Crusaders on a Rampage

The gun control crusaders in America are on a rampage.  Before allowing the hysterical, self-righteous lunatics among us to take more individual rights away from law abiding citizens, perhaps it would be enlightening to check a few numbers regarding violent deaths in the United States.  I would venture a guess that researching some basic facts might produce results the fanatics may not like because they are more than likely to be politically incorrect.  That is because some basic elementary knowledge of the daily news would lead one to suspect the vast majority of murders are committed by black and Latino men under the age of 30, often with drugs involved.

A little research into the numbers reveals that last assumption is not entirely correct.  I apologize to Latino men.  The National Center for Health Statistics reported that there were 16,259 homicides in the United States in 2010.  Firearms accounted for 11,078 of those deaths, or nearly 2 out of every 3.  Of the 11,078 firearm homicides, 65% (again 2 out of every 3) were committed by people between the ages of 15 and 34.  I did not learn the number of those homicides committed by women, but I would be very confident the number was relatively low.

A separate Wall Street Journal survey found that of the murders committed in 2010, 51% of the killers identified were black.  Blacks make up 13% of the US population.  Hispanic's were responsible for 11% of the murders while comprising 17% of the population, and non-Hispanic whites committed 36% of the homicides while comprising 63% of the population.  Both of the latter two ethnic groups committed considerably less murders than their overall representation in the population.  In other words, while only 1 out of every 8 people in America are black, blacks commit more than 1 out of every 2 murders in this country.  That is not being racist.  That is known as a fact backed by empirical evidence, something that is unfamiliar to the politically correct crowd.

America would be considerably less polarized and more civilized if liberals, including the media, would stop over-indulging in arrogant self-righteous intimidation and condemnation of those who prefer to rely on facts, common sense and rational analysis to generate solutions to problems instead of idiotic adherence to political correctness.  It seems to me that if the liberals want to produce legislation that significantly reduces the amount of murders by guns in this country they should focus on the folks who are causing the problems.  For example, a rational approach would limit the rights of black men under the age of 35 to own guns.  I personally would not advocate that approach since law abiding African-Americans need and deserve the right to defend themselves and their families from criminals as much as anyone else, if not more given the statistics.

Actually, applying legislation to specific segments of the population would probably not be Constitutional.  After all, aren't we all supposed to be equal in the eyes of the law?  Oh, wait a minute, that can't be right.  Isn't creating legislation for exclusive groups exactly what Congress does when they legislate tax preferences for special interests???  Regardless, laws are already on the books that require background checks to prevent convicted felons and the mentally ill from owning guns.  We don't need new laws.  We need law enforcement.

It is interesting that many of the same 'progressives' who want to control gun ownership are the same ones who worship the Quentin Tarantino's of Hollywood, whose latest movie could be described by some as an attempt to ignite a race war by promoting the wholesale killing of white people.  Most people won't see it that way, but I will guarantee that more than a few deranged potential mass murderers will be inspired to consider it.  Movie producers and violent video game programmers apparently see no irony in taking blood and gore to new levels of graphic carnage, but are appalled and in denial when the crap they promote as entertainment occurs in real life.

'Progressives' really don't give a damn about the relationship between cause and effect, fiction and reality, rational and irrational, or failed policies and actual results. Their goal is to destroy their opposition and take total control of our society by whatever means it takes.  America's real problem is due to the fact that money is legally stolen from those who earn it and given to those who haven't in order to buy votes.  Obviously there are many folks at the bottom of society who need the support, and that is certainly warranted.  But lots of the redistribution ends up in the hands and mouths of people who don't need or deserve it and are more than happy to vote for the Democrats who keep giving it to them.  That doesn't even begin to address the billions wasted on unnecessary and inefficient government bureaucrats who screw up the job of handing out the goodies.

Former federal judge, solicitor general and legal scholar Robert Bork, who recently passed away, once said, "Once the justices depart from the original understanding of the principles of the Constitution, they lack any guidance other than their own attempts at moral philosophy.  The combination of absolute power, disdain for the historic Constitution, and philosophical incompetence is lethal."  He was speaking about the Supreme Court, but no truer words could be spoken about our current leader and his politically correct crusaders. 

The Bottomless Vortex

OK.  The fairness issues, justified or not, have now been dealt with.  Tax rates on the so-called wealthy have been raised.  Now it is time to finally get serious about the real fiscal cliff issues - government spending.  Unfortunately, calling government spending a fiscal cliff is a serious understatement.  What confronts America is a bottomless fiscal vortex.  Government spending is out of control.  It is way past time to reduce the bloated government beureaucracy, reign in the exponential growth of entitlement programs, and alleviate restraints on private enterprise.

The problem is that Barack Obama has no interest in addressing those issues.  Incomprehensible budget deficits, approaching government insolvency, and the lack of job creating / productivity improving / quality of life enhancing economic expansion does not concern him.  His agenda is to grow government and the government dependent welfare state, with the secondary objective of making Republicans responsible for making the tough but necessary choices Americans won't like.

More evidence of that ideological goal appeared yesterday (January 2, 2013).  After blackmailing Republicans into approving the tax increases while postponing the spending cuts to deal with the 'fiscal cliff', a problem that is overwhelmingly due to Obama's massive expansion of public debt through welfare state spending programs rather than lack of revenues, Obama now says "I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they've already racked up through the laws that they passed."  He is refusing to discuss the debt ceiling issue that must be addressed in February.  Now that is just absolutely unbelievable audacity!

Republicans got suckered again.  They were browbeaten into 'solving' the smoke-screen revenue problem with measures that won't work while punting on the clear and present critical danger of unsustainable government spending.  Democrats always promise to address spending issues as a compromise for raising taxes, then refuse to follow through.  Democrats play politics as a game, destroying the fabric of the country while blaming Republicans for the results.  The game has advanced from "Lie, Cheat and Steal" to "Lie, Cheat, Steal, Destroy and Blame the opposition".  Democrats always win that game.  Regrettably, it is not really a game as future generations of Americans will discover as first their prosperity, then their livelihood and quality of life, and finally their freedom become distant memories.

I can't help but wonder what percentage of political leaders, media network executives and talking heads, Hollywood celebrities, labor union leaders, community organizers and those who make up the constituency of the Democratic Party (women, blacks, Latinos, people under the age of 30) have ever owned a business or taken any courses at all in economics or history, let alone courses beyond economics or history 101.  Do they know anything about macro-economic theory, monetary policy, capital allocation, budgets, or debt?  Have they ever been exposed to the historical record of socialism, communism, autocratic dictatorships and other government controlled societies?  A country is doomed when the people most uneducated in matters determining a society's existence are the ones who choose its equally unknowledgable leaders.  Unfortunately, as the world has shown many times over, a prosperous society starts down the road to ruin when incompetent bullshitters preaching false 'compassion for the people' outmaneuver reality.