I have always donated generously to politicians I believe in. I have always operated on the principle that the greater good is to elect the best possible people. I'm a practical kind of guy. I have never believed in being a one-issue person -- I care about the entire range of progressive issues that we all care about. Every politician (with the possible exception of Bernie Sanders) has areas of weakness.
No more. #TodayIsTheDay that for me, my approach to supporting politicians changes. Because it is clear that this country has become paralyzed by what amounts to nothing less than a reign of terror by the National Rifle Association.
The NRA has terrorized our politicians to the point where, with a few notable exceptions like Jerrold Nadler (who was superb on the Ed Show tonight), almost no Democrat or Republican will ever stand up to the NRA.
The NRA has terrorized the people of this country, who have been robbed of the sense of security that we have always had in the ability to live our lives with an expectation of safety, without always being in fear.
And the NRA has wantonly and cynically fomented fear and hatred, for their own profit. They have repeatedly, in arrogant disregard of every single fact to the country, accused the President of the United States of wanting to take away everybody's guns, of being illegitimate, of not supporting the Constitution. They have openly disrespected the President and his office, and encouraged disrespect from the legions of haters on the right. They have practically invited people to consider violence against the President of the United States.
I hereby call out the NRA: You are no longer an organization that pursues the worthy goals of responsible gun ownership and gun safety. You have made yourselves into a terrorist organization.
So, if Grover can start a pledge, then we can do that too. My pledge is very simple:
I hereby pledge that from now on, I will not give a single dime to any politician who accepts money from the NRA.
NOT A SINGLE DIME.
I recognize that the solutions to our out of control epidemic of guns and gun violence are not going to be easy, even aside from the politics. There are a number of potential approaches. Opponents of gun control love to point out that not every solution is going to be effective -- and I don't disagree. But clearly, there are things we can and should do that will work. You can read all about them.
But if we regard the NRA as a terrorist organization, then no amount of money given to buy politicians is acceptable. NONE. ZERO.
The progressives of this country have bankrolled Democratic and progressive candidates. Millions of us. They can't be elected without us.
You can find out how much every national politician has received from the NRA here, on Open Secrets.
So, it's time to put them on notice. Do you want to be elected? Then, NO MORE MONEY FROM THE NRA.
We can, and must, take the power away from the NRA.
The hashtag #TodayIsTheDay has quickly trended as the tag to use for this topic on twitter. There are thousands of tweets that are using this. The overwhelming majority strongly support not putting off discussion of doing Something about out of control gun violence.
There are an estimated 300,000,000 million guns in this country. Just about one gun for every man, woman and child.
There are an estimated 30,000 gun-related deaths in the United States every year.
That's a jumbo jet crash every week.
The NRA's answer? Even more guns. Concealed carry. They are bragging that Florida now has 1,000,000 people with concealed carry permits. Just today, SB59 in Michigan awaits Gov. Snyder's signature -- allowing firearms on school campuses.
This is insane.
ENOUGH.
#TodayIsTheDay
NOT A SINGLE DIME TO ANY POLITICIAN WHO TAKES NRA MONEY.
Will you join me?
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Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. Donate
7:59 PM PT: I appreciate the comments and the recs, and the support for the idea I put forward. My tweet copied above has been retweeted two dozen times. I am going to keep pushing. Peace.