Easier said than done

Gun violence, and therefore gun control, is all over the news these days.

My understanding is that gun control advocates are demanding universal background checks on gun purchasers, raising the legal age for gun ownership...or is it gun purchase?...from 18 to 21, and I believe banning the future sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic rifles.  My question is, supposing they are 100% successful in having their demands met, what are they going to do 6 months or 2 years from now when there is another mass shooting?  Then what?  Does anyone really believe the firearms black market will somehow disappear?  Does anyone really believe there won't be another mass shooting some day?

Legislation didn't succeed in stopping alcohol abuse in the 1920's-30's.  Legislation didn't prevent abortion prior to Roe v Wade.  Legislation hasn't stopped human trafficking.  Legislation hasn't stopped drug smuggling or drug use.  Legislation hasn't stopped child pornography.  Legislation hasn't eliminated racism. 

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think many of those things were much less prevalent in society than gun ownership is today.  And the two that come closest in number of Americans participating, alcohol and drug use, have been the issues where legislation has been the least effective.  We simply haven't been able to peddle fast enough to get ahead of those problems.

I applaud those who recognize we have a serious gun violence problem and are actively doing something.  But aren't we just treating the festering sores and not the underlying disease?  Are we being honest with ourselves?

S

How could this happen?

Any school kid has seen pictures like this of pre-WWII Germany where hundreds of thousands of ordinary Germans flocked to get even a glimps of Adolf Hitler as he promised to pull them out of the hard times they were in.  

"How could this happen?  Didn't they see Hitler for the hateful madman he was?"  

Well, no, not really.  Hitler inflamed even the slightest prejudices most people had and convinced them better times were ahead if only they would trust him.  Prejudices against Jews of course, and the mentally and physically handicapped, and Slavs, and pretty much everyone who had it better than they did, too. 

"Times were simpler then, and people were just very naive.  That could never happen today.  We're much better educated and too sophisticated to fall for anything like that."

Really?  Have you not seen FOX News, or MSNBC, or read Breitbart or Huff Post or any number of other slanted sources of information?  We all have our prejudices, and there is one group or another out there looking for you, hoping to turn you into one of their disciples.  IMO we're even MORE susceptible today of falling into the camp of one evil group or another than Germans were back in the 1930's.

Examples?  President Trump has his "base", those who refuse to believe anything at all negative about him.  Any evidence of a tainted election victory is just sour grapes, "flip-flopping" on issues is just his way of keeping his opponents off balance, etc.  They have tasted his brand of Kool Aid and apparently loved it.  They aren't going back.

Then you have the anti-Trumpsters who can find absolutely nothing good to say about the President.  Everything he says is dismissed out of hand.  THEY are always right, and HE is always wrong.  More Kool Aid consumed.  They aren't going back.

Antisemitism is still with us.  Racial tensions are flaring...White Supremacists, Antifa...Charlottsville was NOT spontaneous.  Protestants still view Catholics warily.  My generation looks unfavorably at today's kids and their dress, music, attitudes, etc.  Gay/straight, Believers/atheists, stand or take a knee...the issues, and ardent followers of each, are almost endless.  And however they might believe, they are unlikely to ever go back.  Some believe those who own guns are just a bunch of knuckle-dragging, Tea Party bubbas.  Umm...I own guns, and I am ANYTHING but a knuckle-dragging, Tea Party bubba.  Ewww!  *Oops, even I have prejudices*

My point is, we are NOT too sophisticated to fall prey to being radicalized.  If you think you're too smart to fall for such shenanigans, they're probably already reeling you in.  Apparently we haven't learned the old lesson of history repeating itself.  I hope this ends better than last time.

S

Well...THAT was interesting!

The Republican Convention 2016 is history.  Hurricane Trump has moved inland, the Lake Erie coast has been spared.  No riots, no attacks.  Now we just have to slog through the usual follow-on storms and the eventual cleanup.

What I took away, first of all, is that Donald Trump has a set of World-Class vocal chords.  I watched and heard him scream for 75 minutes during his acceptance speech.  Some say his screams were scary dark, that he dwelt on doom-and-gloom.  The media called it "midnight in America".  Others say he was just telling it like it is.  I heard a bit of both.

