Gun Violence: A Manifesto
Solutions to Gun Violence in the United States
Reduction of emphasis on competition in Elementary and Middle School. More of emphasis on cooperation, teamwork, getting along. Showing how regardless of cooperation, there still can be individual success and delineation of individuality. This is evident in team sports. A team can win a championship, yet some individuals are recognized as being more significant for achievement of team success. These individuals in turn reiterate how they could not have achieved that individual success without help from their teammates. When their contracts are so much fatter than those of their teammates, sometimes these significant individuals give gifts out of their surplus to their teammates as acknowledgment of importance of teammates. Their teammates also are wealthy. The gift is a token not a reward. If all we teach kids from beginning of life is how to compete with one another, when exactly will they learn how to work with and appreciate one another?
Teaching of scientific evidence for both Creationism and Evolution. I am not here talking teaching of the Bible, but teaching of scientific — historical, archaeological, carbon dating, astronomical etc. — evidence which provides external validation for characterization of origins of life in the Bible. Why the Bible? America is a country founded on Christian principles. Let kids decide on basis of the scientific evidence, which of Creationism or Evolution makes more sense to them.
While High School of necessity must be more competitive than either of Elementary or Middle School, attempts at reducing importance of factions and mitigation of alienation of kids regarded as weird will be helpful for achievement of reductions in gun violence. High Schools found a way to prevent alienation of brilliant kids by producing a Nerd Network. Its time for the network consisting of weird kids. The most important thing is that every kid needs to be able to fit into some social support group. No kid should be left behind simply because they were different in some social or personality sense.
Recharacterization of capitalism as meaning “innovators make a living off of their innovations.” This is the real essence of capitalism — that those who produce innovations get to make a living off of their innovations. Innovators celebrate their workers, co-owners, suppliers, and consumers by sharing some of the economic rents (excess returns) of innovation with all of these other stakeholders.
Moving away from capitalism as meaning “it is okay for those who lose their competitive edge to fall through the cracks of society.” When falling chronically ill can lead to loss of competitive edge within a society in the sense that recovery becomes meaningless because illness has led to bankruptcy, capitalism has lost its heart and can produce the sort of carnage witnessed in Florida and all over the United States. America needs a social net for chronic, dangerous illnesses such as cancer. We can mark the support to evidence of a healthy lifestyle as a signal to everyone that their actions will weigh on the support they receive in event of incidence of chronic illness. This is not ideal, but we cannot change the entire health care system in one go. An imperfect solution yes, yet one that moves us closer to the ideal of societal support for management of chronic illnesses — a societal imperative. When innovators share some of their wealth with those who fall on hard times, this is capitalism with a heart.
Explicit branding of the United States as a nation with Christian origins. There do not exist any philosophical voids or vacuums in life. If Americans reject their Christian foundations just so they can have as much sex, or any kind of sex they want, they sacrifice the soul of the country for what lacks any true meaning. The only thing that prevents Americans from celebrating Christian origins of their country is arguments over sexual freedoms. Is this undermining of America in favor of other philosophies, philosophies which are tearing apart the fabric of the society worth that much? If because of interest in sexual freedoms, Americans kick against return to branding of America as a nation with Christian origins, we will be back to a situation where Islamic, Chinese and Buddhist ideology compete for the heart of America. If Americans are not aware, all of the conflicts since 2001 reflect philosophical competition for the heart of America. But America has its own philosophical foundations — Christianity. Increasingly, however, Americans have attempted to deny this foundation. The replacement of Jesus Christ as Guru with gurus of Asian origins cannot be regarded as a like for like exchange. Jesus was holy totally in public view (this is not Biblical speak, history outside of the Bible bears witness to this). Gurus live their lives behind cloaks of secrecy. Replacement of Jesus with gurus is no like for like exchange.
Christianity preaches acceptance of people regardless of their spiritual beliefs, this the case so long as spiritual beliefs do not preach immorality — stealing, murder, false witness, covetousness, adultery etc. (the only contentious one again is adultery or sexual relations). Return of America to Christian foundations cannot lead to intolerance for subscribers to other religious tenets. Applied as taught by Jesus Christ, Christianity is the most liberal of all religious tenets in so far as acceptance of people who are different is concerned. Even in Jewish traditions, strangers were to be treated like citizens — the same law was to apply to both the Jew and the stranger who chose to live within Jewish society. Return of America to Christian foundations, return which reduces factionalization of society, is good for the non-Christian.
Celebration of knowledge, as opposed to fame, popularity etc. as power of a society.
