Fear Not

The Only Thing We Have to Fear

Is Fear Itself

During some of its darkest hours President Franklin Delano Roosevelt told the country that, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Those words ring with even more truth today than they did during the depths of the Great Depression in 1932.

Today’s politics of division and supremacy are primarily based on nothing but fear. Our leaders and some of their followers would have us fear each other, fear those whose skin is a different color, fear those who come to our shores escaping violence, fear those who believe in a different supreme being, fear those who love differently, fear those who seek to control their own reproductive systems, fear those who believe in science as a basis for sound policy, and fear those who follow different economic or political systems.

We need to own firearms in even greater numbers because we fear the “bad guy” who might come to take what is ours. Second Amendment purists and those who profit from it, base their beliefs and business model on the myth that there is some “other” out there who is looking to bring us harm. Virtually every email I see from the NRA and its local offspring, Delta Defense, promotes their platform based on fear. 

Recent fervor supporting immigration bans prohibiting people entering our country from neighboring countries to the South is mostly based on fear of the Mexican criminal who will deal drugs, rape our women and steal our children. Many cling to this myth even in the face of clear proof that most immigrants come here to work and make a better life for themselves and their families.

The rise of newly emboldened white supremacy groups is based upon the irrational fear that somehow Anglo European immigrants will soon be forced from power and become an under class as America becomes more multi-ethnically diverse. Genetically, human beings are much more alike than different. Skin color differences do not translate into a better or worse human being. It makes no difference, yet too many of us are taught to fear based just on this element of the human condition. 

Fear of those who love those with similar gender characteristics is another one of those irrational emotions used to divide. Folks attracted to those like themselves are not trying to kidnap children or lure them into a heretical lifestyle. Same sex couples can be just as good or just as bad at parenting as opposite sex couples. Gender fluidity will never upset the social order. 

The recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding President Trump’s travel ban unfortunately gives it an aura of legitimacy it does not deserve. The travel ban prohibiting Muslims from certain countries from entering our country is based on another irrational fear, that all who share that faith from those countries are bent upon committing terrorist acts on our soil. Most people who practice Islam are just as anti-terror as anyone else who disavows its use. To ban entire populations based upon a few dangerous individuals does nothing to advance world peace and a belief in a common humanity.

Fear of women becoming hyper-sexualized and running amok was one of the original motivations for limiting access to birth control and opposing reproductive choice.  Fear of feminism is based on outmoded notions of women’s’ inequality and inability to think and act for themselves without male guidance. 

Fearing the erosion of Christian belief systems led to challenges to science-based policy decisions in education. If you teach evolution as a fact proven by the scientific method, the underpinnings of beliefs in divine creation will evaporate. If you challenge the way we live because we know humans have created climate change and must wean ourselves from the use of fossil fuels in order to survive, I will lose my livelihood. Therefore, acting on climate change is an evil to be feared.

Fear of communism, socialism, tribalism, cooperatives and the other economic and political systems that compete with capitalism drives current political thought away from our being able to choose aspects of those competing systems that might be beneficial to our continued prosperity. Universal healthcare and food security come to mind as rational ways to maintain the species. We seem to fear them just because they have worked in different political systems than our own and threaten certain capitalistic institutions. 

As we approach the annual celebration of America’s founding on July the Fourth, let us resolve to banish fear as a reason to act or fail to act. Let us boldly embrace the other, the different, the new and the experimental so we truly can make America greater than she was before.

Social Responsibility

Claiming Social Responsibility

Requires Hard Choices

“Social Responsibility” is generally thought to include working with a higher purpose than mere profitability, a striving to improve our society and strengthen community life.

To some on the right side of the political spectrum, the phrase has taken on a pejorative meaning and they use it to label left leaning folks and groups as “do gooders,” consistent with their world view that we should just care about ourselves and not each other. 

Some organizations use “social responsibility” as part of their mission statement. Claiming this mantle is meant to show a concern for the well being of others and a commitment to making the communities they serve better through their good works. 

Our local Y (formerly the YMCA) and the national Y organization have staked a claim to being socially responsible. The Y touts its social responsibility in its promotional materials and offerings. It stresses “healthy living” by offering exercise and fitness classes, youth programming, nutritional and health screenings, child care and other endeavors meant to promote long, healthy lives for all ages of members.

