Why is it the same knee-jerk Republicans freaking out about ISIS are fostering terrorism in the homeland? Recruiting and influencing loonies to do their dirty work to eliminate the evil scourge known as abortion? Imposing their beliefs upon a populace that may not agree, in a nation founded upon religious freedom, never mind personal liberty?

Welcome to 2015, wherein people in the hinterlands are fearful of Islamic terrorists, willing to give up personal freedoms to make themselves feel safe, while their brethren are running around with weapons terrorizing the rest of the populace.

I don’t get it. I understand that not everyone agrees on everything. That not everyone approves of Obama’s efforts, never mind the right wing’s systematic decimation of the safety net. But we’re a nation of laws, where people vote and we adhere to the results. Otherwise there’d be chaos.

There’s chaos in the streets right now. And the problem isn’t college students agitating against microaggressions, or the underprivileged demanding equal rights, but the so-called law and order party, which under the rubric of creating a safer America is making most citizens feel anything but.

Words have consequences. And the media has influence. And they’re both trumped by corporations, who do what’s right for themselves, not the country. Did you read the recent “Washington Post” story about companies’ influence upon the public’s belief in climate change? Turns out, by funding studies, energy producers muddied the water, they made people believe climate change wasn’t real. Just read “Why are so many Americans skeptical about climate change? A study offers a surprising answer.” for edification:

Why are so many Americans skeptical about climate change? A study offers a surprising answer.

And now we’ve got fanatical anti-abortion zealots demonizing Planned Parenthood, creating false videos, all in the name of eradicating abortion, which is the law of the land, even though it’s nearly impossible to get one in many red states. Locations are few, and the underclass is poor. And doctors and patients are both afraid of being shot.

But taking the law into your own hands is a feature of the west…

Back in the 1800s. We’ve progressed. Or maybe we haven’t. What if we got all those shooters to give up their mobile phones and videogame consoles. Then they might realize that times are different.

And you might say that the shooters are mentally ill. I’d say that ten percent of the public is crazy and we don’t know who they are, but by sending messages of terrorism we are incentivizing them to take action, to become famous, to become martyrs for the cause.

I don’t stop hearing the Republicans saying that Obama isn’t tough on ISIS, that he isn’t forceful enough, that Muslims are evil, and our national way of life must be preserved.

Then I see these same people under the banner of Christianity inciting disorder in our communities, insisting the rest of us must adhere to their beliefs. Sure, the Middle East is destabilized, sure, it’s scary. But does that mean we have to sacrifice all our personal freedoms here at home, does that mean we can substitute the fear of religious rule by one faith for the domination of another? There’s a supposed war on Christmas, which is like saying the NBA is challenged by tiddlywinks. The minions incited by the blowhards on Fox News are creating unrest which results in shootings but the meek and unarmed are the true problem?

That’s right, this is a right wing problem, a Republican problem. You don’t see lefties shooting up churches and you don’t see Democrats insisting that everyone smoke dope. The white population is declining in influence and through a weird alliance of rich and poor, we’ve destabilized our entire nation while these same people keep protesting their innocence and deflecting attention upon ISIS and other bogeymen.

ISIS is real. I’d be lying if I said I was not afraid.

But I’m more afraid of some Bible-toting idiot worried his tax money is being used to fund sin deciding to shoot up my neighborhood in an effort to restore order.

A shooter descended upon my neighborhood a couple of years back, and when the sirens go off and the police cars scream and you’ve got no idea what’s happening you realize not only can it happen here, it does.

I did not get shot.

But innocent students at Santa Monica College did. Those who were just going about their business, trying to improve their lives, bothering nobody in the process.

Your right to bear arms is no threat to a hacker who can threaten the government with the click of a mouse. And the more you try to protect yourself with arms the more you destabilize our entire community.

We all are responsible for what happened in Colorado. Because we refused to have not only effective gun control, we’ve been fanning the flames of discontent for decades, polarizing those in this great nation of ours, when the truth is we’re really more together than apart.

Donald Trump has no chance of becoming President.

But the media follows him because he sells advertising.

Irresponsibility is rampant. How do we expect people to do the right thing when corporations are avoiding taxes and everyone believes they have the right to have things go their way all the time?

Compromise and understanding, not stand your ground with your hands covering your ears.

But that’s not what happens in Congress.

And that’s not what’s happening in the streets.

We should be ashamed of ourselves. We destabilized an entire region to impose our way of life on others.

Turns out our way of life is riddled with problems, a good hard look in the mirror is necessary. We need to lay down arms and respect the legal wishes of others.

In a nation where everybody believes he can become a star, and is entitled to untold riches, where religious martyrs are lionized, we’ve got a lot of looking at ourselves to do.