From school shootings to political shenanigans on both sides, to Harvey Weinstein, to alphabet soup bs masquerading as normal...it's all pretty much been more of the same since the "revolutionary" 60's...and the baby boomers who thought they knew better are primarily to blame (those that actually did know better and quietly went about their lives not so much to blame, 'cept for not speaking up louder and putting their foot down firmer.

The fact is no law was or is going to stop someone like Nick Cruz's situation if he's bound and determined to do something wrong...it is a tragedy that his adoptive father died early, his adoptive mother died recently leaving him abandoned by two sets of parents...plus he had a spectrum-related disorder which is difficult for anyone to deal with even with their own two original parents intact.

Now what USED to happen in situations like these was there was a strong and more or less shared basic morality taught to most every American child and citizen that MOST people more or less abided by. Shame for doing something or living or acting too far out of the norm was a useful and good thing that helped keep most folks in line, and limited the damage and the severity of what they could do. And kids and people had guns galore and most people were raised responsibly to abide and respect them and what they could and could not do and be used for, and most people did so. And there were far fewer ridiculous babysitting laws on the books and people took more individual responsibility. Outlaws for a long time lived literally on the fringes of American society as the country grew, and they bothered far fewer people on the frontier while it was still here.

More than anything Family (the nuclear version with a mom and a dad) and Faith, mostly rooted in the Judeo-Christian values that the idea of America sprang forth from kept things far more intact than today. It was a far from perfect sopciety because no society is, but there was a shared American value system and those two pillars were there mosly universally to some extent.

Then came along the geniuses of the 60's and their descendants destroying the idea of the basic Family unit as the foundation of American society and stability, and replacing that more or less loosely but generally understood to be applicable shared Faith with Big Government and a selfish ego-centrism of child-like entitlement most 12 year olds on the frontier of this country with all it threats and perils would be ashamed of. Americans today are far, far removed from that "greatest generation" that saved the world from the tyrannies of WWII.

We are generally fat, lazy, over-drugged, over-entitled, under-valued spoiled brats so distracted by over-technological infatuation that we don't even notice our basic responsibilities to our own families much less any real inclination toward a Creator of any kind. We pretend we can and should have every damn thing we want when we want it and damn any consequences because of our selfishness and greed. We have long since forgotten any sense of sacrifice, or shared sacrifice: we are a hell of a long way from "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what YOU can do for your country."

Still, there are many in a silent majority that despite these failings, go about trying to live a more or less decent if imperfect life and ignore the deafening din of the irresponsible and selfish who ruin the tranquility that most would yet still hold dear. The truth is that the 60's and 70's revolutions to culture were abject failures. Government CANNOT EVER replace or effectively replicate the basic responsibilities and organization of a normal nuclear family, no matter what laws are passed or how much taxation is thrown away on it.

The irony is that I will quote a Hollywood story based upon a fictional book to illustrate the way back: Decency. Want to be a revolutionary today? Be decent. Love God, love and keep your family intact, be Normal. Want to be a radical today? Be decent, love God, love and keep your family intact, be Normal. Want to be counter-cultural today? Be decent, love God, love and keep your family intact, be Normal.

It won't solve every single problem. It WILL cost far less, take far less laws, less guns, less police, less taxation, less drugs, less debt, less idiocy than we are experiencing today. Divorce? #1 problem in exponentiating all the ills of society. Godlessness? #2 problem in enabling an immoral babysitting selfish and violent state in decay. Guns are not the problem, they can be used responsibly but only if people are raised with a shared moral compass that everyone is permitted and expected to recognize and abide by--and that takes morality. Morality is not and never will be do whatever you want whenever you want for whatever reason. It comes from a basic understanding that we are but a speck of life on a fragile, small, insignificant planet in a vast unending universe that no one's brain on this planet can fully comprehend, but which operates despite our flaws and egos in a balanced and created scientific perfection that is created by a truth and power far greater than anything any human can possibly imagine, and that is created out of a shared love for us, and an invitation to participate in truth and abandon disorder that assails truth but can never deny it no matter how hard some may try.

Be decent, and things fall into place much simpler, better and in harmony with the universe and its creator. Uphold traditional values of family, faith and friendship, and things like we are experiencing happen far, far fewer and farther between. No law will ever legislate that. No government program can hope to achieve that. People have to live it and embody it in their beings, and it rubs off on the rest that there is a shred expectation of decency that comes from a basic truth that is universal. Laugh if you will, but one of my favorite speeches from a movie. Thank you, Easy Reader:

GO, sadly you have done a pretty good job of stating the problem and the gist of its causes. Some could argue for more listings, but one and two above are pretty central as causes.

Our government can pretend to solve societies ills, but that's exactly what it is - pretending. They talk about it a lot, but actually do very little. See, the easy part is the talking - the hard part is the doing and most of them aren't interested in doing the hard stuff.

One interesting thought, the vast majority of Americans actually do follow the simple tenet of be kind to one another. Most of us go about our daily lives and are civil to those we come in contact with-and folks are civil in return. I can't tell you the last time I had a real confrontation with someone.

Unfortunately, general civility doesn't sell newspapers or entice viewers so what the media does is search the globe for the instances of humans doing bad things to other humans or animals. They then plaster the airwaves/digital world with them. Hell, if things are slow they will even attempt to gin up conflict to get viewers/clicks because that is how they make their money. They sell tragedy and conflict. As a result, we all get painted a grimmer picture than what is generally playing out in our own lives on any given day.

We continually get told the sky is falling and it's easy to slip into that mindset........