End of Discussion?

Charleston prayer service (WLTX)

It's all too uncomfortable to politicians on the right, and even to some in the center.   We see it again in the wake of nine shooting deaths of churchgoers and prominent community members in Charleston, SC.   Ask them about gun control and you'll get a response that just labels the latest massacre as a case of one deranged individual.   Charleston's mayor Joe Riley denies the role or very existence of racism in his fair city.   That wouldn't reflect well on this major tourist draw.   Ask South Carolina Senator Presidential candidate LIndsey Graham about the racist symbolism of the Confederate battle flag and he'll tell you that his state has worked out a compromise over its display to satisfy "both sides to this issue."    Fox News depicts the shooting as an "attack on Christians" instead of blacks clearly singled out for their skin color.   These are issues that make people bankrolled by the NRA leadership and other powerful conservative lobbyists very uncomfortable.    Mention the role of guns in mass shootings and you're met with well organized chants of the false narrative that any discussion of guns means President Obama and liberals are aiming to confiscate every firearm in the hands of private citizens.   

The discussion embargo doesn't end with gun violence and racism.   Even the Pope, a scientist, gets criticized for expressing concern over climate change hastened by human activity by people who preface everything by, "I'm not a scientist, but..."    Senator Elizabeth Warren took issue with our allegedly socialist President Obama over "free trade" with the Tran Pacific Partnership bill being pushed through Congress with no room for open discussion of its particulars.    Newly announced GOP candidate Donald Trump calls people who might disagree with his vague ideas "clowns" and "losers."    There are many people who blame the media for "harping on" things, stirring up trouble.

An open discussion is the American way of life... ideally, anyway.   If the NRA bosses and deniers of all types want to take their marbles and go home when they can't have things 100 per cent their way, that's their problem.   That doesn't mean the rest of us who want everything to be fair game should give up and allow these powerful narrow interests to shut down the exchange of ideas.