The president of the National Rifle Association yesterday stated the NRA has chosen the vehicle by which it will advance its political agenda. That "vehicle" is the Republican Party.

   For years members of each party have crawled over each other to seek NRA support. NRA support means money, as in $$$$. Members of the House of Representatives, who are in a constant fund-raising mode (one estimate is that 25% of a member's time is spent in fund-raising endeavors), take money when available. The NRA doles it out. Of course, a lot of corporate concerns dole out money. Unions, not so much as the other side of the industrial world.

   With the NRA's announcement, could members of the Democratic Party now get the idea that they can say "okay" to legislation that restrict private ownership of assault weapons, multi-round clips and mags, and sales of firearms? Can they push for greater background checks? These are restrictions favored by a majority of the population. Also, the firearms I mention are not simply for self-defense. They were designed for use in military situations---or as we once called those situations in America, "war." Now we have military conflicts fought by presidential fiat (R or D, there is little difference) with a nod of approval by the Congress.

   In the meantime, assault weapons and big clips/drums have no practical purpose except to kill other people. That was why a Hoosier invented the Gatling gun. Gatling thought the weapon was so terrible that people would give up the idea of war. That's another Hoosier who erred in his judgment.

   There is a theme or element of philosophy that is part of our American culture that harkens back to the early days of the Republic---and before. For one thing, Some Europeans came here for "freedom." Well, they wanted to avoid the rule of European royalty. That many of those Europeans then enslaved their fellows is an irony---and irony is another dominant element in America's history. People here questioned authority, unless they themselves wielded it. The Puritans wanted religious liberty---for themselves, as it turned out; anyone else was a heretic. And no one wanted to pay taxes---at all. This would seem to lend itself to anarchism.   

   Anyway, the Dems don't have to suck up to the NRA anymore. They don't HAVE to do so. Another matter is whether they will anyway.