By Tom Reynolds

A popular saying has arisen about the far left’s free giveaways, “Mice don’t understand why the cheese is free until it is too late”.

What does all this free stuff have to do with the Constitution and in particular the Second Amendment? Power and control! Politicians giving away stuff they label as “free” has been a path to obtaining and keeping power even before Franklin Roosevelt made it into a science in the 1930s.

When the government gives away something “free”, it always comes with strings attached. Those strings make the recipients into government puppets and the primary string is forcing the recipient to agree with and support government policies. It is understood that, if the recipient does not go along with the government, the “free stuff” will end.

Put another way, the government powerful enough to give you everything is also powerful enough to take everything away.

Politicians love to define the parameters of an issue in limited terms and avoid looking at the bigger picture effects; a view that might reveal problems with their plans. They need the voters to focus narrowly on only what the politicians want the voters to focus. The results of this bigger picture failure are called unintended consequences and these consequences can run far afield of just the “free stuff”. Again, the “free stuff” is only a path to power, it is not the goal of the politician. Once in power, the politician’s goal is to impose their will in other areas, especially the far left and their anti-Second amendment laws.

Imagine if the far left were to seize power in 2020 because they were elected on a “free stuff” platform. Actually, you don’t have to imagine what would happen. Look at New York State as an example of one party using unchecked powers over a broad spectrum of issues. We are in the sixth term for the liberal Cuomo's that sandwich the three terms of RINO Pataki and the disgraced Eliot Spitzer. During these 30-something years, the NY Senate was usually in Republican hands and while they were less than arduous in pursuing conservative and constitutional goals, they did serve to stop most – but not all - of the craziness that was proposed by the NY City liberals. Now, the voters have put the Senate, Assembly and Governorship all in the far left hands, for whatever reason. There is no stopping the craziness: a 2 nd SAFE Act (check); liberalize abortion (check); anti-business laws (check); use government powers against their opponents (check); free stuff for illegal’s (check).

And if New York State isn’t bad enough, California provides another example. Need I go on?

The far left response to “Keep America Great” is “Vote for me and get it free.” As Rush Limbaugh once asked, “How can you vote against Santa Claus?”

Gun owners must educate the public about politicians proposing giveaways and explaining that these are nothing more than a path to power for those that oppose our traditional American values and our 2nd Amendment rights. When debating against the “free stuff” giveaways, it’s not just the cost of these that make them impossible – and the cost really does make them impossible. Voters need to understand the bigger picture; that once the far left are in power, they will do much more than just give away “stuff”. They will impose their deepest, darkest far left desires on the people and one of their most cherished desires is to abolish the 2nd Amendment.