Certain historic political events occur where cause and effect extends beyond the individuals immediately impacted. With recent shootings in Arizona the effects could actually be beneficial for some.
According to reports this weekend, a gunman unloaded a semiautomatic weapon at a busy supermarket Saturday during a public gathering for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, wounding the Democrat and killing Arizona’s chief federal judge and five others in an attempted assassination that left Americans questioning whether divisive politics had pushed the suspect over the edge.
Even before the shooting, Giffords expressed similar concern about the raised tension. According to reports, in an interview after her office was vandalized, she referred to the animosity against her by conservatives, including Sarah Palin’s decision to list Giffords’ seat as one of the top ‘targets’ in the midterm elections. The main reason connecting Palin and her Tea Party to this unfortunate incident is because Palin targeted a number of Congressional districts in the 2010 elections, putting a crosshairs on each district that was vulnerable to Republicans. This strongly implies that Palin may have motivated the alleged gunman, Jared Lee Loughner, to take this juvenile action. Talk about using your words-
After the lives lost and those who survived under these brutal circumstances, who actually benefits from this mass shooting?
This Arizona shooting will add to the fuel of reasons why so many people are outraged and want renewed calls for tougher gun control laws. Gun control groups will emerge again to the forefront lobbying and pushing views for stricter control. Even though some media reports indicate that the handgun used in the shooting was obtained legally, advocates will still push for tougher gun control. Should we be more concerned with the idea of “gun control” or who actually obtains the gun?
With the ups and downs each political election year brings, reasons for picking candidates have people looking among all views of potential candidates. There’s no surprise the Democrat party needs to gain more momentum going into 2011, if they’re planning for a successful 2012 election. Democrats usually have a hard time getting the vote out during midterms – and past November elections weren’t any different. This incident could be the momentum needed to wake up young voters to actually vote and become more active during the political process amid the every four-year presidential bid. There is only so much support you can show and not going to the polls shows a lot.
Democrats need this momentum.
Gifford narrowly won re-election this past November against her tea party candidate. With health care reform and immigration laws being a hot topic in Arizona, voters are rallying around their prospective party to gain strength in numbers.
President Obama may also benefit from this incident if it knocks Sarah Palin out of the 2012 presidential election. With the Tea Party staying in the news, nominating Sarah Palin will again bring attention to the ‘Maverick’ and not the issues. Unfortunately with the frail state of the economy, citizens are more concerned with the issues. If Obama can save face and focus on the issues this would help gain more support to secure the Democrats in capturing presidency again.
As Obama stated this is a tragedy for the entire country. With this being the first assassination attempt of an American politician our generation has seen it’s time for everyone to become more engaged with political activities that help shape our daily lives. Given the daily problems we face such as the growing violence among young people, the steadily rising costs of post education and lack of quality jobs
