The most glaring failure of capitalism is how it's given way to corporatism. Powerful corporate entities have strip mined the people, bought our lawmakers, lowered pay, done away with benefits, and have gone unchecked for so long, it has become the norm.

This has had the unfortunate side-effect of forcing big government on all of us. Someone has to provide for people who do not have the means to provide for themselves, and the churches and private sector certainly haven't risen to the task.

I firmly believe a majority of those on public assistance would rather be earning their way, but we lack opportunity. Working for peanuts is hardly an incentive.

Our failure as capitalists has ushered socialism in through the back door. Our narrow view, short-term-profit mentality has created a mess that will dog us for generations. We could learn a thing or two from the Japanese and their long-term mentality, but we're too proud and too entrenched to listen.

If socialism is gaining ground, it's only because we gave up the ground in the first place. It's our fault.

Gun Control, Shmun control

From the old flint-lock musket, to today's pistol gripped, semi-automatic rifle, guns were designed to shoot tiny metallic projectiles at other living things for the sole purpose of inflicting grave bodily harm on that living thing. I share the same moral objections that many people do, which is why I choose not to own a gun.

So why am I anti-gun control?

Because the genie is out of the bottle. Guns are not going away, in spite of the moral objections and arguments to the contrary. The bad guys will never surrender them, and regulation will only encumber the law-abiding.

If the citizenry decided to give up their guns tomorrow, the only people that would have them would be the police, the military, and the criminal element. As the military is constitutionally prohibited from operating on the contiguous United States, this would leave a police force that quickly finds itself outgunned and outnumbered unless Martial Law is declared.

To counter that imbalance, the state would no doubt be forced to deputize hundreds of thousands of law-abiding citizens and arm them. Isn’t that the ultimate irony?  And as gun crime escalates, the state would have to bolster its ranks and begin curtailing other freedoms in its effort to address the inevitable spike in criminal activity. It doesn't take too much imagination to picture an increased police presence, a loss of liberties, the enforcement of curfews, and many other desperate acts, the sole purpose of which would be to maintain order.

While this scenario is admittedly the logical extreme of gun control and the crime that could escalate as a result, it is nevertheless supported by history.

Historically speaking:

·      Gun control leads to increased crime.

·      Increased crime leads to more police presence.

·     More police presence leads to the curtailing of liberties in the name of the common good.

This leaves us with little recourse but to jealously guard our Second Amendment Right to Bear Arms. There is no other logical course of action.

If you disagree, you're wrong.