What IS the Answer?

Day after day, we are subjected to the reports of increasing egregious violations of our moral and ethical code by those we deem ‘leaders’.  As we learn of actions by the Trump administration over the past 18-months  ranging from our foreign policy being directly related to financial deal outcomes of the Trump family in Qatar and China to the destruction of regulations that will enable poisoning our water and air in a nod to corporate greed, the sense of despair increases.

The war being waged against our fundamental institutions is gaining the upper hand, since there doesn’t seem there is any force that can stop it.  Our legislative branch is impotent—the moral compass of the Republican Party has been smashed by the search for greed and power. 

However I want to focus on the heartache in Texas, which is just the most painful of the recent consequences of the loss of conscience of America.

We are not even surprised at the new mass shooting.  We expected it.  We knew it was inevitable.  Why do you suppose that is?  There are those who say it is not the guns, it is the humans, but honestly folks, it’s the guns.  They are everywhere and anyone can get a hold of them.  The destructive power they put in the hands of unstable people will continue to haunt us as long as we do nothing to regulate them.

There is an editorial in the New York Times this morning by Nicolas Kristoff that needs to be read by everyone.  If you can open your mind to believe the statistics presented based on FACTS that Kristoff presents in his analysis, it becomes clearly apparent that we must treat this scourge the way we treated the enormously high death rate 'by automobile'.  Kristoff posits that the regulation model for gun safety already exists in our perception and treatment of what was an increasing trend in deaths on the highways.  He makes a compelling argument for us to move in that direction. (Kristoff's editorial)

In the last 5 years since Sandy Hook there have been over 1600 mass shootings in America.  Think about that for minute.  That is a mass shooting average of about one every day and a half!  The response of our ‘leaders’ has been dozens of proposed actions or regulations.  None of them passed…..none of them!  We know why, but the stark reality that more than two thirds of Americans support all manner of regulation that have never been realized is a testament to the greed and impotence of people who sit in Congress.

Last night as Stephen Colbert sat as his desk after the monologue and sadly shook his head and said, “there is not much to say because it has already been said”, he looked at the camera and implored, “Please vote in the election in November and send people to Congress who will do something.”

Frankly, that is the only answer—to many of the questions and noxious clouds hanging over the heads of rational and moral citizens.  We have the power to change things, but we must act.  You must find candidates that will change things; who support reasonable measures to regulate and make safe the use of firearms.  Ultimately it is in your hands, my friends.  It is clear we are the place where the buck ultimately stops.