Grass, Gas, or Ass

I remember this bumper sticker from the 70's. It seemed reasonable enough then, in the age of liberation, drugs, free love, and gas prices creeping ever closer to 50 cents a gallon. I was 15 or so. It was funny, cool, and just slightly naughty in a hip-sophisticated sort of way.

Now it's not so funny. Now, when I read public opinion overwhelmingly in support of background checks for prospective gun buyers and then see the measure fail in the Senate, I don't think it's funny. Whether you favor fewer regulations with respect to firearm ownership or more stringent regulations, it's almost beside the point. What we really need to accomplish is the removal of that sticker from the bumper of every car registered to every legislator in every state in the Union and Washington, D.C.

The influence of special interests has got to be unplugged from the wallets and war chests of every elected office holder, whether it's the NRA, dairy farmers, retired people, insurance companies, medical societies, or any other well-financed special interest. President Obama said, "So, all in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington." I would have to agree. In part because, even though there are a significant number of Americans who wish to fervently maintain their rights to bear almost any and all manner of arms, there are more, an unfunded vocal majority who were asking for action; an unfunded vocal majority who were asking for some type of reasonable intervention; an unfunded vocal majority who were asking for some type of regulatory concession in light of the fact that hundreds of children are killed, and thousands wounded, by hand guns every year in this country.

In larger part, however, it was shameful because a majority of United States senators chose to feign contemplation and consideration, to feign protection of individual rights, to offer some convoluted theory of protecting individual freedom in order to side-step public opinion and maintain the support of one of the most financially and politically powerful lobbies in the nation.

Shameful indeed. The United States Senate chose Wednesday to let it all hang out and prove beyond any reasonable doubt that we are, indeed, a government of the buyer, by the buyer, and for the buyer. As a result, I think at this point I am willing to overlook the failure to make any progress with gun control if we can somehow get a handle on the whorehouse that is U.S. politics. No gas. No grass. No ass. Just get the hell out of Washington, D.C.!