Tucson Az.

Political Assassination (and attempts) galvanize the body politic like no other event, short of a terrorist attack.  From Abraham Lincoln, to President Kennedy and his Brother, Robert, through President Regan, an attack on an elected official feels personal.  Somehow, a high body count resulting from a domestic dispute or the deranged killer of ordinary citizens does not achieve the same effect.

Similar talking points jump out and are discussed (with no discernable solutions) after every high profile killing.  Gun control, the privacy rights of our mentally unstable citizens, and security issues are the usual suspects.  Tucson is different.  The suspect was fixated on Representative Giffords, at least in part, because of her political views.  While it is also true that his mental health was deteriorating, there was enough evidence in his sick mind that the Congresswoman needed to die.  There is no disagreement that the political atmosphere in Southern Arizona, encouraged by the national fringe media, has torn that community apart.  God Bless the Sheriff from Tucson and his frank comments on cause and effect.  He knew his community was and is a powder keg.

In another powder keg, last week a leading member of the Pakistani liberal ruling party was assassinated by one of his own security guards.  He was defending a Christian woman who was accused of violating fundamentalist Islamic law on blasphemy.  The Islamists and the Mullahs who support them have gained immeasurably, over the secular government, from this killing.

On Sunday, as I watched the Mother of the nine year old girl who was killed in the shooting, eulogize her daughter and explain her love of politics, a chill ran down my spine.  I realized there were fellow citizens who were secretly glad that Representative Giffords, who had escaped the political “crosshairs” of the election, was now down and possibly out.  There are whispers that the death threats against our President have never been higher.  Unfortunately, political assassinations in any political system change history.

If we are not Pakistan, if we are to remove violence and violent images as a political tool, we must move away from all or nothing politics.  It is time to realize that the fine art of compromise and constructive dialogue is what made our Constitutional Republic successful in the first place.  It is the body politic, who must send the message.