Vol. 75/No. 3      January 24, 2011

Nothing has been uncovered to date about Jared Loughner, the young man who was arrested for the killings, that would indicate he drew his inspiration from Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, the tea party, or any other political figure on the left or the right of bourgeois politics. Neither was Loughner connected to any group in the working-class movement.

Workers should be wary of attempts to associate a violent act, such as the killings in Arizona, with political views in order to discredit and suppress those views. The results will ultimately be aimed at curtailing workers’ rights to express and fight for their own political perspectives as they become increasingly critical of the government and its two parties—the Democrats and Republicans—as well as the capitalist system itself.

What does emerge from the events in Arizona is a person who was seriously ill for a long time and received no help. A time bomb was waiting to go off. Arizona’s public mental-health system is among the worst in the United States, but it is not unique. Every state in the nation lacks enough beds for the number of people who have been determined to need hospitalization because of mental illness. That situation is worsening as state and local governments look for more ways to cut services.

As the capitalist crisis deepens throughout the world, the effects of wars, joblessness, cuts in social services, and other ills brought on by a dog-eat-dog system will continue to take their toll. The Arizona events illustrate one more reason to join the struggle to overthrow capitalism and fight for a socialist world in which society is organized around the needs of the vast majority, not the profits of a tiny handful.
 
 
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Democrats seize on Arizona shooting rampage  
 
 
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