When I was growing up in the 50s and 60s no one believed that we would ever have a black president.
However in 1988 Jesse Jackson ran for that office.
Jesse Jackson presidential campaign, 1988
The Jesse Jackson presidential campaign, 1988 was Jesse Jackson's second campaign for President of the United States. This time, his successes in the past made him a more credible candidate and he was both better financed and better organized. Although most people did not seem to believe he had a serious chance at winning, Jackson once again exceeded expectations as he more than doubled his previous results, prompting R.W. Apple of the New York Times to call 1988 "the Year of Jackson".[1]
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Results
Jackson captured 6.9 million votes and won 11 contests: seven primaries (Alabama, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Puerto Rico and Virginia) and four caucuses (Delaware, Michigan, South Carolina and Vermont).[6] Jackson also scored March victories in Alaska's caucuses and Texas's local conventions, despite losing the Texas primary.[1] [2] Some news accounts credit him with 13 wins. [3] Briefly, after he won 55% of the vote in the Michigan Democratic caucus, he was considered the frontrunner for the nomination, as he surpassed all the other candidates in total number of pledged delegates.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Jackson_presidential_campaign,_1988
So the writing was on the wall 20 years before Obama won and 20 years after the shooting of MLK.
I'm not saying America will never be disarmed. I am saying that it simply is not going to happen in the next couple of decades unless something truly tragic happens such as a successful attempt on Obama's life. I worry about this a lot as the result would be rioting and bloodshed across our nation. Even if such a tragedy did occur I doubt if an attempt to confiscate all firearms would be successful but undoubtedly stronger gun laws would pass. That's what happened in the past after the assassination of JFK, RFK and MLK led to the Gun Control Act of 1968. Of course there are conspiracy theories about these murders and some slight possibility that they were not caused by "lone gunmen." I suspect there are some powerful groups in our nation that would love to see Obama replaced and would not be concerned in the least about the resulting stronger gun laws as it might enable them to grab even more power. (Don't get me wrong. I don't walk around wearing a tin foil hat.)
If you are in favor of draconian gun laws and confiscation I really have no problem with your opinion although I disagree with it. Any well functioning democracy has a wide range of views on most subjects. All deserve fair consideration and if you disagree with the direction the nation is going than participate in the debate and show up at the polls and vote. That's only fair and just.
What bothers me the most about our nation today is that we no longer have honest and respectful debates but we all insult each other and behave like unsupervised children on a playground. Our nation has often had contentious times in our past but I feel that radio commentators and 24/7 news channels are playing games and choosing sides in order to create profit. Our nation is far more polarized today than I can remember anytime in my lifetime This saddens me as I fear for that my grandchildren will suffer because we are unable to solve the serious problems we face.
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