Reasonable people can disagree both strongly and with facts about our political laws, of course; or about economics; or even the proper role of political government in human societies.
But even among my list of friends, (Facebook and otherwise) there is a disturbingly broad, hostile, and in practice, dangerous range of perceptions and opinions regarding the appropriate use of deadly violence; both abroad, and domestically.
The range is roughly from Peace and Love toward All – No Matter What, to Nuke ‘Em All ‘cause …whatever. And this is both at a global level, and at a very personal, within-your-home level.
Now I don’t intend to waste time and effort discussing relative merits/ demerits in the arguments, as the divisions are so hard and deep that people hear only what they want anyway.
I just wish more of us would consider a few things when voting, speaking and otherwise 
enacting or supporting political violence:
1. Are you being consistent? Are guns really an answer when we’ve eliminated the militia system (killed completely in 1903), stopped free gun training in schools, and have jacked up so many kids on psychotropic drugs, and the rest of us on political lies/divisions, that it’s amazing that there aren’t more mass murders? Are you sure guns are the problem when you’re proposing taking guns away by force with armed force you may claim is corrupt and globally malignant? Do you trust the politicians and armed forces who’d take our guns? Do you trust the politicians and armed forces you say are why we need guns?
2. Are you sure your beliefs aren’t based on fear, or hate? Does your lip curl and your fingers tighten when hearing opposing views? Have you tried to understand why others disagree with you as violently as you disagree with them? Is, in other words, your view on guns and armies and drones and spies based upon fear-aggression-syndrome? Would you, as some have suggested, shoot people who want to keep their guns? If you support guns, do you support ownership for…everybody, or are there “certain people” who you don’t want to have guns? Are there whole countries that need to be smacked down? Really?
3. Have the political promises you believe, and vote for, ever been kept? Have the predictions and “facts” proven true? …Ever? When?
4. Have you looked skeptically at the forces and money behind the news stories?
5. Are you so sure your opinion isn’t what some very wealthy, powerful – even rogue clandestine agents, put into your head?
If more people actually thought long and hard about the above five things, I’m convinced that there’d be substantial changes in our global and domestic war machines, and military-industrial complex.
In any case, I’m also convinced that what we’re doing right now is madness.
And we had been warned many times by many people.
I think now’s a good time to picture a world that’s more peaceful, prosperous and secure, with liberty and justice for all…and find a way to work together with your neighbor (yeah; the one you think has crazy political notions) to make it so.
We Declare 