Liability Insurance

Stealing an idea I heard in an MSNBC interview the other day - a Democratic strategist (whose name I've lost track of) suggested that, since we require automobiles to have insurance, why shouldn't possession of guns call for the same thing?

Automobiles require liability insurance in case the driver brings harm to others through his actions. The insurance industry evaluates risk on an individual basis, as per someone's  history and medical conditions, among other things. The cost of the insurance for a given driver can be prohibitive if that person is considered too high a risk.

When I substitute "guns" for "automobiles", and "gun owner" for "driver" in that paragraph, it still sounds pretty sensible. When we factor in mental illness as part of the insurance cost criteria, or when we consider the liability potential for ownership of an assault weapon, it's easy to imagine a self-regulating marketplace that brings some sanity to the debate.

As conservatives will suggest, let's put our faith in free markets.

For Moms

One Million Moms for Gun Control:

http://www.facebook.com/OneMillionMomsForGunControl

Moms Rising:

http://www.momsrising.org/

Please, take a look.

Things to Fix

Twenty 6- and 7-year old children were murdered by an assault weapon with high-capacity magazine clips by a socially withdrawn individual with a mother who was not only a gun advocate but apparently didn't take rational precautions to keep those weapons safe; doctors who offered advice around how to keep weapons safe in one's home were for a short time considered criminals in Florida.

That's just a short list of things we might consider fixing.

Keep Children Safe with Guns at Home

From this article, by the American Academy of Pediatrics:

Gun Safety: Keeping Children Safe

Research shows guns in homes are a serious risk to families:

• A gun kept in the home is 43 times more likely to kill someone known to the family than to kill someone in self-defense.
• A gun kept in the home triples the risk of homicide.
• The risk of suicide is 5 times more likely if a gun is kept in the home.

Advice to parents:

The best way to keep your children safe from injury or death from guns is to NEVER have a gun in the home.

• Do not purchase a gun, especially a handgun.
• Remove all guns present in the home.
• Talk to your children about the dangers of guns, and tell them to stay away from guns.
• Find out if there are guns in the homes where your children play. If so, talk to the adults in the house about the dangers of guns to their families.

For those who know of the dangers of guns but still keep a gun in the home.

• Always keep the gun unloaded and locked up.
• Lock and store the bullets in a separate place.
• Make sure to hide the keys to the locked boxes.

Job Creators

Conservatives would like to keep tax rates low, in particular for the wealthy; their belief is that these individuals are job creators, and increasing their taxes will discourage job growth. They also want to reduce spending by the government to bring the deficit down; they claim this will increase confidence and therefore increase business investment and economic growth.

Progressives would like more spending on things like education, infrastructure, rebuilding our country; they believe that increased revenue from increased taxes is one way that we fund that spending. They believe that spending on programs that directly create jobs, while contributing to the deficit in the short term, is an investment that creates pays dividends in the long term, in the form of economic growth.

It's not easy to connect cause and effect between either of these approaches; it's not easy to demonstrate that one set of policies works well, and another does not. We have research data that can help understand past effects, however the data is used selectively and with breathtaking levels of misrepresentation by partisans, as opposed to adding anything resembling clarity. Good luck preaching to anyone but your own choir.

So, let's make it easier to understand, and possible for everyone to win: rather than limiting tax deductions for charitable contributions, expand that category to include contributions to education and infrastructure programs. Give money to your state to keep police, fire fighters, teachers working, and to hire more of them. Build roads and bridges. Create a national program to bury our antiquated system of overhead power lines so the next hurricane doesn't result in power-outs and fires.

Let's have the so-called "job creators" actually start creating some jobs that everyone can see.

As individuals make higher contributions, reward this with reduced marginal tax rates. Make the maximum contribution unlimited. For every dollar donated directly to job creation, the government reduces spending by the marginal tax rate of the contributor plus 10%, to account for a multiplier effect that progressives claim will occur.

So that the deficit goes down, and your taxes need not go up to fund government stimulus.

Let it Be

Just drove home from my favorite seafood restaurant with my wonderful wife and fantastic son, we put "Let It Be" on the CD player and we all sang along. It was the perfect end to my birthday. Makes me realize that sometimes my life would be nothing short of complete if I was capable of playing that song on my piano and having my family and friends sing with me.

Sometimes life just seems real simple.

Politicians

I've watched for years as our political leaders get elected with promises that end up broken, with self-descriptions that end up disingenuous.

I've seen them address crises as consoler-in-chief, as if that should be sufficient. I've talked to friends that are invested in the charisma of our leaders - that someone is a gifted orator, or that we believe she's a good person, or that he appears to be sincere.

I respect those views. However, I personally need neither consolation nor charisma; nor do I care whether any given politician has "character". This, in my view, misses the point. We elect these people to take care of the needs of our country - to do a job.

For many years I've wondered what would it be like to simply track our politicians, and connect the dots between what is said and what is done. I'll make that effort here, with this blog.