21 Apr Money Speaks Louder Than People

The last two weeks have been filled with enough “shock and awe” to last me for a while: the bombing in Boston and the chase for its perpetrators, the explosion in West, Texas, and, finally, the Senate vote on gun background checks. Despite my horror, I haven’t commented much on the first two. They’ve been covered in great detail by the media. In fact, the television “talking heads,” having to fill hours with endless chit chat during lulls in the action, became a major distraction. However, I felt compelled to say something about the Senate vote.

Most polls indicate at least 90% of Americans support gun background checks (80% of gun owners!), including a Quinnipiac University poll conducted at the beginning of April. So, it was shocking to hear of the bill’s defeat. One of the problems is that national issues like this are highly skewed by regional interests: both chambers of Congress are elected by small districts or states, not the country as a whole. These polls were based on a national sampling.

So, I spent much of my free time this week crafting my statement, voicing my opinion in a way for which I’m best suited: visually. Here is my op-ed piece and my latest poster from the Chamomile Tea Party:

Senator’s, you failed your background checks.

Interestingly, when I put the poster out there on the net, many took it as an indictment against the 2nd Amendment. But this wasn’t the genesis for this poster at all. Yes, I am a fervent gun control advocate —within certain contexts. However, this is about the power of money and of Washington lobbyists, including the National Rifle Association.

From the Supreme Court’s ruling that corporations are essentially people who can contribute humongous amounts of money to influence our politicians to the results of this vote, I am indeed shocked. But I’m not surprised.

Background Note: For those of you who are followers of the Chamomile Tea Party posters, this one is not based on a World War II propaganda poster. This propaganda is all mine.