This is a really neat trick, since Mao didn't come to power until 1949

[Algernon Moncrieff]

GUN CONTROL & GENOCIDE: Inseparable partners.
(See global history for details)

Now, let's sit back and see how many will ENTIRELY miss the point that big government oppression kills.

[IronLionZion]

1. From the civil war?

I'm wondering where they got the number of dead and the date from?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Civil_War

[Scootaloo]

2. Apparently it's made up

Big surprise

[Algernon Moncrieff]

3. See global history for details

I don't have time to explain big government oppression to you

[Curmudgeoness]

4. LOL.....

Good one. That is very typical of these emails/postings. But to be fair, their audience doesn't want to read technical stuff like global history.....so boring!

Welcome to DU.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

5. Thank you

[TxDemChem]

6. I am so bookmarking this thread.

In case some nutjob try's to throw this out there.

[chknltl]

7. That damned term: "Big Government"

Setting aside the fact that this guy had little to do with the disarming of his nation and setting aside any discussion here about guns:

Accdg to the caption: (HE)...killed 20 mil unarmed countrymen that opposed "HIM". This is a government of by and for the guy who did the killing. Call 'his' government whatever term you wish but this man was a brutal dictator and was the man atop his dictatorial government. This was not a 'Big Government', it was instead just another small government with an extensive police/military force keeping power in the hands of a ruling elite class.

OTOH our Founding Fathers wanted a government that was not in the hands of a ruling elite, they'd had more than enough of kings. They wanted the largest government possible: A government Of By and For it's Citizenry. Yes of course it is 'representative' but We The People are the final arbiter. In a very real sense We The People ARE the government.

The ironic thing about those who use that term "Big Government"-those who want to shrink our government, is that what they really seek is to wrest away bits and pieces of the peoples power to determine what is in their best interest and what is not. They seek to grant more and more power into the hands of corporations and corporate elitists. "Trickle Down Economics" being the classic example of this. Let the 'job creators' make the decisions instead of the unions-unions which btw are themselves a government of by and for their working class membership.

Interestingly enough Giovanna Gentile, the founder of the term fascism and especially his protégé Benito Mussolini agreed with the destruction of the power of the citizenry in the job-place. They oversaw the dismantling of the trade unions, the removal from civic power of anyone who believed in socialism and replaced their government officials with representatives from Italy's major corporations. Dick Cheney and Haliburton could have flourished under such a government-did just that here in America because they were given the blessing by a similarly fooled citizenry. We were divided and our democracy held in check by this philosophy-arguably it still is.

When I see or hear the words "Big Government" I see it for the dog whistle it is: A propagandists tool used to convince the citizenry to act against their own interests.
Instead of letting the corporatist elites take what is left of our democracy from us, We The People need to re-unite against this hostile corporate takeover. If we do this we become the very Big Government the corporate elite fears the most!