We need not sadness at a national tragedy, but outrage that such things are now happening. It is unfortunate that outrage has so long been the stock in trade of our orators and demagogues that now when we truly need it, if those who should feel it reject it.
Anyone who cannot feel outrage at an assault on an elected official in this country that kills, among others, a nine year old girl who had come to see her Congreswoman, has lost his or her moral compass. Anyone who can add a "yes, but -" as if somehow such acts are excusable or explainable has lost his or her moral compass.
To be an American is to believe that we settle our differences in debate and at the ballot box, not with bullets. Anyone who cannot affirm that basic truth -- unequivocally and without regard to any circumstance or effort to draw comparisons -- has lost sight of the foundation of our political system and a fundamental principle of morality.
