Reason and logic are as necessary in making sound decisions as hydrogen and oxygen are required to form water.  The antithesis of reason and logic is emotion and hysteria.  Decision-making based on emotion is by definition devoid of logic and reason because an emotional response overrides logical possibilities.  Logic and hysteria cannot occupy the same space.

We witnessed the result of such hysteria last week when we watched the “sit-in” in the US House of Representatives.  Their gripe?  Losing four anti-gun votes.  The idea that an iconic United States Congressman with the stature of John Lewis would lend his hand in comparing this farce of a stunt with the importance of his past involvement with the civil rights movement is contemptible.  While facing down race discrimination was of the highest nobility, shutting down Congress simply because they didn’t get their way is a thoughtless response that is in no way comparable.

Four separate votes came up and were defeated, that is how the democratic system works.  There is nothing “noble” about having a temper tantrum in the well of the House of Representatives and then cry foul because the camera were turned off.  So much for the photo op to raise all of that money needed for re-election, a publicity stunt, nothing more.

At least two very important lessons should be learned by this.  First, the emotional and hysterical aspects of the mass murder in Orlando are driving the agenda of those politicians that took to the floor in protest.  If they actually had the strength of their convictions as profoundly as they would have us believe, based on their willingness to disrupt their own legislative body, it begs the question of where their collective outrage was in the days and weeks before the highly publicized mass killing.  Anyone as outraged as this it would seem would be making this topic their life’s work, but absent some sensational tragedy, these otherwise seemingly zealous advocates for a cause were all silent on the matter.  Considering this reality, one can only conclude that their shrill protest is a publicity and fund-raising scheme, unashamedly based on the deaths of innocent people, all in the name of money and the power to get re-elected.

Second, the advancement of liberal policy is often times driven by emotion and reaction, as evident in this case.  Because sound legislation is logically and thoughtfully created, a judicial system stacked with sympathetic jurists is required to over-ride the legislative will of the people.  Through judicial activism by legislating from the bench, the liberal agenda can be imposed on us in the name of newly found and freshly minted constitutional rights.

Our current Supreme Court is evenly divided, liberal and conservative.  Our next president will decide the future balance of that court and with that decision will rest the fate of a nation.  Do we live by representation, thoughtful legislation, and the resulting rule of law, or by stomping our feet, shouting down our rivals and screaming rhythmic slogans?

Today’s world consists of some 196 countries with 7.4 billion citizens.  Approximately 50 countries are predominantly Muslim, with over 1.6 billion adherents spread mainly from the top half of Africa and all of the Middle East to Turkey and most of Indonesia.

Christianity boasts some 2.4 billion followers spread throughout 126 countries including all of North and South America, Australia, the southern portions of Africa, most of Western Europe and portions of Northern Asia.

The history of the Christian world centers around faith in God, with the Bible as its holy book, and the teachings of Jesus Christ through which salvation, the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting are possible.  Jesus was the immaculately born Son of God who lived as an unmarried man for 32 years on the Earth.  He was crucified, was raised from the dead, and sanctified man’s sins with His sacrificial death and return.

The Muslim world is centered on a prophet named Muhammad who was born in 570AD.  He had 13 wives, one of which was reportedly 9 years of age, (Aisha.)  The religions holy book is the Quran, reportedly written by Muhammad himself and is reputed to be a literal transcription of Allah’s, (God’s) words.

The Bible is a compilation of 66 books authored by approximately 40 God-inspired writers spread over 1500 years.  The Old Testament books were all written before the birth of Jesus and the New Testament after His birth.

There are five tenets of faith in Islam, one being to pledge themselves to their faith and this is the point at which we see our cultures clashing.

Christians and Muslims see their faith much differently when it comes to everyday living.  The western norm of freedom of religion is not possible in the Muslim world.   It is impossible to separate the teachings of the Quran, the duty of the Muslims life and the legal system under Islam.  To be a proper Muslim, these things are not operable unless connected.  In the western world, matters of faith, religious practice, or even disbelief is left to the individual to determine personally.  In the Muslim world, you’re either a believer or an apostate.  Muslim societal norms dictate that women are subservient and submissive to men.  That punishments for many crimes are dire even life ending, without judicial review in any way compatible with western norms.

To be a proper Muslim, as defined by their own holy book, it is impossible to assimilate into the United States, or any western culture.  The base tenets of Islam directly and obtusely conflict with western values, laws and societal norms.  The goal of Islam is the domination of the world and you’re either an adherent or an apostate.  Any devote, practicing Muslim coming to the western world is doing so on a mission to convert that world to Islam, certainly not to assimilate because our cultures cannot co-exist when our values are so different.

