The tragic shooting on January 8th in Tucson, Arizona which critically injured U.S. Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and killed six other people surely will change the nature of our democracy. There certainly were warning signs that elected officials could be threatened by violence as indicated by events over the 2-3 years.
1. Fox News Commentator Liz Trotta in May 2008, in a moment of mispronunciation, suggested that someone "knock off Osama, no Obama. Well, both if we could." This is the earliest expression of hatred towards Barack Obama that I can recall.
2. In October 2008, Sarah Palin accused Obama of "Pallin' around with terrorists who targeted their own country" after reading an article in The New York Times. There was no truth to this, but this apparently brought White Supremecists out of hiding and led to a spike in death threats against Obama during the final weeks of the 2008 Presidential Campaign.
3. In June 2009, Joyce Thomann, the President of the Republican Women of Anne Arundel County club in Maryland wrote a hate-filled rant posted online comparing Obama with Hitler. She stated that both Obama and Hitler took on political adversaries with "blitzkreig" ways.
4. A woman at a June 2009 town hall for Delaware Congressmen Mike Castle brought up the issue of her birth certificate and then pointed out her view that President Obama is not an American citizen and was a citizen of Kenya, instead. When she pointed that out, many people in the room actually applauded her. It took about three weeks before this incident made headlines, but once it did, the YouTube video of this incident went viral. When Castle, a moderate Republican, affirmed that Obama is a citizen of the U.S., the crowd booed him. This incident led to chaotic scenes at town halls all across the nation as angry people not only spoke out against a wrongfully perceived government takeover of healthcare, but also Obama's birthplace.
5. In March 2010 after the passage of healthcare reform, Sarah Palin sent a public message through her Twitter account saying "Don't retreat, Instead - RELOAD."
6. In January 2010, Nevada Senatorial candidate Sharron Angle sugessted "that people will be looking to those Second Amendment remedies" and that "the first week we need to do is take Harry Reid out." This tape surface in June 2010, sparking immediate outrage.
7. At a July 4th celebration in 2010, Joyce Kaufman campaigned for former Iraq veteran Allen West, a House candidate for the 22nd District in Florida. She said there, "if ballots don't work, bullets will."
8. Rich Iott, the U.S. Republican House candidate in Ohio's 9th Congressional District, participated in Nazi re-enactments, as revealed in October 2010. (1) He later lost in the general election for this seat.
9. After Democrat Bob Filner defeated Tea Party backed Republican Nick Popaditch to win the U.S. House seat for California's 51st Congressional District in the 2010 general election, a violent incident broke out as Popaditch led about 100 of his supporters against Filner. At least one person was punched in the face. Popaditch'smob shoved and spat on Filner before police broke up this incident.(2)
10. Carl Paladino, the Republican nominee for New York Governor in 2010, lost to Democrat Andrew Cuomo. At his concession speech on November 2nd he said, "I have a message for Andrew Cuomo, the next governor of New York, "I've always said my baseball bat is a metaphor for the people who want to take their government back. But this isn't my bat after all. As our next governor, you can grab this handle and bring the people with you to Albany. Or you can leave it untouched and run the risk of having it wielded against you, because make no mistake: You have not heard the last of Carl Paladino." (3)
By no means, is this an exhaustive list of violent rhetoric and imagery that has made the news within the last three years. The people that hold not just the views, but the mindset, of the most radical elements of the Tea Party need to realize this anti-government culture can can capture the minds of mentally unstable individuals, who ultimately carry out senseless acts of violence. They help create the culture that breeds hatred of elected officials and weakens gun control laws. This could weaken our democracy as more money surely will be spent by our elected officials to protect themselves, their families, and their staffers. In a nation that needs to create quality jobs, especially in manufacturing and the development of clean energy, this will further slow the economic recovery in our nation. Every dollar we have to spend on things like the security of our elected officials is one less dollar that we can invest in making the United States energy-independent. Yes, there really is a price that all Americans pay for the extreme political views and tolerance of violence of just a few individuals with delusional fantasies. While it may be hard to measure, one would hope that people would educate themselves about what is really happening in America and come up with constructive ideas and solutions to move America forward.
Footnotes:
1. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/10/why-is-this-gop-house-candidate-dressed-as-a-nazi/64319/
2. http://www.southwesterncollegesun.com/news/sun-tv-bob-filner-harassed-at-golden-hall-by-challenger-1.1744755 and http://libertypundits.net/article/nick-popaditch-for-congress-tea-party-rally-9182010/
3. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/11/with-baseball-bat-in-hand-defeated-new-yorker-promises-you-have-not-heard-the-last-of-carl-paladino-.html
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