Guns and the Middle East: We Need to Know More

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Two current issues in the news make me wish that one of the national news outlets would give us solid background reporting on the forces that shape government action in the U.S.

First, of course, is the issue of gun safety—the politically correct term for gun “control.”  Clearly, the U.S. is becoming a more violent society.  Clearly, too, we need to do something to make it harder for unstable people to get access to the kinds of weapons—like the military-style semi-automatic guns that were used in the Aurora theatre and Sandy Hook Elementary School massacres.   However, the National Rifle Association is putting on our elected representatives as much pressure as it can to dampen their enthusiasm for reform. 

Question #1:   In order to understand why it is so hard to get action, we need to know how much money the NRA has invested in elections over the past decade or so, who has received those funds, and how much each person got.  We also need to know what other ways the NRA—and similar organizations—have tried to influence the behavior of our elected representatives.   In order words, we need to know the extent to which the NRA and their like have compromised our governmental process.

The second event that raised similar questions for me was the quick and strident reaction of Republicans over the nomination of former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense.   Here, the issue seems to be Hagel’s lack of support for U.S. military intervention in the Middle East, starting with his stance against the invasion of Iraq.  Right after the nomination, Lindsay Graham and others cited Hagel’s criticism of Israel as a source of concern.  As the story has continued, others have tried to position Israel as a “distraction”—not unlike the NRA’s idea that the issue with gun safety is not guns but mental illness—but very clearly elected representatives initially spoke openly about Hagel’s perceived lack of support for Israel as a primary concern—the issue on which concern over his actions and statements about other Middle East issues were based.

Question #2:  Over the years, most Americans have quietly accepted the idea that the United States must give unquestioning support to Israel.  Today, with Israel appearing to push us toward a confrontation—one that could easily result in American lives being committed to a war—with Iran, we should educate ourselves on our relationship with Israel.  It is often said that Israel is essential to American security because it is our chief ally in the Middle East.  What is the nature of the threat to American security that Israel is protecting us from?  How much money do we give Israel through foreign aid, arms sales, and other taxpayer-funded actions?  Then, we need to define the Israel Lobby and ask the same questions of the Israel Lobby that we ask of the NRA:  How much money has it invested in elections over the past decade or so?  Who received these funds?  How much did each elected representative get?

The reason these two questions are important is that these two policy arenas make it essential for the public to know what is influencing the actions of our elected officials.  In both cases, those actions could result in increasing or decreasing the safety of American citizens, be they children in our classrooms or citizen soldiers sent into combat overseas. 

We also need for these questions NOT to be politicized.  We simply need the facts about what is influencing the actions of our elected representatives.  We can then support those actions or not, but right now, we hear the politics but we are not well informed about the issues themselves.

The Center for Responsive Politics maintains a website--Open Secrets--that lists who gives money to candidates.  This is a good starting point:  http://www.opensecrets.org/