There are several national issues that bombard the news cycle daily and that come to the forefront in our current political climate. These issues impact us in some way every day, either by putting us in an unsafe situation or by allocating the massive expenditure of taxpayer funds.
We all know that if there is political will, remedies are available to the most powerful, technologically advanced, and wealthiest nation on Earth. Yet have you ever wondered why most important issues go unresolved?
Some issues that come to mind are: firearm and especially assault weapons regulation, crime, unlawful immigration, and allocating funds for the annual national debt.
How it came to pass that Americans, to include the mentally ill, untrained and emotionally unstable, have the right to carry assault weapons and instruments of war, is that chaos causes fear.
If the right to bear arms was the actual issue, the law would read that trained and vetted persons could choose to have a handgun at home or work, and weapons of war, i.e. AR-15-style rifles, would be allocated to only those as part of a “well regulated militia,” as is stated in the Constitution.
Being unreasonable and forgoing safety for ideology keeps the gun safety debate alive.
According to the Guardian, “As of 7 May 2023, there had been 202 mass shootings – defined by the archive as involving at least four people killed or injured by firearms, excluding the shooter – since the beginning of the year.”
I find Republicans and their supporters will perpetuate an impasse to legislation actions that would make us safer.
We are on track to experience almost 500 mass shootings this year. This high death rate makes us unsafe, and selling fear is their current calling card.
This leads to the issue of “crime.”
From a Republican perspective it appears that if crime was the issue, then mass distribution of guns is the solution. But you can blame Democrats for improperly addressing the crime as well.
The Democratic position unfortunately seems to resist issuing harsh punishments to criminals, falsely hope that rehab is a “cure” for criminal misconduct, and lets the homeless, drug addicts and cartels run free.
If you can blame the blame on Republicans for unchecked weapons proliferation, the Dems are often the ones to look to regarding passive action on addressing criminal conduct.
Another worrisome concern is unlawful immigration.
The 114th and 115th Congress represented the time when the Senate and House were under GOP control. When Trump took office in 2017, the executive and legislative branches were all under Republican control.
Yet during this “golden era of GOP domination” no prescription drug reduction cost plans were addressed, no national health care reform bill was enacted, and no immigration reform measures were passed. We only saw a massive tax break to the super wealthy.
I contend that rather than curing illegal immigration, the GOP elected to allow chaos and continued waves of undocumented millions to breach our borders with little disincentive.
Again, fear being the calling card of Republicans. To them, the more fear, the better.
Under the Barack Obama years, Democrats could have also opted for enacting some hard choices curbing illegal immigration, but they did not.
No doubt today or yesterday you heard or read that the national debt gridlock between the two parties still persists.
The national debt is caused by Congress enacting obligations and expenditures. A substantial portion of this debt was incurred under Donald Trump and Republican leadership.
The rhetoric we hear from Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is he and his cronies don’t want to pay for the obligations that they approved. The GOP position is that Joe Biden would have to eliminate some obligations Dems approved in order to pay for the debts that Republicans had approved, instead of meeting all commitments that were made.
But any compromise by Biden will be seen as a GOP victory, even whilst it is cosmetic and non-meaningful.
Allocation of funds for obligations already approved is creating an issue, i.e. it is theater for our consumption and not about moving our country ahead.
We could put blame on the GOP for the gun debate, the debt ceiling and immigration, but the Dems in the past have played the same game with immigration and crime.
Have you considered that there may be a political strategy to keep these issues alive and without remedy?
Yes, it would seem that applying meaningful solutions is not the plan.
Jonathan Kraut directs a private investigations agency, is the CEO of a private security firm, is the CFO of an accredited acting conservatory, a published author, and Democratic Party activist. His column reflects his own views and not necessarily those of The Signal or of other organizations.
