A trust in democracy despite tragedy

Seventy-six days ago, across the Unites State of America, contentious election after contentious election took place. At the end of the night, the Republican Party had taken back the house with a staggering sixty-three seat majority. The Democrats were narrowly left in control of the senate with only a six seat majority. In a political climate of incredible polarization, these elections left the United States, for the first time since the civil war, with an internally divided Congress.

Seventeen days ago, the one-hundred and twelfth Congress of the United States of America convened in Washington D.C.  to begin its two years  as the legislative branch of the American government.  Its members, elected fairly by the people of the United States, were formally handed the power to create America law.

Eleven days ago in Tucson, Ariz., Democratic House Member Gabrielle Giffords was gunned down as she spoke to her constituents outside a local supermarket. She was brought to the hospital in critical condition having been shot through the head. Six other people, including a young girl, are dead. Fourteen were wounded.

Today we have the ability to see these events as separate. To realizes that while the last event in this list is a tragedy, the first two are not. They are democracy in action; they manifest American freedom and the capacity of the people to rule.

The shooting in Arizona was a terrible calamity. There is nothing I can say that will take in the pain and suffering, which the families of the people who died feel.  In the wake of such an event, words from any source, even well-written and well-delivered ones from the President himself, seem hollow.  Words can never bring back the lives lost or erase the suffering felt.  But this is a tragedy that goes beyond even the pain of these victims and those who love them. It was not an attack on them alone. In targeting Rep. Giffords, Jerald Loughner did not target one congresswoman. He targeted her as a member of the United States Congress, as someone to whom the American people had given its trust to represent its will. He attacked the American political system as a whole.  While those people who were so ruthlessly gunned down had no chance to fight back, we as members of the American people do.  We do not have to give in either to the whims of one crazy gunman or do the political purposes of the politicians who wish to exploit his actions.

Freedom and democracy require that people be allowed to speak their mind, to stand up for what they believe in without fear of terrible repercussions. It requires that the people use the vote to voice their opinion and that the American people as a whole respect the outcomes of these elections, whether or not they personally favor them.

It is a sad fact that we may not always be able to stop the acts of Jerald Loughner or others like him. However, in their aftermath we can refrain from blaming those whom we oppose no matter how disagreeable their rhetoric may be. We should not use these tragedies for political advantage. Instead we can educate people to understand what freedom is, to understand the system in which we live and appreciate the courage of those with whom we disagree.  I hope we can come together to mourn the loss of those who have died and pray for the recovery of Rep. Giffords and the others that were wounded.