Were Those Glen Beck's Chickens in Tuscon?

Give that the tone of the rhetoric from the Right as personified by Glen Beck borders on the edge of inciting to riot I am not totally surprised by the assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford.

Mr Beck is not alone however. The re-incarnation of Joseph McCarthy in the form of Sarah Palin and the heavy handedness of her political action committee in denouncing anyone who disagrees with her is like giving matches to children.

I have ridiculed members of the Tea Party for their inability to comprehend the hypocrisy of most of their positions. I have worried that they were the fulfilment of H.L. Mencken's comments that political leaders are the reflection of the electorate which is to explain why so many politicians are downright morons. This leaves me somewhat terrified of monster in our midst.

Although I am not totally convinced by the argument that civilizations follow the same stages of development as humans, there is something to be said for the description of the US as a male adolescent on steroids allowed to vent his hormonal imbalances in a base, violent manner. The problem is that although in a nation it can be catastrophic, in a person it can be equally devastating.

I am aware that there are those that want to isolate Ms Gifford's assailant Jared Loughner and put him into the "just basically crazy" box. These are the same people
who want to brand him a leftist because he is apparently fond of "Mein Kampf" and Karl Marx.

No,these are the apologists for the Right Wing who don't understand that if you repeatedly suggest violence, whether in- or explicitly there is a reservoir of unstable and basically dangerous people in America who will take you at your word.

Gifford's tea party-backed opponent, Jesse Kelly, held a fundraiser at a shooting range in which he invited supporters to "help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office" while shooting an M-16 rifle.

During the midterm election Sarah Palin posted a map on her website that used cross hairs to mark each congressional Democrat she wanted to defeat, in addition to her frequent use of shooting metaphors on the campaign trail.

No, I think you reap what you sow...and the Right Wing is planting a lot of violence.