I live in a city that is dominated by software geeks (hey, don?t get offended, one is the father of my child whom I loved for seven years) and various moms carting around their little ones in slow moving mini-vans and over-sized SUV?s, shopping at Nordstrom?s. These people are the local active voice of politics in the area.
I am a woman. I am a mother. I carry a Kimber 1911 .45 semi-automatic pistol, always accompanied by the perfectly legitimate, King County issued permit to carry concealed in my purse. I have also been the victim of violent crime. Before I lived in a tract of oversized , planned homes (I don?t anymore) where all my neighbors knew my business, I lived in a poor neighborhood in Los Angeles (though there, you?re not safe anywhere!), was stalked by man who later tried to force me into his trunk. But that?s a different story, and it?s been posted here before.
Today I?d like to talk about responsibility, and the trends in lawmaking and politics, the whole darned thing.
I?d like to ask all of these college educated, upper and above middle class folks, do they remember a single bit of the elementary principles of the founding of this country they were taught over and over again during their education?
What do you do when there is a problem with society? Why, you legislate it, of course. WRONG!!
Everyone who has ever seen a tragedy, been mugged, offended by the television, or had their perfect little soccer playing daughter smoke a joint is screaming out for legislation, legislation, legislation. (No, I?m not advocating drug use)
You must keep children?s mind pure by installing v-chips and censoring television. You must stop any free speech that I don?t like immediately. You must regulate the internet. You must protect our children by forcing schools to do this or that. You must stop all crime and violence by banning guns. The police need to do this, the government needs to do that. Fix our children. Fix our society. Make us wear our seatbelts and stay three feet from our microwaves. Feed us, clothe us, and fill our minds with only what will make us a highly consumer oriented, well coifed, suv driving utopian society.
But wait, this is America. The government can?t do that. Remember? What happens when you let the government do that? I?ll let them consult the history books, if one of them can tear their eyes away from ?Vogue? or ?Glamour?, or ?PC Magazine? while their hair dries at the local Gene Juarez salon.
Now, I?ll admit, once again, I?m using stereotypes and generalizations, and I concede that it may sound narrow minded. Because certainly I?m no hillbilly sitting in a rocker on my porch with a 12 gauge, watching the rust grow on the garden of cars on my front lawn, and I hate to invite that type of backward thinking. I tell you though, these are the people who write their congressman and lawmakers, these are the voting democrats and liberals that I see here. There is much diversity in Seattle, be sure, but the people with the cash are the people the politicians cater to. The cool little bobbed Diva?s on Broadway with big ideas aren?t heard by anyone in power. But I digress?.
This society, which seems to be leaning toward some fiscally capitalist but legally socialist era is making me ill. Sick to the very core. Because no one is responsible for anything, but everyone?s gotta pay, and everyone must cater to the whim of the small but affluent voice.
No one is responsible for their children or their own circumstance anymore, it seems. It is all thrust upon the government. Which is just plain insanity. While millions of taxpayers dollars are wasted on v-chip legislation, gun control laws, DARE, and frivolous lawsuits among countless other things, these people can sit on their so called moral high horse and be responsible for nothing.
I?ll use a simple analogy. I?m not my ideal weight. I do not sue Godiva chocolates for marketing such wonderful truffles. I do not sue Nordic Track or Gold?s Gym for not making fitness equipment free and easily available to all. I take responsibility for the fact that no, I did not walk around the block today and yes, I had a really nice dinner and nibbled on those delicious chocolates. Nor have I sued my parents for not giving me the supermodel gene at birth. Cause and effect.
I?ll take it a step further. If my daughter were to get her hands on one of my guns and a tragedy occurred, that would be my fault, too. Not the manufacturers, not TV?s, not the internet?s, not the school district?s. MINE. Not even the sick, bottom feeding media coverage of sensational crime (that is actually on the decline, according to the FBI) perpetuates. If she hurts herself or others, was it not my job, my responsibility to educate her, to teach her safety, to do what I needed to do to deny her access to weapons, to get her mental help, whatever?
And guess what. If I were attacked again by a violent criminal, and my call to 911 didn?t save me, that would be my fault, too. Because it meant that I didn?t take responsibility for my personal safety, that I left it up to someone else. A nice side note??..if I sued the police, or, say my next of kin did, they?d lose.
The government is NOT stripping away our freedoms. The people of America are doing it. They are serving up to the lawmakers on their finest china platter, every little bit of freedom we have, and asking them to take care of them, to protect them. From what? From taking care of themselves.
To live in a free society is to make choices and live with results. To live in a free society means to belong to the greater collective, but take responsibility for ones own actions.
How Orwellian is it that we, as a society, are asking the government to control our children? Teach them this, block that. Parents are responsible for their children, what they do, everything. From the struggling, hard working single mom to the affluent professional mall rat. No matter how hard luck the story, they are YOUR children. The government SHOULD not, for any good reason, have to legislate what that kid watches on TV or make them a DARE graduate so that we all know they?ve been educated about drugs. It is an individual responsibility.
Crime. Our society is full of violent criminals. We need to look at that problem seriously. But, deterrent factor can decrease crime RIGHT NOW. Until that one impossible day, when every violent imulse is gone from the human race, what we must consider is that an armed police officer cannot be assigned to every home in America. If that cannot happen, then we must protect ourselves, not legislate away the ability to do so.
I?ve rambled on far too long, but, in a nutshell, I?m pissed. Because I am watching my rights being stripped away from me on a daily basis. And the most frightening thing is, these maniacs (I speak of the yuppie who is handing the government my rights) want to disarm me!
So, gun community, I?ve written this to ask you to remember your responsibilities, too. These people are whining and begging, and they are getting what they want. And it?s going to cost us everything, and if disarmed, it may cost our lives as well as our freedom. We need to call these people on responsible parenting, responsible living, responsible solutions.