Call For Sanity

Every time there is a high profile gun-related crime, there are renewed calls for increased gun control.  Some even suggest that the 2nd Amendment should be abolished, or at least modified, to allow for greater regulation. So, I think we should look at whether the intent behind the 2nd Amendment is still relevant today. Let's start with the actual text of the law: A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. What does this mean? A well-regulated Militia What is a "well-regulated Militia"?  How much regulation is intended, and what, exactly, was intended by the term "militia"? Militia in the eyes of the people in September of 1789, when the Bill of Rights was sent to the states for ratification? Militia I have no problem quoting from Wikipedia, in this instance, as the article has several citations and is curated by passionate people on both s...

The hot topic of the day in the United States is the impeachment hearings in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the likely impeachment of President Trump.  On one hand you have Democrats and others saying the president has committed and impeachable offense by asking the Ukrainian government to investigate possible corruption related to Joe Biden's son.  On the other hand you have many Republicans and others saying nothing illegal happened, so there is nothing warranting impeachment. Let's start by looking at previous presidential impeachments. Presidential Impeachments Andrew Johnson After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his vice president, Andrew Johnson, became president.  Johnson was a Democrat, selected by Lincoln because he supported preserving the union and would help to unify a divided country. However, Johnson opposed Republican plans for reconstruction in the post-war South, and he vetoed leglislation granting rights to former slaves.  ...

The national debt is fast approaching $23 trillion, and there no longer seems to be a major political party determined to address that problem. How big is a trillion? We hear words like billion or trillion thrown around on the news like they are talking about a billion as pocket change and a trillion as the cost of a house. These numbers are not bigger than most people can truly comprehend. How big is a trillion? For starters, just look at it: $1,000,000,000,000 That's a lot of zeros!  If you're middle class in this country, you might make $100,000, while a college student with a decent job might make $10,000  Let's look at those together: $1,000,000,000,000                  $100,000                    $10,000 Here's another way of looking at it: 1 million seconds is about 11.5 days, 1 billion seconds is about 32 years, and a trillion seconds is equal to 32,000 years. ...

  As I prepared to watch the president's annual State of the Union speech and the opposition party's rebuttal on Tuesday, I couldn't help but think about what it would be like if we didn't have such division in our country.  The ongoing impasse over the border wall is evidence of the degree of separation between leadership in the two major parties, which is symptomatic of the public mood when it comes to hot button issues.  I was pleasantly surprised that his speech and the response to the speech did not reflect the childish bickering we have seen in recent years.  The most noticeable contrast in response to the speech was the president's reference to late term abortion, where the Republicans stood and applauded, while the Democrats sat with scowls on their faces. By coincidence (or perhaps divine prompting), I had a discussion about the divisiveness of American politics on Monday over lunch with a friend originally from Russia.  At first we were talking about...

The recent law in New York state expanding abortion rights in the Empire State has stoked the flames on an already heated issue.   The law was greeted with cheers from supporters, while it contains several provisions that are alarming to opponents. Regardless of where you stand in general on abortion rights, there are a few provisions that are noteworthy in terms of the strategic value in establishing precedent to counter the shifting tides in the battle over abortion. With the recent appointment of Justice Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, the court has a conservative majority for the first time in generations.   In fact, the appointment of justices to all levels of the federal courts has been a major factor in presidential elections going back to the 1980s. In the years since the Roe v Wade decision made access to abortion a “right” across the country, conservatives have managed to slowly implement restrictions on access to abortion services, and advances in scien...

The U.S government partial shutdown is in its fourth week. At midnight on December 22 the lack of a 2019 budget or a continuing resolution to provide funding meant that many "non-essential" services would be suspended and workers furloughed until the standoff ends. The reason for the shutdown is a standoff over funding the border wall that was one of the most popular and yet controversial of President Trump's election campaign promises. Ironically, Democrats in the past have supported a border wall. Over the past two years the Republicans in the House have passed bills to fund construction of a wall, but Democrats in the Senate blocked passage with a threatened filibuster. The current shutdown is mostly to replace nearly 700 miles of existing barriers, although also to extend the wall about 200 miles. Unfortunately, in today's highly polarized political climate, immigration reform (see my recent  Immigration Reform blog post) is not likely to come any time soon. ...