Category Archives: Politics

Paranoia Runs Deep

Continuing with my “Grown Men Playing Dungeons and Dragons” theme, there is another strange psychology at play here in the United States.  That is the belief of just about every group, no matter how large, that they are an oppressed minority.

Many Christians think they are an oppressed minority.  Here’s future Senator of South Carolina Tim Scott talking about how Christians are the most oppressed group in the country:

 

I have news for you, Christians who think you are being oppressed, being prevented from pushing your views onto others through government is not oppression.  Yes, you’ve gotten away with it for many years without much blowback.  That’s normal when a vast majority controls just about everything.  What you’re seeing is not you being oppressed.  It’s minorities finally sticking up for their rights to not be bullied through government.  You are simply finally not being allowed to get away with things that have been always been unconstitutional.  You still control every branch of government in every state.  You still outnumber every other religious denomination by a very large margin.  So quit acting like the spoiled kid that always got his way until someone finally confronted him about his behavior.

The next vastly oppressed minority is men.  That’s right, men.  Who are we being oppressed by?  Women, apparently.  Not just any women, though.  Feminists!  I won’t link to any of the websites, but look up Men’s Rights Activists if you’re interested in mucking through some real slime.  Seriously, it’s some of the most vile crap you will find on the interwebs.  On the plus side, their web sites make for great logical fallacy bingo games.

Another incredibly oppressed minority in the United States is white men.  I know this because Mitt Romney lost the presidential election:

 

Poor white men.  They only control 82% of the Senate and a similar amount in the House while only representing 33% of the population.  It’s so difficult to be a white male these days!

All of the above scenarios are really about not recognizing privilege.  Christians have it.  Males are up to their heads in it.  White males are swimming in an ocean of it.  The oppression these groups feel is merely their privilege taken away from them.  Slowly, but surely, the level of privilege in this country is being evened.  We have a long way to go, but like the wind eroding a mountain, our progress can not be stopped.

Grown Men Playing Dungeons And Dragons

Everyone wants to save the damsel in distress.  Everyone wants to slay the dragon.  Everyone wants to be the one to save the world from a great evil.  This desire can be seen in our movies.  It can be seen in our books.  And it can be seen in our gun culture.

I have a gun in my house so I can protect my family.  I carry a gun with me to protect myself from killers.  I will be able to use this gun to stop that mall shooter.  These are all the thoughts of an individual living out a Dungeons and Dragons fantasy.  Every single one of those scenarios only has a slightly greater chance of happening than you having the opportunity to slay a dragon.

That stranger in your house is not there to kill you.  That person robbing you on the street does not want to kill you.  You will never see a mall shooter.  Statistically speaking, those statements are all true.  If you confront and kill a burglar, chances are you’re killing someone who had no intention of killing you.  If you confront and kill a mugger, chances are you’re killing someone who had no intention of killing you.  You will never see a mall shooter.

It isn’t that you shouldn’t have these fantasies.  They are good fantasies to have.  I have them too.  It’s fun to imagine saving the day, protecting your family, routing evil.  But please, for the love of all that is good in this world, please recognize them for what they are.  And that’s fantasies!  Using these scenarios to justify owning a gun just shows you as a person who can’t escape from their fantasies.  And that makes you much more dangerous than the pretend person who is going to kill you.

What Part Of “Well Regulated” Don’t We Understand?

The 2nd Amendment is one sentence long.  One measly sentence.  Yet it causes so much conflict between people who want guns and people who don’t want people to have guns.  Let’s review:

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.

Everyone seems to focus on the second part of the sentence while conveniently ignoring the first.  These are not two distinct ideas, but one entwined within the other.  Yes, the right to keep and bear arms should not be infringed.  Yes, there is no limitation as to what defines an “arm”.  But all this is only relevant in the context of a well regulated militia.

If you want to keep and bear arms, you must belong to a well regulated militia in your state.  That militia can say who gets to keep and bear arms.  That militia can say what kind of arms you are allowed to keep and bear.    That militia is set up by the state.  The state can decide who keeps and bears arms.  The only limit that I can see is that the state must allow some class of citizen to keep and bear arms.  We normally call that class of citizens police officers.

Disagree with me?  Ok, do you think people who have already killed should be able to own a gun?  By your interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, shouldn’t they be able to?  What about that schizophrenic?  Should he be able to own a gun?  Given the 2nd Amendment, why not?

