She certainly has a mixed record. But was she wrong to sign an amicus curiae brief with the Supreme Court to support overturning the DC gun ban? Well, consider the following.
Private gun ownership is compulsory in Switzerland and practically impossible in Japan. They are both very peaceable and orderly countries. They are also still politically self-governing and culturally self-respecting ones. And, which is the present point, they have very traditional and effective family and community structures, such as America, and indeed Britain (gun-sodden and knife-sodden entirely regardless of the law), used to have.
Just as there is a pressing need to restore those structures, so there is also a pressing need to stop drugging teenagers up to their eyeballs, also a recent phenomenon. Neither adolescent angst, nor simple maleness in all its adolescent hormonality, is a medicable condition, and they should not be treated as such. Look what happens when they are.
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Good points. I have so far intentionally refrained from commenting on the Giffords tragedy because I feel we don’t have enough facts yet. However, I think you may very well be right that drug use may be the big story here and not political extremism or gun control.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I think most people with access to the major media outlets will argue that the problem is that too few people are on powerful psychiatric drugs when the real problem is the way society is structured, that is, too much alienation, families that are too weak, etc. There is a reason why members of traditional societies like the Amish and tribes in Africa and New Guinea very rarely suffer from mental illness.
Although I doubt that the family and community structures in Japan (with its low rates of marriage and childbirth, and high rate of suicide) are "conservative and effective", you have mostly good points.
ReplyDeleteYes, maleness is NOT a mental illness. The US is no expert on determining what is, being seriously deficient in mental healthcare. If Loughner is crazy, that could be a sign that Washington should get it together and reverse the mass closure of mental hospitals caused by Reagan.
Just another idea that may help...