Friday, January 04, 2013
Guns And Hypocrisy
As the kids at Sandy Hook Elementary School resume classes, we are once again reminded of the tragedy these kids and their parents will, to some degree, carry through the rest of their lives.
Our prayers are with the kids who will face emotions and memories most of us will never face and the parents who will endure loss and fears most of us will never endure.
It is clear we must address the issue of growing violence in our culture.
The looming question is what is the root cause? And how can we best address it?
Unfortunately, the Obama administration and his allies in the news media and the entertainment industry see this, it appears, as more of an "opportunity" to advance an ideology, than one to have an open honest discussion about the root cause of the violence. Relative values and secular progressivism excludes any consideration that the problem may have a spiritual component.
I have been stunned by the disingenuousness and hypocrisy of those tasked with finding a solution to the problem. And that of the President as well.
Let me be clear, I am not advocating that everyone should have a closet full of military assault rifles. I am, however, a strong advocate of the Second Amendment. And our God given freedoms in general.
Some things every American should know about:
Most people who care about such things, understand that the far left secular progressives have a deep commitment to purging the land of guns. And history shows that secular progressives always do this when given the opportunity.
And therein is the hypocrisy.
President Obama is a banner carrier for the far left secular progressive ideology.
Yet in an unguarded moment, he told Barbara Walters in a taped interview for ABC's Night Line, "...we joke sometimes about how Malia's getting to the age now, and boys start calling and, you know, sort of, I always talk about how one of the main incentives for running again was continuing Secret Service protection to have men with guns around at all times..."
Men with guns around at all times?
Gary, it was said in jest.
But he said he always talks about it.
Evidently he really knows, in his heart, that having "men around with guns" creates a more safe environment.
The interview was taped before the Sandy Hook shooting and that comment was edited out of the interview before it aired on December 26.
Appropriate?
Perhaps. But also convenient. He seems to want one thing when it comes to the safety of his own family and something very different regarding the safety of other people's families.
More hypocrisy.
While the President and the news media mocked and trashed the NRA suggestion that arming certain people in public schools could help create a safer environment for kids, they themselves send their kids to schools where there are, you guessed it, armed guards.
The President, a number of news media people, including NBC's David Gregory who has been very outspoken with his opposition to armed guards at schools, and a good number of the members of Congress send their children to Sidwell Friends School in Washington DC.
Sidwell has, on average, 11 armed guards on duty at all times.
My point is not about armed guards in schools, but about the hypocrisy of the elites.
There's more.
Rahm Emanuel, former Chief of Staff for President Obama, close personal friend and now mayor of Chicago, publicly blasted the NRA when they made their suggestion. However, Rahm sends his kids to The University of Chicago Laboratory School, where, you guessed it again, an armed guard is on duty at all times.
As you know the President has created a committee, headed by VP Biden, to come up with a solution, or at least some specific steps toward a solution to violence by the end of this month.
Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, is on the committee. He told an audience in DC a couple of weeks ago that Americans' "common values...go far beyond" the Constitutional right to bear arms.
Obviously this is a philosophical starting point for the group who will come up with a solution. The outcome is predetermined.
While they will not try to ban guns entirely this time around, they will most certainly work to advance the erosion of The Second Amendment. And they will use the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary to justify their actions.
The resolve to ban guns runs very deep in the secular progressive movement.
Natural News, an organization I know nothing about, posted a quote by Mohandas Gandhi on their Facebook page. Here's the quote from Gandhi's own autobiography: "Among the many misdeeds of British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest" (page 446).
Facebook removed the post and gave Natural News a "final warning" that one more violation of "community guidelines" would result in their being permanently deactivated.
And have you seen the video of Hollywood celebrities demanding gun control? It has been airing in many television markets this past week.
Well, now someone has taken their words condemning guns because they cause violence and edited in scenes from movies and TV shows where these very celebrities are using guns to kill people.
This is the video.
I believe the effort by secular progressives to ban guns is more about advancing their agenda than empathy.
I also believe their words and actions are the highest form of hypocrisy. And another expression of disdain for the Constitution.
This is another piece in the mosaic of what President Obama has called the "remaking of America."
Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Prayerful. Be Active. Be Blessed.