I am not a committed advocate for democracy or republicanism as ends in themselves. My deeper concern is opposition to despotism, tyranny, and arbitrary rule. I don’t want to live under a system where ordinary people like us are reduced to subjects with no real rights, ruled by a person or establishment that claims authority by title or status while reserving to itself the power to decide who may keep and bear arms. I believe in the rule of law, constitutional limits on authority, and the protection of our individual rights against the power of the state, because history has shown that governments can (and often will) turn against their own founding-stock population.