Red Fish, Blue Fish

About 6 in 10 Americans accept the idea that “humans and other living things have evolved over time”; but as with so many other issues the answers to even this question have taken on partisan colors. According to a survey released by the Pew Research Center in the spring of 2013, 3 in 10 Americans say that “humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time”.

 

This division of American views was staying fairly constant until recently, but over the last few years the gap between Democrats and Republicans has widened. In 2009, a majority of Americans accepted the evolution side of the argument, with 64% of Democrats and 54% of Republicans agreeing that humans have evolved over time. However in this recent survey Democratic belief in evolution rose to about 67% while Republican support fell to about 43%. The previous 10-point gap between the parties has grown to a 24-point gulf.

 

What’s most interesting is that the growing partisan gap seems to reflect politics itself, rather than other factors. Although Republicans include a high percentage of evangelical Christians and Democrats attract many secular voters, religious differences don’t explain the gap between the two parties. Even when the Pew researchers factored out race, ethnicity, and a person’s level of religious commitment, partisan differences on evolution remained.

 

The differing views of Democrats and Republicans, even on this question about evolution, are part of a consistent pattern. People who identify themselves as Republican have become significantly more conservative on a range of issues in recent years, while people who identify themselves as Democrat have become somewhat more liberal.

 

As you’ve no doubt noticed, this trend of the two parties moving away from each other is negatively impacting the proper role of government and solving national problems is becoming an impossible task. The major obstacle to progress in America is that we're losing our ability to cooperate with one another. Republicans are saying, “We will never raise taxes”, while Democrats are saying, “We will never reduce benefits”. Actually they are not just saying it, both sides are now yelling it across the aisle and waving their arms at each other.

 

When it comes to American politics the pace of the gap is widening as well, like our universe both sides seem to be accelerating away from each other. According to the Pew Research Center poll, the ideological gap between the right and left is a chasm that separates most American voters (no surprise there). However, over the last 25 years common ground has eroded even on issues that once had strong support in both parties. It seems like everything, including the role of government, is becoming deeply partisan.

 

In this great divide I see old ghosts. In the town squares and cemeteries found in the Eastern part of this country, memorials to Union and Confederate soldiers are ubiquitous. In Boston Massachusetts, a towering column stands topped by a goddess of democracy. This memorial gives tribute to the soldiers who, as the inscription declares, “kept the Union whole, destroyed slavery, and maintained the Constitution.” In Charleston South Carolina, a similar goddess stands behind a muscular male figure carrying a sword and shield. This memorial is dedicated to, “the Confederate defenders of Charleston.”

 

These two statues, with their 180-degree difference in perspective, currently symbolize the state of our nation. One side is fighting for change and the authority of federal government, while the other side is fighting for liberty and limits on federal government. Once again, a century and a half after Americans slaughtered each other by the tens of thousands; a similar philosophical divide defines the American people.

 

No matter who wins in the next election, nearly half the electorate will feel the country has been stolen from them. It's no longer blue versus gray, or North versus South, it is blue states versus red states. Now it is Vermont and Massachusetts versus South Carolina and Kansas, San Francisco versus Birmingham, and Seattle versus Dallas. Regional differences are tolerable and charming and rivalries between sports teams are fun, but political differences are running so deep today that the people on the other side are beginning to look less like countrymen and more like the enemy.

 

Our politicians continue to behave like a bunch of arguing children on a runaway train, so focused on supporting their side and converting the other side that they don't see the danger outside their private railcars. They are unaware that the bridge ahead of them is gone. Unfortunately, We the People, trapped in the boxcars, are so distracted by our own red and blue ideologies that we can’t cooperate long enough to stop the train either.

 

This country is in deep trouble! As long as we allow reckless political behavior to be rewarded with re-election, politicians will always vote to protect their own jobs; regardless of what it will cost you and me. The time has come for us to insist that politicians never say “never”, and learn to cooperate again. We the People can't allow our politicians, or ourselves, to continue accelerating away from each other; because if we don't get our act together and behave as countrymen, this train accident and the blood shed it causes will be inevitable.

Christmas

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.

In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe, who is the refulgence of his glory, the very imprint of his being, and who sustains all things by his mighty word.

Newtown Remembered

I stand with the millions of people around the world in remembering the horrific shooting in the Newton Connecticut school one year ago today. I am saddened by the tragic loss of life, and by the struggle of those who survived. It was a terrible event, but I am also saddened by this nation's reaction to that event.

 

On this anniversary of the Sandyhook school shooting almost everyone is still making the same mistake, focusing their anger on the tool instead of the problem. When a deranged bomber kills people we blame the bomber, when a drunk driver kills people we blame the driver, but when a disturbed shooter kills people we blame the gun. Some go so far as to insist that a world with exactly zero guns in it would be a safer place, even though that’s never going to happen, and although it seems intuitive I seriously doubt that it’s true.

 

Those that support gun rights may or may not be off base about mental health being the primary cause, but everyone desperately needs to understand why kids are shooting kids. In any case, it’s almost a given that someone psychologically prepared to kill innocent people is suffering from some form of mental illness.

 

Nevertheless, I concur with the thoughts and analysis by Steven Pinkers and Chris Uggen who say, “A narrow focus on stopping mass shootings is less likely to produce beneficial changes than a broader-based effort to reduce homicide and other violence. These rare and terrible crimes are like rare and terrible diseases, and a strategy to address them is best considered within the context of more common and deadlier threats to population health.”