I have long been associated with the Y. I learned to swim in Y pools as a kid. I attended Y sponsored summer programs and camps well into my adolescence. As I aged, I came back to the Y to regain lost fitness, continue my cardiac rehab, and reconnect with other seniors in my community. I try to get to the Y on Washington St. three times a week to work out and meet with my personal trainer, who has helped me stay alive.  By partnering with Silver Sneakers and other health insurance programs for seniors, the Y has made membership free to those on fixed incomes.

All of these activities certainly entitle the Y to claim that it acts in a “socially responsible” manner. Unfortunately, when attempts were being made to expand the Y’s social responsibility activities to include more current social issues, the current Y management was not interested.

The first issue came in the form of a request to make the Y a “Safe Space” for people who felt attacked or threatened in the new wave of anti-immigrant, anti-LBGTQ sentiments that sprang up after the last presidential election. The Y was asked to participate in “Safe Space” training and to post a small poster in the window indicating that the Y would offer protections to those harassed or threatened. The former “Social Responsibility” director refused the requests, indicating that the Y does not discriminate against people of color, those with non-majority sexual orientation or gender expression or those in minority or immigrant groups. She did allow placement of the “Safe Space” poster on a community bulletin board in an upstairs hall in the building, but refused to replace it after it mysteriously disappeared from the board.

The second attempt to engage the Y in an expanded vision of  “social responsibility” involved its fund raising program that included accepting funds from and advertising for a local business whose mission is to encourage the taking of human life by armed violence. Again the Y dropped the ball and refused to even discuss the matter at a recent Board of Directors meeting. 

The Y started a campaign to solicit funds from local donors. In exchange for a $1,000 donation, the donor got his or her name on a small banner hanging from the rafters in the Y lobby. For a $2500 or larger contribution, the donor received a much larger banner hanging closer to the floor with their name. Most names on the banners are well known members of Washington County’s donor class.

One prominent name on a large banner on the first row is Delta Defense coupled with the logo of the US Concealed Carry Association. I have written here before about Delta Defense’s owners and their attempts to purchase respectability with corporate largess. For those who do not know, the company provides support to the concealed carry/self-defense movement and advocates for an individual’s absolute right to take human life through armed violence.

When I tried to point out that the Y’s claim to “social responsibility” was inconsistent with taking Delta Defense money and advertising its brand, the Executive Director and the Executive Committee of the Y’s Board of Directors decided not to engage in the discussion about gun violence in our community and refused to bring the issue before its full Board for a discussion of its “social responsibility” policy. 

Organizations claiming the mantle of “social responsibility” cannot ignore the social issues of our time just because they are controversial or may anger some of their members. If you are going to be socially responsible, you have to be willing to examine what that means and take positions consistent with your mission even if it means giving back some money and letting marginalized people know they are welcome and safe.

Waring Fincke is a retired attorney and serves as a guardian for the elderly and disabled with a Sheboygan County non-profit agency.

Our Local NRA Wannabes

Meet Delta Defense

Your local NRA

The NRA is not the only outfit promoting the absolute, god given right to own and use firearms wherever and whenever we want. We have our own local Delta Defense proudly flying the “Don’t Tread on Me” flag joining that chorus.

For those who missed the Delta Defense signs all over West Bend as it sponsors events and charities to purchase some aura of respectability, the company provides the base for a number of connected entities promoting armed concealed carry and self defense, trading on fear and based on the idea that we need to be ready at a moment’s notice to use deadly force against those who might do us harm.

Tim Schmidt and his wife, Tonnie, who was elected to the West Bend school board last year, founded Delta Defense in 2003.  They first opened in Jackson. Then, they purchased the former Museum of Wisconsin Art building across from the West Bend Library, bailing out the Museum’s construction loan with a grant from local economic development funds. Next, they got more help from the City to build their new headquarters on the hill behind Boston Store. West Bend Mayor Kraig Sadownikow, a proud “Three Percenter,” Second Amendment absolutist and staunch supporter helped engineer city support.

Delta Defense provides logistical and editorial support for the United States Concealed Carry Association, a wholly owned membership club, that provides training for concealed carry instructors, conducts concealed carry classes, hosts concealed carry expos and other firearm and self-defense related activities. It produces and sells a wide range of DVDs and handbooks that tell you how to kill others and avoid the consequences in the pursuit of personal freedom. One of these, “Countering the Mass Shooter Threat,” will teach you how to be the good guy with the gun who saves the day at your local school. They sell insurance to pay your legal fees if you are charged criminally for defending yourself or others and subsequently acquitted. Delta Defense also produces an Internet streamed radio broadcast “Armed American Radio” and lobbies for fewer laws restricting gun ownweship.

