Tuesday, October 06, 2015

2016 Presidential Contest: we now have an over-arching theme -- "Stuff Happens" ... by gimleteye


Students of Jeb Bush's terms as Florida governor know exactly what the candidate meant when he responded to the recent Oregon shooting massacre at a local college by shrugging, "stuff happens".

What Jeb meant, in those two words, was that government's role is appropriately a limited one. Moreover, because we have a Second Amendment guaranteeing the right of citizens to bear arms, that additional regulations to protect people from harm from gun violence is contrary to what is best for the public.

The problem with the Jeb Bush theme is not that "stuff happens", it is his conviction that the choice about what stuff happens belongs to him.

That's exactly what happened when Jeb reached around Michael Schiavo and interfered with the fate of Terri Schiavo. "Stuff happens" but it happens the way conservatives want stuff to happen.

Take another example: cancer clusters or severe staph infections being contracted from contact with Florida's badly polluted waterways. You could say that stuff -- cancer, untreatable bacterial infections -- happens. But you could also say it happens because government, under extremist agendas, protects corporations over people.

Stuff happens for a reason, and it is not God's will. One hopes voters get the difference.

1 comment:

cyndi said...

Thank you! love the image.