The United States of America is today’s representation of western civilization.  Our traditions and norms are properly and proudly treasured and celebrated.  Somehow, along the way, the concept of celebrating the goodness and righteousness of our own heritage has been maligned by some as being too boastful or too proud.  We need to affirmatively reject that criticism whenever and wherever it surfaces.  While we are a tolerant people, that is not to be confused with condoning that anything goes.  There is a growing school of thought that any limit on the concept of tolerance is somehow un-American.  I argue that on the contrary, any conflicting values that undermine and contradict with our traditions and societal norms are not only to be rejected, but must be aggressively and assuredly defeated, in the name of preserving our great culture and society.

Our standards of toleration are properly limited to comport with and foster our founding principles, our moral values and our adherence to our unique and traditional western culture, forged throughout our history and honed into the state of our society today.

Virtually every society and every civilization has as its founding, religiously based parameters that define the limits of behavior and the rules for our interactions with each other.  Based on the rule of law and constantly refined by experience and amendment, the United States system of governance has created a society, born of a divinely inspired Constitution.  The totality of this unique experience is the first ever example of self-governance, creating the reality of American Exceptionalism.

Not exceptional people, or exceptional land, or wealth or knowledge, but exceptional providence to be created at precisely the right time in history, proving that people are created equal and destiny is not properly determined by birthright.  That kings and tyrants have no place in a free society of the self-determined citizen, endowed by his Creator with rights not divisible by mere man.

If the United States of America is to remain that “shining city on the hill,” President Ronald Reagan so proudly boasted of, then we need to re-affirm our loyalty to our culture and firmly reject all efforts to undercut our founding philosophy, especially when it is attempted under the false banner of conflicting philosophy disguised as tolerance.

Assimilation should be the base requirement of participation in American society.  For the first few hundred years and for the tens of millions of anxious immigrants that originally formed this nation, their transformation to becoming an American was a condition so universally accepted that it needed no affirmation, it was a given, a condition of acceptance, a gift.  No one gave up their heritage, but they happily accepted their new role as Americans first.

The same spirit that transformed our grandparents into patriots ought to now be outwardly focused on discerning between those who want to assimilate as Americans and those who don’t, forming sensible immigration policy that welcomes the former and rejects the latter.

The only certain truth one can learn from what happened in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando on June 12th is that a lone homicidal maniac massacred 49 innocent people and wounded scores more.  His rants about ISIS and Islam add nothing to further our understanding.  His choice of weapons does not make a difference.  The social standing or sexual orientation of the victims make the tragedy no lesser or greater, lunacy is by definition not understandable in a logic sense.

Because the shooter was an adherent of Islam does not make Islam responsible for his act.  Because the majority of victims were Hispanic does not mean Hispanics everywhere should feel threatened.  Because the majority of victims were identified as having a variety of sexual orientations, it does not follow that all such folks need live in fear.  The firearms used in this atrocity could have been as readily used in defense had they been in other hands.

Tomorrow and every day, the overwhelming majority of Muslims will live their lives in quiet anonymity.  Hispanics everywhere will be unmolested, those with a variety of sexual orientations will go about their business and millions of firearms will remain holstered.

This is the act of a single, maniacal murderer.  His deranged state of mind limits our understanding because the rational of the peaceful, logical and ordered world for most of us is incapable of interpreting what we call crazy.

On average, 44 people are murdered in America every day.  Other than those families and loved one affected, we don’t ever learn their names or know their stories.  Every one of those murdered had a unique, single killer.  That means that 44 murderers reveal themselves every day as well.  Of those, about a third remain at-large which means every year in the US, over 5000 murderers remain free amongst us.

Omar Mateen was killed in the act of his horrific killing spree.  He can kill no more.  Every year, 5000 victims and their families have no such closure.  Their killers remain free amongst us and tomorrow another 44 victims and families will begin their mournful journey into the rest of their lives, all unknown to the rest of us.

To the degree that a solution is even possible, that solution must begin with identifying those amongst us that pose the greatest risk of crazy behavior.  In virtually every instance of mass murder, there were signs that those individuals were heading into the abyss of the insane and those who could have done something did nothing.

When reaction is the only response, the tragedy has already taken place.  Reaction solves nothing, addresses only our frustrations, and heightens our emotions when reason is the best remedy.