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

Christians in name only

All the conservative Christians in this country are aware that Christ died for our sins!  Unfortunately they seem to forget that he was killed because he was a liberal.  His challenging of the orthodoxy of the Jews’ interpretation of the Torah is what incited the High Priest to go to Pilate to rid Jerusalem of the challenges that Jesus was making to established beliefs.  Luke 16:16 explains why conservatives shouldn’t use Leviticus to spread their brand of hatred of gays.  Luke 20:45 explains much of why our current “spiritual leaders” persist in judging those who are unlike themselves.  It would do this country a world of good if all who claimed to be Christians actually read the gospels!

Corruption is Rife in the House

If anyone has any doubts about the corruption of Congress by the wealthy they only have to look at the House’s recent repeal of the estate tax.  This tax is only applied to singles with a net worth over 5 million and couples over 10 million and is only due at the second death.  I would suggest that taxes are a necessary evil of civilization and that the best of all taxpayers are those that are both wealthy and dead.  This is a tax that dates back to at least the middle ages, and has proven to be very efficient down through the ages.

  The excuse that these people have worked hard for their money is in many cases true.  That their children shouldn’t have to work for their money somehow lacks in logic. This tax captures the capital gains that haven’t been paid and are next to impossible to calculate over a person’s lifetime.  The argument that the tax closes down many small business’s due to their inability to pay does not hold up to scrutiny.  “The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that only 120 farms and small business, where at least half the assets are in farm or business assets, had to pay the estate tax in 2013.”[1]  I would suggest that any Congressperson who voted for the repeal is either not paying attention to their job or has been bought by those with big money.  Check out how your representative voted and consider this vote the next time you are able to vote for them.

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[1] Glenn Kessler, Washington Post Fact Checker April 14, 2015

Hate is Too Common

After calling out several people for spreading hate around through their postings, I have received just as many replies that the sender didn’t have a “hateful bone in his/her body” and that they were just exercising their right to free speech.  I am unable to reconcile these actions. Because much of our Country is partaking of this kind of hate we should understand what’s happening.

 The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology defines hate as a "deep, enduring, intense emotion expressing animosity, anger, and hostility towards a person, group, or object”.  This is certainly the kind of thing I was calling out and that we see every day in the media.  Many will blame the internet for this dumbing down of America and it certainly is doing its share.  We citizens are the real ones to blame as we would rather read about some famous person’s personal problems than what that person is doing to help the world.  Politicians have learned that they can win an argument when logic won’t prevail by name calling.  The media have learned that they can sell more if they lead off with one famous person insulting another famous person.  This is a lot more entertaining than learning about centrifuges in Iran. 

Most in this country agree that it is heading in the wrong direction.  What we must understand is that once someone is endowed with power, it is more important to them to keep their power than to use it as previously promised.  It’s also much easier to be against something than to  be for something.  It’s easy to point out all the problems with an idea and to even make up some.  Proving an idea is right can only be done by implementing it and with many wanting to prove it wrong, nothing happens.  It’s now so bad that even good ideas that have been implemented with positive results are the subject of many lies about how bad they are.

The Center for Responsive Politics put the total cost of the 2012 campaign at over 6 billion dollars.  While we pay much attention to who gives this money, (even if we can’t find out), we tend to ignore who receives it.  Every penny of these funds end up with the media.  With no assurance that this annuity will be received every two and four years the media has a lot of interest in not reducing or changing the way that campaigns are financed.  By focusing on hate, anger, and blame, the media can keep our eyes turned away from the fat cats that are busy collecting the wealth of this nation.  The status quo is what those in power want and by using a divide and conquer tactic they are assured of keeping things just as they are.

Just because we have a “right” is no reason to use that right.  Each right carries with it the responsibility to use it properly.  Hurling insults and calling names may be a right (freedom of speech). What purpose does it serve?  One person gets something temporarily off their chest, but others are incited to hate.  We still have many in this world that believe in an eye for an eye.  We must make everyone understand that this just leads to everyone being blind.  The issues are different from the people behind them.  We must learn to criticize the issue not the person.  We must learn not to vote for the bullies that are good at throwing insults but refuse to provide their own answers.

Hiring Politicians

It’s a shame that both political parties have adopted a “Divide and Conquer” attitude towards attaining power.  History has proven that a “unite and prosper” philosophy is much better for the nation.  The media seems to revel in this fray as they have the liberals convinced that conservatives believe in “I’ve got mine, screw you”,  and the conservatives convinced that liberals only want to expand government giveaways.    Those who have not partaken of either the red or the blue cool-aid tune out politics in order to lead a life not driven by negatives.

