by Joe Kandra (cartoonist) and Kathie MM
Tag: gun control
Yearning for Peace and Nonviolence? PREPARE TO VOTE!
by Patricia Daniel
Now is the time for those who want to stop warfare and find peaceful solutions to conflict to demonstrate their commitment by voting on November 6th.
First, are you registered to vote? If you’re not sure, check with your city or town hall. This is especially important for people who may have been subjected to various voter purges and suppression techniques. Be sure to register before your state’s deadline!
The League of Women Voters’ VOTE411.org makes it easy to register online. Do it today and encourage others to do so. The VOTE411.org site also provides information about early voting, eligibility and identification requirements, and polling place details. Check out this information for your region and make a plan to vote.
Second, do you know where your candidates stand on the following issues:
- U.S. support for wars in the Middle East
- Gun violence and gun control
- Domestic violence
- Rape and sexual assault prevention and law enforcement
- The arms race—both nuclear and conventional
- Environmental issues, the future of the planet
- Human rights
- An open internet
- …… (what else? Please send your suggestions.)
To research (and support or challenge) your candidates’ positions, attend an event where you can question them or call their campaign offices. Even if you don’t get the answers you want to hear, it’s good for the candidates to know that people are asking these questions.
A great deal of information about candidates and issues can be found online. Check out candidates’ websites and voting records or do research using search engines or sites such as OnTheIssues, HeadCount, ISideWith, VoteSmart, or Campus Election Engagement Project.
Third, what about ballot propositions? Be prepared by finding out in advance whether you can vote for an issue related to peace and non-violence.
If you are someone who cares about peace and justice, please do your homework on the candidates and issues, then make a plan to vote on November 6th.
Note from Kathie MM: Please share your experiences with us as you take the steps to be ready to play your part to protect and preserve democracy.
Tens of thousands marched. I was there.
By guest author Deborah Belle
Such a mixture of pain and joy to see so many marching today. Joy in the incredible strength, wisdom, and commitment of the young people leading this social movement along with their equally passionate elders. Pain is the very reason for and topic of the march. Children with signs wondering if they will be next, or pleading, “Don’t shoot!” Teachers who did not sign up to be soldiers and carry guns. Reminders of the young people lost recently in Florida and also the young father killed only days ago in Sacramento, shot 20 times by police officers in his own backyard.
What a crazy dystopia we are forced to inhabit. When will we awaken from this nightmare? Along with the emotion today there was a focus on the future and on the next steps to take. Activists were out registering marchers to vote and reminding us that voting will be our best hope of purging our national political life of the deadly influence of the NRA.
Note from KMM: Please help with the voter registration process.
Four countries that have nearly eliminated gun deaths
Anyone who believes that all human beings are hopelessly and incurably aggressive and that nothing can be done to halt the growing number of mass shootings in this country should read Chris Weller’s article in Business Insider.
And please don’t try to tell me we the people can’t move our country in the same directions as Australia, the UK, Norway, and Japan if we become more active, more educated about political candidates, more willing to speak out on behalf of nonviolence, more willing to speak truth to power. No community, however rich or white, can be safe from gun violencse while the NRA owns such a large percentage of our Congress. Do you care about your kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews? if so, maybe it is time for you to become a gun control activist.