Parkland student to McCain: 'Why do you take so much money from the NRA?'

[DonViejo]

Source: The Hill




BY JOSH DELK - 03/30/18 05:26 PM EDT

David Hogg, the Parkland, Fla., high school student who has become a gun control activist, called out Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Friday for accepting contributions from the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Link to tweet

McCain, the 2008 GOP nominee for president and a Vietnam War veteran, is the number one recipient of campaign contributions from the gun rights group, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The NRA has been repeatedly criticized by Hogg and other students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School since a shooter killed 17 people at the school. The students have pushed for tougher gun control laws and decried the NRA's influence over politicians.

McCain was diagnosed with brain cancer last year and has not been seen in Washington in 2018.

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Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/381054-parkland-student-to-mccain-why-do-you-take-so-much-money-from-the-nra

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

1. Mr Hogg, he takes that much money because ...

... that's all they offered.

It's not easy for a politician to turn down money from lobbyists. Who else will pay for Congress? Mexico?

[Igel]

3. Some people only do things when they profit.

Some people pay those who they want to support for what they'd do anyway.

I always found that if I did what I was supposed to and worked as hard as I thought appropriate on topics that were appropriate, I was supported with good grades and I got an allowance. I've never really taken a job that I didn't see a point in doing; even things like being a dishwasher or short-order cook I managed to find enjoyment. Whenever I lost interest in my work, I either looked elsewhere for work or played around to find something about my job that made me do the work for the work. The money was reward, not my goal.

So at no point did money ever cause me to do something that I otherwise didn't want to do.

When I worked for a church I had two bosses. One of them quit his job as pastor at his old church and for 4 years supported himself. There was a doctrinal change announced at services one week. The following Monday he went on sabbatical for a while. Before the end of the sabbatical he resigned--he could have resigned at the end of the year, but that would have been wrong. While he supported himself, along the way he was asked to preach, and so for 2-3 years he worked 40+ hours a week and on the weekends was a preacher and counselor, and visited the occasional sick person on a weeknight.

The other one stayed on as preacher for years after he decided he didn't believe in what he was teaching, and only left when he had another job that paid as much. When he joined 'my' church as a preacher, he asked for and got the same salary--which was a bit more than the founding pastor's. And when there was a budget crunch, his response was that if he didn't get paid, he wasn't going to preach--the only reason he was the asst. pastor is because it was easy work and gave him time to himself, but he did it for the money.

I find that most of my high school students think the venal, mercenary pastor was right--even those calling themselves Xian usually think he was the better, wiser person. "Will I get a grade?" "What's in this for me?" They get no reward out of doing work; learning for them is something that must be recompensed, not with intrinsic pleasure of learning and understanding but with grades, allowance. At the worst, they do it to avoid losing data privileges or texting rights, for free time. Otherwise most of them would just text and socialize, surf, play games, or (in rare cases) read. In some cases they do it for an ego rush--"Look, I'm better."

What's worse, they can't understand that not everybody is like them.

And they have no trouble insulting the ill and aged.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

9. K&R. Igel, it appears we're cut from the same cloth.

I've always found my joy in life to be the results of a project or job, not the financial reward. I really tire of people that are entirely money driven. And, as I've grown to be older and retired, I find myself mostly taking on simple tasks that I feel certain can be finished.

Thanks for those thoughtful reflections.

[llmart]

10. Have to say I agree with both of you but...

the majority in the US are driven by money and material possessions. We even measure the "success" of our country by how the economy is doing. They vote for someone because he's supposedly a "successful businessman" not because his history bears that out, but because our media keeps touting him as "successful".

I'm afraid runaway capitalism with little regulation, beginning with the Reagan years, has brainwashed most Americans.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

11. K&R. Truth!

It's a world-wide moral race to the bottom cleverly disguised as a race to the top. I sensed we were in deep trouble years ago when I used to play a little in the stock market and noticed that companies are expected to improve efficiency and margins almost every quarter. My country boy common sense kicked in and said "this can't continue forever!". Everything I saw violated my old-fashioned Christian upbringing by my humble Great Depression-era parents.

It also shocked me that many of our corporate and political leaders were claiming moral superiority via the religious right and their prosperity gospel.

At 70, I honestly cannot see a practical way out of this dilemma......

[GreydeeThos]

2. Get off my lawn you little brat

[.99center]

4. K&R

The alt-right supported Trump attacking McCain's service during Vietnam, but are up in arms over Hogg's question.

[sandensea]

5. "Because whores don't just look like Melania, kid."

Give him a little truth serum, and that's what his answer would be.

[Scarsdale]

6. McCain went into his

"line of work" for the $$$. Nothing has changed. Typical gop member, no ethics, no soul, no morals, no shame. "Show me the money" is their mantra.

[Maxheader]

7. Young man is going up against some serious city hall...

[AllaN01Bear]

8. i think these turkies hit the wrong nerve

meaning the republicon.s