More on Guns in America

Gun-related violence in America is amazingly high compared to other "civilized" nations of the world. Why is that?

It is tempting to say that we need more restrictions on gun possession, but I am really not sure that is a practical answer, unless we want to go all the way and literally disarm Americans and scrap the 2nd Amendment. While I know some people who would like to do that, I don't think that's going to happen. 

In the movie "Bowling for Columbine," Michael Moore noted that Canadians own as many guns as Americans but have far fewer gun-related cases of violence. What's going on? we ask. The answer, I think, is Moore's analysis of violence in all aspects of American life. We are, in fact, a violently competitive society. There are multitudes of ways in which people can act with violence toward one another and simply shooting them with guns is only one of the ways. We can start by humiliating others wherever possible. Our youngsters quickly learn how to bully vulnerable kids, and many adults have never learned to rise above that kind of behavior. Our love of violence is so obviously out there that you can't go to the movies without seeing previews of the latest violent films to be shown. And these are films that offer no redeeming values other than just streaming us through endless violence from beginning to end.

I am afraid that the real reason behind gun-related violence in America is just Americans themselves. They are a violent people and, when a gun is handy in a violent moment, they just shoot their ways through it. This is not going to be solved through background checks or gun-safety instruction or gun-licensing. The only solution is a transformation of the American psyche, and that's probably less likely than getting rid of the 2nd Amendment. There are obviously mental health issues of importance, but American violence way outstrips cases of mental health illnesses. 

Yet, do we have the option, today, of just doing nothing? I think not. Understanding Americans as violent people, we need to try even harder to keep instruments of extreme violence less available. We could start, it seems to me, by requiring gun owners to license their guns and maintain them under the supervision of local law enforcement. An aspect of this in my mind would be that gun owners are required to keep guns under lock-and-key (or with reliable trigger locks) so that unauthorized people cannot access them and the owners themselves have to think a few times before using them in violent ways. If a person wants to have an assault-style weapon under his/her 2nd Amendment right, he/she ought to be assigned to the local National Guard unit for training and the weapon should be housed in the Armory for appropriate Guard use. That seems to be what the 2nd Amendment is all about. The 2nd Amendment is NOT about arming Americans to assault or defend themselves against their own government. It states that a "well regulated militia" is its purpose, and militia's were vital to the newly-declared independent states in fending off the British Army. "Well regulated" means trained and working in the service of the state.

Here We Go Again

Once more, the debt ceiling must be raised or our Federal government will have to grind to a halt. Historically, this has rarely been a big deal. The debt ceiling has been raised as a matter of course. It has only recently become a big deal since the Republican Party decided to use it as a hostage in order to try cutting government programs.

Republicans, especially their Tea Party wing, like to think of debt in terms of "home economics." What's no good for homemakers can't be good for our government. But this piece of reasoning is insane. The government is not the same as a household.

What are the differences? First of all, the government has a flexible income stream (revenue) while a household's income stream is relatively fixed. The government's income comes from within and the household's income comes from without. That is, the government draws income as a variable percentage of the nation's annual gross national product. A household's income is determined by its participation in the world around it, that is, it's contribution to the gross national product. 

Debt is the amount of income which we are obligated to pay out. Debt occurs either because we have promised to pay something to somebody for some purpose or because we have borrowed from somebody in order to spend for some purpose. Borrowing always involves interest on the amount borrowed so that is a further obligation. When debt equals income, we either have to borrow more to cover new expenses (which increases future debt) or increase the income or reduce spending. The debt ceiling is a ban on increasing debt.

The Tea Party would like us to believe that the average American household manages its finances in ways far superior to the Federal Government. But this is a fantasy. The average American household is indebted right up to 100% of its income. That is, every household has made promises to feed and clothe itself, to say nothing of providing cable and cell-phone service, gasoline, insurance, etc. Households have rents or mortgages and indebtedness on loans, credit cards, etc. Households also have obligations to Federal, state, and local governments. By the time all of this is added up, few households possess what is called "disposable income" or income that can be spent on new adventures. Most households are locked into their income streams so borrowing is their only way out. 

The government would normally have far more flexibility than a household. But, for the last twelve years, the government has been held hostage to a ban on increased income (tax revenue). Thus, if the government is simultaneously prevented from borrowing, it is forced to curb spending. That situation might be all right, in some circumstances, but the last four years has seen a large reduction in revenue and a large increased need for spending because of the major recession we have been through. 

A household can lose a major portion of its income when the breadwinner(s) loses employment. When it cannot meet its obligations, the members of the household find themselves homeless. Only the government can reliably provide assistance at this point. But that means increasing government spending in times of need. 

What the Tea Party and other Republicans seem to want is nation fashioned after Les Miserables --- no social conscience, just let people suffer whatever happens to them and guard your own bread.