When we hear about the murder of first graders in Newtown, Conn., we are shocked and saddened. When we hear about the death and carnage caused by terrorists in Boston, we are shocked and saddened. When we hear about 30,000 deaths by guns in America, we think, “Can’t we do something to at least try to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them?” And when we, 90 percent of us, ask our government, our elected representatives in Congress, to pass laws that would extend background checks for gun sales, a measure that would in no way infringe on the Second Amendment, and would absolutely not confiscate the guns of any of us responsible gun owners and hunters, but would keep some criminals, some mentally unstable people, and terrorists from easily buying guns, we are told, “No, you can’t have that.” So we ask ourselves, “Wait a minute, aren’t we supposed to be a democracy?”

The answer is, yes, we are supposed to be a democracy. But we are not. We are ruled by the lobbyists, not by the will of the people. The lobbyists are the agents that represent only the interests of the 1 percent, the special interests, instead of the 90 percent. For the gun industry lobbyists, any law that might result in the loss of even one gun sale must be opposed at any cost.

The same is true for all the other issues that we scratch our heads and say, why can’t we. Why can’t we control soaring health care costs, why can’t we end the substantial subsidies to the oil industry, why can’t we do anything to improve our nation. The answer is, the lobbyists who use money and fear to call all the shots in congress. The question we should be asking ourselves now is, “What can we do about it?”

One thing we can do is we can vote. And we can help support candidates who run against those who vote with the special interests rather than the best interests of their constituents and the good of our country.

 

Neil Opstad
Albert Lea