Today is President's Day. Once upon a time this day was actually two holidays, Jefferson's Birthday and Washington's Birthday, but when Congress decided to create a holiday for Martin Luther King they didn't want to create one more holiday, so they consolidated those two birthdates (conveniently both in February) into one holiday, President's Day.
And a stupid holiday it is, because while we may honor founding fathers like Washington and Jefferson, we also have lumped into this holiday the Warren G Hardings and the William Henry Harrisons of our national history. And one day, good grief, Donald Trump will be in the past and this holiday will then be 1/45th of his by default. 😖
Of course, this isn't the dumbest holiday in our country...tied with it likely is Columbus Day, which in recent years has come under fire for a)honoring a man who never came to this country, actually, b)wasn't the first (there were Indians here, not to mention the Vikings and likely others who found there way here) and c)was only one of many who went west at the end of the 15th century. Why we honor Columbus alone I don't really know. But it's a holiday, the dumbest holiday of all.
Every other holiday has a purpose...Veteran's Day honors veterans, Labor Day honors organized labor, etc. Our problem is not in the idea of these holidays, but rather in our execution of it...it makes no sense to me that we close schools and libraries on many of these days rather than use this time to educate as to what our nation is about. Our holidays have lost meaning because we forget to educate. And as we are educated, then we begin to look at some of these holidays in a brand new light: consider how Columbus Day is sometimes re-labeled indigenous people's day, in honor of those who were already here...yet this hasn't really caught on. So what should we do?
For President's Day, let's re-label this day Founder's Day. In doing this we honor not Presidents (nor have to make other honors for Congress, the Supreme Court, or the Bureaucracy), but rather the founding principles of this country. We already have Independence Day to be sure, but that looks back to 1776, while in fact 1789 and the creation of the Constitution might be a better marker for us. On this day we honor the hard work of all those who have come before us, to honor that we stand on the shoulder of giants who gave us not only independence, but the life that follows.
And for Columbus Day? Let's now call it Immigrant's Day. Columbus, if nothing else, helped pave the way for many people to come to America during the following decades. Yes, the indigenous people suffered...but many of us owe our life to those brave men and women who pulled up stakes in their home country and decided to come to a land of new opportunity. My ancestors have likely been here for well over 200 years; others haven't been here nearly this long. But together, by the grace of God, we all make this country what it is. Trumpites are wrong for not being able to see this, that the strength of this country comes because it is continually infused with new blood. We need immigrants in this country, and having a day to honor them might well go against the increasingly nativism that Trump and his cronies cook up in order to make people afraid.
Monday, February 19, 2018
Friday, February 16, 2018
Another Shooting
It could be just about any day when I sadly announce, 'There's been another mass shooting'. It doesn't matter when, it doesn't matter where, it doesn't matter that it happened in a red state at a school where there were armed officers. We live in a nation that loves our guns perhaps more than anything else. I confess that I'm almost numb to it, and can only pray that it doesn't happen here. I'm sick of all the rationalizations that come from the gun lobby as to why we shouldn't do anything about this, from 'well, abortion kills far more people!' to 'We need guns to the good guys safe!' to 'I can't think for myself so I have to let the NRA think for me!' to 'We've got to have a well armed citizenry so that we can be free from government tyrany!' Only three of those four have been spoken, but they are all real.
Once again, we have thoughts and prayers for the victims of the families, we put our flags at half-staff, and we engage for a day or two in an endless debate about what to do that will change nothing. It's easy to put all the blame on guns and their supporters for this, but in fact both extremes are wrong.
The liberals are forever going to be ineffective in fixing this because they are unrealistic in their hysteria. "We need new laws to stop this NOW." New laws won't change the fact that there are already 300,000,000 guns out there...even if no guns were sold in the next twenty years, there's still going to be plenty of weaponry out there to keep up with these shootings. New laws won't change the fact that some people DO need guns...if you live in rural areas, one needs them for protection, and hunting is a noble task that should not be eliminated. New laws won't stop the hysteria that will happen if government agents come to confiscate guns...'See, we told you this would happen!' New laws won't change the hearts and minds of the 38% of people who own guns (ironically, the same amount of people who think Trainwreck Trump is doing a heckuva job) and have been fed a diet of fear from the NRA and their willing publicists Faux News.
