If one’s first IMPULSE after seeing black NFL football players kneel in protest is MORAL OUTRAGE and one’s first response is to take ACTION by boycotting the NFL because these “spoiled, affluent, disrespectful” athletes dare to use their platform to express their pain and show “disrespect for our flag”
BUT . . .
after SEEING teenagers running for their lives with their hands in the air and then HEARING that 15 kids and 2 teachers were slaughtered by a young, very disturbed man brandishing an AR-15 military style weapon and one’s first IMPULSE is NOT moral outrage over the easy access and availability of these weapons but DEFENSIVE POSTURING and FINGER POINTING to point the blame to everything and everyone else but the fact that every mass shooter uses this type of weapon . . .
AND . . .
then one’s first response is to take ACTION by going out and buying every gun one can afford because of FEAR that one’s very own beloved United States of America government . . .that country we so LOVE . . .that very same one represented by that very same flag we so revere that it motivates one to boycott sports . . .so viscerally scared that THIS AMERICA is going to suddenly revolt and come after us and take away our second amendment rights and the military men who die for the right for us to defend ourselves are suddenly going to turn into apocalyptic mindless robots and break down the doors of our homes and confiscate our guns . . .
Then I agree!
We don’t just have a gun problem, we have a MENTAL ILLNESS problem.
If the voice of deep seeded FEAR and PARANOIA is always there to shout down the voice of REASON and COMMON SENSE . . .
Then I agree!
We have a CULTURE problem. We have those who propagate a culture of paranoia, who peddle in fear and conspiracy theories . . .FEAR of the media, the left-wing liberal’s evil agenda and the empirical and ever illusive “they” as spoken by Wayne LaPierre of the NRA . . .
“If they seize power … our American freedoms could be lost and our country will be changed forever,” he said. “The first to go will be the Second Amendment.”
Question: What is the cause of mass shootings in America?
A. It’s a Mental Illness problem
B. It’s a Culture of Violence problem
C. It’s an Easy Access to Automatic Weapons problem
D. ALL OF THE ABOVE
The answer of course is D. and until we ALL ARE WILLING to admit that it is complicated and begin to discuss it without pointing blame across the aisle . . .
sadly, we will continue to be first in the world in annual mass shootings. And that is definitely not winning.

We live in a time when LOGIC is easily suspended, FACTS (which aren’t convenient) are countered with alternative facts, the voice of REASON is shouted down when it doesn’t fit the narrative, OBJECTIVITY is rejected and INDEPENDENT thinking is now labeled “elitist”.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2TrXxSlvFo

Why? How did we get here? When did we become so INTOLERANT of a different point of view and the freedom and right to express it? Why such hatred, disdain and loathing for all things “not like me”?
It is because Americans have become TRIBAL.
TRIBALISM is winning and definitely not making anything “great again” other than the spirit that fuels it. It is driven by the extremists on both sides of the fence and demands you take sides. And when allegiance to a tribe is revered above all – our capacity to listen to one another with an open honest mind and heart is greatly diminished.
There is no middle ground, no compromise, no ability to serve the greater good with the higher goal of uplifting all of humanity.
Tribalism demands loyalty, blind trust, complete and utter adherence to whatever the tribe declares the truth to be. If you dare to STAND up for what you believe in, even if you have been a loyal, lifelong, faithful member of the tribe – you are at risk of being labeled a traitor to the cause. You are the enemy and must be excommunicated.
Where are the REASONABLE minds that MUST prevail? Where is the love your neighbor as yourself mentality? Where is the “judge not lest ye be judged” idealism? Where is “America the Beautiful” inspiration? Where is the “ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country” spirit of patriotism?
Finally, where is common DECENCY?
If democracy is going to survive, we are going to have to find it again and place more VALUE on the beauty of our UNION than the DEVOTION to our chosen tribe.
LOVE must win again. HOPE must prevail. LIGHT must overcome the darkness. And all of it begins with me and you.