‘It’s just sick!’
As a political commentator, I’ve reported on a lot of remarks by presidents of the United States, from State of the Union speeches, to Oval Office addresses, to comments on the South Lawn.
I’ve heard presidents speak from the mind, and sometimes from the heart. But I never heard one speak raw from the gut — like Joe Biden did this week.
Every word of Biden’s echoed what every American with any sense of decency was thinking. “When in
God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?” “I am sick and tired of it.” “Where in God’s name is our backbone?” “We have to act.” “It’s just sick.”
His anguish was in response to, in his words: “Another massacre. Uvalde, Texas. An elementary school. Beautiful, innocent second, third, fourth graders. And how many scores of little children who witnessed what happened, see their friends die as if they’re on a battlefield, for God’s sake.”
Biden’s right. It is just sick, and we do have to act. He’s also right when he says: “Don’t tell me we can’t have an impact on this carnage.” Of course, we can. But doing so requires three things.
First. There are a lot of important issues out there. Abortion rights and climate change, to mention just two of them. But we have to make sensible gun safety measures to protect our kids our number one priority. If we won’t do everything possible to protect kids in the classroom, who are we? What could be more important?
Two. As Biden said, we have to reject the notion spread by too many pundits and too many Democrats that we can’t do anything about it: an idea mocked by the satirical headline in the Onion: “No Way to Prevent
This,” Says The Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.” Of course, we can take on the gun manufacturers. Of course, we can beat the NRA. If New Zealand, Australia, Japan, the UK and almost every other civilized country can control access to assault weapons, so can we. We’re Americans!
At the same time, we have to reject those lame excuses, repeated over and over again, for doing nothing. No, it’s not a “mental health” problem, it’s a problem of too many guns. No, the Second Amendment does not give anybody the right to purchase as many assault weapons as they want. No, liberals are not interested in taking away all guns. No, the NRA is not all-powerful. And the worst excuse of all: No, Democrats are not just trying to “politicize” the issue, they’re trying to save our kids and grandkids from being murdered in their classrooms.
Third thing we have to do: Identify every one of those politicians responsible for making it easier to buy and carry lethal weapons — governors, state legislators, and Members of the House and Senate — and do everything we can to throw them out of office. These people are no longer political “opponents,” they are political “enemies.” Enemies of the people. Enemies of our kids. And enemies of 19 little kids murdered in their fourth-grade classroom, two days before the end of the school year.
Granted, that list is long. But we can’t let them get away with murder any longer. At the top of my enemies list are: Mitch McConnell, who invokes the filibuster to block any debate on gun control in the Senate; Ted Cruz, who offered his thoughts and prayers for victims of an “unspeakable crime,” yet opposes every gun control bill; Gov. Greg Abbott, who lamented a “horrible crime,” after urging Texans to buy more guns; Rep. Tony Gonzales, congressman from Uvalde, who regretted the “pain in our community,” but last year tweeted: “I am a proud supporter of the 2nd Amendment and will do everything I can to oppose gun grabs from the far Left.”
And let me add: Joe Manchin, who refuses to change the filibuster because, he says, it’s the only thing that “protects us from total insanity” — when “total insanity” is the fact that it’s easier to buy an assault weapon in America today than baby formula.
We’ve seen this sequence too many times: Horror. Thoughts and prayers. And then nothing happens. Until the next mass shooting. This time must be different. But it’s up to us. To get angry. Organize. Knock on doors. Give money. Vote. Get rid of them all. The life of every one of those angels killed in Texas is worth more than one more term for any politician.