Sunday, January 23, 2011

Using Tragedies and Disasters as Political Tools

The political left, calling themselves Democrats, have been using tragedies and disasters as political tools to keep their followers in-line and recruit new political club members in the continual fight against conservative constitutionalists and the tragic Arizona shooting spree by a deranged, mentally disturbed young man is no exception.
I am happy that Representative Giffords is on the road to recovery being transferred from the ICU to a rehabilitation center actually standing after such a short time after taking a bullet in the head. Others died in this tragedy and there are those who want to take it out upon an inanimate object – firearms, as well as use it as an excuse to take the Second Amendment away from law-abiding citizens.
Lives may have been saved if anyone present at that political event would have been carrying a firearm to bring down the culprit behind this horrible tragedy. Media and anti-firearm enthusiasts jump at the revelation of a crime committed using firearms, but never revealing that daily, somewhere in America, someone has saved their lives and others by exercising their constitutional right under the Second Amendment.
As Free Republic commentator put it on Facebook:
I understand the desperation that Democrats must feel after taking a historic beating in the midterm elections and seeing the popularity of ObamaCare plummet while voters flee the party in droves. But those who purport to care about the health of our political community demonstrate precious little actual concern for Americas political well-being when they seize on any pretext, however flimsy, to call their political opponents accomplices to murder. 
Sarah Palin also commented upon the incident:
Like millions of Americans I learned of the tragic events in Arizona on Saturday, and my heart broke for the innocent victims. No words can fill the hole left by the death of an innocent, but we do mourn for the victims’ families as we express our sympathy. … Congresswoman Giffords and her constituents were exercising their right to exchange ideas that day, to celebrate our Republic’s core values and peacefully assemble to petition our government. It’s inexcusable and incomprehensible why a single evil man took the lives of peaceful citizens that day. … Like many, I’ve spent the past few days reflecting on what happened and praying for guidance. After this shocking tragedy, I listened at first puzzled, then with concern, and now with sadness, to the irresponsible statements from people attempting to apportion blame for this terrible event. President Reagan said, “We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.” Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state, not with those who listen to talk radio, not with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle, not with law-abiding citizens who respectfully exercise their First Amendment rights at campaign rallies, not with those who proudly voted in the last election. The last election was all about taking responsibility for our country’s future. President Obama and I may not agree on everything, but I know he would join me in affirming the health of our democratic process. Two years ago his party was victorious. Last November, the other party won. In both elections the will of the American people was heard, and the peaceful transition of power proved yet again the enduring strength of our Republic. Vigorous and spirited public debates during elections are among our most cherished traditions.  And after the election, we shake hands and get back to work, and often both sides find common ground back in D.C. and elsewhere. If you don’t like a person’s vision for the country, you’re free to debate that vision. If you don’t like their ideas, you’re free to propose better ideas. But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible. There are those who claim political rhetoric is to blame for the despicable act of this deranged, apparently apolitical criminal. And they claim political debate has somehow gotten more heated just recently. But when was it less heated? Back in those “calm days” when political figures literally settled their differences with dueling pistols? In an ideal world all discourse would be civil and all disagreements cordial. But our Founding Fathers knew they weren't designing a system for perfect men and women. If men and women were angels, there would be no need for government. Our Founders’ genius was to design a system that helped settle the inevitable conflicts caused by our imperfect passions in civil ways. So, we must condemn violence if our Republic is to endure. As I said while campaigning for others last March in Arizona during a very heated primary race, “We know violence isn't the answer. When we ‘take up our arms’, we’re talking about our vote.” Yes, our debates are full of passion, but we settle our political differences respectfully at the ballot box – as we did just two months ago, and as our Republic enables us to do again in the next election, and the next. That’s who we are as Americans and how we were meant to be. Public discourse and debate isn’t a sign of crisis, but of our enduring strength. It is part of why America is exceptional. … Just days before she was shot, Congresswoman Giffords read the First Amendment on the floor of the House. It was a beautiful moment and more than simply “symbolic,” as some claim, to have the Constitution read by our Congress. I am confident she knew that reading our sacred charter of liberty was more than just “symbolic.” But less than a week after Congresswoman Giffords reaffirmed our protected freedoms, another member of Congress announced that he would propose a law that would criminalize speech he found offensive. It is in the hour when our values are challenged that we must remain resolved to protect those values. Recall how the events of 9-11 challenged our values and we had to fight the tendency to trade our freedoms for perceived security. And so it is today. Let us honor those precious lives cut short in Tucson by praying for them and their families and by cherishing their memories. Let us pray for the full recovery of the wounded. … America must be stronger than the evil we saw displayed last week. We are better than the mindless finger-pointing we endured in the wake of the tragedy. We will come out of this stronger and more united in our desire to peacefully engage in the great debates of our time, to respectfully embrace our differences in a positive manner, and to unite in the knowledge that, though our ideas may be different, we must all strive for a better future for our country. May God bless America. [Sarah Palin]
Conservatives of America, any Americans who believe that government should be limited as it was intended by the Constitution of the United States, began a Tea Party movement that culminated in a major loss for those who politically believe that socialism and the Nanny State is the alternative to what was set forth by the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. The media tried its best to make those citizens exercising their rights under the First Amendment to look like a group of Americans who were radicals, racists and society’s misfits – but they prevailed by being determined and not resorting to violence unlike those on the side of the political left who demonstrate against military, Second Amendment, et cetera. Many of those who marched upon Washington for a real change to occur had never done so their entire lives – many feeling it was long time overdue. The protests and speeches were not just passion for the return of our unique form of government created by the Constitution of the United States, but based upon logical established rules that all governments should follow. A limited government is a less intrusive and dangerous government and a government that abides by the checks and balances system will surely correct itself by those who were elected to perform their duties serving their nation as its leadership.
If one sits down and reads the Constitution of the United States and the discussions and arguments of the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers – one can see how remarkable its authors and ratifiers were … creating something never before heard of, based upon what the American colonists endured under the tyranny of a monarchy across thousands of miles of ocean, and whose people today are valued allies. By preserving the Constitution and continually ensure that its meaning and reasoning is carried out, we will continue to preserve the Union of the states that Abraham Lincoln worked so hard to achieve and too many died to keep.
If someone wishes to put blame upon the incident in TucsonArizona – we should look to the fact that the warning signs of the mental stability of the accused murderer and attempted assassination of a congresswoman of the United States Congress were ignored by too many. My sympathy goes to the families of those who fell on that fateful day, but also to the parents of the accused murderer. They, like the firearm used on that day, are not to blame – only the person who wielded it as well as those who did not address the warning signs of the murderer’s mental stability and tendency toward addressing problems and political beliefs with acts of violence. Society has a responsibility over what is limited to the power of the government.
I get extremely angry at politicians who should be acting like statesmen and stateswomen, true representation of the People – not political whores and con artists; however, never do I consider or concede to any act of violence. Such a movement and/or mentality can only lead to anarchy and tragedies such as what took place in Tucson, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and John F. Kennedy
That is NOT what America is all about. We can be passionate about our system of government being reformed to what it was meant to be, but NEVER resort to assassination in lieu of the power of the vote and/or the power of the law.

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