Now, I’m not saying that only police officers should be able to carry guns.  Far from it.  What I am saying, though, is that it is the state’s right to decide for themselves who gets to own a gun.  If a state decides that only police should own a gun, fine.  If a state decides that individuals should be able to own tanks, fine.  If a state decides that individuals should be able to own tactical nuclear weapons, fine.

I believe that individuals should be able to own whatever the heck kind of arm they want.  But they should be well regulated.  Psychological tests should be mandatory.  Regular, state approved, safety classes should be mandatory.  Regular, state approved, proficiency exams should be mandatory.  Permits should be issued for each arm only after a safety and proficiency exam is passed.  Insurance to cover potential damages should be mandatory.

We’ve lost our way on the 2nd Amendment.  Regulation of arms is necessary and proper for the functioning of a free state.  That regulation should be decided by the state, though, and not the federal government.

No, The Government Shouldn’t Legislate Morality

A gay student at Princeton University recently asked Justice Antonin Scalia to defend his comments  in the brief for Lawrence v. Texas which made sodomy laws illegal.  In his dissent in the case, Scalia compared laws against sodomy to laws against bestiality.

Scalia’s point, he claims, is that governments have an obligation to legislate morality, otherwise they also don’t have a right to have laws against murder.  This is absolute preposterous thinking.  Sure, it’s easy enough to think of murder as morally wrong, but we’re not legislating the morality of the action.  We legislate the act of taking away someone else’s right to live.  Any law that is worth a damn isn’t about defining an act as moral or immoral.  It is about preventing one individual from infringing on the rights of another individual.

If two or more people freely choose to perform acts on each other, we have no business enacting laws restricting those acts whatever they may be.  If you think that act is immoral, you’re free to think so.  You can even pass judgement on them if you so choose.  What you should never be able to do is create a law that prevents those people from performing said acts unless those acts can be substantially proven to infringe on the rights of someone who is unwilling.

And please note that being able to “freely choose” is a pretty high bar to set.  Bestiality laws exist because animals can not freely choose to participate.  (Side note, animals can’t freely choose to be killed either so it really should be legal to outlaw killing animals.)  Rape laws exist because one person did not consent to the act.  Murder laws exist because the person that was killed did not choose to die.  On the other hand, assisted suicide should be legal, but with high bars in place to prove that the individual is freely choosing to die.  And attempted suicides aren’t prosecuted as attempted murders because of that free choice.

So, Justice Scalia and all you other law makers who want to push your brand of “morality” on everyone through laws, back off.  You choose to live your life in a way that doesn’t infringe on my rights and I’ll continue to live my life in a way that doesn’t infringe on yours.

Illinois Stands Alone…For Now

A federal court ruled today that Illinois’ concealed weapon ban is unconstitutional.  I’m not sure what part of “well regulated” people don’t seem to understand about the second amendment, but whatever.

Talking to a friend, he mentioned that Illinois was the only state left that absolutely prohibited concealed carry weapons.  I was incredulous.  It turns out he is right.  There has been a slow, steady push for right-to-carry laws in all states since about 1989.  Check out this Wikipedia map.  What surprised me the most is that Texas didn’t have a right-to-carry law until 1995.  Texas!

This is one of those cases that is almost guaranteed to go all the way up to the Supreme Court, so it’s going to be a while before it actually gets overturned.  But with the makeup of the Supreme Court the way it is, it’s almost certain that Illinois will join its brethren in arms.

Tis The Season For Breaking Unions Fa La La La La La La La La

“Right to work” means that employees can’t be forced to join unions even if there is an organized union.  This has the effect of making unions pretty useless.  Right-to-work laws are basically union busting laws in the disguise of “individual freedom”.  It’s no surprise, then, that there is a very high correlation between strongly Republican states and right-to-work states.

This past year, though, there have been a spate of right-to-work laws passed in non-traditional Republican states.  Well, add the strongest union state in the country to the mix.  Michigan just passed their own right-to-work law.  If this keeps up, unions may cease to exist in the next decade.  Anti-union sentiment is strong even with Democrats; just look at Chicago mayor Rahm Emauel.

The sad thing is, everyone understands the anti-union sentiment.  Unions are often horrible.  They take needed money from hard working individuals and that money often seems to be spent filling the coffers of union officials who are all to often corrupt and don’t give much in return back to the workers.  In fact, the only thing that I can think of that is worse than unions is the companies that make unions necessary in the first place.

