O'Malley signed gun control law

[Koinos]

37. The double-edged sword of practical action.

Practical action is a double-edged sword. The ivory tower of theory is one thing; the real world of practice is another. Having the right positions is one thing; dealing with messy problems is another. Anyone involved in practical executive decision-making and action will have both failures and successes. That is what trying to solve problems is all about. And even the good things one accomplishes will always offend some people. Many people were relieved (and spared death) when O'Malley's policies allowed them to walk the streets again and not have to enter their own homes by the back door, while gangs congregated in their front yards. Lives were saved by O'Malley's policies.

Yep, the "other candidate" is fortunate that he never had to take on the task of bringing down crime in a major, diverse, and poverty-ridden city. It is O'Malley's misfortune that he took on an impossible task and had mixed results, including actual reduction in crime and murder rates. O'Malley has never run from a challenge. Perhaps his record would have been unblemished if he had just run from the challenge of being mayor of Baltimore and limited himself to taking ivory tower positions in a more trouble-free environment. In fact, O'Malley has strong principles and the courage to act upon them. It is the fate of human moral endeavor that all ethically intended action is subject to conditions and forces outside of one's control. To those who try to get something done to improve the lot of others, it is sobering to face the fact that one fails as much as one succeeds. Surgeons save a lot of lives, but they kill some people. It is tempting to avoid hard choices and to steer clear of doing anything that might have unforeseeable unfavorable results.

Heck, it is safer to be a teacher and pontificate from a safe and well-funded university chair about all the problems of our oligarchic society, than to be mayor of Baltimore or governor of Maryland. Or write some books about the evils of capitalism and the virtues of labor, as Marx did, without working in a factory one day of his life. But to take on the impossible, armed only with principle and good common sense, and to accomplish sometimes a little and sometimes a lot, is very dangerous. Some of the many people you have helped will remember you; others will quickly forget. But your mistakes will haunt you, and your enemies will never leave you alone. Executive experience is "learning experience," where one tries to do better in the future, based on successes and failures in the past.

I commend O'Malley for his executive experience, with all that that entails.