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1. In footnote number one of “The Embarrassing Second Amendment” (Yale Law Journal, 1989), Sanford Levinson wrote:

   It is not irrelevant that the Bill of Rights submitted to the states in 1789 included not only what are now the first ten Amendments, but also two others. Indeed, what we call the First Amendment was only the third one of the list submitted to the states. The initial “first amendment” in fact concerned the future size of the House of Representatives, a topic of no small importance to the Anti-Federalists, who were appalled by the smallness of the House seemingly envisioned by the Philadelphia framers. The second prohibited any pay raise voted by members of Congress to themselves from taking effect until an election “shall have intervened.” See J. Goebel, 1 The Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court of the United States: Antecedents and Beginnings to 1801, at 442 n.162 (1971). Had all of the initial twelve proposals been ratified, we would, it is possible, have a dramatically different cognitive map of the Bill of Rights. At the very least, one would neither hear defenses of the “preferred” status of freedom of speech framed in terms of the “firstness” of (what we know as) the First Amendment, nor the wholly invalid inference drawn from that “firstness” of some special intention of the Framers to safeguard the particular rights laid out there.

2. US Senators and US House Representatives; $174,000 is the base salary received each year. (according to Wikipedia). +The people in power positions receive an extra premium in their paycheck.

   Figures are on the Internet for the amount of money spent to win a political office.
   From OpenSecrets Org site, =
   In 2016, the average cost of winning a Senate seat $19.4 million,
   The average winning House candidate had spent $1.3 million in 2016.
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   The money raised and spent to become elected to a political office is enormous. The cost to a loser is money just wasted.

   The politicians have to raise the money, somehow.
   There has always been crooks in Congress. Like Benedict Arnold, many people in politics will >sell out America. … If the Fake News was relatively accurate in reporting about our politicians, we’d hear about such people as China Joe Biden and Beijing Pelosi.
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   The big International businesses sending American Jobs overseas to China and other countries have >Trillions of dollars at stake with each election. For decades now, US dollars and jobs have been leaving the USA and moving to places like China.

   Germany, until Donald J Trump, was able to send cars to the USA >without a tariff worry. Now, there is a threat to Germany; build more cars in the USA or face tariffs. The threat of tariffs is being applied to foreign countries.

   +Donald J Trump has started >requiring foreign countries to fulfill their Treaty Obligations; they are obligated to help pay for their own share for military defenses. For years the USA was providing for the military defense of other countries.
   *******************************

   In the news constantly are stories about crooked politicians receiving bribes and payoffs. The politicians are caught with envelopes of cash, and money filled campaign funds converted to the politicians own use.
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   What’s the point of saying the obvious truth?
   Maybe, another characteristic for a retreat location for readers of Survivalblog; check the relative honesty of politicians in the Redoubt region. … Does your local politician vote for the USA first, or do they vote for China and Mexico to be first?

   1. GGHD, I share your general attitude toward the Washington crowd.

      Hammering on politicians is a widely enjoyed, bipartisan sport. I engage in it on a regular basis. In reading the following essay, I can at east know my facts when I make my criticisms.

      https://www.thoughtco.com/salaries-and-benefits-of-congress-members-3322282

      Carry on in grace

   2. I think the time is overdue Europe reacts in the same manner to the US for real

3. Benedict Arnold was not in CONgress,he was a army officer. To quote Huey Long “Politicans shouldn’t get paid,if they aren’t smart enough to get rich there they are too stupid”(paraphrased). Tarrifs no longer work as they are supposed to,as barriers to protect domestic markets/industries, they function as a tax on US consumers. If you wanted to hurt foreign businesses,force them to sell below production costs and include US parts/ products bought at market prices(reverse dumping). German cars had heavy tarrifs on them till NAFTA eliminated them,now they are building lower quality to be in line with US market.

4. Mr. Rawles, recently I read your post about how replicas of pre-1899 firearms do not require an FFL if they are chambered in obsolete calibers. What calibers are considered obsolete? is there a list?

   1. There is not a definitive list, because occasionally a caliber will go back into production from a U.S. manufacturer. (From what I’ve heard from the ATF, the small production from “boutique” handloaders doesn’t count as “manufacturing” for “normal channels of commerce.”)

      But one good bet is .45-90, which hasn’t been regularly produced since the 1930s.

      1. Thank you sir!

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