This is what is wrong with this country. The people in it. It really is as simple as that. Most people fail to think and apply common sense to what they've heard from others. There are those who crave money and power and those who believe the lies they are fed, without taking the time to really think about the information they've heard. People have no common sense.
Guns:
If you want to own one and have no mental illness, nor a violent felony on your record, you should be able to own one, or hundreds if you choose. Guns do not kill people; guns don't commit crimes; people do both of those things, and perhaps they use the gun as their tool, so what?
Cops kill people with the guns they have. The cop may or may not go on trial, but the gun never does. Why? Because it is made of plastic and metal and cannot think for itself. I own guns and none of them have ever been used outside of target practice and hunting for food, not sport. My guns don't choose what they'll shoot at, I do. The person holding the gun is 100% responsible for the end result. Guns don't fire themselves; it takes a human finger to pull the trigger. Who shot Michael Brown? A gun, or a cop? Who went before the Grand Jury? It wasn't the gun. Guns don't stand trial and don't go to prison for a reason. They are not responsible for the death. The shooter is. Common sense.
If guns are properly stored, they won't go off by accident. Period. Accidental shootings are 100% avoidable.
1) there is the safety mechanism
2) they should not be stored loaded
3) there are such things as trigger guards/locks
If you are accidentally shot by a little kid who finds, plays with and drops a loaded weapon, it is your own fault.
1) you should have made sure the safety was on
2) you should have made sure the gun was unloaded
3) you should have made sure the gun was not in a place a child could get it
Get it?
Guns are not the problem; it is the people who keep them that are the problem. Keep them out of the hands of the mentally ill. Keep them out of the hands of criminals. Keep them away from children. Common sense people! That is the purpose of background checks. I've never failed one.
Keep your firearms locked up so that they can't be stolen.
Vaccines:
They worked for our generation, so why won't they continue to work? How many people did you grow up with that developed autism as the result of vaccines? How many people die from measles? People, however, should be able to decide for themselves as to use them or not. There should not be a penalty, especially levied against the child, by not being allowed to attend school. Parents have the right to make those decisions for their children. Who are we to deny them that? We should be focusing on providing accurate information to parents so they can make educated decisions. if you are so afraid of the unvaccinated child, keep yours at home. Those unvaccinated kids play in the park, go shopping with mom, and spend a great deal of time in the public. Would you have them caged for not being vaccinated?
Too many people just buy into the most ridiculous crap imaginable, while those feeding it to them laugh all the way to the bank.
Government:
If the government really wanted to cut the fat on domestic programs, they would enact legislation to cap what drug companies can charge for their potions. If Medicaid were not on the hook for expensive drugs like these, which will be taken for a lifetime, the tax payer wouldn't feel so begrudged for those on Medicaid. If they can't charge those kinds of prices, Medicaid would not have to pay those kinds of price. Cha-Ching! Savings. Imagine that... saving money without hurting people.
Selfishness:
Too many people are more concerned with themselves than the rest of the world. People have stopped looking at the big picture and have become extremely short-sighted. One for all and all for one should be the way it is, but sadly it is every man for himself. That is why there is a class separation. Some people are just better at the 'what's in it for me game' than others are. Those who are better at it, keep changing the rules for everyone else, so that it is hard for everyone to play. Eventually, people drop out and apathy takes over.
Politics:
The attitude of those in power is fear. The haves are afraid of the have-nots, because there are more have-nots then haves. So the plan is to divide and conquer. Make everyone afraid of everyone else and they will come to us for rescue. We won't help them, but we can say we will and they'll believe it. They fall for everything else we lie about.
Greed, Income Inequality:
I read an article that stated that the federal level for poverty is around $11,000. If that is true, it should be criminal for drug companies to charge more than six times that for a medication that doesn't even cure anything. My example is my own medication for Multiple Sclerosis. It will not cure me, but may stop the progression of the disease. I repeat, may prevent the progression of the disease. It's not even a sure thing there. But it costs more than $200 per dose. It is injected every day. How is a person living in poverty, or even slightly above the poverty line supposed to afford this stuff? The government could do something about that, but they won't. The drug corporations wouldn't make as big a profit.
You can't take it with you, so why must you have it all. Why can't you share? I was taught to share as a child. What happened to all these greedy ass holes that get golden parachutes for taking the economy? Greed and sharing don't play in the same sandbox.
Finally, if the politicians in power think that $7.25 is a livable wage, I dare them to live on it. I don't think any of their kids will go to college. Congress should live by the same rules the rest of us live by. What makes them so freakin' special anyway? They make our lives miserable, they spend our money to give themselves raises, but they can't give us one? They can spend our money any way they like without listening to what we the people think about it.
Common Sense:
Is a thing of the past. People choose to believe what they are told and refuse to think about what they've heard. Most people want someone else to do their thinking for them. Therefore, many have forgotten that common sense is in existence. All people are lazy to some degree or other. Rich corporate jerks want something for nothing. They have people who do the work to make them money, but they refuse fair compensation for the effort. They want all the money for themselves and they don't want to pay anyone to make it for them. Like the little kid who has a play room full of toys they never play with who won't let you get rid of anything. Because, "They're mine!" Then you have a segment of poor people who want something for nothing, who rob others, or scam the government for money. Corporate welfare must end. Obviously, if corporations can pour millions of dollars into campaigns, they don't need money from the tax payer. Common sense, right? Then why hasn't something been done about it?
