We awoke on Tuesday to news of another school shooting, this time in Maryland. “Only” three children were critically wounded…this time.

At First Unitarian, there seems to be near unanimous agreement that sensible gun safety measures are desperately needed and long overdue. Consensus around that seems broadly shared, at least based on what members of our community say to me.

There also seems to be broad consensus that more rigorous control of access to guns, especially military weapons and military-sized ammunition and accessories is a priority. Like the vast majority of Americans and a substantial majority of gun owners, based on polling data, we are supporters of mandatory background checks and closing the “gun show” loophole. There also appears to be real agreement not only that mental health resources need to be significantly increased, but also that some system of intervention with “high risk” individuals is needed.

These measures are not controversial among us. Nor are they controversial among any segment of the population…except the gun manufacturers, their lobbyists and their spokespeople.

As to the possible responses to multiples crises of gun violence…not just mass murders, but domestic violence, suicides, street violence and acts of hate …

The possible responses have been confined to those measures that might conceivably be approved by divided legislatures, either national or at the state level. The result is that only the most modest measures are even considered. Our legislatures do not debate banning assault weapons or huge ammunition magazines. Our national legislators cannot even gather the will to consider banning those “bumpstocks” that convert assault rifles into machine gun like weapons of mass destruction.

I am increasingly finding myself unwilling to settle for modest, incremental changes…even if those changes could somehow be put in place.

The politics of the possible, I am sad to say, seem to be working against us.

Remember the days when many of us celebrated the Affordable Care Act, even though most us really wanted “Medicare for All”?

Remember our relief when Dodd/Frank and modest protections against another  greed-fueled recession were put in place, even though most of us feared the bail-out of the huge banks? “Too Big to Fail” always seemed to me to mean “Too Big for the Common Good.” There is a conversation about the concentration of wealth and power that we have only begun to have.

As modest reforms are increasingly under attack or being rolled back, I wonder whether our willingness to settle for the politically possible has been too quick.

Checks and balances. Compromise. In an environment where elected leaders of good will sometimes managed to work together, those values seemed appropriate and even necessary. In an environment where political power was divided and shared, those values made sense.

But for now, at least, those days exist only in memory.

I wonder what will be required to correct and undo the actions of our current leaders. That we will have an opportunity to undo the current decisions is an article of faith for me. The voices of the young will demand it. Demography will make it mandatory. But I wonder if the approach of compromising with the uncompromising approach of those now in power is the right strategy.

In fact, I am increasingly questioning a strategy based on a politics of the possible. Can the Beloved Community be created out of compromises between the least loving approach and some middle ground? Doesn’t a clearer vision of justice centered on the Common Good need a stronger voice at the table?

“Will we be extremists for hate or for love?

Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice

Or for the extension of justice?”

Many of us will join the March for our Lives this Saturday:

• First Unitarians will gather at West Burnside and S.W. Park at 10 a.m. Check the article in this week’s e-news for more details.
• Wear your yellow shirts if you have them.
• Bring your commitment to a vision of our future that is not limited by the compromises of our past or our present.

Public witness for our values is important. I’ll see you there.

Here in Oregon, the progressive religious community, led by the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon (EMO), is organizing to put some sensible gun safety measures on the ballot. We can help the citizens, not the legislators, make the decision using the “Initiative” provisions of our constitution. EMO needs to deliver 2,000 signatures in support of this effort…next Monday. I think First Unitarian, alone, can deliver a quarter of those this Sunday.

Go to the Peace Action table in Margaret Fuller Hall to sign the Initiative to Ban the Sale of Assault Weapons and Large Capacity Magazines. Let’s start taking our democracy back and putting the decision making where it belongs…in the hands and the hearts of people of good will.

 

Let’s get this done.

 

Bill