COLUMN: From drugs to guns, Americans ignore big picture
According to the New York Times, JC Penney just ousted its chief executive, Ron Johnson, because sales fell 25 percent in 2012. This remarkable loss in sales coincides remarkably well with JC Penney’s effort to get rid of all the gimmicks, sales, and so on, in favor of a uniform, predictable, trustworthy pricing system. Just a hint: The “everyday low price” is history.
You never tell your wife that that dress makes her look fat. You never tell someone who is disabled that they are anything other than the most “special” person on this earth, and that they can do anything their heart desires if they just put in enough effort. Never put a $20 price tag on an item when you can instead price it at $19.99. After all, Americans like to save 10 bucks.
If we can learn anything from this, it is that Americans rarely look at the bigger picture, and love to be lied to. Just look at a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll on the various pieces of gun control legislation that have been proposed by Obama: For Republicans, 89 percent in favor of background checks at gun shows, 69 percent in favor of background checks on ammo, 61 percent in favor of a federal database of all gun sales, 59 percent in favor of a ban on high-capacity ammunition clips, and even 45 percent in support of a ban on assault weapons. Overall, support for an assault weapons ban, the least popular legislation of the bunch, is at almost 60 percent. Yet, surprise surprise, no less than 72 percent of Republicans are opposed to Obama’s proposals as a whole, and among Republicans in congress, the proposals fair even worse.
Ask me how a proposal like universal background checks, that has about 90 percent support from Democrats, independents, and Republicans can be “controversial gun control legislation” that might barely trickle through congress, and you will find no answer. It is well established in political science that the label we attach to a thing is often far more important than the thing itself. Americans – Democrats, Republicans and independents – are strongly in favor of all of Obama’s gun control proposals excepting only … the Obama part.
This is the problem with America, people. We are too narrow minded. We are having this huge debate about gun control, and you know what never enters into the conversation? What impact does this decision have on Mexico? Every year thousands of Mexicans fall victim to warring drug cartels that get their guns from the USA. Mexico has very strict gun laws. But some guy in Texas can just toss a bundle over the fence every now and then. The end result? Only the bad guys have the guns, and we are the ones who make that possible!
With drugs, it’s the same deal. We wonder why Americans got rid of alcohol prohibition so fast, but drugs are another story. When alcohol was prohibited, the drug wars happened here in the United States. This time around, it isn’t our economy that is being shattered. It isn’t our government that is being corrupted. It isn’t our husbands, wives, and children being slaughtered in the crossfire. And hey, the little violence that does cross over the border is confined to the urban poor and the minorities. This is democracy. Since when does their voice matter?
We lie to ourselves everyday about the budget, about our prison system, or about how great a shape our country is in relative to the rest of the world. In the end, we will still be looking in our checking accounts for that extra $10.
– Peter Daines is a senior in the political science department. He has been involved in the leadership of multicultural and diversity clubs such as the Latino Student Union and Love is for Everyone. Send comments and questions to pdaines33@gmail.com.