For reasons we will puzzle
over for decades, the high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, provoked a
mass political movement of young Americans, when all the other horrific school
massacres did not. Gun politics is, at least now, big news.
Whenever public discussion of
guns breaks into our daily lives, the NRA raises its voice, ostensibly to
protect its interpretation of the Second Amendment. The NRA leadership must be
especially concerned this time, since they are paying for a nationwide TV campaign, “NRA:
Freedom’s Safest Place”. Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre says the NRA’s
political ideology “evokes the patriotism, freedom, history, traditions and
struggles of ‘we the people’.”
I have no argument with the
right of the NRA, or anybody else, to proclaim its interpretation of American
law about guns. The only “we the people” who count for LaPierre are the minority who
support the NRA.
But gun rights are not the
main subject of the NRA’s current political intervention. Below the surface of
public statements about gun legislation, the NRA sells its members a disturbing critique of our society. Under the title “Standing Guard |
Colleges Spread Anti-Gun Sentiment” on the NRA website, LaPierre says this
about American higher education. Every sentence is worth notice.
“American freedom faces no
greater threat than from our academic institutions, where the most basic
fundamental principles upon which our nation was founded are aggressively
attacked by extreme socialists posing as honest professors. Principles upon
which America has become the greatest nation in the world—constitutional
freedom, free-market capitalism and individual responsibility—have been replaced
with Marxism, socialism and a perverse culture of politically correct societal
collectivism. We know that, at the end of the day, the wave of socialism we
face threatens all of our freedoms and could very well destroy our nation.
Make
no mistake. Their goal is not just to create a campus of socialism. They lust
for a nation of socialism. They’ll warp every young mind they can get their
hands on, to pervert the American values we hold dear to create a brand new,
socialist voter to send to the polls. If their socialist takeover is
successful, they’ll do everything they can to render Trump ineffective, with an
end goal to replace him with a screaming socialist in 2020. And then they’ll
come for us … for our freedom and for our guns. That is the tsunami of
socialism that threatens every law-abiding gun owner and freedom-loving
American in this country.”
In the NRA’s magazine,
“American Hunter”, this statement of principle appears under a more threatening
title: “Our Colleges are Breeding Grounds for Socialists Who Will Take Our
Guns”.
This is not mainly about
guns. LaPierre’s America is mortally threatened by organized socialists and
brain-washed youth, echoes of Joseph McCarthy in 2018.
During the 1950s, politicians
who doubted McCarthy’s crazy charges, but who thought their personal political
interests could be served by being quiet, created a federal government that
embodied exactly what McCarthy and his ilk supposedly warned about: an
ideological state which ignored the Constitution and used the law to punish
political opponents. By the time a
few courageous politicians raised critical voices, government had damaged the
lives of civil rights activists, labor leaders, writers, filmmakers, and
teachers.
Are we repeating a terrible
history? Our Republican-dominated government takes the NRA’s cash and praises its
stance on gun rights. The biggest Congressional recipients of NRA money are all Republicans:
51 Republicans in the Senate and 41 in the House get more NRA dollars than any
of their Democratic colleagues.
Politicians who praise the
NRA also implicitly endorse LaPierre’s extremist rejection of American society.
They support the accusation that college campuses, including those in their
districts, teach revolutionary socialism and hatred for American institutions.
They believe that “academic elites are brainwashing our youth like never before.”
They agree that “every freedom-loving American” is endangered by a home-grown
socialist conspiracy. They fear the greatest threat to our freedom: “our
academic institutions”.
My congressman, Darin LaHood,
is running for reelection this year. He proudly announced that the NRA gave him an A-rating, saying,
“I am grateful for the NRA’s support.” He accepted $1000 from
them, as did all of the other six Republican congressmen from Illinois.
LaHood’s page on gun control on his website is mainly about how much he
appreciates the NRA.
Mr. LaHood, please tell the
voters in our District whether you support the NRA’s broader political
ideology, as announced by its spokesman and published in its official media.
Do you think that socialists
have “hijacked” the institutions of higher learning in Illinois? Do you believe
that Illinois faculty are promoting communism out of a “lust for a nation of
socialism”? Will a “wave of socialism” will “destroy our nation”? Or do you
think that NRA propaganda is itself dangerous?
Are you willing to defend the
men and women who teach in our state’s and our nation’s colleges and
universities from NRA accusations?
Republican and Democratic
politicians who oppose restrictions on gun rights, also need to be clear about
their stance on NRA political extremism. If your congressman is supported by
and supports the NRA, does he (nearly all are “he”) also endorse the NRA’s
radical rejection of contemporary American life?
The NRA is not protecting the
Second Amendment, it is attacking America. Do they agree?
Steve Hochstadt
Jacksonville IL
Published in the Jacksonville
Journal-Courier, April 17, 2018
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