Hope is Lost

At 10:35 AM on July 22, 2012 at the age of 46 years six months and eight days I lost hope in our country and American society.  It was at that moment that I read an article on the Internet in which a Republican senator in the United States Senate made a claim that large capacity magazines for guns were a constitutional right.

With that statement I realized the politicians of this country and hence our society at large are incapable of solving large complex problems. If we cannot take a small step to ban gun clips that contain 30 or more bullets how will we ever tackle larger problems like our national debt, healthcare and global warming.

When there is no sense of compromise whatsoever on critical issues how can we ever advance and achieve any goals? In light of the current massacre here in Colorado no one is calling for outlawing guns or preventing people from buying guns. For whatever reason our country has accepted what so many other countries have not that guns are an integral part of our society. No one is arguing this point. However in light of this current shooting voices have been raised to stop the sale of gun components that make it easier for criminals to shoot guns for long periods of time without having to reload. Why is this such a drastic issue? Large capacity magazines or clips are made for one purpose – to kill people.

These gun components have no purpose in hunting or sport shooting. They exist for one purpose and one purpose only, to kill large numbers of people. And yet it is impossible to raise the possibility of banning these gun components without being seen as trying to take guns away from the masses.

What I cannot understand is that so many people support keeping these magazines legal. When has a law abiding citizen used these magazines to stop a massacre, to stop a theft or protect their home?  I really can't answer that question. However we know these clips have been used in three mass shootings in the last five years.  These large capacity clips were used in the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, the 2011 Norway massacre and in the most recent shooting at the Aurora movie theater.  And yet it is impossible to ban them.

Why? Why are some people so dedicated to maintaining the existence of such dangerous components in society at large. Furthermore if we can't solve a simple problem like this what hope do we ever have to solve extremely complex issues like global warming, our national debt and the health care crisis.

American society has become so torn by by groups that are willing to use inflammatory rhetoric to get their way. No one seems to be willing to look at things through an objective lens.  Politicians are more concerned with pandering to those small groups who were vocal in their election such as gun owners, radical religious groups, those who shout for political correctness and those who seek to deny science.

Literally there is no hope for us. Our society shall decay the same way many other societies have decayed in the past. Have we as the mightiest empire ever to exist in this world learned no lessons from the fall of Rome, the destruction of Byzantium and the decay of the Ottoman Empire?  Eventually we shall fall apart because we fail to see the destruction we are driving from within ourselves. We have failed to see reality, we have failed to understand the basic operation of our society and so our future is quite bleak.

Those are my thoughts this Sunday morning.  I will look for hope in other places. I will come to rely upon myself and only those who I know I can trust. I will not look forward to American society and our government ever to have my long term interests or goals in their agenda.

I hope everyone had had a good weekend.

Thanks and peace to all!