Do You Have The "Right" To Defend Yourself? Sotomayor Says Maybe Not

I'll admit that I am not following the Sotomayor confirmation hearings as closely as I should - mostly because it seems to be a done deal - but even I was floored at this little nugget from the hearing room, brought to you by Debra Saunders...

The most interesting exchange thus far occurred when Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., asked Sotomayor about a 2004 opinion, which she signed, that found that "the right to possess a gun is clearly not a fundamental right."

Coburn wondered how courts cannot see the explicitly stated Second Amendment "right to keep and bear arms" as fundamental, yet can hold as fundamental the unexpressed right to privacy. Sotomayor answered: "Is there a constitutional right to self-defense? And I can't think of one. I could be wrong, but I can't think of one."

For eight years, Democrats attacked the Bush administration for giving short shrift to personal liberties. As Obama wrote in "Audacity," the Bush picks "showed a pattern of hostility toward civil rights, privacy and checks on executive power."

Now the Obama pick for the Supreme Court can't think of a right to defend yourself. That is arguably extraordinary.

... and more than a little frightening.

I've said this before and I'll say it again... there are some things in life that you simply don't need the government's permission to do.

Breathe. That's one.

Decide whether to pour shampoo directly on your head, or into your hand first and then transfer. That's another.

Defend yourself when you are attacked. That's another.

Why is it, you may ask, that the founding fathers - who apparently thought of everything - did not expressly put into the 2nd Amendment the right to bear arms in the purpose of self defense?

The answer is simple. Because it is so basic, so obvious that they didn't feel the need to.

I mean, who in their right fucking mind would argue that a human being does not have the right to defend themselves?!?

The right of self-defense is a basic fundamental element of being to any living entity - or, at least, any living entity that wants to keep on living. To argue otherwise is beyond insane. To argue otherwise is to harbor a death wish for humanity.

I'm going to follow more closely because clearly this bitch is nuts.