Though a surprisingly large percentage of political decisions may bring about someone's death, almost never is it conceded. They simply deny there will be deaths, as do the advocates of shackling the EPA or of repealing the ban on semi-automatic weapons. Instead of a cost benefit analysis, where my freedom from pollutants or bullets is balanced against the profits to be made by campaign contributors, the grossly oversimplified claim is that any given legislative decision is all benefit, no costs. And thus the future can have no shadow. Harlon Carter , the man who led the NRA to the extreme right, once was asked how he felt about the purchase of legal handguns by criminals and the unbalanced.
Guns have no cost.
The future has no shadow. Honest discourse about consequences promotes the shadow of the future, forcing politicians into cooperation with the public and eliminating the benefits of defection. But, to get there from here, the public must acquire a longer memory for responsibility and consequences.