A few years ago there was a shooting in Arizona that permanently injured a U.S. Congresswoman. The tragic shooting was horrible, wrong, and evil. It was the act of an evil person for evil reasons. This person has no place in civil society or the political realm. But the same night of this terrible event some in the media were asking if the Tea Parties or even Sarah Palin were to blame. There was talk from a local sheriff and even President Obama that the tone of the political discourse in America was to blame. It reminded me of the Oklahoma City bombing when then President Clinton blamed talk radio. The only person to blame is the shooter. People are responsible for their own actions.
We learned that this person had no party. He didn’t see himself as Republican or a Democrat. He was not part of the Tea Parties and wasn't a fan of Sarah Palin. The fact is this person hated the government in general and was outside the norm. This person is no different than the terrorists on 9/11. Both wanted to cause death and destruction based on an evil belief system.
We should not turn on ourselves when evil strikes out against free speech. It is sad that instead of uniting during a tragedy we see people tearing down others. When we fail to blame evil for evil acts, we will soon not know what evil looks like. Evil has no party.
