"FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD"

That's a quote from the Bible.  James, the brother of Jesus, said it (James 2:20).  It’s something to keep in mind when you hear the same politicians offering their same thoughts and prayers in the aftermath of another mass killing.  Offering thoughts and prayers has become a cheap political ritual.  It’s shorthand for “I’m not going to take any concrete action to prevent future massacres, because the NRA might cut off my allowance.  Instead, I will cloak my cowardice in piety and hope no one notices.”   

The thing that most challenges my faith in our democratic system is the stranglehold that the National Rifle Association has on American politics.  The NRA is the single most destructive force in America today.  Not coincidentally, they spent $55 million helping Republicans in the 2016 election, of which $30 went to the Trump campaign. 

And guess what?  There appear to be Russian fingerprints on some of that money.  The McClatchy news organization reported last month (link below) that the FBI is investigating the NRA’s connection to one Alexander Torshin, deputy director of the central bank of Russia.  If the NRA used Russian money to influence a federal election, they broke the law.

In 1859, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech in which he referred to the origin of a famous Persian adage:  “It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: "And this, too, shall pass away." How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!”

Maybe our national gun fetish will pass someday.  I hope it happens before American democracy perishes in a hail of bullets and rubles.  When it comes to mass killings, I fear that things will get worse before they get better.  Thoughts and prayers will fly thick and fast – but not as fast as NRA campaign contributions.   

This is what Jon Lovett (Pod Save America, Lovett or Leave It) said last fall after the Las Vegas massacre.

“Oh, this is the worst one ever?  It won’t be for long.  More people will die.  And they you’ll see the politicians say, “There’s just no words.”  Why don’t you have words?  Why?  Are you surprised? You shouldn’t be.  You shouldn’t be surprised at all. It’s going to happen again; it’s going to happen in a month.  This is giving somebody else an idea – someone is going to watch this and they’re going to have the idea, and nothing is going to stand in their way. And we’re going to realize after the fact that we couldn’t stop that person.  And then that’s going to give somebody an idea.  And it’s just going to happen again and again, and we should face that, because that’s what’s happening.”

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article195231139.html