Education, the 2nd Amendment, and Starbucks

It’s a helluva time

Teachers with gunz, yo!

So right now Wyoming is talking about being the second state to allow teachers to have guns. A lot of people are freaking out and saying that this isn’t the right move. For one, they ask if teachers are even well-trained enough. And I will be honest, even though I feel like I am properly trained, I don’t think that many teachers would be. There’s lots of times where a teacher won’t even make the right call when I comes to grading the right paper, or suspending a kid, or half a dozen different scenarios.

I heard a Wyoming teacher being interviewed on NPR this morning, and he said if saves one life, that the risk it is worth it. But what if he accidentally shoots the wrong kid and takes one life? I’m for teachers being allowed to do this, but I think it’s going to take a lot more training and maybe even certifications before just any Mrs. Crabtree can bring a gun to school and expected to save lives.

Status quo

But even bigger than this is the paradigm: how do we protect kids in our public schools? The answer is to get out of paradigm, and understand that just because we have a structure doesn’t mean that we have to stick to it. We don’t have to have public schools as they are right now. Kids can learn through other means, and I need more than just homeschool. Private schools are a thing, charter schools are or thing, there are probably some other ways that I haven’t even heard of, or aren’t even out well-known. And we can apply this thinking to the health care issue. Everybody trips out and says how healthcare is a human right, but is it? You can’t demand that the fruits of somebody else’s labor is your right. You can’t be entitled to their work. That’s slavery. And it’s not unreasonable to say that we can still have a means of getting over ailments and injuries besides having health insurance. There are doctors that do home visits for a flat rate every month. There are other options!

I can foresee that there will be a bunch of states that let their teachers bring guns to school and then incident will happen with a poorly-trained teacher turning it into a tragedy, and it will be a springboard for people to say it proves that we shouldn’t have teachers with guns. And then that nobody should have guns! And that will be when things get really bad.

Dare I say it?

We are extremely factioned as a nation right now and it’s not as easily defined as borders. Our disagreements span county lines, state lines, regional cultures, religions, and yet again race. And there are disagreements within each of these well. It’s crazy-ass tribalism! I don’t want to sound hyperbolic or apocalyptic, but what I do mean to say is that because of the nature of our country— even just geographically— our disagreements will cause more trouble than they ever have before. This will be more like the Civil Rights movement—with pockets of people everywhere that support or disagree with it—but more violent, because the subject matter will be guns. And it’s more than just the Second Amendment that’ll spark things; race relations are boiling over and reactions are more explosive than I think they’ve ever been before. Have you heard about that thing with Starbucks? And our president isn’t making it any better! He’s so volatile and thin-skinned, and lacks the tact and diplomacy to govern his own people. He got elected because a good portion of America felt unheard and wanted radical change, but I don’t think he’s got the ethos, logos, or pathos to do it. He’s going to make it worse. And it’s going to be a confusing, angry, and costly mess.

Can you imagine a condition where the Pacific Northwest is embargoing the Intermountain West, and allied with New England? Think about that on top of Texas and Arizona fighting against both coasts and Mexico. And then what will the fly-over states do? Harbor up the Great Lakes region? And even then, it’s not going to be clear cut on state lines. Half of Oregon and half of Washington are going to side with Idaho. And California is just a wildcard—like, who freaking knows about them?

Remember our roots

We’re not in a good spot. And I understand that what I say sounds silly, and I can’t tell you I know for sure that this will happen. But what I can tell you that I think the solution is, Is for the 10th Amendment to be recognized again. If each of the states were to be treated as sovereign nations with loose agreements with east of the other states and with the federal government (like the European Union), then they would be able to govern and ban and endorse any activity that they thought was right or wrong. We would have a lot more freedom in America. We might have more tyranny too. But America wouldn’t be the same thing it was before. I think it’s a good thing. The federal government has overreached, and is trying to parent each of its kids the same way without regard for personality, disposition, or ability. I’m not even a parent and I know that’s dumb. I can’t think of a good reason why disbanding from such federalism would be a bad thing. I know that the federal government gives a lot of funding for each state, but I think of their other means to gain revenue. If you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it. Work like your are running a family budget. It’s not a bank account or in a reasonable line of credit, you can’t have it.

The nation was designed to be about the size of the original thirteen colonies. The founders knew that despotism was hard to impose among even as many as thirteen states, and that factions and cultural monopolies were even harder. But they also knew that the original geographical area was small enough to reasonably manage. Now we are three to five times larger than that. How do we think that’s manageable? We are way too much of an empire even within our national borders. We have to simplify.

I’m probably cray

Maybe I’m an alarmist, maybe I’m too liberal, maybe I’m extremist. But I do know is that there is a ton of hate in our country and not enough listening. There’s too much good versus evil, and not enough empathy. Something has got to change or something is going to pop.

TLDR: We can’t think Left or Right anymore, have to think out-of-the-box on major issues.

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