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Sarah Palin on the Tucson massacre.

Sarah Palin: "America's Enduring Strength" from Sarah Palin on Vimeo.

Text. Excerpt:

There are those who claim political rhetoric is to blame for the despicable act of this deranged, apparently apolitical criminal. And they claim political debate has somehow gotten more heated just recently. But when was it less heated? Back in those ?calm days? when political figures literally settled their differences with dueling pistols? In an ideal world all discourse would be civil and all disagreements cordial. But our Founding Fathers knew they weren?t designing a system for perfect men and women. If men and women were angels, there would be no need for government. 

This is a reference to Federalist #51 ("If men were angels, no government would be necessary.").

Our Founders? genius was to design a system that helped settle the inevitable conflicts caused by our imperfect passions in civil ways. So, we must condemn violence if our Republic is to endure....

Just days before she was shot, Congresswoman Giffords read the First Amendment on the floor of the House. It was a beautiful moment and more than simply ?symbolic,? as some claim, to have the Constitution read by our Congress. I am confident she knew that reading our sacred charter of liberty was more than just ?symbolic.? But less than a week after Congresswoman Giffords reaffirmed our protected freedoms, another member of Congress announced that he would propose a law that would criminalize speech he found offensive.

Ah! The irony!

America must be stronger than the evil we saw displayed last week. We are better than the mindless finger-pointing we endured in the wake of the tragedy.

We are.

Full post as published by Althouse on January 12, 2011 (boomark / email).