American Acceptionalism

For the last several years I have been wondering, why do they let us have guns?

The mere prospect of an Obama presidency in '08 brought about the premise that he would- most definitely- confiscate guns. Actually, I believe they had said that about Clinton too and that didn't happen then either. The Second Amendment prohibits gun confiscation, not in so many words, mind you, but when has the 2A not been in interpreted in so many more words than the original sentence? There are people who believe the 2A allows for a violent take-over of the government if  you think they've over-stepped their boundaries and or "...gotten too big for their britches..." Here is the actual wording:

"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." 

That's all they wrote. The 2A as evolved into a marketing tool and democrat presidents are the unpaid spokespersons for confiscation and banning, no matter what they do or don't do. Obama has done nothing to infringe the sale or possession of guns. Sure, he still might but, the sign outside of at least one bar in every state in the country might actually honor the promise of "FREE BEER TOMORROW!"  Such an unfullfillable promise is essentially the main marketing tool of the NRA, which is the Marketing Department of the GOP. Crime and mass shootings also help. Obviously these things strike fear in people and the media- especially Foxzi News- fans the flames of that fear because that keeps people watching. To my knowledge Remington and Smith and Wesson don't actually advertise on Foxzi News. They don't have to. The fear and loathing of America is promoted by the hosts and guests of the shows.

But, talk to your family, neighbors and friends. Aside from crazy uncle Ned (who was already a gun nut) has anyone you know gone out and bought a arsenal due to the fear of a gun ban or ISIL? No one I know has. I wonder if they should though?

We are not on a good track here in America. There is an element that wants to control every facet of our lives. It's the corporations, my friends. We should be more terrified of them than ISIL/ISIL. Though corporate profits continue to soar, The Foxzi Party (GOP) openly speaks of not only not raising the minimum wage but, eliminating it. Why? Well, it's a global economy now and to compete with China, we need to bring wages down to their level. And, those of us inoculated with the needle of  American exceptionalism accept this because it will happen to them rather than US. No one hates Americans more than other Americans already on the sunny side of the street.

It is very well documented that it is impossible to live on $7.25 an hour. A single person scrapes by at that rate and they can forget about owning a home or paying rent on an apartment even. You can't raise a family on that and those who do, have to do it with several part-time jobs at that rate. So, take that away- and take welfare and medicade away- and how do you expect a person to do better with far less? The only free market these corporations believe in is wages and they obviously want to have it their way too.

The people who put the "me" in America do not care about the "u" in US. There's no reason for them to not make US the third-world labor source. It's fiscally conservative, I suppose. I know what you're thinking: "Well, who is going to buy the crap that they don't need?" Did I mention that it's a global economy? Really, when wages go that far south, where would their sales be anyway? You and I think that, the more poor people make the more they spend and that that should bode well for sales but, I've never been to The Wharton Business School and daddy didn't ever say to me: "Here's a fortune, son, don't lose it." So, what do we know?

What happens when the least among us have the most taken away? It's what happens (inevitably) everywhere that people have been abused: Revolution. Too little too late as it usually goes and never pretty, and rarely with a good outcome. How can Americans possibly allow this to happen? How could you want to live in a country that would treat it's own citizens as chattel?

Well, you already do and we always have. Don't kid yourself. Black people in this country were not given Civil Rights in the 60's. Instead, white people were told that they had to acknowledge that blacks had the same rights.That is what Civil Rights was all about. Blacks were free and citizens since the Civil War. They knew it. Many white people did not. Many white people still do not. Some want to take that back.

Which brings us back to guns and, most importantly, who has them and how they might use them. Open carry in Texas is all about intimidation. Jack-leg militias 'patrolling' the border there and in the rest of the southwest is about that plus immigration enforcement. The whole silly-but-scary debacle with Cliven Bundy was an extension of all of the above. These assholes will be the ones that take their guns to the streets when corporations pull the rug out from us. The stupid fuckers will still be thinking they are fighting and killing for the American way of life. They will be told that they are. They'll easily believe it. They've been well-prepped.

There won't be a Hitler that changes this country. We don't operate that way. Instead we put it in people's minds that affordable healthcare was something Hitler did. And he took guns away from the Jews and look what happened... The German people did not choose Hitler to lead them. He seized power. And even then, though he had most certainly preached of "the Jewish problem", he did not advertise "The Final Solution." Your average German would not sign on for that. Neither would your average American. But, it isn't always what you sign on for in life. It's not even always in the fine print. It's what is implied. One thing leads to another. And then, perhaps chaos?

We had our American dream, folks. We exported it. Turns out, it was too expensive to sustain. The big money is in exports. Didn't we already know that?