Like most of you, I don't condone political violence. I can't reconcile it with the sort of democratic society I prefer. The democratic process doesn't always work the way we want it to, and our courts don't always get it right. Some frustration is inevitable, and that doesn't justify political violence.
It didn't surprise me that someone took a shot at Donald Trump during a rally. It surprised me that it took this long for someone to do so. It is hard to imagine any modern political figure inspiring such strong feelings. To some, he's Jesus returned to make us great again. To others, he's a wannabe Hitler. In a nation of way too many guns, such strong and conflicting feelings can be dangerous.
Concerns about our polarized electorate may be overblown. After all, most of us agree on many relevant issues. But the tone of our political rhetoric is hard to miss. It sounds so extreme that some seem to believe we are already at war. At least it may be a bloodless war "if the left allows it to be."
We've always disagreed with our political opponents. Some of these disagreements have been intense and heated. We've seen a few of them as moral questions where "wrong" means something more than I disagree with you. But we've been willing to live alongside people with whom we disagree. We've even been able to come together and celebrate some of what we have in common. We haven't done this often enough, but we've been able to do it.
Can we still do it? Will we still do it? It now seems that many are eager to view those who disagree with them as evil subhumans. They are trying to destroy our country! And isn't violence an obvious solution when dealing with evil subhumans who wish us harm? It might not be our first choice, but don't we get there sooner or later?
This is a problem with many causes. There's no one thing we could put our finger on as the entire explanation. That also means there won't be any easy solutions. Some problems have a way of getting worse over time, morphing into something else. We wish we had dealt with it when it was simple (e.g., restore the Fairness Doctrine). It isn't so simple now.
It doesn't have to be too late. We don't have to sit by and become as tolerant of political violence as we have of other mass shootings. I still think we are capable of solving complex problems. But I also think that we are likely to see more of it if we don't make some changes.
Image by JamesDeMers from Pixabay