But ultimately, it's the gun lobby that's more in the wrong because they have lost all common sense. Because they have completely misread the 2nd amendment to be absolutist (amazingly, few of them see that the point of it was to keep a well-regulated militia ready against foreign intrusion) and individualistic (note that it speaks to the people, plural), they resist almost any common sense ideas to regulate the abuses of gun ownership. We regulate the building of cars to take out the most dangerous aspects of them (hello, Pinto's exploding gas tanks), we regulate the safety of new structures built to ensure they can withstand earthquakes and won't poison those who live there, we ensure that chemical plants no longer can dump toxins in rivers (well, until recently, thanks to the impending demise of the EPA under TT). Why can't we have some common sense about guns? 1)If you own guns, you have to own a gun safe. 2)Guns have to be registered at the point of sale. 3)Every gun must be trackable not just in ownership but in ballistic markings...that way we know whose gun was responsible. 4)Let's come to a recognition that the general public does not need to own certain types of high volume, high capacity guns. We don't let people own shoulder missile launchers or tanks...why should anybody be able to own an AK-47? 5)Limit ownership only to those who can pass strict background and safety checks. In the time it took me to get licensed to drive a school bus, I could have bought several guns and gone on multiple rampages...this is wrong. 6)Tax the crap out of ammunition. You you want a trophy to put up on your wall? Fine. But tax ammunition like we tax cigarettes. Make it unappealing to buy. And the money that is collected in this taxation, put aside for victims of gun violence.
In this day and age mass violence would still happen even if all guns were taken away...as long as there are knives, crowbars, and rocks, people will find something to kill other people with. But can't we ate least stop the most egregious examples? Law-abiding people can still own guns...but we have to start changing the tone of the conversation in which hysteria on both left and right take over. Until this happens, the shootings will not stop.
Once again, we have thoughts and prayers for the victims of the families, we put our flags at half-staff, and we engage for a day or two in an endless debate about what to do that will change nothing. It's easy to put all the blame on guns and their supporters for this, but in fact both extremes are wrong.
The liberals are forever going to be ineffective in fixing this because they are unrealistic in their hysteria. "We need new laws to stop this NOW." New laws won't change the fact that there are already 300,000,000 guns out there...even if no guns were sold in the next twenty years, there's still going to be plenty of weaponry out there to keep up with these shootings. New laws won't change the fact that some people DO need guns...if you live in rural areas, one needs them for protection, and hunting is a noble task that should not be eliminated. New laws won't stop the hysteria that will happen if government agents come to confiscate guns...'See, we told you this would happen!' New laws won't change the hearts and minds of the 38% of people who own guns (ironically, the same amount of people who think Trainwreck Trump is doing a heckuva job) and have been fed a diet of fear from the NRA and their willing publicists Faux News.
But ultimately, it's the gun lobby that's more in the wrong because they have lost all common sense. Because they have completely misread the 2nd amendment to be absolutist (amazingly, few of them see that the point of it was to keep a well-regulated militia ready against foreign intrusion) and individualistic (note that it speaks to the people, plural), they resist almost any common sense ideas to regulate the abuses of gun ownership. We regulate the building of cars to take out the most dangerous aspects of them (hello, Pinto's exploding gas tanks), we regulate the safety of new structures built to ensure they can withstand earthquakes and won't poison those who live there, we ensure that chemical plants no longer can dump toxins in rivers (well, until recently, thanks to the impending demise of the EPA under TT). Why can't we have some common sense about guns? 1)If you own guns, you have to own a gun safe. 2)Guns have to be registered at the point of sale. 3)Every gun must be trackable not just in ownership but in ballistic markings...that way we know whose gun was responsible. 4)Let's come to a recognition that the general public does not need to own certain types of high volume, high capacity guns. We don't let people own shoulder missile launchers or tanks...why should anybody be able to own an AK-47? 5)Limit ownership only to those who can pass strict background and safety checks. In the time it took me to get licensed to drive a school bus, I could have bought several guns and gone on multiple rampages...this is wrong. 6)Tax the crap out of ammunition. You you want a trophy to put up on your wall? Fine. But tax ammunition like we tax cigarettes. Make it unappealing to buy. And the money that is collected in this taxation, put aside for victims of gun violence.
In this day and age mass violence would still happen even if all guns were taken away...as long as there are knives, crowbars, and rocks, people will find something to kill other people with. But can't we ate least stop the most egregious examples? Law-abiding people can still own guns...but we have to start changing the tone of the conversation in which hysteria on both left and right take over. Until this happens, the shootings will not stop.
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