Heart Control vs Gun Control

             Yesterday, America was shocked and heartbroken at the news that we had experienced yet another school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.  It appears that 21 lives were snuffed out for no apparent reason and hundreds, if not thousands, will be changed forever, and not for the better.  In the immediate wake of this tragedy, it was time for the country to be shocked and to grieve over this senseless violent act and loss of life.  I think we would all argue that it was an appropriate time for the President of The United States to address the nation in an effort to soothe the aching hearts of the country and to unite us around our shared anguish and desire to help the victims; and then came Joe Biden!

            For the first couple of minutes I thought he was going to finally deliver on his inaugural speech promise of uniting the country during this difficult moment.  He was appropriately sad and spoke of the senseless loss of life and the challenges that these families would face to overcome this personal disaster.  He then quickly shifted to a message of anger, and interestingly, not an anger at the disturbed young man who killed these children and two teachers, but an anger at his political opponents.  Before the bodies had been counted and identified, before all the facts were in, he spent most of the speech dividing the country once again along ideological lines.

It is my opinion that this anger and hatred is being constantly infused into our country’s bloodstream and is, in fact, the cause of all of the escalating violence, including school shootings, in America.  From Maxine Waters’ screaming declaration that her political opponents weren’t, “welcome here (in America) anymore” to Chuck Schumer’s threat to Supreme Court Justices to Joe Biden’s condemnation of the horse-riding border guards, our political discourse has become inappropriate, hate filled and even inaccurate.  Our politicians are teaching us that it is not OK for people to have different opinions on our country’s policies.  They are training us that we must hate and condemn and demonize anyone who differs from our thinking.  And this hatred and anger is permeating our society, including our children, with tragic results.  We need heart control way more than we need gun control.

So, now that we’ve broached the concept of gun control, let’s talk a little about the origins of the 2^nd Amendment to the Constitution.  I’m not a big gun owner, but I have studied the origins and original intent of our Constitution and Bill of Rights.  The second amendment was not enumerated to protect the rights of people to hunt in 1787.  The 2nd Amendment was included in the Bill of Rights to protect “We the People” from an oppressive government which could then cancel all of our rights through brute force.

I’m not saying that there aren’t things we as a country can do to protect our schools and minimize crime and violence in our cities.  We do have some very restrictive gun laws around the country today.  Might we need more?  I don’t know, but I’m willing to listen.  How much of the $190 Billion dollars given to our schools for Covid relief has not been spent?  Could some of that be used to improve security in our schools.  I think so, and I’m willing to listen to some ideas.  The 2^nd Amendment, however, is not going away no matter how much Beto O’Rourke wants to go door to door and confiscate America’s (at least Texas’) guns.  Can we do more?  Sure, but that will require both sides of this debate to LISTEN respectfully to each other and be willing to meet in the middle.

And our children seem to be under a particularly strong assault.  They are desensitized to violence and death through video games, movies and today’s music.  Schools that teach oppressor vs victim philosophies are not uniting them but turning both groups against each other.  Finally, if you study the beginnings of the explosion of school shooting deaths in America, there is a direct correlation between those shootings and America’s effort to take God out of our schools in the 1960’s. Bringing God and optional prayer and Bible study back into our public schools would certainly offer a counter balance to the violence and hate offered up by our modern-day games, movies and music. 

Let us not forget, however, the premise of this article.  We, as a country, need a change of hearts more than a change in our gun laws.  How do we do that?  First, we must change our own hearts.  We need to listen to those who disagree with us instead of condemning them immediately before we even understand their positions.  And even beyond listening, we must seek to understand.  When we do this, we will find compromise that will satisfy both sides of any disagreement.  We must avoid the temptation to condemn, hate and dehumanize.  That change alone will enrich each of our lives and unite our country around common ground and common decency.

We must also reject the purveyors of anger, hostility and disregard for others.  If it is a politician, that’s easy.  Vote them out of office.  If it is the media, which it often is, stop reading, cancel your subscription or change the channel.  They will eventually get the message and change their direction or go out of business.  We must let our political leaders and information venues know that “We the People” are in charge and we won’t take the division, disdain and fearmongering any longer. I’m praying for our country. Amen.

