Thursday, April 11, 2013

BGA should create and enforce a no hate speech policy for its Facebook page

On its Facebook page, the Better Government Association asked me to file a complaint by email about a post on the BGA page that crossed the line to hate speech. BGA's initial reaction was to say that because Daniel Cannucci's statement that Michelle Obama should go back to Kenya wasn't "profane", it didn't violate BGA's standards.

My critique of BGA has two major points.

1. BGA should have a zero-tolerance approach to racism and hate speech. People who engage in racism and hate speech may be part of the "Conservative" political coalition, but they are not part of the good government movement.

2. BGA increasingly seems to be a home for people who hate government. Hating government is not the same as making government less corrupt or more efficient.

Below the fold for more details.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Firearm Owner Funded Buyback Program

The is a correlation between firearm ownership homicide. See Harvard School of Public Health.

Illinois could reduce homicide and gun violence by reducing the number of firearms in circulation. Below is a simple proposal.

Firearm Owner Funded Buyback Program

  1. There would be an annual registration fee per firearm of $10-45.
  2. At least 80% of this money would go to buying-up firearms.
  3. There would be a reward program for tips about people and households keeping unregistered firearms.