The Republican party has abdicated any responsibility to offer voters a policy platform. Instead, they have chosen to offer a meal of FEAR. And HATE for dessert.
I’ve been reading “The Second: Race And Guns In A Fatally Unequal America” by Carol Anderson and I was going to write about it but, I’m not even halfway thru so I’m going to flake and write that diary later.
The result of the Republican party abdicating their responsibility toward any kind of governance is a country being held hostage by a minority of gun owners. A minority who claim they must have the freedom to hoard assault weapons and high capacity magazines “in case the gubmint comes after me”. Think of the amount of paranoia that exhibits. Why aren’t these people declared public safety threats and forced to undergo some kind of evaluation to find out just how likely they are a danger to others? If a large group of people, a cult, began hoarding poison gas and claiming they were only doing so to protect themselves from their neighbors who had been replaced with demons who ran child sex rings and run it out of a pizza parlor...wouldn’t the government step in and protect public safety?
I know, the 1st amendment. But, how many kids have to die to protect a minority of gun owners’ rights?
I will confess, I’m a hoarder. A book hoarder, which saved me during the shutdown when I had no access to the Internet. My point is why aren’t these people being treated like other hoarders who sometimes have to be declared a public safety threat because of the garbage and the bugs and the smell and neighbors screaming about falling property values. I’ve been wondering this week what people live thru if they live next to a gun hoarder. Do they feel safe? Do they engage with their neighbor? Knowing what’s in the garage?
Before I moved to Oregon, I lived in the Bay Area and I listened to a radio show on KPFA called “Over The Edge” hosted by Don Joyce who was a member of Negativeland. They did a show about guns, I can’t remember what year and the video may be intense but you can watch it here. Joyce always opened his show with a song by Vangelis, who died May 17, called 12 o’ clock.
So, that’s what I’ve been pissed off about this week. WYFP?