 

Another Thing Joe Isn't - An Economist

 

Back in November of 2020 I didn’t vote for Joe Biden because of what he was.  I voted against him because of what I thought he wasn’t.  Joe Biden is currently 79 years old and will be within a couple of weeks of being 82 in November of 2024 if he decides to run again.  In 2020 I didn’t think he was a dynamic, energetic, astute man capable of taking on one of the toughest jobs on earth.  In fact, he spent most of his campaign hiding in his basement, not answering questions even from the friendly media that was more than willing to fawn over him.  

Joe is also NOT a uniter.  He has now finally taken his “unity” mask off and revealed to the country exactly who he is.  He is a divider at every opportunity.  In his inaugural speech, unity was a main theme.  Some could argue that it was THE main theme.  That gave me a glimmer of hope that this old political dog could actually learn a couple of new tricks.  First, maybe he was actually telling the truth and, second, maybe he was planning to work with the minority party, which is what this election demanded.  With a 50-50 Senate and a razor thin majority in the House the only “mandate” that could have been suggested is a mandate for cooperation.  But Joe finally and thoroughly snuffed out that hope when, according to his staff, he declared he, “no longer plans to work with Republicans.”  These are not the words of unity but of a repressive, authoritarian and possibly paranoid administration.

And finally, we can now all be certain that our President is not an economist.  I was watching the news late last week when President Biden came on and announced that his plan to solve our inflation problem was to raise taxes on greedy corporations and the ultra-rich billionaires in our country.  I turned to my wife and said, “What the heck does that have to do with solving inflation?”  OK, for those who know me well, I didn’t say “heck”.  

If Milton Friedman had still been alive, I’m sure he would have refuted that thinking, but thankfully, this statement was so ridiculous that even the left-wing owner of the Washington Post, Jeff Bezos, had to reject it.  Bezos said, and I quote, “maybe they (the Whitehouse, the Dems, whatever) need to form a new non sequitur board instead.”  BTW – non sequitur refers to a statement that does not logically follow from or is not clearly related to anything previous said.  In other words, an illogical statement.  Bezos continued by saying, “Raising corporate taxes is fine to discuss.  Taming inflation is critical to discuss.  Mushing them together is just misdirection.” 

In this case, I have to agree with Bezos.  Taxing the rich is a pathetic appeal to low-income people in America in an effort to buy their votes.  It suggests that somehow our government will take that money from the ultra-rich and give it to them.  That, of course, will never happen.  But even if it did, it would not have any impact on inflation. That move does not decrease the money supply and if anything, it reduces the productivity of the country by encouraging people not to go back to work.  Increasing the taxes on corporations could also lead to an increase in unemployment as those companies adjust to protect their profitability.  

Joe can say the craziest things, so we as citizens of this country have to think hard about what he is saying and the implications that his policies will have on our lives.  And there is at least one more thing the Joe isn’t.  He just told us that he is not “a mind reader” in answer to what he could have done about the baby formula shortage we are currently experiencing in the country today.  The Abbott production facility at the center of this scarcity was closed in January.  Joe received at least one letter from Congresswoman Elise Stefanik in February warning about the shortage that was about to happen.  Maybe Joe needs to be a lip-reader, or turn up his hearing aid or just read his damn mail.  If he had, we might not even have had to suffer through this chaotic shortage caused by government incompetence.

What America needs is a President who IS a number of things.  He should be a uniting influence in The United States of America.  He or she needs to recognize the kindness, generosity and strength of the vast majority of American people instead of constantly magnifying the tiny thimble full of deplorables that exist here and throughout the world.  That person needs to listen to and work with the minority party which represents half of the country as the 2020 elections suggest.  He needs to be a great communicator to clearly speak to the American people and reassure them that the country is heading in the right direction.  Our President also needs to be wise, and support policies that will move us forward. Embrace an “all of the above” energy policy to bring down the price of gas today and invest in renewables for the future.  Secure our southern border, so that we can even begin thinking about what to do with the people who are already here in our country illegally.  Our President should project a positive vision for the country and the policies that will deliver it instead of an angry old man who is trying to blame everyone else for our problems.  President Biden quoted Harry Truman early is his Presidency when he said, “the buck stops here”.  It’s time he started to deliver on that promise.  

