Is Arizona evil?

Two days ago that might have seemed like an absurd question to most Americans despite the criticisms that Arizona has received, from its revoking the Martin Luther King Day holiday over a decade ago despite the threat of Arizona being denied the Super Bowl game to the Arizona immigration law in 2010, which several other states are trying to emulate and which inspired an Arizona member of the House of Representatives to call for a business boycott of his own state.  I had thought that Arizona was unfairly being picked on, maybe because it seemed so inept at defending itself.  


Until two days ago when she was shot in the head in an assassination attempt in a Tuscon shopping center I had never heard of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona's 8th congressional district, never seen her on C-Span, never heard her speak on one of the many political talk shows.  Apparently the assassin picked on one of the quiet ones.


Arizona and Arizonans are no more or less evil than the rest of us Americans.  I live in a border state: New York.  One of the differences between these two border states is the countries that they border.  Canada to the north is like the United States without the violence: advanced and prosperous.  Mexico to the south is a third world country, which all but encourages its most disadvantaged citizens to cross the border into the United States to improve their quality of life even a little bit.


I have written in this blog about "immigration":


Immigration: the solution


Immigration: suppose you change country to company?


Maybe some Arizonans would be surprised to read how much they agree with some of my positions.


The crazy person who shot the Congresswoman and about twenty innocent bystanders could have done that anywhere in the United States.  It seemed that most people worth quoting on the day of the shooting responded responsibly, although the usual partisan reactions have already started.


Regarding the harsh treatment that Arizona received because of the shooting a dear friend wrote to me: "if my mother were mentally unbalanced, she might have done the shooting herself.  She lives in Arizona, she owns several guns and she hates Democrats, Liberals, the Sierra Club, Obama, and Mexicans".  Her mother is a kind and gentle person and I cannot imagine that she would behave violently no matter how angry.


This Arizona phenomenon seems more a reflection of what we have become as Americans.  We overvalue the constitution and its authors, implying qualities of sacred scripture and prophets.  With that perspective almost anything can be justified.  There is enormous pressure and frustration because our views do not seem to be respected much less embraced.  Our rhetoric is not merely intense, it's mean and intended to be so.


Mean words are better than mean actions.  Sticks and stones can break our bones but words can never hurt us.  But we've resorted to sticks and stones too often, not nearly as often as in other parts of the world but far too often for the most affluent and most free place on the planet.  That combination of affluence and freedom is what makes the United States the best place to live.  That's why people, primarily from Mexico, driven by their own callous government violate U.S. laws to enter and remain here.


We will never resolve the "immigration" problem.  We are at once too greedy for cheap labor and too compassionate toward the weak against the powerful to ever adopt a policy that would come close to satisfying American citizens on either side of the issue.  We need to live with it as we do with a relative we can't stand but can't turn away.


We also need to get a grip on ourselves and our love of guns.  Several congressman have reacted to the shooting of their colleague by announcing that they will carry the hand guns for which they have permits.  Growing up in New York and watching cowboy TV shows and movies I loved guns even though I never had a real one.  I wish I could find my toy hand guns, some of which were very realistic.  As a kid I would practice the quick draw and twirling out of and into my holster.  I can understand the special bond with their guns and gun culture of those who grew up in rural America and learned to shoot when they were young.  They are not evil.


What is evil is our not resolving the inherent conflict between our gun heritage and our modern society, which allowed a nut to arm himself and commit an unspeakable act.  We need to speak about that as calmly as we can.  That's the least we can do.  It won't prevent an assassination attempt but might restrict it to a knife attack on the intended target and save all those innocent bystanders.


Will things improve?  No.  I say that not because I am pessimistic or cynical but because I am realistic.  We've become cowards, unable and unwilling to: "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" - JFK inaugural address, January 20, 1961.  Since his assassination the sword has remained in the stone and it seems increasingly unlikely that anyone will have the stature and integrity to remove it.