Davos coming around again reminded me of this powerful speechā¦
Well it is high time that we had some politicians who stopped worrying about votes, and their own re-election, and started telling the people the truth in all its often unpleasant detail.
At the same time and two years into a Democrat presidency another school shooting yesterday leaves 21 children and adults dead. I love the US and have met some fantastic people every time Iāve been but the country is screwed up on so many levels and Iām sorry to say that it is going to take more than a speech from a minor politician (good though it was) to affect real change.
The 27th such school incident this year, beggars belief, and the Texas Attorney General thinks the answer is even more guns, for teachers.
It is truly sickening.
Thereās plenty of academic research - much of it US-based - looking at votersā priorities and those of corporate lobbyists. The overwhelming conclusion is that - you guessed it! - the legislation that finds itās way onto the statute books generally corresponds to big business priorities, not those of voters - even when these are directly opposed. It is this power of corporate lobbying and propagandising that is behind the US failure to take the steps to control guns that are so obviously needed.
The constitutional argument - the so-called āright to carry armsā - incidentally, is nonsense. All rights are subject to regulation. There is nothing in the US constitution specifying automatic or any other particular form of āarmsā - it was written at a time all guns were single-shot - there is no constitutional issue preventing more gun control (although of course the constitution needs changing too - in many respects).
You identify the problem in your post - the corporates are too powerful and the NRA is a powerful lobbying body.
America is so broken, and the sad thing is they canāt see it - not even Democrats, maybe Saunders does but he is a lone voice.
The UK is going the same way
All I can hope is that France holds out until I retire.
The huge irony is that many within the pro gun lobby are also part of the āpro lifeā movement so whilst they campaign to end legal abortion they also want continued unfettered access to weapons that bring a rapid end to life.
Whatever they are Iām not sure āpro lifeā is the right label.
Pro forcing women to carry all pregnancies whatever the cost and without doing anything to improve the chances that the babies produced can be cared for is probably more accurate but rather less catchy tag.
The insanity extends even to situations which threaten the motherās life such as ectopic pregnancy and mothers have been convicted of manslaughter following miscarriage.
American society is just utterly broken.
I read an account some time ago - must look it out - of how the political right in the US manufactured the whole āpro-lifeā issue - eerily like the brexit issue in the UK.
Abortion in the US was very low in most peopleās priorities (as was Europe in the UK). US extreme right political groups saw the potential to politicise evangelical christians, and actively sought to create an issue which could ātrickā them into activism. Needless to say, as with brexit, for these extremists banning abortion is not the end in itself - just one means to other political ends.
When that right was enshrined they would have been using muskets, not the lethal weapons it seems that anyone can buy nowadays.
Is it too difficult for them to understand that?
I hate labels but they stick and find their way into mainstream use (woke, Brexiteer, gammon, Remoaner etc) and anti-abortion supporters refer to their campaign as āpro-lifeā.
Theyāre also usually Christian and in favour of the death penalty.
I played in a Christian Football League in the UK and some of the players were by far the dirtiest I had encountered in 25 years of senior football. Before the game both teams stand around the centre circle, hold hands and say a pray, once the whistle goes though itās carnage. 
Iām intrigued as to why Christians might choose/prefer to only play against other Christians (although given the history of Christian schism, maybe thatās not too surprising).
Also are the rules of Christian football the same as for secular versions of the beautiful game, and is God the final arbiter instead of VAR? 
Whatās that?
I read that too Geof. They actually had no interest in abortion, it was just a useful battlefield.
No, the average American understands very well how the type of firearm has evolved since the Constitution was written.
However, they also understand that the manufacture, distribution, sale, and lawful use of firearms is a multi billion dollar industry, and that implementing the controls which are clearly necessary would result in many people becoming unemployed, and many shareholders losing money. So once again, the worship of the mighty greenback rules the roost.
Too true Robert, and itās US corporate greed that has created the Chinese Frankenstein monster as well.
Part of the problem is that in the USA there is actually a law that requires the Board of Directors of a company to maximise profits in any way possible. If they decline to do so, for example on moral or ecological grounds, then they can actually be sued for damages by the shareholders.
At the end of the day it is not so much US corporate greed, but rather shareholder greed that creates a number of problems. It is only when shareholders can be shamed into changing their attitude that anything much will change.
It is time to call these people out. Perhaps time for everyone with private pensions, or investments in stocks and shares, to actually take an interest in HOW their money is being invested. Time to stop turning a blind eye, and to make sure that one is not actually profiting from the manufacture of landmines or assault rifles.