Jonah Goldberg‘s latest column urges elected leaders to exercise caution as they debate sweeping changes inspired by the Connecticut school shooting.
On Friday, in his moving and heartfelt statement in response to the horrific shooting in Newtown, Conn., President Obama said, “As a country, we have been through this too many times. . . . And we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.”
There’s just one problem: In a democracy, “politics” is a synonym for “democracy.” It is through politics that people with strong feelings and strong interests peaceably hash out their disagreements. When politicians say they want to do something regardless of the politics, or they want to go “above” or “beyond” politics, what they generally mean is they want to do something regardless of the normal rules or what their opponents have to say or, often, the facts. This, after all, is the point of the expression “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” …
… [O]ne piece of advice you often hear in such situations is “Don’t make any big decisions” in the immediate aftermath of a tragedy.
It’s sound advice that is routinely and predictably ignored in the political realm. Right now, people are talking about putting metal detectors and x-ray machines in every school. I’m open to the idea. But barely a decade after 9/11 — another traumatic mass slaughter — how many people do you know who find the quick-started security system at airports reassuring and necessary? Imposing the equivalent of TSA screening at every elementary school in the country strikes me as the sort of idea people propose out of panic and despair.
But, again, that’s sort of the point for some. It’s really quite amazing. For 20 years, at least, we’ve been hearing about the dangers of “anger” in American politics. Angry white men are the scapegoats for all our problems, including several mass shootings that were perpetrated by the mentally ill. But now, in the wake of this shooting, anger isn’t the disease, it’s the cure. “We should mourn, but we should be angry,” insists E. J. Dionne of the Washington Post. He continues: “The horror in Newtown, Conn., should shake us out of the cowardice, the fear, the evasion and the opportunism that prevents our political system from acting to curb gun violence.”
Except, our political system has acted to curb gun violence. Violent crime in general, gun violence, and school violence have all dropped dramatically over the last 20 years, even as the number (and lethality) of guns in America has risen dramatically. It’s not even obvious that mass killings are on the rise.