I was studying yesterday when my wife called me from the other room saying that a Congresswoman had been shot. I looked at DailyKos (and MSNBC) and found out the horror of yesterday's events.
I was afraid this might happen. For the last year-and-a-half, I've been concerned that some right-wing lunatic would go and shoot a Democratic member of Congress. On a phone call a while back, my mom told me her concern that someone's going to shoot President Obama. Most older African-Americans worry about the President, especially given the sordid history of assassinations in the 1960s. My response to her that night was that President Obama would be fine, but I was worried that someone might try to assassinate a member of Congress.
I was hoping that some of the hatred had died down since the election, but unfortunately...sadly...I was wrong. You could almost see it coming. The hatred and anger shown towards Democratic congressmen during 2009's town halls. The screaming...the signs...the fistfights...the arguments...all terrible. Then, after health care reform passed, there were threats upon the lives of different congresspeople, including (but not limited to) Gabrielle Giffords, Tom Perriello,and Raul Grijalva.
Last summer, I worked as a legal intern for the Democrats on the House Committee on Financial Services. It was something that I had wanted to do for a while. I wanted to see how our government ran from the inside, and I wanted to see how things worked on Capitol Hill. While I worked in the House, I did not meet Rep. Giffords. But I did meet other Congressmen and staffers who did a great job of serving an often ungrateful public after one of the greatest crises in the history of this country. Unfortunately no good deed goes unpunished, and many Democratic members lost their re-election campaigns (and many Democratic staffers lost their jobs) due to a foul economy (and a dysfunctional Senate) over which they had no control.
Yesterday, Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head while trying to rebuild our civil society from the attacks on it by the Tea Party and other right-wing lunatics and hatemongers. The "Congress on Your Corner" events were an attempt to be open to the public and for the public to see their congresswoman as a person and a public servant, and not some monster created by the right-wing press. One of the great strengths of this country has been the relative openness that most of our public officials have had to the general public. Yes, a few public officials (like the President, some governors, and Congressional leadership) have large security details. But most public officials are extremely accessible, and each of us can use our First Amendment rights to complain to our public officials face-to-face without being screened by security.
After yesterday, I'm afraid those days may be gone. It will be a generation, if not longer, before a member of Congress will speak directly to angry members of the public without worrying about their physical safety. That openness died with Judge John Roll, nine-year-old Christina Taylor Greene, Democratic staffer Gabe Zimmerman, and retirees Dorwin Stoddard, Dorthy Murray, and Phyllis Scheck. And a piece of America died with them.
It is up to us to restore civil society in the United States. I listened to Keith Olbermann's Special Comment just now, and it is a masterpiece. Please listen to it if you have not already. Violence and intimidation have no place in our politics. The blood of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the six murdered Americans, and the other wounded, is on the hands of all those sick right-wing extremists like Sharron Angle who suggest that "Second Amendment remedies" and the like might be necessary to take care of their political enemies - us. Gabrielle Giffords warned against the angry rhetoric and imagery of Sarah Palin and the like. She was right...too right.
We need to make sure that all of those who try to use intimidation and violence are shunned and driven from our civil discourse. I suggest that we start by boycotting all of the sponsors of those extremist right-wing radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Michael Savage. Their hatred is unacceptable, and we must stand together, today, to drive it from our society.
Furthermore, we need to support those officials, like Gabrielle Giffords, who stand strong against such violence. Whenever one of ours is threatened by violent threats and rhetoric, we need to donate time and money to their campaigns. And we need to stand together to make sure that no Democrat stands for violence and intimidation.
We can end this hatred and violence. But we have no time to lose - too many lives have already been lost.