I want to note a point made by many reasonable people today, who feel that it’s not appropriate to draw a direct link between conservative rhetoric and the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords.

It’s true that we don’t know much about the motives of today’s shooter, but it’s also important to remember that the shooting was not exactly an isolated incident.

In fact, the Daily Mail reported that:

[Giffords’] Tucson office was vandlised a few hours after the House vote to approve the health care law in March, with someone either kicking or shooting out a glass door and window.

After that vote, Tea Party members also attempted to assassinate Congressman Tom Perriello by cutting the gas line to what they thought was his house, and threatened to assassinate others.

Representative James Clyburn, the highest ranking black lawmaker, received a fax with an image of a noose.

Throughout the midterm elections, Tea Party members threw bricks through Demorats’ windows (ten Democratic campaigns reported threats).

The Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization which tracks violent white supremacy groups, notes:

The signs of growing radicalization are everywhere. Armed men have come to Obama speeches bearing signs suggesting that the ‘tree of liberty’ needs to be ‘watered’ with ‘the blood of tyrants.’

As Congresswoman Giffords herself has said:

I think it’s important for all leaders, not just leaders of the Republican Party or the Democratic Party … community leaders, figures in our community to say, ‘Look, we can’t stand for this.’ I mean, this is a situation where people really need to realize that this rhetoric, and firing people up, and even things … For example, we’re on Sarah Palin’s targeted list, but the way she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gunsight over our district. And when people do that, they’ve gotta realize that there’s consequences to that action.

So, while I agree that we should be mindful of politicizing personal tragedy or random violence, I think we need to acknowledge that today’s events are part of a growing trend. Today is not the time to ignore that trend, it’s the time to start talking about it seriously.

Finally, one more important point from Mike:

Societies that trade in violence and war ultimately consume themselves. This carnage is a symptom of the nationalist psyche: the self-worshipping belief that we have the right to exact violence and wage war on those we disagree with.

This is the terrorism that we export abroad, committed not by swarthy foreigners but now by ourselves against ourselves.