About Yesterday's Senate Votes

I've just heard Jonathan Alter ( Bloomberg View columnist and author of “The Promise: President Obama, Year One”) talking about the absurdity of United States senators—like Texas Senator John Cornin and freshman Senator Heidi Heitcamp of ND—saying they're there to represent their state's interests in Washington.   The U. S. Senate always has been one of the most respected deliberative bodies in the world.   Senators are supposed to balance the interests of their state with the best interests of the nation as a whole. 

 

Alter pointed out that if senators voted only on what polls reflect their state's voters would like to see happen, then a computer could vote.  The Senate is a place for women and men who think, reflect, deliberate and pass laws for the highest good of the Country.   

 

Senators voting against modest gun safety measures yesterday obviously were not in the thinking-reflecting-deliberative mode; rather, they were motivated by fear and running from possible defeat in the next election.  They ran as fast as they could into the arms and good graces of their political Sugar Daddy, the NRA.   My hope is that, in my lifetime, lawmakers may be as influenced by the ever-growing power of the gun safety community as they are by the NRA.  Thank you Mayor Mike Bloomberg for helping to fund my hope; thank you Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly for working so hard and putting "money where your mouth is." Thank you to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence for your many years of dedication to gun safety.  And great gratitude and respect to the courageous Newtown families who traveled to DC and were articulate, effective representatives for the cause—amazing people who refused to give up, even when told the votes wouldn't be there yesterday, who kept their dignity and their cool in the face of being called "props."  They have vowed to continue fighting this good fight.  I wish I could call each of you by name.

So, if the Newtown families aren't giving up, if our fiesty President isn't giving up, surely we can continue working to get background checks passed, to get assault weapons banned, and to limit the size of magazines/clips.  (I might not be using "NRA-approved"terms here, but you know what? I don't need or want NRA approval.  Everyone who reads this will understand what I'm talking about.) 

 

 Not least, thank you Lucy Lefties who came through like champions yesterday and called the "fence sitters" in the Senate.   Safety advocates ultimately will prevail.  The only question in my mind is when?