During my adult life I have voted Republican more times than I have voted Democrat. That all changed during the 1st term of George W. Bush. Now - I am not blaming him for the mess we're in so spare me your vitriol...

What changed for me was that, as I watched what he did, his actions seemed so disparate that they didn't really make much sense... until I began to realize that everything (IMO) that he did was geared, at some level, to benefit business/corporate America, ie: some special interest group. It wasn't until after I had that realization that his actions began to make sense.

So...fast forward a little bit...The state I live in had no seat belt law and our legislature doesn't get a lot done most years. But one year, they managed to get a seatbelt law passed and I found myself wondering "Out of all the things before the legislature last year and they managed to change the seatbelt law?" So I began to look into it.

What I found out was that two Republican representatives in the state legislature had figured out that by passing a state law requiring the use of seat belts, the state could then apply for and receive a multi-million dollar grant from the Federal DOT to enforce those laws and that the local police departments could then apply to the state for their piece of the action. And who was behind this National Program? Well, the insurance industry, of course.

The big rationale and what was in all the media releases and news articles was that this new law would help reduce the costs of EMS services. The State Troopers ran "Click It or Ticket" messages all over the state. Did the legislature lower EMS budget the following year? Uh, No.

Now wearing seat belts is a very good idea - in fact it's just plain stupid to not wear one. My point is, though, that someone with a clear financial motive went to Congress and got their their program into an approved budget , it then went to the states through grants and then to local governments, also through grants. All paid for by The People.

Fast forward again to the topic of gun control. I am convinced that if there were corporations in this country that stood to make just as much money off of the citizens NOT having a butt load of guns, we would have messages in the media about how it is our patriotic duty to remove hand guns from our communities.

And these spots would again be paid for by The People.

And we would be having an entirely different conversation.