Alternate reality explored in some letters to editor?

Reading Bob McClellan’s letters to the editor dated March 8 and April 18 reinforces my belief in an alternate universe. To claim the Republicans got their heads handed to them in the last election is quite a bold statement unsupported by the facts. The makeup of the 2011-2013 Congress included 51 Democratic senators, 47 Republican senators and two Independents. There were 193 Democratic congressman and 242 Republicans.

For the current term, after the November 2012 election, there are 54 Democratic senators, 45 Republican senators and one independent. In the House, there are 201 Democrats and 234 Republicans. Mr. McClellan, if you really want to see who had their heads handed to them, look at the mid-term election results from 2010.

Let’s look at the governorships. After this past election there were 30 Republicans, 19 Democrats and one independent seated in the executive mansions. To make the claim that Republicans got their heads handed to them in the last election is misrepresenting the facts, which Mr. McClellan has a propensity to do quite often in order to push the liberal agenda.

Mr. McClellan wrote on April 18 that around the world everyone has access to the same video games, the same movies and the same programs which portray violence. He writes that the U.S. leads the world in gun-related killings. Mr. McClellan further concludes that given human nature’s penchant for anger, for attack and for killing each other, possibly the only difference between the U.S. and the rest of the world is the choice of what mode of killing is favored. Well, it is obvious Mr. McCIellan’s glass is half empty.

According to the World Heath Organization, in January 2013 the latest murder statistics for the world per 100,000 citizens, Honduras leads (91.6) and the U.S. (4.2) came in near the bottom. It was noted, although not independently verified, that the countries with a greater murder rate than the U.S. in the list had a 100 percent gun ban. Interestingly, Switzerland had virtually no murder occurrence. Maybe it is due to their law that requires that everyone own a gun, maintain marksmanship qualifications and carry a gun.

An in-depth look at five recent multiple killings in our country suggests that the shooters in the Arizona (Gabby Gifford) event, the shooter in the Colorado movie theater, and the Newtown, Conn., school shooting all should have been locked up given their mental illness. The killings in Texas by the Army major and the recent bombings in Boston appear to be due to the religious beliefs of Islamic terrorists. No gun law would have stopped any of these killings, as is evident by the almost daily shootings in Chicago, a city with some of the toughest gun control measures on the books.

No, Mr. McClellan, the difference between the U.S. and the rest of the world is the choice of the response from the ordinary U.S. citizen during 9/11, Katrina, the Haitian earthquake and the recent Boston bombings. Those actions paint a very different picture. We are very different and we are, indeed, exceptional.

Mr. McClellan writes further that he trusts Mr. Obama, and his advisors will see what is needed and move in that direction. As Mr. Obama has not done anything of the kind in the first four years of office, on what basis does Mr. McClellan think he will do so during the next four years?

Given the current state of affairs, i.e., Benghazi, the IRS scandal and the AP wiretap, to name a few, it may be time for Mr. McClellan to begin assessing how he will spin the impending impeachment of his favorite son.

Schwager is a resident of Kalispell.