"I am ready for real revolution and, if need be, I am ready to invoke the Second Amendment! And I know I'm not the only one..." - Josh Fryfogle, "Editor and Writer" of Make-A-Scene: The people's Paper, published monthly right here in this valley.
"Well, it's time to defend ourselves. And you know, I'm hoping that we're not getting to Second Amendment Remedies. I hope the vote will be the cure for the Harry Reid problems." Sharron Angle, whose campaign for US Senator in Nevada failed to "cure... the Harry Reid problem".
"I was willing to fight, kill or die for this country and for the ideals that it represents and that has not changed. I took an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States, it had no expiration on it. I remember taking that oath as a young soldier and it said that I would swear to defend the Constitution from all enemies, both foreign and domestic and I didn’t understand that domestic thing. Never in a million years did I realize that the domestic enemies would be our greatest threat and they would come from the highest levels of government in this country, from the highest positions. Today, for me, I have no eligible President in office, I have no qualified Commander-in Chief; that’s my personal opinion." - Rick, speaking at Wasilla Tea Party Rally.
"Don't retreat. Reload!" - Sarah Palin, after placing Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in the crosshairs along with 19 other members of Congress she wanted to see voted out of office.
This list could go on and on... couple it also in your mind with images that I will not bother to link to of self-righteous, angry, people showing up at political rallies packing pistols and brandishing assault rifles.
Last night, I found myself driving through the darkness, the inside of my chest burning with rage - rage against the killings and woundings that had taken place in Arizona, rage against all the rage that has sunk America's political discourse to the lowest of levels these past few years, rage against the mentality that justifies the use of language such as I have quoted above and makes it seem not only acceptable to many but laudable, even patriotic, for them to make statements that in any way seem to legitimize violence against Americans who have disagreed with them at the ballot box.
Before I continue, I must stress that I am not among those who place the blame for yesterday's shooting upon Sarah Palin. The blame is on the shooter, and anyone else who may have been involved with him. I do not know the motives or politics of the shooter. For all I know, he could be out there on the left-wing fringe as easily as on the right. Yet, when the kind of mentality voiced above sinks deep enough into the public psyche, shots will be fired and they can come from any direction: left, right, straight ahead or from behind.
What I do know is that the shooter acted in the spirit of the above quotes.
Jerard Laughner readied himself for real revolution and took the kind of action implied by the statements, "I am ready to invoke the second amendment" and "Second Amendment remedies."
He killed and stood ready to be killed in an attempt to remove from office a politician that he did not see as legitimate despite the fact that other Americans had voted her in. Among those who he killed was a nine year old girl. By his action, in one moment, he erased all of her hopes, dreams and future; he took away all that she had ever been or ever would be.
A nine-year old girl.
He did not retreat. He reloaded.
Now, does this mean that I believe that any of the people that I have quoted above actually wanted what happened yesterday to happen? That I believe they approve of it?
No.
Does it mean that I feel that all those other many Americans of prominence and politics who have made similar statements or who have simply failed to take a stand against these kind of statements out of cowardly fear of alienating a base of one sort or another, actually wanted what happened yesterday to happen? That they approve of it?
No. I don't. In fact, I am quite certain that they did not. I believe those who now say that they are horrified and appalled by what happened yesterday mean it. I trust that their condolences to the bereaved are sincere.
Yet, what they did do, for their own cynical and self-serving reasons, was to foment and stir up the kind of feelings that ultimately make such actions almost inevitable. They wrapped themselves in the American Flag - MY FLAG - even as they undermined and demeaned the highest values of that flag. They sought to gain an immediate political or financial goal at the cost of the future of our nation.
I had more that I was going to write, but the anger in me still boils. I cannot trust my own words. I do not wish to add to the rage, yet perhaps that is what I am doing.
Tavra.
This is all I have to say.
"The way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district, when people do that, they have got to realize there are consequences to that." - Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords