Side story on the recent gun spree

[Fuchs]

Why would the NRA oppose prosecution of gun criminals? They were very great supporters of Project Exile as related last week by Slap.

I googled a bit in order to find some websites detailing the NRA's behind the scenes stuff against enforcement, but it proved impractical to find non-partisan sources within my time budget. Too bad everything goes partisan in the U.S..


I found some (in part quite old and thus not affected by the recent debate) items, though:
http://www.potowmack.org/enffable.html
http://www.bradycenter.org/xshare/pd...est-friend.pdf
(I didn't read them fully, as it's quite late. In case you think they're too partisan on the 'other' side, keep in mind it's not advisable to avoid cognitive dissonance by consuming friendly partisan's products only.)

Concerning your assumption of NRA consistency and non-hypocrisy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNUDJuC4Bc4#!
_________________________

Sometimes I wonder why lobbyism in the U.S. is so very little subtle.
There's a lot of lobbyism everywhere, and to be expected everywhere, but the U.S. keeps producing a lot of extreme examples.
Maybe it's the importance of money in politics, maybe it's because they get away with it, maybe it's simple poor lobbyist professionalism?
We have a couple of lobbyism scandals per year in Germany, but in my opinion they're about relatively subtle methods - save for a few usual suspects.
There's no lobbyism organisation with a central and overtly powerful role like NRA or AIPAC in Germany. The Catholic and Protestant churches, the labour union top organisation and the car driver club probably come the closest, but they couldn't keep a single major politician from being re-elected (might work with unknown backbenchers maybe).

[motorfirebox]

Sometimes I wonder why lobbyism in the U.S. is so very little subtle.

Simple answer, we've taken the concept of capitalism and applied it to governance. What saner heads might refer to as "oligarchy" we refer to as "free market".

[jmm99]

"Please walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind.

Not all aggression is criminal;
A defense reaction is for the human race,
What the wind is for navigation;
The result depends on the direction.
The most moral violence is that used in legitimate self-defense,
The most sacred judicial institution.

"Please walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind.

I don't need a weatherman to tell me which way the wind is blowing.

Regards

Mike

1) Kipling
2) V.V. Stanciu, Reflections on the Congress for the Prevention of Genocide, in 7 YAD VASHEM STUDIES ON THE EUROPEAN JEWISH CATASTROPHE AND RESISTANCE 185, 187 (Livia Rothkirchen ed., 1968).
3) Univ. of Michigan SDS

[jmm99]

The Brady Campaign is alive and well in 2013 at its website, Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. You can even donate to its cause - thereby, offsetting my life membership and donations to the NRA.

The term "lobbyist" is really an anachronism for organizations such as the Brady Center and the NRA. As you should know, the approval ratings for Congress (which represents the two political parties) have been roughly 5-15%. Of course, individuals do much better - President Obama hit 54% today. Generic Congressional Ballot: Democrats 45%, Republicans 37%.

On What America Thinks this weekend, former U.S. Senator Jim DeMint says, “Both parties have failed the country.” DeMint, who recently resigned from the Senate to serve as president of the Heritage Foundation, expressed strong view about his own party’s leadership. “"Republicans [in Washington] don't stand true to their beliefs, or at least what they talk about. I found that when I ran on reforms that ... party leaders were not nearly as interested in the reforms as they were in getting earmarks for everybody and redistricting to hold power and raising money. So I think the public has every reason to be disenchanted.”

Rasmussen runs a good polling service, What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls.

Given the default of the two political parties, we have what could be called "special interest groups", or perhaps better, "mini-political parties" (there are thousands of them - I belong to about a half-dozen). Technically, an arm of each group has to be legally registered as a "lobbyist" - if it "lobbies" government; other arms do not (lots of "5xx orgs").

I think you have a lot to learn about the U.S.A., its politics and people. These links are given as a good faith effort (a one timer). Your choice - no duty.

Regards

Mike

[Surferbeetle]

Mike,

Greatly appreciate the informative/educational breakouts as always.

Just finished a marathon/binge drama-a-thon regarding American political culture via apple tv and netflix. Found it to be an interesting commentary on perception, reality, and poll numbers.

House of Cards (U.S. TV series), From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_o...U.S._TV_series)

Meanwhile, out in the field...

2013 Edelman Trust Barometer Finds a Crisis in Leadership, Less Than One in Five Trust Leaders to Tell the Truth, http://www.edelman.com/news/2013-ede...in-leadership/

Today: four stores, no 9mm, and only one box of .38 to be found...