A Uniquely Violent Nation

We Have Another Choice

The United States of America is a uniquely violent nation.  Twice daily, there are mass shootings where at least four persons are the victims of gun violence.  Many more occur daily with less than four.  Twice hourly persons are killed by guns.  Many more hourly sustain life-changing gun-related injuries.  The leading cause of child deaths in America is now guns.  More than 600 mass gun shootings have already taken place this year in America, and the number keeps rising.  No other country in the developed world has such an extreme problem with gun violence, and no comparable country even comes close to America in rates of violence.

Why is this happening?  The scholarship of the last quarter century, including my own research and writing, more than clarifies the causes.  As to what to do, we know why America has few effective solutions—the overwhelming power of “the Gun Lobby” intimidates public officials at the same time as propagandizes the public.   Similarly, “the Pharmaceutical Lobby,” or Big Pharma, does the same, with the result of Americans paying far more for the same drugs than in any other country but of more than 250 Americans dying daily of drug overdoses.  This is not very different from what major Foreign Policy Lobbies do—with Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates at the top of the list—in coordination with the military-industrial-CIA complex.  This, in turn, brings about never-ending weapons proliferation and arms sales leading to extreme foreign policies that result in much global violence and death.

Things do not have to be this way.  Washington, the corporate media, and our universities, instead of allowing themselves to be infiltrated and largely controlled by big money interests, can choose to become part of the solution instead.  We can consciously choose again.