KADNER: A nation in denial as signs of sickness grow

Let’s build a wall, ban Muslims, prohibit the sale of guns to millionaires. Maybe that will make us feel safer.

Americans love simple solutions because thinking gives them a headache.

Hey, if all of those folks in Las Vegas had their own automatic weapons maybe that madman in the hotel room would have thought twice before shooting them.

I saw people on Facebook sniveling about the tragedy who a few days ago were ready to drop nuclear weapons on North Korea.

Despite all the hand-wringing over the mass murder in Vegas, I guarantee, no one is going to ask why we have so many nut cases living in the greatest country in the history of the world.

We have people who drive vehicles loaded with explosives into federal buildings.

We have people who live in cabins and mail bombs to people they don’t like.

We have people who go into movie theaters and shoot members of the audience.

We have teenagers who enter school buildings and kill their classmates.

Here in Chicago we have children who shoot other children in parks because in their eyes human life has no value.

And now we had a 64-year-old man take an arsenal of guns, including automatic weapons, into a Las Vegas hotel room to kill as many people as he could.

Let’s ban the guns, liberals say.

Does anyone know how many guns there are in the United States? Millions for sure, but there is no accurate count.

It’s the lack of religion, say the conservatives. That’s why people are violent. I wonder if anyone would suggest that’s the solution to the problems in the Middle East. All they need is a little religion.

Simple solutions to complex problems are bipartisan. They are carved in stone and recited on sacred occasions, such as mass murders.

We have more people using drugs than any other nation in the history of the world. We lock up more people than any other country. About one-third of those people are mentally ill and almost as many are addicted to drugs and alcohol.

Is this normal? I guess so. Americans get more upset about a few NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem than they do about the thousands bodies piling up due to the opioid epidemic.

Yes, guns are a real problem. But why do so many people feel the need to own a gun, or five or six of them, for personal protection?

We live in the greatest country on Earth. Isn’t that what we all say? Yet in this marvelous country of ours more people than ever before feel the need to protect themselves not just from terrorists, but from their fellow countrymen.

Isn’t that crazy? We have become a nation of paranoids. Now that’s depressing.

There will be no national discussion about this in coming weeks. It will not even be a talking point because, well, any elected official who suggests voters are out of their minds will not be re-elected.

We are told the gunman in Vegas showed no indications that he was about to destroy the lives of hundreds of total strangers.

“Someone must have noticed this guy was sick?” the rest of us say. “Why didn’t someone do something to alert authorities? Scream for help!”

Well, someone must have noticed our society was seriously ill.

Like parents in denial, we repeatedly overlook all the warning signs.

Let’s light some candles, lay some wreaths on the bloody pavement and tell each other this was an aberration. Then we can all go back to our normal lives.

Only, I’m not sure what that means.

Email: philkadner@gmail.com

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