The nation tuned in together Saturday as news broke of the mass shooting in Arizona. The gunman targeted and severely wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and kept on shooting until heroically tackled by people attending the congresswoman’s meet and greet session. In the meantime he left six dead, more than a dozen also wounded.

Subsequent investigation has found him to be a loner who scared people and who seemed to have a grudge against Giffords. The usual pattern, it seems:someone who needed help, who did not get it, and who went on to create his own little world of terror.

As the news developed on Saturday, the usual platitudes, surely heartfelt but still without much substance, went out on the airwaves. Every public official from both sides of the aisle offered condolences—the first and decent thing to do. Everyone then said it’s important to work together in civility toward the nation’s common goals; but who really expects a change in the noxious Congressi...