A week is a long time in politics

It's long been known how fluid the news cycle is. Just as Biden was about to shout from the rooftops about the America Rescue Plan. The Republicans have got a helping hand from their old friend the gun. In a society where it's just as easy to buy an AR-15 as a pair of shoes, the GOP knows that a mass shooting is never too far away to grab the news cycle.

There is little point discussing gun reform it would seem, because despite overwhelming public support for universal background checks, NOTHING will happen. (I don't think) So the question is, how representative is democracy in the US? How much influence does the gun lobby have on gun legislation? I don't even need to answer that question. Each day, it becomes increasingly evident that governance is utterly ineffective under the shadow of the filibuster. I could point to a myriad of laws that become so diluted as to be ineffective, simply to fend off the threat of the filibuster.

In the current political climate, it is a key tool for the opposition and Mitch McConnell is a master of its use. I scratch my head every day thinking just how the Dems can do a thing about it. If Manchin and the like continue to point blank refuse to vote for its removal, I think voting rights in many red states are under real peril. It is no exaggeration to say, it is easier to buy an AR-15 than to exercise your right to vote. It is utter madness. Indeed it's the definition of madness to keep watching the same thing happen again and again and not do something to address the 40,000 Americans each year, that lose their lives to gun violence.

I reluctantly return to the subject of immigration because, as I said the other day, excluding the press from facilities at the southern border is folly. The level of noise is now growing daily, as the press push for access and the administration push back. As I previously stated, it would the refusal of access that became the story and ever was it so. By any definition, the situation at the southern border is a crisis, but yet no admission of the fact from the administration.

I absolutely understand the need to control the narrative, but the right thing to do would have been to say, 'This is a humanitarian disaster. It's a crisis left to us by the previous administration's inhumane treatment of people fleeing violence, repression and economic hardship'. The press should have been invited in and i shown the conditions to the American people warts and all. It would shine a light on just how bad it is and what a massive challenge it is to find a remedy. Instead, the American people are being offered the 'please trust us' line. After the last 4 years, it needs to be recognised that trust is in short supply.

It may be controversial, but the US has probably the best equipped army in the world. Countless times, it has stepped into a humanitarian role around the world, delivering tented facilities with unparalleled logistical support. Indeed, the creation of the field hospital facilities during the Covid-19 pandemic, has been a shining example of just how effective the army can be in that role. It could even have a dual role in tightening security whilst policy is adjusted and the much needed infrastructure is put in place to better manage the CRISIS.