And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. —Mark 3:25 (King James Version)
In the wake of the horrific shootings in Parkland, Florida, shouldn’t the people of this country be united in grief? Apparently not. Innocent victims are not yet buried, but rather than allowing us to mourn together over these senseless murders, the Left chooses to go on politicizing this heart-rending tragedy. The solitary reminder that the entire country is in mourning is that flags are at half mast—but the Left isn’t otherwise known for its demonstrations of respect for Old Glory.
Do I expect Democrats and Republicans to be united in their approach to solving the horror of mass killings? Unfortunately, no. Most likely there never will be agreement among the people of these United States when it comes to gun ownership: how best to interpret and conserve the Second Amendment of the Constitution; or whether, as some wish, to simply discard it entirely. Never has it been more abundantly clear that the left prefers to indulge their hatred for fellow Americans with whom they disagree over constructive discourse on any number of issues—from expressions of faith to the value of human life. Indeed, the context of the biblical reference to “a house divided” is not about issues and beliefs—it is about the hardening of hearts.
Call me an idealist, but I never expected such an atrocity to be the launching pad for liberals to drop f-bombs on anyone who won’t bow before the specifics of their command-and-control agenda. Their salvos further fracture any chance of actual discourse, which is the only means to explore possible solutions to the grave issues that divide us. From news to social media, rather than acknowledge that all persons across the political spectrum are in shock and grieving, the Left uses the horror of these senseless murders to blame and lash out at their political opponents for any number of other issues about which we disagree.
Among many divisive posts on Facebook, one of the more abhorrent I’ve read came from a young woman I once thought I knew. She says “Are you ready to blow up congress yet? Because I am. Those useless fucking asswipes take gun lobby money and chuckle through their ‘thoughts and prayers’ while … children bleed out in the hallway.”
Sorry, lady, but nobody (save, perhaps, the killer and others like him) chuckles when children are killed. Your perverse accusation says everything about the depth of your hatred toward others, and shuts down any meaningful conversation about the Second Amendment—or anything else, for that matter. You already have decided that those who own firearms certainly must intend to kill other people, when in fact most own firearms in order to protect life, hoping they never will have cause to do so. Since you don’t want to engage in discourse that might actually make a difference, you resort to a vile accusation.
And let’s not ignore the special jab ridiculing persons of faith—religion being something that many leftists want to eradicate. It’s not enough for some on the Left to disregard the Second Amendment—why not chuck the First Amendment, too?
A duplicity is inherent in leftist ideology. When President Trump addressed the nation and sincerely offered his “prayers and condolences to the family of the victims,” or when any person on the Right offers his thoughts and prayers, the Left is quick to castigate and ridicule that person—sympathy and prayer are subject to their immediate scorn and derision. They refuse to recognize that in times of great despair, consolation can heal hearts, and prayer becomes the bedrock for action. Those same leftists laud the sensitivity and caring of their idolized celebrities when they tweet phrases such as “my heart is with the students and parents” (Ellen DeGeneres), or “sending light and healing to the students” (Adam Lambert).
Another unconscionable statement now circulating comes from some deep thinker who tweets using the name Nathan G:
Let’s rename ‘school’ as ‘uterus’ so maybe Republican lawmakers will want to do something about the children dying inside them.
— Nathan G (@nwg83) February 15, 2018
So this person admits that the occupant of a woman’s uterus is actually a child? Yet again, a liberal callously uses the shooting tragedy to fling an incendiary comment at the Right to Life movement, and not so subtly implies that those who fight to protect the life of an unborn child don’t care about the loss of life outside of the womb. This is despicable tripe rooted in the false narrative that one cannot be seriously “pro-life” unless one ascribes to the Left’s agenda. It’s yet another heinous ploy to circumvent any constructive conversation about stopping mass killings.
Ironically, a brain-trust respondent to Nathan G suggests:
Or how about instead of having the Secret Service protecting Donald Trump’s adult children while they conduct personal business around the world, instead the Secret Service protect my children while they go to school.
I guarantee you America will be better for the new investment.— Im gonna regret this (@izzyrose33) February 15, 2018
Wait, what? Funny that when Republicans suggest this very solution—to harden schools against attacks instead of advertising them as “gun free zones”—the Left becomes infuriated that we don’t instead ban all firearms. In any case, President Trump’s adult children have stated they will decline Secret Service protection once their father is out of the White House.
And so the adolescent finger-pointing continues. Lefties hide within the safe-spaces of social media and say that which they would never dare to utter in the face of their supposed adversaries. Their sardonic name-calling includes charges that those on the right and President Trump are mentally ill, that Republicans in Congress are spineless cowards, and that they all have blood on their hands.
Is it not clear who demonstrates a hardening of hearts? Just in case there is any uncertainty, let’s revisit President Trump’s first State of the Union Address, when Democrats conspicuously exhibited their lack of compassion. They hurl vicious and unfounded accusations that conservatives don’t care when school children die, but their behavior was reprehensible—refusing to stand, sitting stone-faced and silent instead of honoring the family whose daughter and her friend were murdered by the MS-13 gang. Not all Democrats stood to honor Steve Scalise after he survived a mass shooting attempt, nor did they stand to honor the patriotism of a 12 year-old boy who placed 40,000 flags on the graves of veterans.
So, while an entire country grieves the deaths of fifteen high school students and the two unarmed heroes who tried to protect them, while this country is still reeling in shock as we learn more about the deranged killer—it is the Left who politicize this tragedy, and who use dead children as pawns as they shamelessly push an agenda demonstrably unrelated to the problem. Theirs are the hearts that are hardened—not because they aren’t in grief over this recent tragedy, but because they believe only they are capable of grief and only they operate in good faith. Meanwhile, they slander and defame anyone who isn’t one of their own.
If this country begins to lose it footing and becomes the house that cannot stand—it will be because the Left willfully divides us, willfully widens a chasm, and has divided the house that represents and serves every citizen in this country. Not even our flag at half-mast is enough to remind them we are meant to be united—if not over certain political issues and beliefs, then at least in our profound grief.