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by AnthonyMouse 2541 days ago
> Isn't this the argument that the concentration camps being run to detain refugees and separate their families aren't authoritarian because the government and their media allies say so?

Only if you're the government and their media allies.

Anything that puts people in cages is authoritarian. You can argue that sometimes it's worth the cost, but then you're arguing that sometimes authoritarianism is worth the cost. And generally speaking it isn't and we should have a high bar for all imprisonment.

(Though the immigration case is somewhat confounded if being in the cage is only an optional alternative to being immediately delivered out of the country and released there pending an immigration status decision.)

> The problem with the 2nd amendment approach is that a lot of the militia types are quite in favour of authoritarianism so long as it hits people they don't like.

So what's stopping the people who don't like that form of authoritarianism from taking advantage of the 2nd amendment themselves?