Gun Control

[nihilistcat]

I think that the general consensus is that we don;t have to choose between solving any single one of those problems - we could make an effort at all of them...however, I agree with you..that we seem to devote inordinate amounts of attention to some problems and mystifyingly little to others.  I don;t think that doing so actually promotes an environment in which we can make that good faith attempt at all of our problems.  I think it provides an angst dump, and a ready made opportunity to stump to your constituency - and nothing more.  

Look at the last big attempt to reduce gun violence/crime.  Such an impressive failure that the DOJ..not traditionally an organization in the habit of relinquishing power or authority once granted....was not interested in it's renewal.  I can't help but suspect that it's failure was due to a flaw in how we approach the problem, personally.

I would consider myself a left winger, but not in the traditional sense. I'm generally distrustful of state power, and I think people have been too willing to delegate problem solving to the state, a state which in my mind is only preoccupied with sustaining and expanding its own power (and democrats are no better than republicans in this regard). 

Something like gun violence is an example of a problem that communities can solve themselves (through grassroots, democratic structures built from below), while problems like cancer really do require money and resources. It's even more perplexing to see members of communities that have been the most victimized by the state, call for more state intervention, more state violence (e.g. black communities, where its young males are disproportionately incarcerated by the state, abused and killed by its police, victimized by institutional racism which has been perpetuated by the state, etc., chanting for more gun control, which will almost certainly victimize its young males even further, while those white red necks they think they're reigning in, are laughing all the way to the gun store). 

Trade deals that sell out American workers have been pushed by democrats even more aggressively than republicans (Clinton NAFTA, Obama TPP, etc.). Deregulation that has sold out the average American (like the repeal of Glass Steagall) were pushed through by both dems and repubs. Even our regulatory agencies, which at one time did so much good work, have been coopted by business interests (and have become clearinghouses of crony capitalism). Mass incarceration, mass surveillance, etc., are the logical conclusion of a people who have become lazy, narcissistic, trivial, and stupid. While private prisons are lobbying congress for more business (i.e. more bodies to put in their cages), here we are bickering about "what they" want us to bicker about? 

The DNC of FDR or JFK no longer exists folks. Wake up and smell the coffee.