AN ASSAULT WEAPON IN EVERY POT

The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D. (1/20/2013)

 

          A bellicose Republican Party has allied itself with the National Rifle Association in a promise to Americans of an assault weapon in every pot.  Such bellicosity is a sign of impotence, such as the infamous rebel yell.  The strong don’t make threats, only the weak.

 

          Herbert Hoover in the presidential campaign of 1928 promised a “chicken in every pot and a car in every garage,” and we know what came of that promise, the Great Depression of 1929.  Following Hoover’s example, the Republicans with a disapproval rate of 64 percent and an approval rate of 27 percent are classic losers. 

 

In their continued self-immolation, the Republicans seem intent on supporting unpopular causes, such as falling over fiscal cliffs and chiseling on our debts as a nation.  Now, they’re supporting assault weapons or magazines jammed with endless bullets.  The issue isn’t the Second Amendment.  It’s not that these weapons and magazines are used to massacre lots of people.  It’s their emotional value of giving losers the feeling they’re strong by possessing the artificial power of destruction and defiance.

 

          The irony is that defiance is a dependency upon the object being defied.  How would the Republicans define themselves if it weren’t for Barack Obama?  Defiance and anger are the hallmarks of perpetual losers.  Rather than hooking up with the angry and defiant, such as the NRA and the Tea Party, the Republicans might try something different.  A real winner, Abraham Lincoln, said, “With malice toward none, with charity for all.”