We live in a consumer society, and for years politicians have practically played up being a slave to capitalism as being your patriotic duty. The ironic thing is that instead of the rallying cry of "Buy American!", they might as well be saying "Buy Chinese!", since every bit of plastic crap people snatch eagerly off Walmart shelves comes from our neighbors from the Far East, but whatever. In a climate of unchecked spending, Americans have dug their own holes of debt, with credit cards companies handing us the shovels with which to bury ourselves.
In response to the usurous practices of credit card companies, Congress recently passed the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2009 in order to stop said practices and protect consumers from getting hoodwinked. Looks great; that is, save for that pesky small print.
You see, there are some strange bedfellows one must commune with when trying to get a bill passed, and this bill's paramours were Oklahoma's Republican Senator Tom Coburn and the National Rifle Association. He, along with fellow Republicans and the more conservative elements of the Democratic Party, introduced a provision into the bill that allows owners of licensed firearms to bring them into national parks and wildlife refuges, as long as they are allowed to do so by state law. Said Senator Coburn, “The Federal laws should make it clear that the second amendment rights of an individual at a unit of the National Park System or the National Wildlife Refuge System should not be infringed."
Gee, thanks, Tom. So, the next time I'm out camping with my family, do I have to worry that some cowboy from Oklahoma's going to pop a cap in my ass when I'm sitting around the campfire roasting some marshmallows? Why the hell are totally unrelated provisions even allowed to be tacked onto bills? So, just in the interest of securing the necessary votes to pass the bill, liberal Democrats have to pander not only to the Republicans, and to the more conservative elements of their own party, but also to the NRA? Said California Senator Barbara Boxer, "It's a shame, but you have to come to a realization around here that at this point in time, the NRA gets the votes." Aw, shoot! So, I should give you a pass on this one, eh, Miss Boxer? This is yet another reason to not trust our elected officials. Even though the promise of change still rings in my ears from Obama's successful election, the truth of the matter is that practices like this will continue to go on. Where's the outraged cries of Americans over this matter? Well, they're too busy texting and shutting themselves off from the world by permenantly planting thier ear buds into their earholes to even notice crap like this.
Well, I guess if you can't beat 'em, join 'em---I'm packin' my AK-47 when I go camping this summer. It's going to be a BLAST!
Wanna watch NRA victory. This is a credit card reform act of 2009 which ended the capitalism a game played by most of the politicians.
Posted by: plastic card | December 21, 2009 at 08:14 AM