Don’t say anything about these issues
By Jorge Ramos Ávalos
There are isssue witch U. S: citizens can not talk about. One of them are their weapons. And the other are the drugs they enjoy.
Let´s start by shootings Despite the frequent massacres and the high murder rate, most Americans prefer to have access to all weapons than to prohibit its use. And while there is no limit in the use of pistols and rifles in the United States, the killings continue. Neither President Barack Obama or the Republican candidate Mitt Romney have dared to break the code of silence.
These weapons are used by Mexican drug traffickers to bring drugs into the United States. And that is another subject of which almost no one speaks.
United States is one of the most violent countries among developed nations in the world. A United Nations report (UNODC) corroborates: whereas in the U.S. there were 12,996 murders in 2010, there were only 690 in Germany, Italy had 529, Japan 506 and Sweden 91.
Massacres are already part of the recent history of the United States. Both have stopped surprising. Recently, at a cinema in Aurora, Colorado, a guy dressed as the Joker in the film Batman killed 12 people. Last year, in Tucson, Arizona, a man killed six people and wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. At Virginia Tech was 33 deaths in 2007, and the Columbine school, Colorado, were 15.
Every week I receive countless reports of murders with firearms. But there are so many that they are no longer a news. Against this background one would expect that there is a national debate in the United States to limit the use of guns and rifles, semiautomatic weapons, particularly used in wars. But there is nothing. There is no dispute or political rallies or TV shows.
The big fear is losing votes and face the wrath of arms carriers that neither President Barack Obama nor the Republican candidate Mitt Romney dared to say anything about it for the past national party conventions. Its calculation is unfortunately correct: the politician who dares to publicly attack the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which allows the use of weapons, has no future. The powerful and well-funded National Rifle Association would put in the spotlight in the next election.
The Second Amendment, written in 1791, guarantees "the right of the people to keep and bear arms." But we're in 1791. This right may be limited or regulated for the common good, as all rights. And the common good, in this case, is to prevent the massacres and the murder rate down. However, this is not even a campaign issue.
America is a country where, on average, there is one weapon for every one of its 311 million inhabitants. Killing is easy. And many of the weapons that end up here are sold across the border into the hands of Mexican drug traffickers.
The ill-fated Operation Fast and Furious, which allowed the passage of a 2000 U.S. weapons to Mexico, is just one example of what happens every day without the permission of the U.S. government. These weapons are used by Mexican drug traffickers to bring drugs into the United States. And that is another subject of almost no one speaks.
Drug use in America continues. More than 22 million Americans-that is, 9 percent of all people over age 12, admitted having used any drugs recently, according to a study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The Obama administration has spent more than 31 billion dollars in health and prevention campaigns. But the results are minimal.
Neither the President, who both spent, nor his opponent, Mitt Romney, has made drugs a central theme of his campaign. It's as if both parties have agreed, tacitly, that this is not a priority for the American voter.
Neither the United States there is the awareness that its giant, billionaire drug use is partly to blame for the 65,000 dead or more of the fight against drug trafficking in Mexico. If there were no drug addicts in the United States, there would be no drug trafficking through Mexico and the violence there would be much less. That is another issue lost.
The Caravan for Peace, led by Mexican poet Javier Sicilia (who traveled 10,000 kilometers and 26 U.S. cities), almost went unnoticed by most people in the U.S. who do not speak Spanish. The poet, who lost her son to violence in Mexico, tried without much success to attract the attention of Americans to an issue that, in reality, very little worry. This attitude has a very serious and very practical consecuences: nothing will change or worse, no matter who wins the White House. More massacres, more drug use, more violence. Weapons and drugs: this is not spoken.
Twitter: @ jorgeramosnews
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