Guns, Religion, Antipathy, and Swift Boats

In recent news, we have heard remarks from Barack Obama about guns, religion, and antipathy. We have also heard Hillary's and McCain's responses to these remarks as well as Barack's own elaboration upon said remarks. Before I go into detail about who said what and my opinion of the situation, I'd like to offer my stance on these issues.

Now that Charlton Heston is dead, I can finally admit that I am against everyone and their brother owning guns. No ordinary citizen should be able to purchase semi-automatic or automatic weapons. These weapons should only be available to the military and law enforcement. Furthermore, I feel that no-one with a criminal record that includes convictions for violence should be able to own a gun. In addition, anyone with psychological issues should be thoroughly tested by more than one psychologist before being allowed to purchase a gun. If these psychologists have any doubt at all as to whether or not someone with psychological issues is capable of violence, that person should be forbidden to own a gun.

By blood, I am Jewish. Some of you might stop reading due to that fact. However, I can tell you that you are going to miss out on a revelation if you do. I respect people of all religions. Even Islam. That said, there are extremists in all religions. This includes, but is not limited to, Jews, Methodists, Protestants, Catholics, and Buddhists. Extremism is one of the many factors I had considered when I chose not to participate in any organized religion. Do I believe in God? In short, I hope God exists. However, the long answer to that question would occupy several posts in this blog.

I certainly cannot speak for others when it comes to antipathy. Nevertheless, I can say that I am not antipathetic. At least not when it comes to the haves versus the have nots. Unlike many people, especially U.S. citizens, I am not strongly motivated by money. I am motivated more by intangibles. Compassion, enthusiasm, generosity, compliments, passion, etc. will keep me happier than all the money in the world. I can certainly empathize with the unemployed people out there. In the past 4 years, I've been unemployed about 40% of the time. On the "have" end, I appreciate what people such as Bill Gates are giving back to society. That said, for every "Bill Gates" there are 3 or 4 wealthy people who are detriments to society. Alas, that is a topic for another post.

Barack on 'Bitter Pennsylvanians' . . . "You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations. " Let's break this quote down. First, I would like to address the alleged 25 year absence of jobs. I strongly disagree with this. Sure, the steel industry might have dwindled, but both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton helped create thousands of jobs. The Reagan years brought about a lot of military jobs. While Bill Clinton did scale back the military, he both balanced the budget and gave private industry a big boost. Remember the internet boom? Sure, the original boom expanded so quickly that it could not sustain itself by about the year 2000. Nevertheless, the internet has continued to grow exponentially since the 2000 "correction". Look at Google, eBay, FaceBook, and Yahoo just to name a few. My point is that the jobs were there. The people just needed to be "reskilled" for the jobs that were available. Second, I feel that any bitterness is self induced by people who don't adapt. As for people clinging to guns, religion, and/or antipathy, these are the extremists. Extreme gun activists will complain about gun issues regardless of the economy. Obsessively religious people will cling harder to religion during hard times. People with an aversion toward people of other races, religions, or income brackets will be especially antipathetic during a recession. These are specific types of people. You can't make a generalization and say that everyone in Anytown, PA has one or more of these attributes. It's simply not true. Third, there is a good reason for anti-immigrant sentiment, especially as pertains to illegal immigrants, regardless of the economy. Illegal immigrants will tend to hurt our economy because they are taking jobs away from U.S. citizens. Trade is a complex animal and best left for another post.

More to come . . .