The second bomber has been captured, but the search itself was a disturbing comparison to the American culture that once was. The residents of the Boston area dutifully followed government orders to Shelter in Place, which means to cower at home while heavily armed government personnel assume all the responsibility for the community's defense:
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Now, there certainly were valid reasons for wanting people to clear the streets; mainly to allow police to more easily identify the perpetrator and not mistake innocents for the terrorist. But the image of a massive armed government takeover of an entire community, in a blue state in which the Second Amendment has been rendered almost meaningless, isn't comforting in the least.
It’s rather ironic that citizens were unable to defend themselves and told to hide after a bombing on Patriots Day, which celebrates the citizens who fought the British government at Lexington and Concord.
There was a time when citizen volunteers would also be hunting these enemies, in the spirit of self-government and self-reliance. Now they cringes in basements, after handing their rights to a para-military government force; in direct contradiction to the purpose and meaning of the Second Amendment and our founding principles. Yeah, I know. I'm paranoid for not believing America's freedoms are a force of nature that can never be taken away. It's silly to think we're not immune from the lessons of history and human nature.
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.”
― James Madison, The Federalist Papers
