For years, they clamor that everybody should be prevented from buying guns. Then, their elected representatives try to start going in this supposedly desired direction. Liberals begin to pout because taking guns away from people on terrorist watch lists is mean. And nothing gets done.
The reason why Democrats are so ineffective is that they are constrained by their voters. Every action you can imagine taking is mean to somebody. And if your driving goal is to avoid any shade of meanness, you end up being paralyzed. Whenever the desired goal comes nearer, Liberals are overcome by the fear of meanness and renounce all action.
As I said before, I’m entirely indifferent to the issue of guns. But I want a Democrat faction in Congress that is fired up and ready to get things done. Finally, I saw it active and enthusiastic yesterday only to discover today that their burst of activity is not supported by the eternally pouty base. The base has yet again found a way to argue itself out of all activity by imagining a potential victim to this legislation. The elected representatives will see that the base will be disaffected no matter what and will slump back into their habitual paralysis.
Well done, Liberals.
Clarissa's Blog 
I vigorously want to see some gun control legislation passed. I find it insane that anybody can casually buy military-grade weapons in this country. So to me, getting some–any– gun control legislation passed is admittedly a priority. (I am actually in favor of repealing the second amendment.)
So I share your frustration with (some) liberals here. I understand that there are issues with how people might get on the terrorism watch list and I understand that this list can unfairly target Muslim Americans. But a) any type of legislation that puts checks on any type of gun access is a start and b) at the end of the day, do we really want people on the watch list to have easy access to massively destructive weaponry?
If anything, we need to revisit the idea of how people get on the terrorism watch list (for instance, if we are to have such a list, it should include those who terrorize abortion clinics).
I don’t know. I just personally can’t get behind the idea that owning a weapon is a “right.” But this legislation does ultimately have a great deal of public support. It’s just a small percentage of “far lefters” and “far righters” who do want it passed. So things might be able to move forward here.
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That should read: “It’s just a small percentage of “far lefters” and “far righters” who DON’T want it passed.”
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So those are the only ones who care about the 4th amendment? I’d gladly dump the 2d but the 4th is one of the important reasons to want to be, or remain, a US person
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I don’t see the point of expecting every piece of legislation to solve every problem in the world and condemning it if it doesn’t. The Dems are sitting in for a bill that would accomplish the enormous feat of checking the power of the NRA while ending the Republican stranglehold on the Congress. But no, the bill will not cure cancer or bring world peace, so let’s condemn it.
Republicans get so much more done because they know how to pursue a goal and not to undermine themselves with constant disaffection and search for non-existent perfection.
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It is interesting to see what is considered negotiable, or perhaps what has to be tacked on to make something else palatable
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Everyone has been happily coexisting with the no-fly list for over a decade, but the moment there is a chance to stick it to the NRA, everybody is deeply concerned over the list to the point of handing yet another win to the NRA.
It has become crystal clear why it’s been so impossible to check the NRA’S power: nobody really wants to. Truly, people always get the laws they want to get.
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No, it is a major issue & expansion of it / use of it as alleged way to stop mass shootings is a problem. You & other liberals appear to be happy with Patriot Act & so on as well but from a civil liberties and civil rights point of view they are major problems —
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Everybody is happy with it. Because if they weren’t, it wouldn’t remain in place.
Never again will I believe these tall tales about the whole country being in favor of some form of gun control. I feel completely duped.
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Patriot Act, I and many others are not. I am not saying it is a majority. Gun control, majority does not want it, I don’t think — a majority does in some areas, but not overall
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It’s important to look at what you’re signing away, though. 4th amendment, guarantees against improper search and seizure, is one of the baseline American rights — the kind of thing people immigrate to enjoy. This bill is going to make an ineffectual swat at gun violence (not “solve” it) while eroding some Constitutional bedrock that I would like to preserve.
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Nobody is signing anything away. The NRA won once again. Nothing changed. The no-fly list is still in place because the only time anybody feels like discussing it is when the NRA interests are threatened. What a victory for the 4th amendment.
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This is good to know. I looked at my blog roll and felt despair. Finally something is getting done, and again people are unhappy. It’s getting ridiculous.
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So things might be able to move forward here.
One hopes, one hopes….because I would rather see some incremental progress than to see everything just tossed to the curb because some on the far Left joined with the far Right to make the perfect the enemy of the good.
Plus, these few on the far Left aren’t even fit to shine John Lewis’ shoes.
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It is a good thing I am a right wing reactionary and not a liberal Democrat. I don’t have any of these problems. I really don’t care about gun control. But, preventing people from flying based upon secret “evidence” that is not even sufficient for an arrest yet alone a conviction is just UnAmerican.
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Invoking the imagery of Civil rights to support a state enemies list created without due process, that unfairly targets certain members of the society is disgusting.
To sugarcoat the abandoning of the 4th amendment as ‘being mean to somebody’ is disgusting.
The public opinion is behind them. Couldn’t they have protested for, say, closure of the gun-show loophole? Why, at the drop of a hat, did they have to come back to Bush-Cheney policies?
This is how the thinking goes:
‘We have a problem, we should do something.’
‘This is something.’
‘Ergo, this must be done.’
The one good thing to come out of it is that it makes the Republicans look bad, so, yeah, fine. But, there are so many better ways to achieve this extremely trivial task these days.
They did call for expanded background checks. Republicans naturally opposed it, which makes them look terrible. See, how easy it is? They didn’t have to double down on this no-fly list bullshit.
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I’m not a fan of “no fly, no buy,” but I figure some completely different gun bill will end up being what’s passed anyway. Hopefully something that makes more sense.
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60s nostalgia is damaging the left. Sit ins. Really.
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More could be used, actually
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“More could be used, actually”
I agree. The soporific atmosphere of the Congress needs to be interrupted with at least an effort to show enthusiasm and passion.
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It’s because there is a certain strain on the Left that believes that nothing is ever good enough. They follow an uber-purist mindset where only absolute perfection will do. No incremental change, no slogging through the mud of politics–nope, that will never work for them.
They want the perfect at the expense of the achievable good. And no, they don’t do nuance.
I’m done with them.
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I would like someone to make the case that including the no-fly list part was absolutely necessary. Then, I can appreciate all this whining about perfect being the enemy of the good, etc. Funny how the same people who criticized Bernie for being only good for protesting while not achieving anything are suddenly so enamored of symbolic protests.
“No incremental change”
Careful! Clarissa will call you an idiot for using this term. 🙂
“And no, they don’t do nuance.”
The nuance of curtailing civil liberties, you mean.
“I’m done with them.”
From your comments on this blog it doesn’t seem you were ever with ‘them’ in the first place.
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“It’s because there is a certain strain on the Left that believes that nothing is ever good enough. They follow an uber-purist mindset where only absolute perfection will do.”
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