America is driven by fear.
We are scared of what our neighbors might do. We are scared of what
terrorists might do. And we are even fearful of what our own
government might do. Logic and objective reasoning goes right out
the window. We feed our fears and it, in turn, consumes us. This
is not a new thing however. There are still plenty of bomb shelters
built in the 50s/60s out there. Before that we had Communists
hiding in our closets. The South is still smarting over the War of
Northern Aggression (seriously.)
And so you have a group of well intentioned women having tea and
discussing why it's important to have a few UNREGISTERED guns - just
in case the government tries to take them away from us.
The other issue with America is we are no longer capable of having a
discussion. Compromise is not a tenable position. You are either
for or against (pick an issue) and any attempt at middle ground is
waffling, at best. At worst you are accused of actually siding with
the opposition and your talking points are dismissed. The causes
for this are myriad but, I think, are not in a small part rooted in
our fears.
So you have a Newtown tragedy and it seems obvious to everyone
outside America that we should address this head on. It's easy. We
need to deal with mental issues in this country - provide support
and change the system so folks like Adam and his mother can get the
help they need. Perhaps that might have prevented Adam from arming
himself that day. We need to address automatic and semi automatic
weapons - as well as magazine size - so that if there is crazed
gunman out there again he at least has to pause and reload. Perhaps
that might have minimized the damage Adam caused. And we should
respectfully discuss the quantity and security of guns. Perhaps if
Adam's mother had better secured her firearms this might not have
happened.
You will see some media outlets try and bring these issues to
light. Already there are a few politicians (even some with the GOP)
that are talking gun control. It's going to get real ugly though.
Why? Because a large percentage of Americans will see this as a
trampling of their 2nd amendment 'rights' and the next step in total
government control - furthering Obama's socialist agenda while
negating our ability to defend ourselves against criminals and our
own government.
It's absolute lunacy but there it is.
