Don’t Give Up on Gun Control or America
But the religious component is too much of a stumbling block for her and she’s particularly hung up on the cliches that are used in AA.
Her trouble is that ‘But For the Grace of God’ is a subjunctive, a counterfactual, she says, and can make sense only when introducing a conditional clause, like e.g. ‘But For the Grace of God I would have died on Molly Notkin’s bathroom floor,’ so that an indicative transposition like ‘I’m here but But For the Grace of God’ is she says, literally senseless, and regardless of whether she hears it or not it’s meaningless, and that the foamy enthusiasm with which these folks can say what in fact means nothing at all makes her want to put her head in the Radarange at the thought that Substances have brought her to the sort of pass where this is the sort of language she has to have Blind Faith in.
Now, if it isn’t clear how this discussion of A.A. applies to our politics, I can understand that. It really applies to our attitude towards a politics of gridlock and disregard for reason. It applies to any situation where you discover that things absolutely need to change but you find yourself totally incapable of changing them. The addict who can’t kick often becomes consumed with self-loathing and they disguise this with feigned apathy, dark humor, and lame self-justifications for their helplessness. That way lies death.
When it comes to guns, we’re a nation of addicts. Like addicts, we have two voices in our heads. One sees the problem and considers it as urgent that something change. The other voice will go to any length to rationalize the status quo so it can continue its self-destructive behavior. The addict voice is winning.
Addiction combined with violence is often rooted in a psychiatric disorder. The deadly cocktail of poor mental health care – thanking astrology, Nancy and Ronald – and the second amendment of the U.S. Constitution cannot be solved by weapons addict treatment or prayer to the Almighty. God never said just sit back and your problem will be solved. Congressional gridlock is the cause of much pain in the U.S. and where our military are dispatched on bogus intelligence.
The Chaplain, the Reverend Patrick J. Conroy, offered the following prayer:
Loving God, we give You thanks for giving us another day. We also give You thanks that You have given to us the goals of justice and the designs of freedom and that these are our heritage as Americans.
Bless the Members of the people’s House with the understanding that it is their work to develop the strategies and the plans for achieving those goals and the trust to know that Your spirit is with them in their work.
Grace this assembly with the resolve to be faithful in its tasks, responsible in its actions, and fervent in its desire to serve a nation which so many hope will live beyond the current difficulties into an ever greater realization of both justice and freedom.
May all that is done today be for Your greater honor and glory. Amen.…
This serves as a sad example of just the impact on the South Carolina Guard members. Senate Democrats need to stop holding military funding hostage.
In conclusion, God bless our troops, and we will never forget September the 11th in the global war on terrorism.
○ U.S. Among Most Depressed Countries in the World
In my high school years in St. Louis, it was compulsory to read some books about Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. Although I am a religious person, I recall in his theory about the classes, religion was called the opiate of the people. Besides religion, US foreign adventures with CIA support introduced plenty more drugs into our nation. Thinking specifically about the Vietnam War and the military intervention of right-wing death squads in Central and South America.
Furher reading, right-wing abuse of Abraham Lincoln‘s “all men are created equal” …
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