The wasteland

We live in a violent country.

It has always been thus.

One of our greatest statesmen (Alexander Hamilton) died in a duel with another one
of greatest statesmen (Aaron Burr).

We were founded in bloody revolution, we were enlarged through a series of conquests
later called Manifest Destiny, and we were forcefully unified in a terrifying civil
war.

We glory in the wars we won (World War I, World War II, the Cold War) and we despair
about the war we lost (Vietnam).

The Second Amendment to our Constitution grants us the right to bear arms, giving
the people the ultimate power to decide whether they want to keep this republic
or toss it aside.

Murder is fairly commonplace in certain parts of America.

Dramas and reality shows about murder are broadcast daily. “CSI,” “Law and Order,”
“48 Hours” and a host of other television shows graphically depict Americans killing
one another with routine regularity.

All that being said, it is still very rare for someone to take a shot at a member
of Congress. The last representative to die from a gunshot was Leo Ryan, and he
was killed in Guyana, not in America.

In the last century, only two senators were assassinated, Huey Long and Robert Kennedy,
and they were larger-than-life figures who transcended the role of the traditional
congressman.

That is why the attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) is so jarring. She was
doing her job, representing her constituents, and by all accounts, she was doing
it well.

As someone who worked in Congress for 15 years, I saw firsthand the kind of threats
that were handled routinely by the House sergeant at arms. I saw the increasing
precautions that Capitol Police and the members of Congress themselves had to take
to protect themselves from these threats.

In fact, I saw firsthand what happens when a crazy person gets a hold of a gun and
decides to attack a member of Congress. Russell Westin came into the office I worked
in and killed two police officers in an effort to kill then-Majority Whip Tom DeLay
(R-Texas). I still hear those shots in my dreams on occasion.

Much has been made about the heated political rhetoric that preceded this attack
on Gabby Giffords. But overheated political rhetoric had nothing to do with the
attack on the DeLay office. It was the work of a sick, deranged individual who saw
visions and somehow was able to get access to weapons.

My suspicion is that this character who killed six and almost succeeded in killing
Ms. Giffords is similarly deranged.

The political atmosphere probably didn’t help things, but it is not the proximate
cause.

We have seen this kind of senseless murder before. We saw it at Virginia Tech. We
saw it in Columbine. We see it crop up at postal facilities, at courthouses and
at inopportune places across the country.

Sometimes, these deranged killers give us advance warnings. Sometimes they post
incoherent rants on YouTube or on Facebook. Sometimes they get kicked out of school
or fired from a job or are released from an insane asylum.

But in all cases, they fall through society’s cracks, and they enter a wasteland,
where all reality is suspended and all morality is twisted. For some reason, these
people are able to gain access to weapons, and then they are able to wreak havoc
on stable and civil society.

Some politicians will seek to gain some advantage because of this tragic event.
Some commentators will seek to shift blame. Some pundits will seek to pin the blame
on deeper political forces. The left will blame Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. The
right will blame Barack Obama and Keith Olbermann.

To me, this whole blame-game exercise is frustratingly pointless.

It is the wasteland that is to blame, the place that gives power to the deranged
to destroy our world and to slay innocent victims in merely a moment. It is this
wasteland we must confront.

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