The USCCA publishes a slick magazine for its members aptly named “Concealed Carry,” heavily laden with ads for all manner of handguns and knives and devices to hide them.

The magazine publishes handgun, knife and holster reviews, accounts from those who used a gun for self-defense, legislative reviews of enactments that favor concealed carry or seek to impose restrictions on firearms. The July 2017 issue focused on “guns, politics and the law” and exposes the company’s underlying philosophy.

Delta Defense President and CEO Tim Schmidt wrote there, “that the right to keep and bear arms is God-given and affirmed by the 2nd Amendment to our Constitution” and that it was “downright crazy that we should ever have to jump through bureaucratic hoops, submit to permitting processes or ask permission from our government to exercise that God-given right...” He submits only so he can carry a gun for self-defense. His editor follows noting that laws against violence are necessary in a civilized society. Another article claimed, “The whole concealed carry thing is about being ready to shoot someone.” The author continues that arming everyday folks, not just the authorities, actually helps keep the peace because no one wants a shooting war with a neighboring clan less upright.

The most telling article in the July issue recounted lessons learned from the horrific mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Florida. The first was how difficult it is to prepare mentally for such an event. The second involved how difficult it is, even for a trained law enforcement officer, to actually hit the shooter during a mass-shooting event. Third, nobody fought the shooter. Fourth, no one recognized the danger when the shooter walked in with a rifle. No mention, not a single word, that restricting access to semi-automatic rifles with high capacity magazines might have averted the shooting all together or, at least, given those with handguns a better chance of survival.

No effort like this would be complete without conspiracy theories about the government keeping guns away from the citizenry. The July issue took the Veterans Administration to task for legally informing the FBI about people it deemed “mentally defective” so they could be prevented from obtaining a firearm. This was followed by an article condemning state legislatures for passing laws allowing court ordered firearm confiscation from at substantial risk of harm to themselves or others.

More recent editions of “Concealed Carry” give good advice on dealing with the criminal justice system after you shoot someone, “shut up and lawyer up,” and not so good assessments of the recently passed laws in several western (“Left Coast”) states allowing court ordered firearm confiscations and a gratuitous attack on former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for sponsoring moderate gun reform efforts. The January 2018 edition takes issue with mandatory firearm training requirements for concealed carry permits noting that voluntary training is good but government required training is awful.

If the NRA seems too big and far away to influence, contact Delta Defense and let them know they are on the wrong side of history.

#Enough

Student Survivors Leading the Charge

#Enough #Never Again

President Trump’s responses to the pleas from the student survivors of Florida’s most recent mass school shooting for quick action on gun control were inconsistent and nonsensical.

Arming teachers who, for the most part, have no interest in shooting people who enter schools is a non-starter. We are told there is no money for smaller class sizes, supplies for students, teacher salary increases or social workers. Where will the money for the guns and training come from? No one knows.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) had the guts to attend a town hall in Florida after the latest shooting and told student survivors he will gladly continue to take money from the NRA because they support his agenda of more guns everywhere. He did allow that maybe there was some sense in raising the age at which one can purchase a mass-shooting weapon from 18 to 21, but added that it required more study.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) wants more information before considering gun violence reform. This rings hollow after he helped pass legislation that actually prevents the nation’s Center for Disease Prevention and Control from studying the causes of gun violence. The Washington Post just published clear studies showing that mass-shootings declined when the assault weapons ban was passed and went back up after it was allowed to expire.

Wayne La Pierre, the head of the National Rifle Association, spoke Thursday to a conservative political convention, claiming there was an evil in the land leading the fight to take away individual liberties along with our guns. He wants “hardened schools” with armed security guards to prevent intruders. He made no mention of the right to attend school without having to worry about weapons whose sole purpose is to kill as many as possible.

If the Florida high school mass shooting has any bright side, it is found in the cries and pleas of the student survivors. “Enough” and “Never Again.” They are marching to the halls of power demanding an end to the carnage from AR-15s in their schools. Similar marches and protests are being planned across the country. They just want to be safe at school so they can learn.

The student survivors recognize that we adults have lost the fire and the ability to bring about the changes needed keep them safe in their schools. They recognize what the problem is and whose responsibility it is to find the solution. In the words of Emma Gonzales, a Parkland student leader, “we call BS” to all the excuses and artful dodging. Their messages are clear.

It is time to end the sale of military style people killing weapons with their large magazines.

