Monday, August 10, 2009

On blame-sharing...

I don't know if I commented on this before...

...And during his April visit, Obama made a welcome acknowledgment to Mexicans that Americans share the blame for violence south of the border because of drug consumption and gun trafficking.

Without starting to beat the legalization drum again, I can see where drug consumption factors into this. People buy it and when they do they put money into the pockets of the cartels. There's really no getting around that. But as for the gun trafficking, is that Americans' fault? Really? Ahem. Who are the ones ultimately responsible for securing the border so as to cut down on those weapons (as few of them as there are, anyway) going down there? To the extent that's the fault of the ordinary American it's only because the ordinary American continues to vote for certain people without holding their feet to the fire and demanding they secure the border as part of "providing for the common defense" as opposed to pandering to certain groups and mouthing empty platitudes like "family values don't stop at the Rio Grande." Of course we all know what the Mexicans want, and I am certainly glad there are at least certain Democrats in the House of Representatives who will call out the "assault weapons ban" as the useless anti-freedom crap that it is, but I honestly wonder how long that dam will hold.