Orlando, a metaphor for our government

            Mike has made me feel guilty for not continuing on with the theme of the work space. If the other three still want me to after this post, I will do it next time. The truth is, I was pretty fired up for this particular topic.

           Well friends, I’m back in my serious mode for at least one post. It involves the topic that has been on our minds recently, Orlando. I’m coming at this head-on, with my mouth blazing, sure to get some people ticked off at me, but at least you may start thinking for yourself because when you are done with this piece you may have read some things you have never heard before.

            I’m sad and I’m pissed and quite frankly, I don’t know what the answer is. I know what the simple answer is and I will say it at the end and many of you will roll your eyes at me but sadly it is the truth, very plainly.

            Once again, a lone nutcase walks in and shoots up a lot of people, this time gays, in a nightclub, killing 49, before himself being killed. Before the bodies are even identified and removed from the club, Obama makes this a platform for gun violence and assault weapons and trying to get them banned. He fanned the flames with the press before we knew all the facts…again. Our horrible Presidential candidates jump in, first Hillary by saying she would not make this a gun issue and then of course making it a gun issue. And then Trump jumped in and blasted everyone, including Santa Claus, without saying anything of substance.

            Let’s talk facts. When the dust settled, as always, it comes down to a nut shooting people to get attention for a cause only he or she can understand. This time for the hatred of gays under the banner of Isis. The bottom line is you still have to be off your rocker to shoot people. Another fact; there are certain politicians and most of the press that LOVE to use the term assault weapons. The weapon used in Orlando was the AR-15. We have seen this used in past shootings. Fact; this is NOT an assault weapon. I hate the press more than I hate politicians and trust me, I HATE ALL of them on both sides with a passion. All assault weapons were banned by Congress years ago. An assault weapon is defined as a weapon that when you depress the trigger and hold the trigger down, the weapon fires AND keeps firing. An example of this would be an old machine gun like out of the 30’s in Al Capone’s days, i.e., the tommy gun.

            The AR-15 is considered to be a semi-automatic weapon because when you depress the trigger, only one bullet can be fired for each time you depress the trigger. Our son has an AR-15 and both Lana and I have fired it at targets in the woods. It is very smooth and doesn’t kick much. I’ll be honest with you. Lana and I don’t own any guns and I don’t get the appeal of the AR-15 at all. Our son doesn’t use it for any purpose other than to shoot at targets. He hunts deer and squirrels, but uses rifles and shotguns for those animals other than the AR-15. I personally don’t think they should be made for the average citizen, but hey, they are, and the 2^nd Amendment gives my son the right to have one to shoot a tree. I support his right to shoot a tree.

            Here is where I think I differ from the members of Congress on the Republican side. I support my son’s right to shoot that tree with his AR-15, but I sure think they should make it MUCH more difficult for him or anyone else to get one, especially at a gun show. There should be only dealers at a gun show, not private citizens selling guns there. Sorry, that is my belief and there are too many nuts wandering around that the feds can’t keep up with.

            Hey Congress, have some balls and fix some loopholes. You can do that without trampling on the 2^nd Amendment. The only reason the Republicans have not done it is simple. The number one goal in their lives is to be re-elected and not to do the right thing. That is why we give people free stuff so we run up 17 trillion-dollar deficits. That is why we have trained our young people to grow up and ask for even more free things.

            We have a Congress and Press that program an ever increasing stupid and obedient society, never questioning what is told to them on the evening news. The shooter in California and Orlando used handguns and assault weapons. No they didn’t, but no one questioned it. Rahm Emanuel, the former Chief of Staff for Obama, is the Mayor of Chicago. He went back to his and Obama’s home town to save the day. He became Mayor in 2011. Since he became Mayor, 2,696 Homicides have occurred in Chicago. Look at that number again. That is in 5 years. Since Obama has been President, 7 and one half years ago, 1,906 Americans have lost their lives in Afghanistan. Congress and the Press doesn’t talk about that. There are no investigations to see if any assault weapons are involved in Chicago. You know why? We all know the answer already. It is all handguns and used by angry gang members mostly. Maybe we should pull our troops out of Afghanistan, like Obama said he was going to do years ago and put them in Chicago. Or maybe we should pull out of Chicago because we are losing more Americans there. Or maybe we should we should round up all the gang members in Chicago and send them to Syria to fight Isis. 

            I may tick off some people with what I have said and what I am about to say, but quite frankly, I don’t care. I hate liars and we are being lied to. The Democrats lie to us, saying it is about assault weapons when it is really about banning all weapons. The Republicans lie to us, saying they are defending our right to bear arms, when they really don’t want to compromise in one small way at all with even the smallest background checks because that is what the NRA wants them to say. I wrote not that long ago that we need to toss out every single member of Congress. I stand by that statement. We better wise up and fast, while we still have a country to save from economic ruin.

            One last thing that will rub some really the wrong way. I said at the beginning I would say what I thought the problem really was about. Here we go. It is very simple. In the 50’s and 60’s the minorities in the country had a marriage rate that exceeded the whites. Look it up. Everything I have said in this piece is fact. As our wonderful society and big government got bigger and wanted to help people and started to hand out things for free, people started marrying less often, because, hey, women, with the assistance of big government, could have babies and get along without the daddies.

            In my opinion, the majority of our problems in this country can be traced to two things. The breakdown of the family unit and fewer people with God in their lives. Bottom line, morality and ethics. Our society has trained its generations to rely on the government and not on itself to survive. There is no morality. People speak of God, but don’t walk the walk any longer. People don’t stand up for friends because they can’t even stand up for themselves.