But there are other things needed -- things that reflect clear thinking and analytical effort. For instance, we need a rational rethinking of what the word "freedom" means. For the NRA and its allies the linchpin of freedom is the right to own unlimited semi-automatic assault rifles.
Thus, does "freedom" mean that just about anyone is free to carry weapons that potentially put the rest of us in danger? Should we all be free to carry weapons that are most often going to be used to shoot off the owner's foot, or shoot someone he or she imagines is acting abnormally, or shoot a family member in a heated argument, or, in a fit of deep depression to blow one's own brains out? Does it mean that people are free to carry weapons that they may decide to use in an act of mass murder?
Does "freedom" mean that if you have a lot of money you can use it to corrupt the nation's politicians so that they distort the positions and policies of government to such a degree that they cease to have any connection to common-sense definitions of collective community interest?
Right now, the answer is yes. In good part, this is actually what freedom means in the U.S. And these stupid definitions of "freedom" are slowly but surely undermining the body politic. If we don't find a way to, in essence, work our way free of the pseudo-freedoms that are ruining our political system and killing our citizens, things will simply get worse.
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