AMERICA THE CRAVEN

I find it unutterably shameful that the United States Senate could not bring itself to vote in favor of the most minimal of restrictions on the purchase of guns in this country, whether by known criminals or the criminally insane.  The bone-headed timidity of these people, whose duty is to represent the interests of the American people, is no less than staggering.  They step up to the microphones to make pompous and absurdly specious arguments in the attempt to rationalize what is no more than a capitulation to the National Rifle Association, the gun industry, and that very small handful of fanatics whose devotion to the Second Amendment exceeds the bounds of reason.  They manage this feat of craven capitulation despite the wishes of the vast majority--some ninety percent, in the case of background checks--of their fellow citizens, whom they claim to represent.

Shame on them.  Shame on us, for repeatedly electing these moral cowards to office.  Ellie wonders, as she reads the New York Times this morning, why there are no mass demonstrations on the streets, protesting the inability of our political class to stand up to ignorance manipulated by crass, transparent commercial interest.  Whatever happened to the great American experiment in democracy?  Are we prepared, now, to sacrifice it on the altar of the almighty dollar?  It seems so.  I am both angry, and infinitely sad today, for what we have allowed ourselves to become; and for the leadership that we have allowed to represent us.  I keep hearing platitudes about how great this country is, how strong and caring we are as a people, and how we lead the world with our enlightened political system.  If these are the truths we so loudly proclaim about ourselves, is it not past time, now, that we live up to them?