Daily Clips: January 6th, 2016
A president can’t end our nation’s gun addiction. Only grassroots efforts can: So says Zach Silk, our Civic Ventures President, who penned a fantastic article in The Guardian today. Zach was the campaign manager for Initiative 594, where “in 2014, Washington became the first state to beat the NRA at the ballot when voters approved universal background checks by an overwhelming margin.”
Silk likens the gun responsibility movement to the “marriage equality campaign before it.” Like gay marriage, “the gun responsibility movement is learning from its mistakes – talking to voters and chipping away at the larger issue one small victory at a time. But most importantly, we’re learning to speak to the shared American belief in community, personal responsibility and the right to protect one’s family from violence.”
He concludes: “We won marriage equality one conversation at a time, over Thanksgiving dinners and Facebook threads and pitchers of beer. That’s how we’ll end the gun violence epidemic, too: by respectfully and patiently taking the case to your neighbors, friends and family, you effect change where it matters most, making it easier to pass laws at the local level.”
Here’s how much Obamacare has cut the uninsured rate in every state: Very interesting article which highlights how some states, such as South Dakota, are having real success with Obamacare while others, like Delaware and Wyoming, are not. In fact, Wyoming has seen a 9.6 percent increase in the uninsured rate. This flies in the face of a national decline in the uninsured rate and still remains a bit of a mystery.
Oil slides to an 11-year low: According to Reuters, “Oil prices slid more than 4 percent to new 11-year lows on Wednesday as the row between Saudi Arabia and Iran made any cooperation between major exporters to cut output even more unlikely.”
Tweet of the day:
Remember when the government "took away our cars" by requiring licensing and registration?
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) January 6, 2016
