With the build-up to Tuesday night’s State of the Union, a lot of lawmakers were talking to the press in their home town. People expected certain things to be done or said, and wanted to at least pretend this was a time of year when everyone could come together.
One of those was Rep. Derek Kilmer of Washington state. Here’s some of what he had to say about not just the State of the Union, but his job in general.
With 2020’s State of the Union address taking place Tuesday evening, Washington Rep. Derek Kilmer weighed in on what he hopes to see from the President.
Kilmer represents Washington state’s Olympia Peninsula in Congress, a constituency he looks to for guidance on how he governs.
“My constituents expect me to stand my ground on issues where the president’s actions are in direct conflict with the interests of my constituents,” Kilmer told KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross. “I’ve been doing that on everything from health care, to climate change, to some basic issues around the treatment of immigrants and civil rights.”
With the State of the Union looming, he also hopes to see some semblance of political unity when it’s all said and done.
“My constituents also expect me to work to find common ground when we can,” Kilmer said. “We are in a divided government right now, and there is, I think, hope that Democrats and Republicans in our nation’s capital — on issues where they can find agreement — can actually get some stuff done.”
Common ground.
For the record, Kilmer is a vocal supporter of gun control, but he has the nerve to talk about common ground?
Then again, Kilmer isn’t the first. Nor will he be the last. A lot of people talk about finding common ground on an issue like gun control, especially the anti-gunners who use the term.
But what does “common ground” really mean on such a contentious issue like guns?
In theory, it should mean that we find the areas of agreement and work to make those a reality, but on guns, those areas rarely exist. Pro-gun voices have already given up so damn much over the reason and not only received nothing in return, have only found themselves expected to give up still more.
No, the phrase “common ground” means one thing and one thing only. It means for us to shut up and let them do whatever they want us to do. They don’t really care how we feel about assault weapon bans or red flag laws. They just want us to shut the hell up so they can pass them anyway.
If they actually wanted to find any common ground with us, they’d start by actually talking to us. They’d try to understand why were oppose every single gun control measure they propose. They’d sit down and listen to the statistics, how we look at those stats in totality to get an overall picture of how guns work. They’d be willing to talk about non-gun control solutions to the problems in inner cities, the places were most of the gun violence takes place.
They’d at least take talk of hardening our schools a little more seriously, rather than being so flippant about it simply because it’s not gun control.
In short, they’d at least look like they gave a damn about what we had to say on anything.
People like Kilmer don’t want common ground. They want us to shut up so they can do whatever they want.
