Dear Friends,
It seems to me, if exploiting a tragedy for crass political gain is acceptable, it is acceptable for all political factions, if it is not, it is unacceptable for any political faction to do it. Tragic events such as the Boston marathon bombing or the Sandy Hook shooting stun the public’s psyche and cause people to reassess the meaning of evil and good. We struggle for answers, why would a person do such horrific things to innocents. We examine our own security situation, and in our heightened emotional state, we are more susceptible to making snap decisions. This is why tragedy is so often exploited by political operatives to pass legislation that otherwise couldn’t be passed. Tragedy, is a means to move society from a place of liberty to a place of security. But, that security comes at the price of liberty, and as anyone with a real education, (admittedly uncommon today due to the State monopoly school system), knows Ben Franklin’s old adage, “Those who would trade liberty for security will get neither.”
Today we live insulated lives. We go about our day secure in the knowledge that it is very unlikely that we will experience violence. The news shows us that violence still exists in our society however, they expound unendingly, on every robbery and shooting, making us afraid of our fellow man, while ignoring the far worse examples of State violence, then politicians exploit that violence. All to shock us into acting against our own interests. When we see random acts of violence perpetrated on innocents, our glass world of security is shattered, and the reality that violence can be visited on anyone at any time, intrudes on our personal universe of safety. This quakes the ground of our reality under our feet, making us more open to innovations, even if they wouldn’t help, at least we are doing something. That something, always makes us more susceptible to State violence, even as it has no effect on personal safety, or maybe even makes it worse… ensuring the next tragedy to be exploited is close at hand.
Politicians know this and use this attribute of human nature to get laws and regulation passed that otherwise would be dead on arrival. When Rahm Emanuel famously said, “Never let a crisis go to waste,” he was explicitly referring to this aspect of human nature. Crisis and violence gives the political elite a means to do what they want outside the normal deliberative course of the political process. This saying shows that not only that tragedy can be exploited, but that it will be exploited, for crass political gain… at least in the circles Rahm Emanuel travels in. This is a strong incentive to politicians to exploit tragedy, and even to make sure that the next tragedy is never far away, so as to provide the means to forward the next step in their agenda.
Obama and those that seek to undermine the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution have exploited the Sandy Hook shootings to the utmost. Obama parades the victim’s parents, (those that agree with him), in front of the American public constantly. Using spurious logic, he equates being against this or that attempt to undermine the Bill of Rights, as tantamount to favoring more massacres at schools. This is nakedly exploiting that tragic event to political advantage. Obama and the unbiased media make sure the parents that disagree with them, never have their opinion told to the public however, because it undermines Obama’s argument.
Now, the very people that have so expertly exploited tragedies in the past, are telling us that the Boston Marathon Bombings have no relevance to such debates as, immigration reform, gun control or the need to profile. In this, those that exploit tragedy for crass political gain always call profiling, Islamophobia, they claim illegal immigration, and all the associated crimes that go along with it, should be forgiven, and guns must to be taken from law abiding citizens. The political and media elite, keep us ignorant of the fact that human history shows, unequivocally, a person is far more likely to be the victim of State violence, than crime. Their sophistry is as thick as it is illustrative of their intentions… to undermine Constitutional rule, replacing it with arbitrary rule by the political elite… for the political elite. This subjects us to the horrors of State violence, supposedly, to protect us from personal violence.
The incentive for the political elite, who seek Constitutional change outside the parameters the Constitution sets up, is to ensure that violence continues, to provide a source of tragedy they can exploit to their own ends. They will deplore the use of tragedy to point out the folly of their agenda while exploiting that tragedy themselves. Some would say this is simply politics… The smart politician using the tools at hand to promote their agenda, while denying those very tools to the other side. If that is so, then I have a question for you, when has good ever been promoted by evil? Moreover, don’t the means taint the ends? In the times we live in, it is up to us to decry the Machiavellian machinations of politicians that seek to fundamentally change America, from a Constitutionally limited republic to a socialist Hades… else we will get hell without limit.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