These are scary times.  Domestically, race relations are tense.  Many cities are potential powder kegs.  Too many cops have itchy trigger fingers.  Too many of our citizens need anger management.  The average Joe is falling behind.  He/she hasn't had a raise in 20 years (after inflation).  Too many good jobs have gone overseas.  

Too many educated young people with staggering student debt can't get a job commensurate with their smarts.  We're flipping far too many burgers.  Too few Ivory Tower dwellers pull too many strings and are too far removed from the country the rest of us have to live in.  Fact.  (Bernie and The Donald can have a lovefest on that one!)

Internationally, it's a pretty f__ked up world out there, and it gets more f__ked up every day.  Look at what's happening in previously stable, vibrant Turkey.  We have a tiger by the tail and we don't know how to turn loose of it.  Our attempt at "nation building" has NOT worked.  Fifteen years and a TRILLION dollars later, all we've managed to do is stir up a fire ant pile.  Islam has proven to be an apparently easy religion to subvert.  As one of the convention speakers pointed out, while only about 10% of the world's Muslims have any sympathy for Islamic terrorism, 10% of 1.6 billion Muslims is 160,000,000 potential bomb chuckers! 

The basic premise of Donald Trump's grievances are true.  The issue is, can he and he alone fix it?  Lemme think....*one nanosecond later*....NO!  Like all politicians, he's over-promising.  ISIS will not crawl back into its hole on January 20th.  Ronald Reagan might have backed down the Iranians back in 1980, but the Iranians were sane.  ISIS isn't.

The underlying racism that exists here at home can't just be legislated away.  Crime will not instantly vanish on inauguration day.  His wall isn't going to build itself.  American companies* aren't just going to put their greed aside and move production back here.  (I see a Trump Presidency as being an absolute gold mine for lobbyists!)

     *Is there such a thing as an "American company" any more?  IMO their loyalty seems to be to their money, not their country.

So if Donald Trump is just blowing smoke, does that mean that Hillary Clinton should have an easy time exposing him as a 21st Century Don Quixote?  I'm doubtful.  It will be difficult for her to say she can bring us the change (now where have we heard that before?) that will right all our wrongs.  Why?  Because SHE IS THE ESTABLISHMENT!  The Establishment with the lowest approval rating in history.  Want proof?....look who the big financial interests are throwing their money at this election year.  They are the ones who have the most to lose if the status quo should implode.  

And as I've said forever (and you know I'm never wrong *wink*) Hillary has too many skeletons in her closet.  Too many people just don't like her.  There isn't enough lipstick....no, I won't go there.  Hillary will have her week, we'll hear her tell us how she'll fix things, and then it's up to us to choose.

Just to stir the pot a bit (more), have you looked at the Libertarian candidates?  The Libertarians are an odd mix....fiscally conservative like traditional Republicans, yet socially liberal like traditional Democrats.  Their poll numbers this year are up into double digits, very good for them.  They won't win this year, but they just might build themselves into a viable third party, one that might temper the other two some day.  Give them a look-see.

Enough of my bloviating.  Your feedback, either (politely) positive or negative, would be welcome.

S

Slow the bus or leave 'em at the station?

I'm reading the new book by Thomas Friedman, That Used To Be Us, where he makes the case that our educational system is a hollow shell of it's former self, pumping out kids who cannot compete in the global economy.  We have dumbed down education over the years because we don't want to "leave any child behind", so we've just slowed the bus to a crawl.  Now we're getting run over.


So should we ramp things up, demand more of our students (and their parents), push 'em harder and accept that more of them aren't going to finish the marathon?  For those that can thrive under those pressures the sky will be the limit, but for those that can't....or won't....they'll be forever trapped in menial, low paying jobs.  It will create an even faster widening of the "have's" and "have nots" gap.


Here's the rub:  Let's be honest....the vast majority of those who can't or won't succeed in the new educational pressure cooker will be minorities, in numbers far greater than their percentage of the population should suggest.   Can you hear the whine of "racism"?


Since these kids are going to wind up in blue collar jobs anyway, why not acknowledge that trade schools have a valuable place in our society and direct those kids there?  And if they can't make it there, well that's just too bad.  The bus has left the station.  Do we have the collective cojones to do that?


S