Another week with another tragedy that seems more and more uniquely American. Is this what is what people mean when they say American Exceptionalism?
The airwaves are filled as always with the same expressions of shock and outrage from public figures, which leave me cold. It happens so frequently that there is almost a standard protocol for reaction in place for the media and public officials. You know as soon as this happens what the outcry will be and how it will fade in several days except for those who lost family and friends in the gunfire.
Until the next time, which unfortunately will not be too long in coming. So we wait and shrug our shoulders, saying, like The Onion headline above, “There’s no way to prevent this.”
And there isn’t so long as we refuse to make difficult decisions.
Maybe putting off hard choices is our exceptionalism. We are wonderful in that capacity.
That brings me to this week’s Sunday musical choice. It’s fittingly titled If Not Now from Tracy Chapman from way back in 1988. Maybe if we hadn’t kicked that can down the road back then…
Redtree Times 
Gary, thank you for your comments. I couldn’t agree with you more. Our politicians have mostly given up on any resistance to the munitions lobby. We are exceptional in the world on this matter, and not in a good way. Clearly, when we decided it was acceptable to lose some of our schoolchildren rather than change our laws, we set a course that was truly a devil’s bargain. Ugh!
Thanks, Gary. I would rather talk about anything other than this but it seems like it is a more and more frequent occurrence in the US.