GUN SAFETY: The debate continues. In fact, perhaps surprisingly, it has grown even louder in the six weeks after the Sandy Hook massacre. There are four primary legislative proposals that the public appears to overwhelmingly support: universal background checks (supported by 92% of the public and 85% of NRA members); background checks for ammunition purchases; limits on number of bullets in a magazine clip; tighter restrictions on the sale of military-style assault weapons. An NRA member recently stated, “If a hunter needs a 12-round magazine in an assault weapon to bring down a deer, it means he missed 11 shots and has no business hunting anyway.”
The first three actions would seem to be a no-brainer for almost all Americans. But for any of these proposals to actually pass Congress, this evaporates as a common sense or moral issue. As discussed in my blog of 1/18/2013, to make legislative progress this issue has to be dealt with as a campaign finance issue. The political contributions of the NRA versus the (currently small) political contributions by those against the NRA’s positions. And there is where we actually see some beginnings of change.
It is being led by billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City’s promise to personally spend mega-millions to support pro-gun safety candidates and expose NRA-funded favorite politicians. It shows up in Gabby Gifford’s new PAC that has already been promised several million dollars from a few wealthy supporters – supplemented by her willingness to be a personal, public face on this issue. (See her brief but riveting testimony to a Congressional committee on 1/30/2013.) This fundraising has already had a direct affect. Recent TV ads directed to a new Democratic Senator from North Dakota, and to a Democratic candidate in a special election in Chicago for a vacant House seat, have already prompted a public change of their pro-NRA positions. Money still speaks. Loudly. I encourage you to consider donating to the Brady campaign. Action is (unfortunately) still all about the money.
IMMIGRATION REFORM: Could this logjam finally be breaking up? It seems to be another area where past paralysis may at last be starting to shift. We see glimpses of that oft-invisible “bi-partisanship” as various ad hoc Congressional groups are advancing proposals to address this long-standing frustration. Some politicians are fueled by a sense of humanity towards the untenable living condition we have created here. Others are blatantly responding to a political reality – a growing voting block that is overwhelming against anti-Latino treatment, legislation, and roadblocks to resolution.
Whatever the motivation, it is a wave we need to surf. Both sides need to “get” and both sides need to “give.” We need to secure the nation’s border with all the physical, technological, and human resources available. We need to enforce – and strengthen where necessary – laws requiring employee checks for everyone to prevent employers exploiting undocumented workers. We need to institute a responsive and effective “guest worker” program that supports the small businessperson and farmers who are dependent upon filling jobs that resident Americans have proven they will not take. Last and foremost, we need a defined program by which the people who came here illegally can become legal, taxpaying citizens. Should they have been allowed to come in the first place? No. Are they here? Yes – almost 12 million of them. We blew it when we failed to stop it before, and now we need to own up to our own failure as much as theirs.
Our last step is to blot out all of the noise from those stuck in the past who scream “amnesty” as if it was a dirty word. We need to speak back at them “forgiveness” to those seeking to make amends. America is, and always has been, an incredibly forgiving nation. After the American Revolution we forgave the Tories who had sided with the British. We granted amnesty to all Confederate soldiers (excluding the generals) immediately as the Civil War ended. We forgave the Japanese and the Germans their horrors after World War II and helped to rebuild their governments and economies. President Jimmy Carter granted amnesty to those who fled to Canada to avoid the Viet Nam draft – and today Viet Nam is one of our “most favored nations” trading partners. All of these were done to bind wounds and move on. And still the nation stands, fully intact. We will continue to stand intact after we bring these 12 million people, including their innocent children, out of the shadows, and welcome them into their adopted country.
WOMEN IN COMBAT: With almost no forewarning, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the military Joint Chiefs officially announced the end of the restriction against women serving in combat. Coming on the heels of lifting of the ban on gays/lesbians serving in the armed forces, our military once again has become a surprising driver for America’s promised equality for all. Just as they were for accelerating racial integration when President Truman desegregated the military in the late 1940s. There will be no rush to implement this change; there is a three year timetable for preparation, and there will be no lowering of standards for eligibility and performance.
Of course there were some of the expected opposition cries about women being inherently emotionally incapable of performing a combat role; women unable to physically carry a wounded 250- pound buddy to safety (hell, I couldn’t do so either even in my best youthful days!); where will women go to the bathroom in a shared foxhole; and, of course, the “inevitable” lowering of morale and probability of sexual affairs and assaults; etc. It all sounded as such a frustrating echo of the 1980s when women pushed to be cops, fire fighters, construction workers, and executives – all jobs most Americans do not think twice about now. Can we not move on from these Neanderthal arguments once and for all? Yet the pleasantly surprising good news is how quickly this political/media discussion has come and gone. Done. Quiet.
So I guess we are making progress after all.
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