Democracy, Public Servants, and the Price of Violent Rhetoric

The moment I heard of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' attempted assassination, I was in total shock.  Here was a highly intelligent, attractive, moderate democrat who had been literally SHOT IN THE HEAD LIKE A DOG.

This resonated with me for many reasons.  First, I was formerly a political staffer for a controversial politician.  As her Legislative Assistant, I dealt with threatening and angry attacks on a daily basis.  I was the person who answered when you called her office, I was the person who had the first crack at the abusive emails.  I didn't agree with every policy position that the Senator took, but I supported her and researched for her and responded to emails for her because that was my job.

Gabe Zimmerman, Rep. Giffords' Director of Community Outreach, was just a political staffer doing his job.  He died in the attack, in spite of the fact that he made no political decisions.  His job was just to ensure that Rep. Giffords was as available to her community as possible.  And for that, he died.