one who's qualified to determine what retaliation is justified. The decision should be ultimately yours, if you're the victim.

Anyone who expects politicians to be anything other than gilded scum is a fool.

I don't know whether being a politician is a sin or not. Is it a sin for a fish to swim or a bird to fly? Perhaps politicians are politicians simply because God chose to leave something important out of them when he created them, and it's not to be held against their account at all. After all, I have to believe God doesn't hold retarded people to account for not being smart.
But if it's a crime to take something that belongs to somebody else without his permission, and being a politician implies being paid with taxes, then being a politician is essentially a crime, yes, if not a sin. The only reason it's not popularly called a crime is the popular legitimization of the State's monopoly on the initiation of force.
Of course, the vast majority of politicians in the real world are guilty of far more than just extortion.

The injuries and deaths of the bystanders are more tragic than the injuries and deaths of the politicians. I would have said the same thing if the damage had been caused by an earthquake or a tornado.

As to whether politicians are subhuman or not...it's an interesting question. If they are simply fundamentally incapable of restraining themselves, then they don't bear any moral responsibility for the death and devastation they cause, but they're also pretty undeniably subhuman.
On the other hand, if they're fully human, it means that they've chosen to commit the crimes they've committed, when they could have made different choices instead, and are therefore fully responsible for them.
I'll admit that it'd be awfully difficult for me to love a politician. Much easier to love an armed robber.

I rate my compassion for politicians based on whether they're politicians or not.