As the days since Orlando have passed and tragedy has been almost fully politicized there is a false narrative happening that must absolutely 100% be stopped now, and especially Democrats must be disavowed of the lie that Hillary Clinton is somehow more of a fighter for the lives of children than are Republicans (or vice-versa).
No, next I must say that Trump is abhor rant on the topic, but at least he is clear spoken and honest about his beliefs. That isn’t to say I would ever even give a seconds thought to voting for such an ignorant man – but if we are going to assign a moral compass to the parties what he loses in policy he makes up a bit in sincerity.
That isn’t to say that I don’t think that Americans who support the efforts of Mrs. Clinton are not in their hearts doing the right thing — perhaps domestically they are. What she and the Democrats of that wing of the party cannot claim is a moral high ground on prevent gun deaths, and the idea that their AR-15 views are enlightened is a flat out lie .
Mrs. Clinton makes no bones about supporting an increase of the 6 billion dollars of military and weapons spending that this nation gives to Israel alone, and among those billions some 400 million goes to buying guns like the AR-15 and them doling them out like candy to the compulsory citizens service, which then put them to work killing children and enforcing an apartheid state complete with Trump like walls and for profit prisons, the very same ones that have donated handsomely to Mrs. Clinton here. Then throw in another 1.3 billion for doing something similar in Egypt, 300 million each for the next half dozen or so and reaching out to most every nation in the world — Mrs. Clinton does not support ending gun violence and manufacturer accountability –she just supports those things domestically while pumping out weapons faster than wars and violence can put them to work for the rest of the world.
A dead son or daughter in Palestine, in Yemen, in Iraq, shooting up a café or a movie house in Afghanistan is no different than shooting up one here. What is happening in Syria using US weapons means that Mrs. Clinton and President Obama are just as much the gun dealer of tragedy for those senseless murders as are wherever and whomever the Orlando shooter bought his.
I do not say that to point fingers at conservative Democrats, but rather to say that these tragedies are the chickens of imperialism and neoliberal economics and neoconservative foreign policy coming home to roost. We become the biggest victims of violence because we are the biggest suppliers of it –and as Secretary of State Mrs. Clinton was the worlds arms dealer.
Like any person who grew up in the country, and now works in urban environments I have mixed feelings about guns –and about who owns them, who uses them, and can see the points of both sides as very valid, very relevant and very difficult. I think it’s time to go all or nothing, either require everyone to carry, every place, all of the time — or to restrict guns to legitimate hunting, home defense, and recreational target and disc shooting sports. I cannot help but think had I been in downtown Orlando and not four miles away that night at least a clip of 9mm’s would have been flying back at that SOB who shot up the club — had the laws that allowed me to defend myself not been so lax- he’d have had no guns. It’s not an easy issue and because it isn’t an easy issue I beg all of you not to talk past one another, and not to fall for the lie that Democrats or Republicans right now are offering laws that might end violence for humanity –and that now is the time we fight for laws that protect the innocent not just for ourselves here but for all of mankind everywhere and say that what we will not allow citizens to have, we will not export for the ill intentioned to have anywhere in the world and now is the time to hold both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump accountable to the ideas of peace and the basic human rights of everyone to not live in a society that has no respect for life at all.
Now is the time to know you are being lied to –and demand more, and now isn’t the time to forget what Bernie’s revolution was about , and that is speaking truth to power, and using the power of our Republic to hold the actions of government accountable to working for the welfare of Americans and those abroad.
I stand in solidarity with Orlando, with Palestine, with Afghanistan, and with Iraq, with Vietnam and Grenada, with El Salvador and Honduras and with people everywhere against violence and against party and government lies.
