This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Why do I feel I should add my comment to what happened the other day in Uvalde, Texas.  A gunman mowed down 21 people, most of them students at a middle school in the small Texas town.

The first question:  Why can’t Americans of goodwill and good intent – yes, there are some around, but, apparently, not enough in Congress to spur action — find a way to get guns out of the hands of people who use them to kill. 

In case after case, we are sacrificing our kids and, of all things, while they are in school.

But, rather than comment on the basic gun control issue, my goal this morning is to call out a case of duplicity.  Not surprisingly, it involves Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a master of the art.

If you checked a dictionary for the term duplicity, there, I submit, you would find a photo of Cruz.

In the immediate aftermath of the horrific shooting, Cruz thought he should get into the act.

So, he went on Twitter to make one good point and one ironic point.

First, on the good side, he noted that he and his wife were praying for the children and families affected by the incident.  I hope he was being honest.  It’s what many politicians say after a gun tragedy, then beyond the “good words,” most of them do nothing.

Then, second and unfortunately, Cruz went on to express his disdain about any legislation to control guns.  Plus, in irony, he pilloried Democrats for “politicizing” the issue.

“You see Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens.  That doesn’t work.  That’s not effective.  It doesn’t prevent crime.”

To that, he added the “politicization” charge.

Say what?

Politicizing is something Cruz does all the time, no matter the issue.

Better if he would shut up and at least be open to ways to get guns out of the hands of the people – including, in the Texas case, an 18-year-old.

But, asking Cruz to shut up is like asking Donald Trump to do the same.  They cannot. 

And I decline to leave it there this morning.  On the plus side, President Joe Biden put it very well yesterday when he went beyond the usual “we’re praying for you” line.

“To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away.  As a nation, we have to ask, when in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?  I am sick and tired of it.  We have to act.  And don’t tell me we can’t have an impact on this carnage.”

Agreed.