Re: Bootstraps and Assault Weapons

Cassandra, your assumptions and your conclusions are bitterly rhetorical rather than thoughtful and demonstrable.

Why do the Sean Hannitys of the world keep telling people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, get out there and work hard, and they too can become rich? If that were to become fact, who would shovel the crap that Hannity and his ilk make each day? Who would work in the restaurants where the rich eat their foie gras and drink their blue martinis? Who would nanny their children, pick up their trash, service their cars, drive their cars, clean their houses?

Where to begin? I had trouble making sense of this non sequitur. Let's leave Sean Hannity out of this; that paragon of jingo populism isn't germane to your argument, which is (if I understand it correctly) that initiative, ambition, and hard work don't enable people to improve their quality of living (which you reductively & unfairly refer to as "becoming rich").

The fact is that evidence is abundant that the opposite is the case. Every single one of us either is or knows someone who improved his socioeconomic lot in life with work and careful planning. I can point to several people in my own family who did so, and so can you (because I know your family).

The advantages of our national character and market provide opportunities, not guarantees, as has been said time and time again. The important thing to remember is that we are not prevented by law from going after a bigger piece of the pie: more money, more security, more free time. We aren't guaranteed those wonderful things in our system. Furthermore, there is no system on Earth that guarantees those things. But the weird, wonderful magic of our system is that it has consistently and repeatedly enabled more people within it to benefit socioeconomically than has any other system. Ask yourself: Would you rather be working class in the United States or in Russia? Where are you more likely to get a raise by hard work -- the United States or Indonesia? the United States or China? the United States or Zimbabwe? Where do you think the working classes are more likely to be consistently able to feed, clothe, and house their families in relative safety and comfort? the United States or Uzbekistan? Examples of comparison around the globe are countless, are they not?

And if all of us have equal opportunities, with the only thing holding us back being our laziness, then what must be done about the disabled (physically or mentally), those who are slow (physically or mentally)? Certainly, we're not to give them welfare. Hannity and other conservatives rail against government assistance, exceptions being welfare for corporations and the rich.

Your implication is a ridiculous assertion that you couldn't marshal actual evidence for even if you were forced to at the point of a gun. Cite us even one mainstream commentator or politician who supports the complete removal of all State assistance, especially for the disabled. One of the legitimate and humane purposes of the State is to provide a safety net for all sorts of misfortunes, from natural disasters to physical and mental illness to job loss. No one (in his right mind) argues against such assistance; people debate the extent and the circumstances of such assistance. As for "welfare for corporations and the rich," a good many conservatives (and liberals) favor the abolishing of subsidies for businesses and of loopholes in the tax code (by which those who can afford accountants generally profit). The wealth of the business or the individual is beside the point: the unjustness of the subsidy is that it tampers with what should be a level playing field. Seek evidence for this in the public outcry (by both rich and poor) over the bailouts. That alone makes hash of your assertion.

Why do conservatives and the NRA fight so hard to keep the rights to buy and use assault weapons?

While I support the 2nd Amendment, I'm all for the regulation of dangerous weapons. Many things are regulated because they can be very dangerous: automobiles, bonfires, airplanes, some viruses and bacteria, fireworks, etc. I'd like to see assault weapons regulated more strictly than other firearms.