Obama continues to be wary of Checks and Balances

I know, he didn't invent the Executive Order.  And he's not the first to use it to circumnavigate the legislative process when he couldn't get his way.  But the frequency of his orders, and the fact that they also seem to be moving toward that idea of executive control over the masses for their sake, is enough to make a thinking person pause and reflect.

As for the gun debate, contrary to what Mark Shea and others on CAEI suggested, I do care about gun deaths.  But I'm not convinced that many who scream 'Gun Control!' the loudest are interested in solving the problem as much as advancing agendas.  I'm sure they want to see the problem go away as well, don't get me wrong.  But the thing about conservatives and liberals I notice is that conservatives sometimes fail to realize when something they've always done isn't working or might even be wrong.  Liberals, on the other hand, are often so intoxicated by the notion of their superior grasp of the problems they think nobody else ever noticed that they can't conceive of the idea that their bold, revolutionary challenges to the status quo might not be any better.

I get that feeling with the gun control debate folks.  I'm sure they want the gun violence to drop.  But they seem so hell-bent on advancing their ideas about what might help, they aren't looking at so many different factors that seem so obvious.  To me, the first problem worth examining might be that our whole assumptions of a secularized, materialist universe, when combined with a diverse population and a profound notion of individual freedom, could be a toxic brew. This in addition to things like black on black violence, drug violence, the incessant pounding down of the country and its people, our changes in mental health treatments.

All of these should be looked at along with, if not before, what to do about gun purchasing, IMHO.  But again, the progressive ideal of the superiority of Now continues to miss those blind spots.  So natural is it, that CNN reported today that Obama was using Executive Orders 'to reduce gun violence.'  Note how they said it.  That's actually false.  He isn't doing any such thing.  He is using Executive Orders to advance ideas and solutions he believes might reduce gun violence.  But again, there you go.  It can't be anything other than the assumption that progressive ideas and true results are one and the same.

As for the debate, like most things today, the lines are drawn so thickly that I don't know if a solution apart from appealing to tyranny over coalitions is possible.  Most who push for gun control demonstrate a palpable contempt, if not outright dislike, for those who oppose gun control legislation.  And as far as I can tell, I get the impression that most who favor gun rights are mighty suspicious of those calling for gun control.  Not just that they think this would be a first step toward abolishing gun rights altogether (which is the slippery slope argument used by abortion rights activists I might add), bu that it will be a first step toward abolishing no end of rights and liberties for those who don't accept the modern, secular and progressive narratives.

So good luck getting those two together any time soon. Best to probably just pray for peace and do our best not to stoke the anger and rage that occupies so much of our national mindset today which could, if you think about it, be a major cause of the problem we're all wanting to solve in the first place.

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.  James 1:19,20