On Sunday, January 9, 2010; Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in a meeting with her constituents in Tucson, AZ. Six other people including a Federal Judge in Arizona were dead and the congresswoman now lies in coma. The shooter was captured and is facing both state and federal charges. This news will be in air for next many weeks and pundits from all political parties and news reporters will tear the issue into the pieces using party politics, gun control, immigration and the other possible issues they can find. There will be discussion about whether the shooter is mentally ill or what was his motivation in spite many videos he posted on youtube about his ideas and thoughts. Sarah Palin's "Map" will become overtly famous and republicans will call names to all those who resort to violence. This whole drama will end as soon as we find new issue to chew on such as "Is Obama an American Citizen" or " will my taxes go down now that Republicans are getting back to power" and all those life changing and most serious issues. Hopefully, Giffords will recover and be back at her job in Washington.
I am speechless. Not frustrated, not horrified, just Speechless. The country that takes a great pride in its Democratic values and principles just saw how flimsy those values are getting or should I say the country saw no one cares about the Democracy as along as they can get few minutes of time on television or radio and use partisan politics to get elected. As Paul Krugman wonderfully wrote in his opinion piece in NY Times Climate of Hate, the time has come for the politicians to retrospect about the use of language when they are denouncing their opponents. I mean all politicians. I don't care if you are a liberal or a conservative, if you instigate your voters enough to make them kill someone, you are responsible for their actions.
I truly believe in democracy as the only method to govern any country. It is not the most perfect method but it is the only method that ensures that every single vote counts and every single opinion is heard. But when every single vote is only politically motivated, I have a problem. I believe that freedom of speech is the greatest gift that any constitution can provide. But how far do we want to take that gift? With great gifts comes great responsibility. The great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. used this gift to motivate millions of supporters to march towards "Freedom" in peace. Unfortunately, those kind of leaders are now almost extinct.
How far we want to let these political warmongers lead us? As Krugman says, as long as it brings money and time on TV, the politicians will say anything. When a commoner like me says something irresponsibly the result is me getting in trouble. But when a leader says something irresponsibly, the result is the country getting in trouble. And worse thing is, all this speech is not against some external enemy, it is against internal opponents who are viewed by thousands of the followers as "enemy". The beauty of democracy lies in the ability of having multitude of opinions. We need difference of opinions to make sure that the people don't get carried away by one side. Unfortunately, debate and arguments are no longer in the congress they are coming into our houses and into our lives. Why is that someone who has a different political opinion can never be your friend? If politics a business, why can't they argue and fight in congress and still be respectful of each other and mention that loudly to the constituents? The business of "spreading fear" is not good and the result is decided by a bullet than by a vote.
I cried blood tears over this. I am a champion of freedom for all. But I am also champion of freedom with great responsibility. Freedom is not an entitlement, it's an opportunity many do not get in their lifetime. With every bullet freedom vanishes in air and democracy dies a little bit more.
I really pray that congresswoman will get better soon and the nation will retrospect, even for a moment and see what we are giving up to achieve what!
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