A Grieving Mother’s Letter to Bernie Sanders
The Ambivalence of Hypocrisy
I love Hillary and Bernie, they both talk about a fair society and their truths as to what can be achieved within the desert of political greed and power, the battle of the 99% versus the 1%, the struggle to leave our kids a better world than the one we were handed.
I don’t take to bashing Bernie for minutia stuff nor will I participate in it, but the white elephant in the room is the one that can not be explained by any other words other than the ambivalence of hypocrisy.
I just saw Bernie speaking from the Vatican about his position on climate change, the rich vs. poor, and fossil fuels, all fitting to our global society. And as I listen tears start flowing, anger starts building, impotence. He can not be denied the authentic concerns he has over world affairs and the disenfranchised. But my tears are about the MILLIONS of citizens in this part of the world who have been victimized and hundreds of thousands killed because of an unrestrained gun industry who made it possible for him to be elected, the one whom he served very well when the 2005 PLCAA Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act was enacted.
Where is his compassion for these disenfranchised citizens? Are we not a large enough block to become part of his world concerns? He represents the dreams of many and that includes me. But the purity of believes he promotes defy logic in the face of a position which has not protected the many who have and continue to be victimized in his own country. The visuals are good…yes he looks presidential, yes he is reaching out to the leader of the Catholic world him being Jewish, yes Christian Catholics over here will love it, yes he is in sync with global concerns, but… he is not in sync with gun violence…not here, not globally, Bernie is one of the bought deniers of our citizens’ human rights, Bernie is giving a lofty speech about everyone else’s human rights and morality. It is laughable at minimum to accuse Hillary of accepting contributions from Wall Street suggesting influence peddling when he owes his position in congress to the NRA whom he has served very well.
And when we see the history surrounding the PLCAA enactment in 2005, by that pen stroke many of us who were in the midst of seeking justice through the courts across the nation were instantly denied. With that pen stroke you Mr. Sanders did forfeit your stake in what you call “moral economy” By denying the human rights of victims and survivors of gun violence you have in fact denied our existence in your world of lofty dreams you trumpet.
Where is the moral economy you talk about when the ones who through negligence or greed or both handed a death sentence to us unsuspecting citizens?, where is the moral economy in your aspirations when a mom and dad are denied justice, forced into bankruptcy and ordered to pay for court costs for the offenders??. You talk about the globalization of indifference when you are too busy to hear our side, too proud to say I am sorry?? It is only we Mr. Sanders, we are the exemption to the world…and yes Bernie, and you are a hypocrite.
Maria Pike
