Others
by Scott Parkinson
I just finished listening to a Dole speech on CNN, and I have to say I'm a little confused. I understood his line about how less taxes will stimulate the economy, but then we're banking on human nature to steer that shaky idea, and if you ask any Republican how well humanity served idealism in the cause of the Marxists, they'll give you a woeful account of human greed and avarice trouncing human generosity in the race to secure the most for one's self. I also understood the part about the school voucher system. If parents want to have their children taught that only the Bible holds truth, then that is their right, God-given if you so believe, as Americans. I do wonder how the Maplethorpe Institute for the Arts and Sciences will fair when they go to cash their vouchers, but nothing's been said about exclusion yet, so I can't get riled over it. No, those points, even though I don't agree with them, don't confuse me. Their gist was clear and their meaning plain. Dole prattled on, spooking the living hell out of me, but sticking to a road that at least I could keep up on--even if I didn't like the scenery.
I was right there with Bob, disagreeing all the way, when we hit a curve and I was thrown from the path. Bob, going on about assault rifles and how only criminals commit crimes (thanks for the news flash, I'm glad to hear the final decision on that one), outlined his stance on gun ownership. He said that people, good people, should be allowed to own any gun they want, and that only criminals and others should be banned from gun owning. I was with him, neck and neck, until he said "others" and then I lost him. He went rambling down his road, rubber-jawing it about something (probably something I would not agree with) else, but I was left in his dust trying to figure out who the others were.
I won't completely abandon Bobby on this one, because he did give a tiny bit of information as to who he considered others. Bob considers "illegal aliens and such" to be others. Still, even with that slim piece of meat, I can't construct in my mind a picture of what an other might look like. My first question, reasonably, was whether or not I might be an other. I mean, if we took all of Bob and the Republicans' (Cool name for a band, huh?) values they would run right angles to my viewpoints. Would that make me an other? If so, why don't they want me to have a gun?
Even if I am not an other, why can't the others have guns. Are we planning on killing them? Or are we just making sure that they don't ever rise up and try to change the things we have set in place, because that's how those others act, you know. They're always worrying and fretting about something. Yes, I can see Bob's concern, because others have a way of not being like ourselves and you don't want that type being armed. Do you?
What if the others all got together, whomever they might be, talked about things and realized that they were not being fairly represented by their government because they were different. You might suppose, just go out onto the limb with me here, they would get their guns and start trouble. Imagine that. Them uppity others, all angry and hurt, demanding to be treated fairly, but not willing to change and be like us (that is if I am part of us and not one of the others). Man, that would be a scene wouldn't it?
What if there was a whole lot of others? Say more others than not. Then Bob, who can't be an other because he setting himself up to decide who the others are, would be wise to keep the guns out of their hands. A crazy group of others, with guns and having it in their minds to set about making changes, is a frightening thought. Why that goes against everything that this country was founded on. I think.
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