America Must Come to Terms with Itself

Following the bloody attack on Gabriella Giffords, Americans see themselves in a mirror distorted by hatred and fear.

The name “Gabrielle Giffords” will be written in blood on the pages of U.S. history books. Such an attack hadn’t taken place since the attempt on Ronald Regan’s life nearly 30 years ago.

This attempted murder was due to the atmosphere of strife caused by self-doubt. America is running into more limitations on its power by the day, whether on far-flung foreign shores or with discontent at home. It hadn’t always been that way. Americans used to say, “Yes, we can.” Today, a broad pessimism rules the country because of the economic crisis, Iraq and Afghanistan, all squandered victories.

Maybe the shooter was a loner with an automatic weapon. Or perhaps he was a politically motivated assassin with accomplices. It will take time to ferret out the details and the motive for a shooting that has shocked not just the United States.

There were plenty of warning signs seen even by the congresswoman’s inner circle. She was a passionate supporter of health care reform, a key element of Obama’s social reforms. Just hours after the reforms were passed by the House last March, her headquarters office in Tucson was destroyed by a bomb. This time, she was attending an open meeting with constituents in a Tucson shopping center, where total security was impossible. In addition, Sarah Palin had put a graphic on her website showing Representative Giffords’ congressional district in the crosshairs of a telescopic rifle sight. What was intended metaphorically became bloody reality.

It was almost as if Republicans and Democrats had an inkling even before the assassination that the passions awakened during the election campaign were on a collision course, especially because of brutal tea party movement rhetoric. It was still alive in the Senate back then, when Republicans demonized the new START Treaty and the extension of the Bush tax cuts, both of which passed by compromise nonetheless.

And it seems the new Congress met just a few days ago with a sense that the nation needed to be healed and Congress needed to reassess how it did business. The first convention of representatives was accompanied by a reading aloud of the U.S. Constitution that begins with the iconic phrase, “We, the people of the United States of America …” The echoes of a religious rite came automatically.

Since the attempt on Gabrielle Giffords’ life, Americans are looking at themselves in a mirror distorted by hatred and fear. That’s not America. Now they must ask themselves what they can do to enable their country to come to terms with itself.