I have few absolutes in my life. This is by design, the fewer things that you have no bending on the greater the chance that you can find common ground and get progress on issues or even have a happy life. The two I’ll talk about today are torture and political violence.
We have seen a disturbing trend in the last few months of violence based on political views. The man who flew his plane into the IRS, the assassination of Dr. Tiller for performing legal reproductive services, the killing of police officers for the supposed plan by the Obama administration to seize the guns of private citizens, the brick throwing at Democratic political offices and the cutting of gas lines at the family home of the brother of a U.S Representative whose address was posted on the internet by mistake.
"Originally posted at Squarestate.net"
Then there are the credible threats; just yesterday a man was arrested for making credible threats against the life of Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and a man was arrested for threatening to use deadly force to prevent the operation of an abortion clinic. Pictures of nooses have been faxed to African American Representatives, and many other have had anonymous calls to their homes and offices.
While the level of violence and threats of violence is very troubling, what is more troubling is the ho-hum attitude about it. Political violence is a particular horror of mine. I find no romance in revolution or armed struggle. When it happens it is the last and worst possible choice. When it starts in democracies it is one of the hardest things to end, with the cycle of tit-for-tat violence going on and on and on. Being Irish I have an innate ability to form and hold a grudge (you know what Irish Alzheimer’s is? You forget everything but the grudge), so perhaps I have a lower threshold for this than others.
While the acts and threats of violence seem to be contained on the Right, this is does not mean that I have not seen a growth in the acceptance of the idea of political violence on the left. The increase in rhetoric talking about fighting or hammering our opposition is troubling. In the last two days I have been told twice on threads that political violence is something those on the left will reserve as a potential option. They pointed out the violent nature of the founding of this country as if there was some kind of parallel between the oppression of the British monarchy and the lack of responsiveness from our current Congress.
The Framers did not take the step of revolution lightly. They understood they were actually risking their lives and that a war of revolution would be a bloody and deadly thing for the people of the nation they were trying to form. They were also completely out of options. They had two choices, either buckle under to the King or fight to have their own nation. We are nowhere near that kind of choice, yet the toying with the idea of political violence is out there and seems to be growing.
The question is; how did this come about? Ten years ago you would only see a small fringe of elected officials who would not actively and aggressively condemn any talk of political violence, let alone say, like Rep. Steve King (R-IA) did that he could understand the act of the man that flew his plane into the IRS building or cheering on the same protestors that had just spat on a fellow member of Congress.
What has happened is that the Overton window on violence in general has been moved by our actions in the so-called “War on Terror”. War always alters the tone of a nation, long-term wars more than short term ones. The jingoism, the talk of being “with us or against us”, the news of death, civilian and military, all take their toll. However, I believe it is our torture of prisoners and the lengths that the members of the criminal Bush administration have gone to justify it is the biggest culprit in this case.
One of the ways that they gained acceptance of a practice which was anathema to Americans previously was by the demonization of the people who were tortured. They were the evil Muslim terrorists, the worst people in the world. This was the chink that they slipped in through; the idea that bad people deserve bad things to happen to them, especially if it protects good people. The obvious problem with this construction is who defines the bad people? It was President Bush and the Republican Party.
The failure of the Obama administration to hold anyone accountable for the known and admitted war crimes of torture just made the acceptance of extreme acts of violence grow and harden. It also left in place the ability of Republican politicians to define an enemy who no common decency should be shown. They were more than willing to use this ability to describe Democrats and their agenda at every turn.
By the time we came to the final vote on Health Care Reform the level of verbal attack and tacit approval of intimidation had reached a fevered pitch. We were treated to the sight of Representatives saying that HCR was more dangerous than Al Qaeda, on the floor of the House. This made the connection between terrorist and the way that we had tacitly agreed to treat them and Democratic lawmakers who were trying to improve health care for the citizens of this nation.
This connection, along with the greater general tolerance of the idea of political violence being acceptable has led us to where we are today. By failing to live up to our instance that torture is unacceptable it has contributed to the poisoning of our political debate. I have always maintained the once you condone torture it continues to spread until it is met with the force of law. I did not realize until now that this was true beyond actual acts of torture, I did not realize that would spread in the form of increased acceptance of violence throughout society.
It is time to act to stop this growing threat to our democracy. I urge everyone reading this to think about their rhetoric. It starts with us, if we limit the apparent violence in our rhetoric; we will at the very least not feed this problem more than it is being feed by irresponsible politicians and Fox News. I also urge everyone to have zero tolerance policy on any condoning of or toying with the idea of political violence on any thread you read or participate in.
It is time to draw a line that is bright and distinct between the Left and Right. That line has to be about the way that things are done in this nation. We can not let our political discourse devolve into “might makes right”. To do so is to lose the spark that allows our nation to be great from time to time.
The establishment of a nation where the people collectively decided their fate changed the modern world. It would the greatest of tragedies if it fell apart because of political violence on the people by the people.
The floor is your