NRA BE DAMNED!
Politics / US Politics Dec 20, 2012 - 05:07 AM GMTBy: Michael_T_Bucci
Several days after the tragic shootings of December 14 in Newtown, Connecticut, I spoke to another writer and asked him to share his thoughts and feelings about this horrible event. He, an avowed enemy-of-the-people in the eyes of American Conservatives because he is committed to "Peace"; he, who never owned a gun and wrote occasional pleas advocating controlling the most dangerous of these firearms that George Bush and like-minded Republicans unleashed from restrictions; he, who has given every inch in justifying the Constitutional "rights" of everyone, including gun owners, replied: "The next time I hear someone yell '2nd Amen!' and recite specious propaganda or endlessly repeat conspiracy theories produced for gain by the NRA, I'm going to put down my pen, go out, buy a gun, and I'm going to shoot him! NRA? 2nd Amen? Be damned!"
National shock turned to horror when details about the murders of 20 young children were revealed. It produced trauma in those most sensitive, and momentarily paralyzed the cold-hearted. Notwithstanding an argument made days later by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg - that the Founding Fathers never intended every man, woman and child to own a semi-automatic weapon - the will of President Obama and the present Congress is compromised by the "gun lobby". Ditto: And the armed forces of America are compromised by the military-industrial complex. And finance is compromised by 21st Century "bank robbers" who commandeer the houses of Wall Street. And "free thought and speech" is compromised by media outlets suppressing facts; And privacy is compromised by US intel and Corporate America. And Democracy is compromised by measuring a candidate's worth by his or her "campaign contributions". Meanwhile, the lives of 20 children were compromised by guns.
American morality is, has been, and will remain compromised as long as Americans permit government and the private sector to be ruled by the least developed, most selfish, base, and ethically bankrupt power brokers who, over the decades, have risen to where Ayn Rand selfishness is a championed ideology and right-wing religionists advocate anti-human beatitudes which are the very inverse of those written.
No answers can be found as to why a single gunman in Newtown, Connecticut can methodically kill small children without also assessing the level of violence common to the nation as a whole. The statistics speak for themselves. And no political or social commenter dares to assess the level of moral degeneracy responsible for these numbers which, I maintain, are systemic to America today - on a level which helps explain Newtown as well as explain massacres of innocents throughout the Mid-East by US drones and bombers.
These events are all connected to a virus, now a cancer, called moral bankruptcy.
After several days, my contact, the writer, said he didn't put down his pen and go out and buy a gun (though he showed how violence could lead to violence). At the moment of his outburst, he said he was passing through the "angry" stage of grief, moral outrage. He is not altogether incorrect. More often, shock is followed by grief; grief is followed by anger; anger is followed by resignation and acceptance; this is followed by equilibrium. The time for each is not fixed. On the other hand, similar acts can be set in motion from this one. It is an opportunity to participate in a "group cathartic mutiny" against those social and personal restrictions by which they were previously confined and inhibited. When political or religious ideology is attached, the perpetrator can even view these acts as "heroic", as in the case of Brevik.
The writer added chillingly: "The civilizing forces of this society have been defeated. Morality, like "peace", is a dirty word. Instead it's 'Live and let die'; 'Kill or be killed'; 'I live free, you die'. The American guns are held against the heads of nations and the NRA's guns against Americans. What America does to other nations it is now doing to itself. I doubt if things will stop here."
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Postscript
To President Obama:
Thank you, Mr. President, for showing human reaction to the tragedy in Newtown. Your consoling gestures helped the nation through its shock. But you must realize that children who you do not know and who are not Americans have also been murdered and now lie buried all throughout the middle-east. They too deserved to live, not die. They too had a future ahead of them. They too leave family and friends in agony over their deaths. Their faces will never appear on American TV. These children were not murdered by lone gunmen in Newtown or Wisconsin or Colorado. They were murdered by design.
Like most Americans, you will recite the words "Peace On Earth" during this holiday period, but you have brought war to the world. You will uphold your religious convictions but so far you have failed to be a spiritual force for good. You were elected to be a leader; but you are a follower and compromiser.
Mr. President, you cannot shed tears on Friday, the 14th of December, lead a memorial service for the families and community of the deceased children on Sunday the 16th, then on Tuesday the 18th sign-off on a weekly assassination list. No whole person could.
You can't have it both ways, Mr. President.
Today, you have an opportunity to reverse a terrible misinterpretation of "Liberty" that has given this country too many innocent deaths and murders.
You have an opportunity to diminish the powers of the NRA and misguided 2nd Amen extremists. Take the opportunity and do what you need to do!
As Michael Bloomberg advised you: Be a leader.
You simply can't have it both ways.
Just say: "NRA? 2nd Amen? Be damned!"By Michael T Bucci
Michael T Bucci is a retired public relations executive from New Jersey presently residing in New England. His essays have appeared at The Market Oracle. He is the author of nine books on practical spirituality including White Book: Cerithous.
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