Unite is part of this countries name!

It’s becoming increasingly clear that our political process has been turned to capture the 50% of the population that is below average intelligence.  This part of the population actually believes that one person can make major changes in the country.  We have to remember that politics is about power and power can be all consuming.  Keeping power that is in hand has become much more important to those in power, than helping the nation meet its’ challenges.  Does anyone really believe that guns, abortions, or gay people are going to go away?  These are issues that are only meant to inflame the passions of people and promote hate against those with other beliefs.  The reasons that both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are doing so well in the polls is that they are both recognized as not being bought by the big money interests.  Unfortunately, if either of these two is elected, we will see a lot of cross aisle co-operation being made to oppose everything that will be proposed by our non-bought president. We saw this with Governor Ventura.  Most of us agree that the flood of money into politics is the cause of our dysfunction.  Unfortunately it is the media that benefits from all this money, and they are unlikely to be of much help in getting rid of the problem.  As long as we see campaign funding coming from sources that can’t vote for the candidate we will see politicians willing to go against the people that voted them in.  Our current crop of politicians look to the divide and conquer method of obtaining power.  We must hold out for candidates who understand the unite and prosper method of ruling.

Let's get real about guns

It appears that intelligence has left the gun control argument.  One side wants to get rid of guns, while the other side seems to think someone will take their guns away.  Emotions have held these two possibilities up as realistic.  When one stops to think the process through, it leaves the realm of possibility.  I would like to know who and how it would be possible to take the guns away?  Are we going to find someone stupid enough to go door to door to ask people to hand over their guns?  Are we going to trust that people will willingly take their guns to the local police station? Are we going to send SWAT teams through our neighborhoods to collect them?  I think the concealed carry law in Minnesota is a good starting point to bring some intelligence back to the problem.  The education that is required to get the permit is such that once you have gone through the class, you will be much less likely to pull out your firearm than before.   The real problem is that the wrong people have access to guns and ammunition.  The guns are out there and are not going away, the ammunition is out there and does go away.  If we required some appropriate education to buy ammunition we could, over time, much reduce the damage done by people that shouldn’t have guns.  Safe ownership of a 22 rifle is different from safe ownership of a handgun, which is different from both shotguns and assault rifles.  The NRA used to, (and maybe still does), have an excellent gun safety program that could be used to provide the gun owner with documentation that they are qualified to use the firearm in question, along with a background check.  Guns are embedded into American society and are not going to go away.  Until we get over our “My way or the Highway” attitude nothing in this country will change