Washington D.C. was awash in gun lovers yesterday. They were commemorating: a) the battle of Lexington and Concord, b) the seventeenth anniversary of the assault on the Branch Dividian compound in Waco, c) the fifteenth anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, or d) the 67th anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising. (This last commemoration is unlikely given the klanish nature of the groups involved.) Two groups convened around the Capital. One organized in Fort Hunt Park in Alexandria, the other mustered around the Washington Monument. (The First President never expressed a view on gun ownership but the lock and load crowd consider Washington one of them.)
The groups that assembled in the Capital were armed with signs, placards and silly Revolutionary War costumes. Had they arrived with guns,they would have been re-enacting the Boston Massacre with the DCPD in the role of the British. In Virginia the "Don't Tread On Me" brigade was armed to the teeth. The authorization for carrying guns into a national park was recently signed by (irony alert!) Barack Obama. This fact is lost on the "patriots" who are convinced that this President intends to confiscate all their toys. Like the Reagan administration, the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. has made no statement or suggested any legislation on guns, for or against.
Nevertheless every real , red-blooded, God-fearing, (read "white") American knows that a black, well educated, liberal, urban President is just waiting for his opportunity to sneak up on every gun owner in America and pour cement down the barrel of their Remington assault rifle. After all, any elected official willing to risk all of his political capital to guarantee that Americans would be able to secure decent medial care for their families, can't be trusted with anything as sacred as the Second Amendment.
All of this paranoia would be troubling if it weren't so illogical. Gun owners and tea-baggers rail continually about "taking the Country back". From who? Blacks? Liberals? The Elite? Well unless my calendar is faulty, that chance will come in 214 days. Voting for the candidate of your choice would appear more likely to effect change than waving your Smith & Wesson around a park in Alexandria. Gun owners appear ready to shot big holes in the very system of government they wish to preserve. America hasn't been taken over by Hugo Chavez. The current administration was voted into office by a citizenry sick to death of Republican lies and mismanagement. If your team lost, tough. You don't pick up a gun and attempt to manufacture reasons why the President is a socialist, or a fascist, or a Kenyan.
This approach was attempted in 1860 when South Carolina expressed its displeasure with the outcome of a presidential election. Four years and 600,000 dead later the South learned the error of its bellicose ways. (Actually secession was considered briefly in 1812 in of all places New England on the brink of the war with Britain. Nevertheless secession always sounds more likely when spoken with a Texas accent.) Now Oklahoma is considering organizing a militia to defend itself. From what I have no idea.
Everyone understands that frustration is rampant in the land. Many people feel that government is too large and too expensive. Taxes seem high and jobs are elusive. Logical arguments fall flat. Changes, even small changes, are scary. The past feels safe. No one goes to a tea party rally dressed as someone from the future. The old ways seem Comfortable and secure. Older white Americans sense something slipping away. A snake-oil salesman like JD Hayworth in Arizona can propose the "preservation of American Culture" (code for "let's keep the salsa off America's hotdogs")and not be condemned as a blatant racist.
A 240% increase in militia groups and a four-fold increase in gun purchases should tell us something. Take a chill pill, America. Stop helping Glen Beck get rich. Think for yourself. Go to a park...without a gun. If you don't like the direction in which the Country is going, pick up a phone not a weapon. Support a candidate. Standing around the Washington Monument in a tricorn hat with a gaggle of guys who think like you, only makes you look silly...even on Fox News.
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