Corporations are not people, money is not speech and guns don't commit crimes. Common sense. I don't care who tells you differently, you're being sold a bill of goods. Think.
Everything could be worked out if people would just get outside themselves and think. The problem is that it is hard to tear everyone away from what they think is the most important thing in the universe, "Me!" What is in it for me?
Think for yourself and be kind to your fellow man. It really isn't that hard. For Fox News views, I'll repeat that... Think for yourself and be kind to your fellow man.
Climate Change:
Wether or not we are completely responsible for it or contributing to a natural occurrence, we should stop being any part of the problem, right? You don't have to be a scientist to know that the climate is changing, all you have to do is step outside. Winters are warmer and summers are hotter. My lilacs have budded in January and my flowers are coming up two months early as well. I live in the mountains and there is no snow on the ground. I can go outside without a coat on. So, yes, I can absolutely say that the climate is changing. I am not a scientist, but I do have eyes. Does it really matter why? Isn't it our job as stewards of the planet we call home to do everything we can to protect it? Perhaps we were supposed to experience an ice age, but global warming is preventing that from happening and it is now melting polar ice. Melting ice will make sea levels rise, diminishing land mass. I love the republican analogy of ice in a glass of water. The idiot said that if ice melts in a glass of water it doesn't over flow. That is only partially right. The reason it doesn't over flow is because the ice went into the glass first. The melted ice takes the place of the solid ice in exact proportion. If you put ice into a glass that is already full of water, it will over flow. Now, think about this: most of the polar ice that we need to worry about is above water, so that when it melt it will displace the water in the ocean onto the shore. You see, if a person would think about the junk they hear, they could figure all of this out on their own. But people just don't think.
I never studied science beyond high school, the 10th grade actually, but I can figure this out all by myself because I thought about it.
The Spread of Misinformation:
Just because someone says it, doesn't make it true. I heard someone bash the ACA and say that it would cost an uninsured person $2,500 in fines. That is not true. The $2,500 figure is the amount of a tax break the average person will get to off set the cost of purchasing insurance. It is not a fine. It is a benefit for buying insurance.
Fox News says the ACA will cost jobs. That simply isn't true, and it doesn't make any sense either. How would providing accessible health care cost jobs?
And speaking of jobs; what about all the tax breaks those job creators get? Where are the jobs the have created? Big oil gets free money, are they creating jobs? Big Pharma gets free money, where are those jobs? Corporate America gets all kinds of freebies, but I don't see them creating jobs. Small business owners are suffering because of Corporate America. Corporate America gets free money and small businesses get nothing while they are expected to compete. Not exactly a level playing field. Small businesses create jobs without government help. Big business does not create jobs, refuses to pay people enough to live public assistance free, while raking in huge profits.
Corporations buy elections, but they have their hand out before the voters even hit the booths and they don't create anything of use to the tax payer. They don't even create new tax payers. They want us to work for them, buy from them, but they won't pay enough for us to do the latter.
Hell, the Walton's probably don't shop at their own store. They don't have to because they can afford to shop in the high end stores. Why, because we work for them.
Wal-mart workers put in their time to get a paycheck, then they have to turn around and basically give it back in order to buy groceries and clothing. They give their hard earned pay right back because they can't afford to shop anywhere else, and Wal-mart keeps them on food stamps. Then they have the nerve to bitch about those on food stamps. It's like the argument of you can't have an abortion, and no, you can't have birth control either. Since we have money, we can have both if we want to. Hell, they even get their Viagra so they can impregnate the women who they deny this stuff to. Tell me why Viagra is covered and birth control isn't. One makes the other necessary.
The reason why there is a war on women is because it is spearheaded by older, white males. Try to tell the what they can do with their bodies and they'll laugh at you. It is fine for men to tell women what to do, but no one better tell them what to do. Double standard. I like how the man caught smuggling Viagra into another country can call a woman wanting birth control a slut. Double standard. And, it is the women who have to chase after the men to get them to be responsible for the child she was not allowed to abort or prevent. Why do women let men make decisions for us that they are not qualified to make? Why do men feel the need to stick their noses in where they don't belong?
Who gave anyone the right to make decisions for any adult based on their personal morality, rather than letting it be between the person and their God? Human rights should not be political. Law should not be political.
Why do we throw drug dealers in jail when drug companies get us addicted? Then they raise the price so we can't afford it. Heroin is cheaper than pharmaceuticals. Most heroin addicts today started on pain killers. Heroin is just as effective, addictive, but a lot cheaper. We should be jailing those who push the pain killers, not the pot.
I once complained to my doctor about pain I was having, related to Multiple Sclerosis and his first response was, "Do you want pain killers?" To which I replied, "No, I want to know what is wrong." I got no pills, and neither did I find out what was wrong until, after several years passed, and I found another doctor.
We are a nation of drug addicts because there is profit in it. Small time drug dealers are jailed because they are Big Pharma's competition and they pay the legislators to keep throwing people in jail.