 

“We are compelled to pay attention to extreme events and we estimate risk with these vivid examples, but as much as we should try to prevent these horrific events from taking place we should not use them as the sole basis for making inferences that determine policy. The outliers are a tragic part of the overall story, but we must pay attention to the rest of the distribution.” Focusing on guns is not the answer; they’re just a tool, they are not the problem.

Thanksgiving

Every Thanksgiving just before we eat, each person at the table takes a turn to say what they're thankful for. This year I said I was thankful for my family and my church, and in solidarity with the rest of the nation I was thankful for my Second Amendment Rights.

As I said in my opening post, protecting our Second Amendment rights in particular and the Bill of Rights in general have become absolutely necessary if we are to remain a free and open society.

What About Tomorrow

Lessons From a Lamp Post: Why the numbers don't add up. Part 4 of 4

 

I am not a prepper, or a survivalist, or a doomsday bunker kind of guy but I am concerned about what I see happening in our country. I believe people are basically good, although not all of them and certainly not all the time. Like most citizens of our modern technological world I am wholly reliant upon a fragile web of services to meet my most basic needs. Now that Home Land Security has announced cyber war as the top most threat faced by America, have you considered what will happen if those services collapse? I am convinced that the answer is chaos. It’ll take a few days, but when people figure out that the power isn’t coming back on, and there is no water, and their store is out of food, and their car is out of gas, attitudes are going to change!

 

A simple example might be in relating to the recent natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita a few months later. Approximately 3.7 million people attempted to evacuate creating predictable results. The scene along the stalled evacuation route was like a segment from an apocalypse movie; crowds milling restlessly, gas stations and mini-marts picked clean and heaped with trash, and stranded families sleeping by the side of the road. After these hurricanes nobody had any illusions that help was on the way. So have you thought about what you will do if your power never comes back on, or your grocery store shelves are never restocked?

 

Regrettably, much of the gun violence after Katrina was racially-motivated demonstrating how bad and how quickly things can degrade into chaos. White vigilantes targeted Black people and four police men were convicted of shooting Blacks who were trying to walk to safety. Obviously guns in the hands of bad guys did not make the situation better, they made it worse. The New Orleans Police Superintendent’s suggestion to confiscate all firearms didn’t help either, even though it’s almost understandable given that he was under staffed because many of his officers had evacuated with the other victims.

 

I might be persuaded to accept the Superintendent’s plea that “no civilians be allowed to carry pistols, shotguns, or other firearms” if the police are willing and able to perform their duties. In any case this should never be extended to the right to protect one’s self in one’s home. Regardless, the Superintendent’s futile suggestion would not have worked anyway because the recalcitrant criminal will not be turning in his (or her) guns for the greater good.

 

Another example is the massive earthquake in Haiti a few years ago. An estimated 2.5 million people were displaced from their homes, and after big $$ the people are still living in temporary shelters. In fact I recently heard on NPR that it would have been more efficient if the United States had given every person $10,000.00 on which they could be living well, instead of wasting money on grand schemes that never reached the populace. Add to our threat of earthquakes, climate change, pandemic, meteor strike, terrorist attack, and now cyber war and it’s easy to see why I think we are woefully under prepared!

Think for Yourself

Gun Statistics

Lessons From a Lamp Post: Why the numbers don't add up. Part 3 of 4

 

Unlike Michael Moore's persuasive movie Columbine, data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice show a very weak correlation between gun-death and gun-laws, as does the Center for Disease Control which has kept data on gun-homicide despite resistance from firearm support groups. None of these studies have been able to establish a relationship of more guns equals more gun deaths. The real question is not about the number of firearm laws but whether the laws ultimately safeguard the citizens they are intended to protect.

 

Gun accidents are tragic and we tend to hear about them, but accidental gun death is relatively rare accounting for only 1.8% all gun deaths. “Undetermined” (0.7%) and “legal intervention/war” (1.0%) categories were even less likely. In the United States where “self-inflicted” death by gunshot is taken into account the thesis of more guns equals more gun deaths is supported more closely. Even though this correlation is astonishing it’s not surprising since such findings are intuitive. What is surprising is how high the gun-suicide rate actually is. As one of the “four major mechanisms of injury in 2009”, 59.8% of all “firearm injury deaths” were suicides and 36.7% were homicides. Suicide tops homicide by nearly two to one in gun-deaths.

 

So, as we enter further into the debate about firearm laws, we should keep in mind that whereas spectacular massacres with exotic weapons generate headlines, the larger numbers are composed of pensive individuals who give up fighting the forces they see arrayed against them and take the nearest exit. Unfortunately if firearms are outlawed the “nearest exit” will be something else, which is supported by countries with strict gun control laws that have higher suicide rates than those without gun control laws.

 

I would agree with the old adage that says we use statistics like a drunken person uses a lamp post, more for support than illumination. Despite the evidence, some of my friends remain convinced that the wide availability of firearms in this nation is a major factor in the rate of gun-related deaths, and they firmly believe that there is a need to reduce the number of guns. Unfortunately, this leads them to believe that removing firearms from law abiding citizens will reduce violence on the street. I believe that even if the number of guns could be reduced to zero which it can’t, crime isn’t going to go away. Guns don’t kill people and the problem isn’t the tool.