Let's be careful with cause and effect in Tucson

By Ross K. Baker

Charles Guiteau. Leon Czolgosz. Joseph Zangara. These men have not achieved the notoriety of John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald as assassins of presidents. Perhaps it is because their singularly violent acts could not be connected to some tantalizing theory of conspiracy that might cause their names to come down to us in infamy. With all three of the assassins or would-be assassins (Guiteau shot James A. Garfield in 1881, Czolgosz assassinated William McKinley in 1901, and Zangara attempted to kill Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 but succeeded only in killing Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak), madness fully as much as malice provoked the assailant's act. So too, it appears in the case of Jared Loughner, who is charged with grievously wounding Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and killing or wounding others Saturday in Tucson.

But it is not mental derangement alone that is the spur to action in these outrages. Psychopaths can push ordinary people in the paths of subway trains, and many people who would be considered clinically insane are not homicidal at all. The toxic synergism of madness and symbols of authority has proved especially destructive in American history. And even if we exempt Booth and Oswald from the category of those who were simply mad, we cannot dismiss the possibility that anyone who would undertake the murder of a president must be seriously deranged — even if his professed goal was a political one.

McKinley's assassin

A description of presidential assassin Leon Czolgosz reads very much like accounts of the behavior of Loughner. According to historian Margaret Leech, Czolgosz's "temper was cranky. He wanted to be let alone and was always fighting with his stepmother. It is evident that his mental condition progressively deteriorated. In his last year ... he became more withdrawn and irritable." At the same time, the assassin, according to Leech, "stayed by himself reading many radical newspapers and magazines and attending some Socialist meetings. In revolt against the injustice of the social order, Czolgosz was strongly attracted to the doctrines of anarchism." Clearly, the case can be made equally well for a political motive and a purely idiosyncratic mental condition.

The Garfield assassination is even more eerily evocative of the events of this past weekend. Bystanders who witnessed the shooting in Washington's train station claimed to have heard the assassin shout, "I am a Stalwart and now Arthur is president." The Stalwarts were a group of conservative Republicans who opposed civil service reform and sought unsuccessfully to renominate Ulysses S. Grant in 1880. Their consolation prize was Stalwart Chester A. Arthur as vice presidential candidate, who was to take office on Garfield's death. Despite the fact that Guiteau, the assassin, would plead innocent by reason of insanity, the news media condemned the Stalwarts not so much for inspiring the killer but rather for poisoning the political atmosphere.

The Stalwart leader who was instantly blamed for instigating political bitterness, Sen. Roscoe Conkling, remained silent and withdrew from politics. Some who have attributed the embittered tone of American politics to Sarah Palin might well expect the same fate for the former Alaska governor, even though the evidence of Loughner's mental illness is much more compelling than the unsubstantiated suspicion that the use of rifle-sight logos on Palin's website served as an inspiration for the assailant.

Assessing blame

A one-size-fits-all explanation can be expected — or at least sought — in the aftermath of an outrage of this nature. Advocates who seek to limit the use of handguns will press their case in the face of the limited historical success of gun control legislation. Those who blame the news media — specifically the 24-hour news channels and their incendiary commentators — will also be able to make a plausible case that inspiration for Loughner can be found in the words of people such as Glenn Beck or his radio counterpart Rush Limbaugh.

Many provocative statements can be culled from these right-wing commentators and their counterparts on the far left. And it's unmistakable that the language of political attack in America has been weaponized. However, it's worth remembering that access to firearms and inflammatory rhetoric might be necessary ingredients for political violence, but by themselves they are not sufficient. As U.S. history has shown all too well, sick and isolated individuals resentful of authority take very different paths toward achieving violent goals.

Investigators today are already trying to uncover the motivations of the alleged perpetrator in Arizona. Yet until this picture comes into focus, we must resist the urge to indict our society or our political system based on the acts of deranged lone assailants.

Ross K. Baker is a political science professor at Rutgers University and is writing a book titled Profiles in Cover. He also is a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/fo ... 1_ST_N.htm