political rant on guns

[saskiiaa]

I don’t know how it happened, but somehow I got signed up for receiving emails from a Republican senator. And after what happened earlier this week, he decided to write an email to explain WHY he voted against the gun laws. The senator in question is Mike Lee from Utah.

Comments

[taylorkaye1992]

After spending last night reading comments written by conspiracy theorists who seem to think "every major gun crime is orchestrated by the government to push gun control and steal our civil liberties," I've about had it with gun rights advocates. They act like the constitution is written in stone and isn't supposed to be amended--as though things haven't changed drastically in the interim, from the time it was written to the present. Like when Alex Jones (conspiracy theory extraordinaire) was on Piers Morgan's show and said something to the tune of "1776 will commence again." What's that even supposed to mean?

The only people whose rights Republicans are willing to defend seem to be gun owners (though I'm not sure how each senator voted, so I guess I can't assume it was shot down by only
Republicans). But honestly, there's no reason to be against universal background checks. Are gun owner rights more important than the lives of innocent people? I guess I'm just fed up with elected officials ignoring their constituents and instead catering to their major financial backers.

[saskiiaa]

Omg I don't understand how you can stand reading those comments. The only reason I read this email was because it came to my inbox XD and I don't want to know how much my blood pressure spiked.

I believe that there were 6 Republicans who were FOR background checks, but during the vote voted AGAINST. So literally all Republicans voted against it, and then there were about 6 Democrats who also voted against. Goodness knows why.

Gosh tell me about it!!! But I really don't see anything changing anytime soon. We're in some terrible feedback loop. Senators won't become senators unless they're rich, and if they're rich in this economy you gotta ask yourself, how did they get so rich? Well, most likely oil & coal industry, or they have offshore money, or they were CEOs at companies like Goldman Sachs.... these people obviously have no morality anymore. There's only a few that are actually good in the senate right now: Elizabeth Warren, and Mark Udall for example. They got their campaign money from... well "grassroot supporters" as it's called... hate the term. Instead of harping on "conspiracy theories", why won't people open their eyes and see how effing corrupt our entire government is, and start complaining about that? XD

Ok I went on a bit of a rant there.

[taylorkaye1992]

I always tell myself to avoid comment sections of certain articles, but I just keep going back for more. As a result, I'm constantly ranting on the internet...haha. I must like spending my time being irrationally angry.

I finally found a site that said which senators voted for and against that gun control law, and four Democrats voted against it. Unsurprisingly, one of those senators was someone I happened to vote for last November (it was between her and Rick Berg, so I chose the lesser of two evils). Most of the Democrats around here are basically Republicans--just less radical than most.

Unfortunately, money is power--and power corrupts. Because of that, politicians will continue to be morally inept (well, most of them anyway). Honestly, I don't see that ending unless laws that ban certain campaign contributions pass. And since it's politicians who'd have to pass such laws, it'll probably never happen. As it seems most people in this country have developed an extreme case of complacency, they'll never seriously push for such laws (because they don't care).

[saskiiaa]

Ugh I understand completely, I sometimes fall into the trap myself. But I've been resisting. I also know I can't speak as eloquently as others, so that helps XD

Yeah, exactly what I think the problem is too. While I hope for change, I also think it is going to take a TON of work to get there. :\ and as a foreigner living in the US, it's all too easy for me to think "Oh well I can always go back to Europe".