The shooting of Majority Whip Steve Scalise and others in Alexandria, Virginia is a tragedy and something that all Americans should feel equally revolted about. Regardless of party affiliation, we are all Americans and should never fear for our lives as we go about them.

But naturally people on both sides of the fence have politicized this senseless outburst of anger and have further sowed the seeds of division that are tearing apart the fabric of this nation.

Newt Gingrich, the apparently incredibly forgetful former Speaker of the House decided to blame an increased "hostility from the left"
as the reason behind the shooting. Painting the entire "left", obviously implying democrats, as increasingly "hostile" is ridiculous. If questioning the government is now considered hostile than the "Tea Party" would be on par with the Taliban. There is absolutely nothing wrong with healthy skepticism and activism against the government. The Tea Party had every right to protest and raise concerns against the Obama administration, this is a fundamental right of all Americans regardless of politics. Also, Ted Nugent.

It came to light soon after the identity of the shooter was revealed that he volunteered for and supported Senator Bernie Sander's campaign for the Democratic Candidacy, and naturally many took this as an opportunity to label Bernie as a radical. Bernie not only immediately condemned the man, but reiterated that he has always been unilaterally opposed to any form of political violence. But we are apparently supposed to paint one violent supporter of Bernie as representative of all of them, and not hold the same standards for supporters of the President.

But Democrats and other Left-leaning people do not get off scot-free either. Some said the shooting is justified because of Scalise's beliefs and actions as a congressman. Some referenced Paul Rand's tweet that admittedly hasn't aged well citing that the second amendment is meant to protect our right to "shoot the government when it becomes tyrannical!". I'm actually a firm believer in this sentiment, which is why I support the second amendment, but also sensible gun laws. But the problem lies within our varying definitions of tyranny. To me tyranny is a government that rips up the Constitution and has tanks patrolling suburban streets. Apparently to this man tyranny is legislators passing legislation that he didn't agree with. This legislation is extremely harmful, and can potentially put people's lives at risk. But tyrannical is not how i'd define it, and bullets are not the way to fight it.

We live in a democracy, the worst form of government except for all the others that have been tried. It has it's flaws, and sometimes it may lead to the people you don't agree with coming into power. But what separates us from much of the rest of the world is our greatest strength as individual citizens, the ballot box. So don't ever condone political violence, because it will go both ways if we don't. Vote, call and write your representatives, and protest.

My thoughts are with Representative Scalise and all the others that were shoot and targeted that day. I hope for a speedy recovery.

And if you still think that violence solves anything, take a trip to Gettysburg.