We should remember that election campaigns are a republic’s method of employment interviews.  We generally don’t hire people who badmouth the employer.  We also avoid hiring employees that spend their interview blaming others and calling them names.  We do hire those that talk about what they are going to do to bring value and also have a track record of doing what they say.  The job description of representative includes taxing, spending, and compromising.  Those that claim they will not partake in one or more of these activities should not be considered as a serious candidate.    We can only get rid of all this negativity if we as voters don’t fall for it.  America has always been about working with those that are different from us.  We can better solve problems if we look at them from several viewpoints and this won’t happen until we listen to each other again.  This will happen only if we replace that single issue that’s important to us with a look at the real integrity of the candidate.  Please vote with wisdom and not anger.

Nattering Nabobs of Negativism

When I try to reason how our great country’s political state has come to represent nothing more than Spiro Agnew’s “Nattering Nabobs of Negativism” I can only conclude that it is the quest for personal power that is driving it.  One path to power is “divide and conquer” .   When I listen to politicians, I don’t hear of solutions, I hear blame and anger.  A well known debating devise when reason won’t do, is to hurl insults, create fear and call names.  Is this what is really happening?  Or has the media found that the only way to get customers is to hone in on the divisive?

  I hear a lot about how the baby boomers are responsible for the mess we’re in, but hear nothing at all about our accomplishments:  You can see blue sky in Pittsburg.   The Cuyahoga River and River Rouge are no longer fire threats and actually produce fish that people are eating.  Bald eagles and Canadian Geese are abundant.  Most poor people in this country would be considered rich in much of the world.  I see no black smoke coming out of stacks,  and we are closer to energy independence than we have been in a long time. 

The key to these gains come from a “Unite and Prosper” philosophy that seems to have left the country.  The 13 colonies united to win the Revolution despite drastic differences in belief and situation.  The greatest growth this country has ever seen was after WWII when we united with our enemies and helped Japan and Germany turn into great allies.  The family value that allowed this to happen is called “Tolerance”.    Tolerance allows us to learn other viewpoints and get different perspectives on situations that we wouldn’t get otherwise and that is how problems are solved. 

We’ve delegated our power to special interest groups that are bureaucracies and unfortunately bureaucracies don’t die.  When they have achieved their means they must find or create another cause to keep their jobs. Many of these don’t hold water when held up to the light and unfortunately, because they were our cause we fail to recognize the change.  The gay marriage group in Minnesota is still going strong despite their win.  The pro lifers keep going after Planned Parenthood even though Planned Parenthood has prevented many more abortions than they have carried out and abortion numbers are even with estimates of when it was illegal.[1]  I still want to know which suicidal Federal employee is coming to your door to take your gun away?   

 The divide and conquer group think that in order for one group to gain, another has to lose.  This is not the American way.  As President Kennedy stated “a rising tide raises all boats”.  When we look at who we are going to vote for, I feel we should be looking to those who will unite us in what we all wish for; security, prosperity, love and happiness.  We should reject those nattering nabobs of negativity that don’t have any solutions other than vote for me.  The “loyal opposition” should be working to make a better country and world and not be solely focused on gaining power by any means.  Most of the vitriol can be reduced to bureaucracies whose leaders have decided their personal survival is more important than their mission.  We need to find a way to correct this.

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[1] Guttmacher Policy Review, Spring 2014, Volume 17, Number 2

 

Supreme Court Likes Big Money

It is clear that the Constitution needs amending to return our Republic to the voters after the Supreme Court enshrined big money with free speech rights given by our Constitution.  The framers of the constitution never anticipated the way our political parties have become the key money part of deciding who gets elected.  When a foreign millionaire can buy an American Corporation and then have it donate unlimited amounts to help the election of anyone that pleases them and then have no disclosure of where the money came from, it shows our system has become corrupt.  When men from Kansas fund long broadcast messages, that contain any number of lies, to slander ideas and politicians in Minnesota,  something is awry.  Hot button agendas are pushed to the public, while hidden ones are kept secret.  Divide and conquer is the mantra of both parties.  Hate mongering is the result.  There is one way to get back to the ‘unite and prosper’ attitudes of the 50’s and 60’s.  Electioneering is a special form of speech.   The 28^th amendment should read: “Notwithstanding the First Amendment, efforts to influence elections to public office in the United States and its’ subdivisions shall be limited to those who are able to vote in said election.  Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. “  This would provide a massive reallocation of power in this country and would get special interests back to advising and out of contributing money.