Saturday, August 1, 2009

NRA Threatens On Sotomayor Vote: No One Listens


Politicians should not fear the repercussions of upsetting a lobbyist group, but should instead think of their constituency. Shame on those elected officials who changed their mind when the NRA butted in.

The NRA represents 4 million people, or roughly 1.3% of the population. Inversely, they do not represent 296 million people, so how have they amassed so much power on Capitol Hill? 91% of Americans favor at least minor gun controls.

Judges more frequently have been used as pawns in the game of politics, and considering David Souter's stance on gun control, is the bench really changing? The NRA cannot stack the deck in their favor.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

2 comments:

  1. I think that groups like the NRA underline the disorganized apathy (that I'm sort of a part of) that makes up the general political landscape of this country. You have the NRA, which is very organized, that gets its agenda heard and forwarded simply because they are so organized and loud. Who wanted to mess with Charleton Heston? This is one take on representative democracy, namely that the people who pick up the gauntlet and demand representation will only get challenged if there is a counter-group that demands even louder.

    Can you blame the NRA (or any other group) for picking up that gauntlet? I'm not a big fan of everyone owning AK-47s, but I don't really see gun control as a necessary option. I think there are other things we should be focusing our attention on.

    However, that is beside the point, really. It is shocking that the NRA would be given so much consideration, but again it's the squeaky wheel, right?

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  2. This is one of my issues with Homeowners Associations. Typically, they are a minority controlled group that marginalizes the majority's opinions due to the fact that the majority are indifferent.

    Those homeowners are labeled apathetic, and the minority group builds up feelings of resentment and self righteousness, as well as a feeling that the majority is apathetic because they are complacent with how things are run.

    The majority of Americans support some kind of gun control, but they lack the organization or the will to push their issues. The NRA does not, and I believe this acts as somewhat of a multiplier to their efforts, giving them greater strength. You can accomplish more with less when there is little to no opposition.

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