And that’s the big problem with anti-union sentiment; it’s so short sighted.  Yes, unions are often horrible, but they do serve a purpose that, at the microeconomic level, seems bad for employees, but at the macroeconomic level, provides huge benefits to all employees.  People are very poor long term planners so they tend to see only the microeconomic implication of decisions.  So, down with unions!

Say you are applying for a job at a company in a right-to-work state that currently has a union.  Here is how that job interview would go:

HR person: Do you plan to join the union?

Applicant: Yes.

HR person: Thank you for your time.

Now say you are a current non-union employee at a company in a right-to-work state that decided to join the union.  Here is how that conversation would go:

Employee:  I’d like to join the union.

HR person: You’re fired.

But keep reaching for the sky, America, soon you’ll be the freedomest of all freedomers.  And by “reaching for the sky”, I mean “digging that ditch”.

Department Of Very Bad Optics

Say you’re a business that is against abortion.  You want to advertise such to the world.  Pretty bad marketing idea if you want to keep customers, but more power to you.  What do you do, though, if you’re a dry cleaner who is against abortion?  Put your anti-abortion message on a coat hanger of course!

Wowey-wow-wow-wow.  Cluelessness, thy name is Springdale Dry Cleaners.

This reminds me of Something Positive’s debut comic.

More Things That Are Pissing Me Off Now

You all know of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), yes?  It basically prohibits discrimination against Americans with disabilities.  That’s the reason why businesses are required to have wheelchair ramps or elevators or marked parking spaces.  It made the country a much easier place for people with disabilities to live in.  Fairly simple, fairly effective, fairly bipartisan.

Sounds like a great model for the rest of the world to follow, yes?  Wouldn’t it be great if all places had wheelchair accessible entrances?  Well, the United Nations thinks so too.  That’s why they passed the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.  It’s a treaty that mirrors the ADA and asks all UN members to abide by it.  It’s not binding.  All it really does is ask very nicely as far as I can tell.  It’s basically saying, “Hey, world, let’s try to live by the Unite State’s example!”

I bet you can already guess where this is heading.  Well, former Republican Senator Bob Dole came out of the hospital in a wheelchair to urge the Senate to pass it.  What did Republican Senators do?  They voted against it.  Why?  Very good question.  As far as I can tell, it’s because they believe that everything the UN does is evil or we already have a law so why should we sign or they’re coming for our children or it’s part of the insidious UN takeover of our country or look it’s the Goodyear blimp!

And that’s more of what’s pissing me off now.

It’s About Time, Jesus, It’s About Time

Jesus has left the GOP:

After a long pause, Jesus added: “So, from here on out, anybody who says they’re speaking for me, or that they know I’d agree with them, is a fucking liar.”

Poor People Die Much Sooner Than Rich People

Life expectancy in the United States has been gradually increasing for decades now.  The average life expectancy is now up to 78.2 years.  There is a common misconception, however, that all have benefited from that increase equally.  This couldn’t be farther from the truth.  The lower half of the economic spectrum has a much lower life expectancy than the top half.

First, though, let me explain that 78.2 life expectancy number.  Every person born is expected to live to the ripe old age of 78.2.  Obviously, not everyone makes it.  That number takes into consideration babies that die at 1 month of age and managers that die of a heart attack at 50.  A lot of the rise in the life expectancy in the United States is really just a drop in the infant mortality rates and better health related outcomes.  This is as it should be, but it can cause confusion in people because your life expectancy at age 65 changes quite a bit from your life expectancy at birth.

Keep that explanation in mind when you read the Social Security Administration’s “Trends in Mortality” study.  There’s a lot of cool stuff in there, but we’re interested in tables 3 and 4.

Table 3 shows that a person in the lower half economic bracket born in 1912 was expected to live to 77 on average whereas one born in 1941 is expected to live to 80. That’s almost a 4% increase.  An upper half person born in 1912 was expected to live to 79 while one born in 1941 is expected to live to 86.  That’s almost a 9% increase.  So the lower half has experienced less than half the life expectancy increases of the upper half.

Table 4 shows the same data in a different way.  It shows how many years left a person has to live at various ages broken down by top and bottom half economic brackets as well as the difference in the number of years left between the two.

The full retirement age is already scheduled to raise to 67 in a few years.  There is lots of talk about raising it even further to solve minor problems that are easily fixable in other ways.  This is an incredibly bad idea.  If it happens, we may actually see the life expectancy of the lower economic half of the population drop as people work themselves to death.