Any doubts about the strength of memory of American voters was cleared up during the presidential candidate debate the other night, when Jeb Bush turned to Donald Trump and said ".....my brother kept us safe.", and the audience applauded.

I do remember 3,000 Americans being murdered one Sept morning; an absolutely wrong invasion of a country that had not harmed us in any way, under the pretext of looking for weaponry that was never found; and 14 ensuing years of terrorist attacks against Americans at home and overseas, the deaths of about 5k American soldiers alone, untold numbers of wounded left to deal with the VA, and yet again another unstable time period in the Middle East.

Yep, his brother kept us safe alright. For just under nine months of his presidency.

And voters applauded the statement.......geez.

We live in a culture that says "if you disrespect me in any way, if you disagree with me over anything, if you cut me off in traffic, if you take my parking space/shopping cart/space in line, I will shoot you."
Somehow along the way, we have produced at least two generations of parents who forgot the part about teaching their young 'uns how to work out differences without being stupid or violent. Pre-school disagreements in the sandbox, taking someone's crayons in kindergarten, cutting in the water line in 3rd grade, knocking someone out of the way to board the school bus in 7th grade, bumping into someone in the high school hallway, the hangout location, or just riding down the road. None of these daily occurrences should be the source of tremendous rage, violence, death, and stupidity, but among at least two generations now, they are considered normal. Adults think nothing, nothing, of flipping their middle finger at rude drivers, setting a wonderful example for their children in the car and/or those nearby who witness this immature choice.
Again, it is not the weapon of choice, it is the individual reaction, the individual choice to the perception or reality of having been slighted. Mature people of any age can avoid violence with proper conflict resolution skills at almost any age.
This insanity can be prevented by proper education in the schools, if legal guardians at home can't do it. Far more important to learn this skill, than calculus or Spanish.

Try not to focus on the weapon of choice. We have had a seismic culture change across America in how we Americans solve our disagreements and conflicts and accidental/incidental public contacts, up close, and from a distance.
I never, ever was exposed to road rage until I saw it in the 90s. I was amazed that folks would respond to rude drivers in that manner. RR then advanced to gun fire as a response, instead of a middle finger. These were grown adults in their 50s in some cases, professional lawyers, accountants, etc. Really incredible stupdity levels.
We now are into our second generation of young people of all shades across the country, who clearly seem to believe, that the ONLY way to resolve conflict, is to instantly pull a weapon, usually a gun, and shoot the other person. Incredible. Stunning. And equally stupid.
The pages of this particular online paper have been filled with such stories, incuding the adults who went armed to a local park to "defend" their teenage children. Incredible. Stunning, And really really stupid.

Pontificating further, it is my sumise that such a cultural shift is connected to the continuing purge of religion from our culture. Attendance in church is down across religions, I believe. (I could be wrong). Minority voices of one or two people, that's all, has been enough for elected and appointed judges to order the removal of Ten Commandment displays, Christmas holiday displays, banning prayers at high school activities such as sporting events and graduation functions, etc. Mind you, these bans did not swell from a massive write-in campaign, or massive media campaing. One or two people went to a judge and whined. Instantly, activities that were commonplace and universally accepted and tolerated for over 200 years, were eliminated. 

How the minority overruled the majority on these and other matters is to me one of the great unanswered questions of our time. I don't get it. Exactly what harm was there in: displaying a nativity scene; praying before a game; praying before a graduation ceremony; displaying the basic tenents of one particular religion, and all the rest that has occurred? I'm confused by it all, too. Apparently, if one parent, one adult is offended, the rest of us without being heard from, must instantly kowtow and be politically correct and just nod our heads and say yep yep yep. 

Just passing through, confused.