Like millions of people around the world, I have been deeply impressed and moved by the passionate conviction with which young people, spearheaded by the survivors of the horrific shootings in Parkland, Florida, are organizing and demonstrating to bring some sanity to the gun laws of the United States. Their biggest obstacle, of course, are the politicians bought and paid for by the NRA.
Today's Star has a flurry of letters about the national obsession that has resulted in far too many unnecessary deaths. To my mind, the best suggestion for remediation comes from Scott Heaslip, of Stouffville, who writes:
I have a suggestion for the young people concerned that their elected officials refuse to support effective gun control measures. They should crowd source a fund to hire a team of lawyers and private investigators to look into the backgrounds and business activities of those elected officials who are more interested in the continued support of the National Rifle Association than protecting the lives of their fellow citizens. These officials may then develop the backbone to do the right thing.That is the kind of campaign many, many people, I'm certain, would be happy to get behind.
Let this be the long-awaited seed around which a much larger youth movement coalesces. Something more dynamic and persistent than the Occupy movement. Something more focused, intent on throwing aside this rancid order that has beset their nation. Their generation and those that follow it have been swindled, cheated. They've been handed the shit end of the neoliberal stick whether it's the corruption of their democracy, rampaging inequality, the collapse of social mobility, the shredding of any vestige of social safety net by a debt and deficit indifferent government, climate change and more. They're going to inherit a society, a world order, that is largely a spent and hollowed vessel, negatives substituted for what ought to have been pluses. Why should they tolerate a future of some sort of quasi-feudalism? There are a number of malignancies to confront and they must reject them all. They'll need courage and persistence and vision to keep this going. I so hope they can find that strength.
ReplyDeleteThe thoughts and hopes of all right-thinking individuals surely accompany these young people, Mound. May their momentum grow and be sustained.
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