It is time for intensive universal background checks on all weapon sales.

It is time to put the safety of our future generations ahead of any right to own firearms.

It is time for our political leaders to stop taking money from the NRA.

Every political movement for social justice and peace in my life time has been lead by young people who see the problem, know the answer and “call BS” on those who stand in the way.

President Trump, the GOP leaders in Congress and those here in Wisconsin act at their political peril if they continue to ignore the student voices demanding common sense gun control reform. While they may not be able to vote this year or next, their time is coming.

Don’t try half-measures or platitudes. The Internet trolls won’t work either. The student survivors and those who don’t want to see the carnage first hand will continue to speak truth to power until change happens.

Those of us who rose up in earlier political movements have their backs and will lend a hand. I could not be more proud of the lawyers around the state offering free legal help to students disciplined by their schools for engaging in gun violence reform protests.

Change is coming on gun violence. Join in to help make it happen or get out of the way.

Waring Fincke is a retired attorney and serves as a guardian for the elderly and disabled with a Sheboygan county non-profit agency.

Remember Bailey Holt

Remember Bailey Holt

America’s Daughter

Bailey Holt, age 15, got up, got dressed and went to her high school this week, just as many of our daughters do everyday. She called her mom from school later that day as she lay dying in a pool of her own blood on the floor. All her mom heard was her last breath.

Bailey Holt was the latest victim of gun violence in the eleventh school shooting this first month of 2018. Her murderer was another 15-year-old student, a white U.S. citizen, who brought a firearm to school.  He killed another student and wounded more before being arrested by the police.

With each of these mass shootings, we grow increasingly numb to the carnage inflicted by those with easy access to firearms. We need to remember Bailey and all the others whose promising lives have been senselessly cut short. It is only by sheer luck, that it was not your son or daughter who was caught in the crossfire at school.

How many more of our sons and daughters need to have their lives snuffed out in an instant, lying in their own blood on a schoolroom floor or at a concert or at a sporting event or at church on Sunday? How many more have to live with the physical wounds inflicted or the emotional scars from watching a classmate die?

What will it take America for us to stand up and demand that our legislators give back the massive donations received from the National Rifle Association and others in the rabid Second Amendment purist lobby and pass reasonable restrictions on access to and the use of these deadly weapons?

We require licenses of those entrusted with other deadly weapons. We ensure they understand the dangers inherent in getting behind the wheel of vehicles that weigh more than a ton and can reach speeds over 100 miles per hour or fly a plane or drive bus with passengers. We make sure they know the rules and how to operate these deadly machines safely.

Active shooter drills are not enough. Which is better? Making sure the food supply is safe to eat before it is served or treating food poisoning after it happens?

Arming teachers and administrators fares no better. Even assuming good training and quicker reflexes, we’re treating the problem after the gun enters the school in the hands of someone intent on causing death. We want teachers to be compassionate conveyors of knowledge and critical thinking, not armed and trained to kill assassins.

It is time to ban assault weapons, bump stocks and high capacity magazines. Every gun owned in America needs a required trigger lock. Every gun sale in America should be prevented until the new owner passes a criminal background check and a mental health screening while showing recent completion of a firearm safety class. No more gun show loopholes or private sales. Every firearm owner needs to maintain a license to own and use firearms issued only after demonstrating a through knowledge of safety procedures, the range of bullets fired, proficiency with the firearm they own and insurance covering damages or loss of life from their firearm. Every gun currently in circulation needs to be registered with local, state and federal law enforcement or turned in and destroyed. Ammunition sales need to be recorded and limited to reasonable amounts necessary for hunting or home defense. It should be illegal for anyone other than a licensed firearms dealer to possess more than 100 rounds of ammunition. Everyone licensed to carry a concealed weapon should be identified publicly. We need to fund and support medical research on the causes and treatment of violence.

Don’t fall back on the preposterous construction of the Second Amendment that proclaims everyone should be allowed to own, carry and use firearms wherever or whenever they want, without restriction. The Second specifically mentions “a well regulated militia,” meaning that the founders believed in regulating firearm use. I do not believe we can or should regulate firearms out of existence. I do believe we need to regulate firearms so that not a single parent has to listen to their child die over the phone after being shot, especially at school.

Remember Bailey Holt when you call your legislator to demand an end to gun violence and death in our schools.

Waring Fincke is a retired attorney and serves as a guardian for the elderly and disabled with a Sheboygan county non-profit agency.