Roe, Roe, Roe Your Vote

 

The current administration finds itself in a dilemma.  They have no real accomplishments to run on.  They are underwater in the polls on almost every issue that Americans care about such as the economy, border security, inflation and crime.  Thus, they are grasping at straws for any issue that might help them in November, and along came Roe v Wade.  And now the far left is on a campaign of fearmongering, hatred, violence and even misinformation to excite their base.  Too bad the newly proposed Ministry of Truth isn’t up and running with its proposed leader Nina “Mary Poppins” Jankowicz.

So maybe the first thing we should clear up is – what did Justice Blackmun say in his majority opinion on Roe v Wade.  First, Blackmun defendeded the rights of states to limit abortions.  He, in fact, wrote, “a State may properly assert important interests in safeguarding health, in maintaining medical standards, and in protecting potential life.”  He also did NOT support abortion on demand with no limits, as is the Democrat Party position.  His actual words were, “the right (to an abortion), nonetheless, is not absolute and is subject to some limitations; and that at some point the state interests as to protection of health, medical standards, and prenatal life, become dominant.”

Next, we should clear up what Justice Alito said in his draft.  Many people, maybe most, believe that an overturn of Roe v Wade will make abortion illegal across the country.  Alito, however, made it very clear that the decision on abortion will simply be transferred to the states, where most constitutional scholars, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, believe it should rest.  Currently, abortion is not illegal in ANY state in the union.  Half of the states limit abortions to what has been defined as “viability”.  18 more states limit it to 20 weeks, which is very close to the viability definition (today), but the remaining seven have no limit.  So, the Alito draft does not make abortion illegal.  Far from it.  Maybe Mary Poppins should be singing about that little piece of misinformation.

The leak of Justice Alito’s draft opinion, which has been argued to be criminal, has unleashed other illegal activity by the alt-left.  Certainly, we can all understand that vandalism and destruction of property is criminal, but there are also laws that protect the Supreme Court Justices and churches from harassment and intimidation, and those laws are being violated as I write this article.  I believe this administration will lose ground with all but their most rabid base if they do not vociferously condemn these actions.  A single tweet by Jen Psaki will not cut it.  

Now, what does the Alito draft opinion actually say.  First, it suggests that Roe v Wade was bad law from the beginning and in that respect compares it to Plessy v Ferguson, which codified the “separate but equal” concept.  Plessy was passed by a 7-1 vote back in 1896 and stood as a precedent until it was overturned almost 60 years later in 1954 through the Brown v The Board of Education unanimous opinion.

Alito also suggests that Roe was passed in 1973 by ignoring precedents set in the states.  He suggested that to create a Constitutional right controlled at the federal level, that right had to be “rooted in our Nation's history and tradition”.  In 1973, no state in the Union had recognized that right, and Blackmun simply failed to point that out in his opinion.  Since that time, however, every state has created that right with its own limitations in mind, and that is where that decision should lie.  Alito made it clear that abortion rights were not being eliminated, but simply given to the states.  

He also made it clear that this decision did NOT apply to any other rights currently claimed in this country. The fearmongering and misinformation about other rights that could be eliminated, like interracial marriage, birth control and same-sex marriage is patently absurd.  Alito’s actual words were, "Nothing in this opinion should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion".  Ask Justice Thomas, who has been part of an interracial marriage since 1987, if he would vote to overturn the national right for interracial marriage.

One more challenge that should be made to bring some sanity to this discussion is the assertion by the pro-abortion community that it is “my body, my choice”.  The reality is that the baby in the mother’s womb is a completely different and unique DNA that has never existed before and will never exist again.  It is not the mother’s body, and she and the rest of society have a responsibility to protect it.  The yet to be born are the truly voiceless.

It is my opinion that all of this misinformation about the fate of abortion rights in America will not work for the Dems because the vast majority of the American people do not align with their position of abortion on demand up to the time of birth.  Almost 70% of the country believe in limiting abortion to the first trimester (12 - 13 weeks).  Remember the Mississippi law would prohibit abortion after 15 weeks with exceptions for the life of the mother.  Only 7% of the country believe in completely unrestricted tax payer funded abortions, which is the Democrat Party position.  When the truth gets out, which is the responsibility of Republicans, Democrats will find that their last hope for an issue they can rally their base around has alluded them.