It is insane. It is all insane. It is insane that sick people have access to deadly weapons. It is insane that sick people don’t have access to the medical help they need to keep their insanity in check. It is insane that so many of these insane acts happen in our country, the country of the brave and the free. And we weep and scream and demand and yet, nothing changes — because the National Rifle Association has our elected officials afraid for their jobs and gun owners afraid for their “rights.” Because the pharmaceutical industry and other big corporations have people afraid for their “freedom” if we establish health care for all.

Fear is used to control our ideas about who we are as a people and who we should be as a nation. Are we truly a nation of the brave and free, or are we a nation of the controlled and the fearful? Fear is a powerful con trolling force. The powerful know that. The insane know that. What we need now is for our leaders to claim their freedom to be brave.