Showing posts with label Gun rights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gun rights. Show all posts

Friday, December 9, 2016

Drop the College and drop the 2nd Amendment



Never before have I seen a case made so eloquent for ridding ourselves of a "relic" bestowed on us by the Founding Fathers. We have a few but this is one that happens to be in the spotlight now as the bungled finish of the 2016 Presidential election becomes evident. For the second time in 16 years, the out-of-date Electoral College has given the White House to the person with the least popular vote. And this year it is significant: Hillary Clinton has scored over 2.2 million more votes than Donald Trump. John Nichols does an excellent job of making his case in The Nation...
"The Electoral College is an abomination: an antidemocratic relic of the unconscionable compromises made during America’s founding that should never have been allowed to linger into the 21st century."
Now I'll get to the Electoral College in a later post but this one is devoted to just how much Nichols' article applies to the 2nd Amendment. Read it again, but this time substitutiing the 2nd Amendment for Electoral College...
The 2nd Amendment is an abomination: an antidemocratic relic of the unconscionable compromises made during America’s founding that should never have been allowed to linger into the 21st century.
I hear the gun nuts coming out from under their rocks now but even the "antidemocratic" portion, above, can be defended. It is against my democracy to have to be in a public place with some guy or gal who feels it necessary to walk around with an assault rifle on their shoulder, a weapon that belongs only in law enforcement and the military. Yes, they have a right, but that should extend no further than their front door. But even the right to defend yourself in the home shouldn't include assault rifles. Individual rights go just so far and can be limited, as agreed by the Supreme Court.

The fight over guns will go on until enough of the "right" people are killed, and by that I mean those most verbal over gun rights that preclude any responsible  control at all. And by the lunacy of some of their rhetoric, I wonder if even then.

More on the Electoral College later.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

It’s time to dump the Tea Party back in the harbor

Even as a committed progressive, I get an average of two or three emails from the Tea Party on a daily basis with some of the most bizarre headlines I have ever read. Like, America in danger: Stand and Fight, Prevent the Next Holocaust Right Here in America.” The organization is floundering fast and the last gasps are both dramatic and desperate. With supporters like Sarah Palin, Rand Paul and Michelle Bachmann, this leaves no doubt over the mentality of this group. Wikipedia says:
 
The Tea Party “is an American political movement that advocates strict adherence to the United States Constitution, reducing U.S. government spending and taxes, and reduction of the U.S. national debt and federal budget deficit.”

The “Party” took off in 2009 supporting several conservative candidates and labeled itself from the beginning as a crowd of conservative fanatics, many of which sported double-digit IQs.  Back in 2011 even Glenn Beck accused the membership of being racist, which was confirmed in several of their rallies.  They have been and still are in the radical camp with the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) on gun rights, with signs like, “Dictators want you disarmed” in a recent demonstration in Monterey, California, for gun rights.

Their opposition to immigration reform is legend.  From Day one the Tea Party movement has  supported hardline policies toward illegal immigrants and for border control.  As far as the group is concerned, we could deport all 11 million+ undocumented.  On Tuesday, Judson Phillips of the Tea Party Nation said in the Washington Times that Republicans are committing “political suicide” and “paying Democrats for the privilege of killing themselves, re. immigration reform.”  It is this kind of right-wing conservative rhetoric that is bringing the U.S. to its knees.       

 
But time and public opinion have not been on the side of the TPers with a recent conservative Rasmussen poll released in the Huff Post finding that only 30% of the country has a favorable view of the Tea Party.  A compelling 50% view the party unfavorably.  Rasmussen also reports that only 8% of Americans claim to be Tea Party affiliated.  This is clout?  This paltry bunch of bigots can have the sway on Congress it does to push the GOP ideological agenda and get what they want?  It reminds me of the NRA’s hold on Congress, also highly overrated.

Here’s an example of more headlines from the Tea Party rubbish I receive by email:

             Obama Communist Coup Underway: America in Danger
       (Pic of Obama with Swastika on his arm)
 
       Supporting a group to give away shotguns in high crime area

 Sheriff warns of 2nd American Revolution if gun laws are enforced

 Don’t let Obama get away with murder and treason

 We’re rude, crude, impolite, and we wouldn’t have it any other way

 Civil War 2: Why the banking elite want riots in America

 Shock claim: Obama picks Muslim for CIA chief

 Resistance to new gun laws builds in USA

 Foreign agent Piers Morgan talks about repealing 2nd Amendment

The Tea Party took a beating in the Senate in 2012 when many of their supported candidates lost. The House did much better but the writing was on the wall when some key members were defeated and Michelle Bachmann won only with a slim margin. Big questions loom in 2014 for both the Tea Party and the NRA in relation to just how much impact they will have on the elections. The apathy of the American public has been making a dramatic change over the past year or so and with involved voters you get a much more educated class at the polls.
 
But let me leave you with the most hilarious statement made yet in 2013.  This is Michelle Bachmann, the U.S. Representative from Minnesota who barely held on to her seat in 2012: “I was very proud of the fact that I didn’t get anything wrong that I said during the course of the debates," she said, according to Salon. "I didn’t get anything wrong, and that’s a huge arena."  She, of course refers to the 2012 GOP presidential debates.  According to the Huff Post:

“…there is a long list of statements Bachmann made during debates showing she actually got a number of things ‘wrong.’”

Who is it these people appeal to???  Thank God their numbers are diminishing fast.

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