By Douglas V. Gibbs
As I often do, I got into a political conversation with a person I met out in public. She saw my National Rifle Association hat on my dome, and shook her head, which ushered me over to ask her why she feels that I should not be able to defend myself.
"Guns," the woman said to me, "brings crime. That is why I am upset about the conversation in Murrieta about bringing a gun range into our city. I don't want such a place to attract the criminal element."
"Funny," I said. "During the city council meeting where this issue was discussed a woman on the dais made a similar argument. I was the one that decided to counter her argument. In reality, criminals fear an armed public. If a gun range is in Murrieta, and it is bringing in a lot of customers, that means many members of the City of Murrieta are armed, and criminals just don't want to take that chance. They prefer their victims unarmed."
"Well," she rebutted, "if it wasn't for Bush screwing up our economy we wouldn't have so much crime."
"Come again?"
"When people are suffering, they turn to crime - especially gun owners, because they know they have a weapon to use to commit crime with."
It was one of the most ludicrous things I had ever heard.
"Law-abiding gun owners don't commit crimes. As for thhe cause of the economic downturn," I told her, "it was not necessarily because of Bush's policies. Don't get me wrong, I did not think that Bush was wonderful in all ways. As a constitutionalist, I had a problem with his 'No child left behind' law, and the prescription law. The federal government does not have those authorities. The recession was caused by liberal policies regarding the mortgage industry that began with the Community Reinvestment Act signed during Jimmy Carter's presidency, and tweaked in a worse way under Clinton."
The woman thought for a moment, with a confused look on her face. "What do you mean the government didn't have authority to do something. They can do anything they want, if they feel it has to be done for good of the country. You're not one of those States' Rights people, are you? Those are the racists that caused the Civil War. Besides, what screwed all of this up was Bush's spending. He spent us into a recession."
"Obama has spent more than Bush," I replied.
"Yeah, Obama is spending a lot to fix the problems caused by Bush, but Bush spent more than Obama. Everybody knows that. Obama is trying to reduce federal spending. You apparently don't pay attention to the news."
I thought I was in the Twilight Zone.
"During Bush's presidency he was a big spender. No doubt about it. The national debt went up about $5 trillion during the eight years of his presidency. Under Obama, the debt went up about $5 trillion just during the first three years of his presidency, and the rate is increasing."
"That's a lie," she barked back. "That's the problem with you people, you can't get your facts straight and you say stuff that is a lie just to make it sound like your guy is better. Quit watching Fox News and maybe you will get your facts straight."
With that she turned away and disappeared around the corner of the aisle.
When I got home I looked up my numbers, and found them to be close to exactly right. I even used "her" media outlets to come up with the numbers.
These are the people voting for Obama, and democrats. As a constitutionalist my aim has been to educate people. I learned something, too, after the woman walked away. I was so busy arguing with her that I forgot to give her a pocket constitution, one of which I had in my back pocket, and I failed to tell her about my Constitution Class in Temecula at Faith Armory on Thursday Nights.
It is amazing how such ignorance about the truth gets us so out of focus. I was so upset about how off she was that I was surprised I kept my head as well as I did. I just wish I had remembered to hand her a constitution, and let her know about my efforts to educate the public.
Lesson learned. I will be ready, next time.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Obama vs. Bush on Debt - NPR
National Debt has increased more under Obama than under Bush - CBS News
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