Democratic Outline of Abject Failure

The GOP’s tried and true play book will lead to another win over the gun control lobby, and American children. It always does.  Democrats have their own predictable responses.  Of course, the predictable responses will lead to inevitable failure.

1.      “We should not live in fear of sending our children to school.”

Translation:  Let’s show that we are angry too.  Maybe this is a good election issue for us!

2.      “We need to ban assault rifles, ghost guns, high capacity magazines, and bump stocks.  We need universal background checks and waiting periods.” 

Translation:  We have to ride the public sentiment and use this momentum to get something done.  Also, let’s make sure our voters see us responding!

3.      “We need common sense gun laws, like universal background checks.”

Translation:  Ok… we were too ambitious.  We could never get all that done.  But maybe something small to show voters that we are trying.  In any event, we need to back off a bit to support our purple district colleagues.

4.      “We are not beholden to the NRA.”

Translation:  We aren’t! We swear!... Ok… some of us are…. Ok, ok… many of us are in purple districts and if we push too hard the gun rights lobby will come after us.

5.      “The GOP refuses to work with us.  It’s their fault nothing gets done.”

Translation:  We failed again. But let’s point the finger.  We should not look too closely at our own ineptitudes.  We do not want our voters to know that we are afraid of the NRA. 

6.      “…”

Translation:  If we keep our heads down and wait, this will blow over.  It ALWAYS does.  The American public has an extremely short attention span.  They will forget, and we can avoid taking on a difficult issue. 

To be an elected Democrat you must be comfortable failing… all the time.  To be a liberal, progressive or just a human with empathy you must be prepared to be continually disappointed in those who are supposed to represent you.  Be prepared for angry calls to action, nervous hand wringing, ambitious proposals, followed by less-ambitious proposals, and finally silence.   In a month we will be back to where we started and nothing will have changed.