Take a moment and look at this letter, which appears to be legitimate:
What you have here is a lobbyist for the Legislative branch implicitly intimidating a candidate for the Judicial branch -- specifically, Wisconsin's Tim Burns -- on "Second Amendment-related issues." Tim Burns didn't move past the February 20th vote, but to know that this is how the NRA "gathers information" affirms every worst thought about the NRA, the lobbying process, and politics in general.
My fear is that any movement reflecting my values -- sadly, the standard and somewhat cliche values you would expect from a middle-class educator -- has already lost. Watching some of the youth-driven movements of late has offered mild encouragement, but they're fighting the weaponized machinery of division and dread, and I'm not sure that any social movement comes out intact in the long term against such a dehumanizing well-funded monolith of privilege.
I wish I didn't feel so stunned every time these attitudes and behaviors present themselves. I wish the distraction action of "let's arm the teachers!" was immediately dismissed on a number of valid and reliable factual grounds. I wish that I didn't find it hard to get back to sleep some mornings as I picture what I'd do in the immediate circumstances of an active shooter at North Central. I wish I lived in a world where the archaic language of the 18th Century could be reconciled with the technology of the 21st Century in a rational and sensible fashion.
And I wish that more kids didn't have to die in the process.
What you have here is a lobbyist for the Legislative branch implicitly intimidating a candidate for the Judicial branch -- specifically, Wisconsin's Tim Burns -- on "Second Amendment-related issues." Tim Burns didn't move past the February 20th vote, but to know that this is how the NRA "gathers information" affirms every worst thought about the NRA, the lobbying process, and politics in general.
My fear is that any movement reflecting my values -- sadly, the standard and somewhat cliche values you would expect from a middle-class educator -- has already lost. Watching some of the youth-driven movements of late has offered mild encouragement, but they're fighting the weaponized machinery of division and dread, and I'm not sure that any social movement comes out intact in the long term against such a dehumanizing well-funded monolith of privilege.
I wish I didn't feel so stunned every time these attitudes and behaviors present themselves. I wish the distraction action of "let's arm the teachers!" was immediately dismissed on a number of valid and reliable factual grounds. I wish that I didn't find it hard to get back to sleep some mornings as I picture what I'd do in the immediate circumstances of an active shooter at North Central. I wish I lived in a world where the archaic language of the 18th Century could be reconciled with the technology of the 21st Century in a rational and sensible fashion.
And I wish that more kids didn't have to die in the process.
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