"Money Makes the World Go 'Round" (Cabaret)

I sent my right wing cousin an appeal from Public Citizen.  Their angle du jour was Jack Abramoff's disingenuous confession that lobbying was wrong and antidemocratic, and that he was wrong to have devoted himself to it.  See, said Public Citizen, we must keep up the fight against lobbying; even Jack Abramoff admits it's a scourge.  My cousin correctly suggested that Abramoff was laughing all the way to the bank, now banking money he got from "the left" for his mea culpa.  What my cousin forgot to consider is that before Abramoff went to prison, he was banking money he got from the right, for lobbying.  Abramoff didn't care where the money came from.  He's just a simple whore.  Anyone's money is as good as anyone else's, and he'll say anything that results in a paycheck for him.

Last night, my aunt was talking about a debate that occurred in the stock club of which she has been a member for decades.  The debate was about whether to sell off stock in gun manufacturing companies.  She argued against it, pointing out these stocks performed well, and that the club had in the past invested in tobacco company stocks, too.  The club members voted, and elected to divest.  I suggested my aunt think of it like the time when various entities in this country were urged to divest in otherwise profitable activities involving South Africa under the last throes of apartheid.

This morning, I heard on the radio a discussion about yesterday's protests by people who were against tighter gun regulation and restriction.  Many of the protesters were simply gun advocates, but an interesting protest occurred in Connecticut.  Of course Connecticut is where a recent mass murder occurred, but it's also the home of Remington firearms.  Remington workers were some of those protesting.  Although one worker said that in his opinion, AR14 assault guns were unnecessary in society, for any purpose, many workers were concerned about restriction of manufacture and sale of these guns, because such action might cost jobs.

I suppose it isn't easy as society evolves.  Many blacksmiths must have gone out of business when cars came in, and horses went out.  And now car companies have trouble if they don't keep up with demand for whatever drivers want to drive.  Mom and pop stores go out of business when the big box stores come in, and some of those suffer when people buy online.  So I'm thinking my aunt should look at a bigger picture, and so should Remington employees.  A surfeit of guns, and assault-style guns, in common society might be as unsustainable as were horses on the streets of every city, or the family-owned hardware store the loss of which the Public Works guys and I were bemoaning two days ago.