Resolve nation's problems by learning their cause

Monday, March 24, 2008 | 11:36 a.m. CDT; updated 7:28 a.m. CDT, Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Rose Nolen

I seriously doubt that the U.S. Supreme Court will interfere with what citizens consider their right to bear arms, as individuals. But, considering citizens’ aptitude for violence, I believe if the Founding Fathers were still around today they would demand restrictions upon that right. The world we live in is radically different from the wilderness in which they dwelled. I truly think that the Founders did not equate freedom with license, and I am convinced that with all the school, shopping mall and workplace shootings they would have taken action.

But people are determined to make guns as easily accessible as ice cream cones, so, if we are lucky enough not to be shot down, then we just have to sit by and watch with despair on television, those innocent victims that are killed. What surprises me most about this situation is that members of the National Rifle Association and other gun owners who practice gun safety are not leading the fight for gun control. It seems to me that safe gun regulations would be in their best interests, but, as in everything else, having intelligent and responsible people in leadership positions makes all the difference. As it is, I suppose gun owners see every restriction as a threat to their rights under the Second Amendment. And by the way, do they read that part of the Constitution?

Now, that it is clear to most people that we are indeed experiencing a recession created by the behavior of the mortgage bankers, some would like to believe that the government would finally realize that allowing businesses to operate unregulated is a sure-fire way to financial disaster. But, obviously, the scandals in the savings and loan industry meant nothing at all. We seem satisfied to drift from one disaster to another without dealing with cause and effect. Our elected officials behave like children playing with a new toy. They act as if Americans can go on forever, breathing bad air, eating bad food and drinking bad water and stay healthy. They tell us that we are only consuming small doses, but the doses are growing bigger all the time.

Personally, I can’t help but be concerned that people are bringing children into a world where toxins are as prevalent as vitamins. Where does reality end and science fiction begin? A lot of folks want to know why so many people have asthma and so many children are born with autism. Why do so many people have to have their moods stabilized? Are people really better off today than they were 10 years ago?

To be sure a lot of CEOS and other people in top management of companies are. While the rest of us wrestle with mortgages, fuel and grocery prices, the cost of medical insurance, cheap wages or lack of employment, they can just move to another country, probably to one where they have moved their businesses.

Nevertheless, most people seem to be content with the situation in Washington and feel that the only way we can function as a governing body is to have either the Democrats or the Republicans leading the government. It would seem that no matter how bad things get, they are still hopeful.

It is not going to be as interesting as it is painful to see how the government gets the working class through this recession. Bailing out the banking industry and lowering the interest rates, theoretically, will help the overall economy. But helping working class people put gas in their cars and buy food for their families is a whole different problem.

In this global environment the American economy is such a complex phenomenon that only experts can understand what’s going on, and, unfortunately, there seems to be no one who can translate it into language that everyday working people can understand.

Those who are interested in creating a pathway to citizenship for immigrants apparently have little or no interest in the kind of world they have created for future generations of Americans.

Many people think that their greatest enemies are foreign terrorists. I feel that if the air, food and water don’t get me and I don’t get killed by gun violence, luck is on my side. We’ll soon get to the point where just having a roof over our heads and food on the table will seem like a luxury for the working class. The terrorists will probably be able to just wait us out.

And by the time the majority of Americans wake up to the realities, only the rich will be able to afford to bear arms, anyway. Isn’t that the way it usually works out?


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