Expressing Sense of House Regarding Arizona Shooting
Floor Speech
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Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I, as some of the future speakers here, are members of the class of 2006, which Representative Giffords was a member of. We had the opportunity to go through the orientation with her, to meet with Speaker Pelosi on many occasions, and to share many activities.
Gabrielle Giffords is a tremendous Member of this House--bright, caring, beautiful--and we all pray for her recovery and that she comes back and works with us.
I listened to her remarks on television when she talked about words having consequences and her brother-in-law, who is up in space, saying the same thing. It's true. Words have consequences, and we all need to be more concerned about how we speak about political opponents or people who have different perspectives than we do on political issues.
We are all Americans. We are all human beings. We all have similar goals and similar aspirations; and even though we may differ on philosophy, that doesn't make us communists or socialists or Birchers or whatever. We are all trying to make this government work.
One thing that we know about the person who did this shooting, besides the fact that he needed mental health treatment and was obviously crazy, is that he didn't like government. Government is good, and one thing we should learn from this is that government can be and is a good force. It is a lot about what America is. People who tear down government are doing a disservice to all of us, and they provide an atmosphere in which people think that anarchy is an answer. It is never an answer. Orwellianism is a philosophy that ought to be followed, and it isn't.
Gabby works as a Congressperson to make government work for her people, and that's what she was doing with her program on Saturday. The staffers who were there were working on the weekend, as many staffers do, and they work long hours. They love government and they love people, and they try to make a difference.
So I think we just need to remember that we are all human beings, that we all have similar goals and aspirations, that government can and is good, and it is the representative body of the United States of America. If you don't like the government, you don't like the country, and I love the country and so did Gabby.
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