And No One Needed Guns!

So the greatest people’s revolution of modern times has taken place over the last two weeks plus and the revolution accomplished its goal without guns!

So there, all you “Second Amendment” rights nuts who think that in order to form a “more perfect union” it is necessary to take your guns to political rallies.  All you have shown the world is that you do not know how to bring about positive change without threatening, or actually, shooting someone.

Egyptians suffered under one of the most brutal and sadistic regimes anywhere in the world.  The workers, the professionals, the students, the well-educated people of Egypt had enough and took to the streets by the hundreds of thousands in peaceful protests.  They even withstood the goon squads of Mubarak’s police who arrested, shot and beat them, and yet took no weapons themselves in their defense.  Yes, they returned the rocks thrown at them by the thugs, but they did not need guns!

Will the radicals among us learn anything from this momentous event?  Will it be possible for citizens in the United States to show their courage through their voices and their votes while leaving their guns at home?  I certainly hope so!

It is with some degree of satisfaction that I see Glenn Beck’s ratings begin to drop.  Maybe his listeners are beginning to realize that he is about three marbles short of enough to play a serious game.  We can be grateful for our right to free speech, but we should be ashamed that we support those who use their positions of influence to make up facts and repeat them over and over until the most vulnerable of our citizens begin to believe them.

The Egyptian struggle is not over.  But it has great promise.  We can all feel empowered by the example they have set for the world—your voice is more important than your gun!

The Glenn Beck Rally and Our Society

Anyone who has followed this blog or my “Notes” on Facebook is aware that I do not have much use for the likes of Glenn Beck, Fox Noise, the Tea Party, or most of those who follow the rants of this narcissistic nut ball. (Friends and relatives excepted! –LOL) His visions of personal grandeur and self-importance make me want to hurl my breakfast.

That having been said I determined this morning that I might have to write an essay acknowledging the fact that Glenn Beck did in fact get his crowd together for the rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.  Never mind that this event, in my opinion, was a mockery of all that Dr. Martin Luther King stood for.  However, I certainly recognize that he has tapped into the enormous sense of dissatisfaction with the way things are in society and government today. That does not mean I agree with any single word that comes out of his mouth.

I am not feeling particularly charitable, especially after reviewing the Katrina 5th anniversary programs this week and the reminder of how totally incompetent our government has become in most areas of our lives.  And that is what really scares me.  When unrest is further encouraged by those who are least sane, or least competent to understand the power of one negative assault after another on the public psyche, there is considerable concern about the possibility of someone finally lighting the actual fuse of revolution.  When those seeking public office have as their mandate the course of exercising their “Second Amendment remedies” (read Sharron Angle of Nevada) if government does not do what they think government should do, we are in deep trouble.

There is no question many folks are very unhappy with what is happening in our country.  I am very upset about many of the same things.  But what I am most unhappy about is the failure of our politicians to demonstrate even a vestige of integrity or genuine concern, let alone any awareness, of the plight of an increasing portion of the populace.  I cannot, will not, go into all of the aspects at the root of this dissatisfaction, except to say that the devastating financial divide between the “haves” and the “have-nots” is at the breaking point.  There is very definitely a different philosophical base between the Democrats and the Republicans on this issue.  That philosophy could be debated reasonably, but it is not.

Frankly, and here comes my basic negativity about things, I think we may have passed the point of no return when it comes to our ability to engage constructively with one another.  I believe we have come to the point where many think it really is necessary to wear guns to rallies to showcase our opinions.  We are almost at the point of the only argument being, “My gun is bigger than your gun!”

Some may be saying, “It is easy to complain.  Why don’t you offer some alternatives?”  I guess what I feel about that is my expressions of other ways of thinking, feeling, and living don’t seem to resonate with those caught up with the Glenn Becks of this society.  I have stated my position in hundreds of articles over the years and in two books.  So now I will just cop out.  Of course that is not much better than the position of the radical right and left who complain and offer such radical alternatives that there is no room to compromise.

For anyone who feels strongly about what I have said, I invite your comments.  You have as much right to your opinions as Glenn Beck does and as I do.  Opinions are cheap, aren’t they?  They require very little other than a means to state them.