Bully Americans

Violence in America is happening born from the hate of all kinds. Our propensity to solve problems with aggressive force instead of reason is insidious. How did I arrive at the conclusion?

One way was to consider how other nations deal with guns. Nations in which law enforcement officers do not routinely carry guns are significantly less violent. While some nations are gun-toting like the U.S., their culture is more homogenous, and they tend to be simpler societies. That is not like in the U.S.

The problem with our culture begins with the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms. That amendment happened at a particular moment in history when conditions warranted that language. The nation has vastly matured since then.

There is a notion that government (which is by the people) is somehow our enemy. That is convoluted thinking. The government in the U.S. democratic republic is not now nor has it ever been the enemy of the people.

At different periods in history, citizens more or less lost control of its government by electing people to office who have no clue about the Constitution and their responsibilities to the electorate. They are deficiently qualified for office.

Our standards for electing them lack, as they are for what to expect from political parties. I digress.

Changing our culture from being bullies to being compassionate is a long-term proposition because America has a very violent history.

Dallas's leaders may be the ones who lead us through this horror
on July 08, 2016 at 3:10 PM, updated July 08, 2016 at 3:17 PM 

You're going to remember where you were. 

You're going to remember where you were when you first heard or saw "shots fired" in Dallas, when you later learned four, then five officers were dead—that 12, in all, were shot. 

You're also going to remember where you were when you first watched Philando Castile take his last breath as his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds went live and share the horrific experience she and her four-year-old daughter will live over and over and over for the rest for their lives. 

And where you were when you first saw Alton Sterling twitching on the ground twitching as his own life slipped away, minutes after he was selling CDs on the street.
Some of you may be old enough, like me, to remember where you were when you heard that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, or when Rev. Martin Luther King or 

Sen. Robert F. Kennedy were gunned down. 

Or when 9/11 happened. 

You'll remember because, like each of those national tragedies, the events of this week will forever change us. 

http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2016/07/dallass_leaders_may_be_the_one.html

Dallas Police Chief David Brown collects himself while talking about Thursday night's shooting during a news conference, Friday, July 8, 2016, in Dallas. Snipers opened fire on police officers in the heart of Dallas Thursday night, during protests over two recent fatal police shootings of black men. (Mark Mulligan/Houston Chronicle via AP) (Mark Mulligan)