The More Things Change ...

In a post-Tuscon world ... little appears to have changed. In a Town Hall meeting in Georgia a few days ago, a participant stood up and asked "Who is going to shoot President Obama?" (Salon Article) The crowd responded with laughter and then Tea Party representative Paul Braun, one of the most conservative members of the house, said the following: "The thing is, I know there’s a lot of frustration with this president. We're going to have an election next year. Hopefully, we'll elect somebody that’s going to be a conservative, limited-government president that will take a smaller, who will sign a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare." So while not outright inciting violence, he did little to temper the storm. And this isn't the first time Braun has been involved in controversy. In November 2008 he warned that Obama might try to install a Nazi or Marxist dictatorship in the country. This comes on the heals of the Texas decision to insist that colleges and universities allow students and professors to carry concealed handguns, a wonderful choice unless we consider that a low grade, an off-color comment or simply a student who is hungover and was just broken up with the night before might decide to take out his or her ire on the professor or fellow students. And their was the Wisconsin ADA who advocated using live ammunition against the protesters trying to protect the rights of public workers in the state, and decided that instead of an apology he would hold steadfast to his belief they are unAmerican troublemakers that deserve injury death for having the gaul to challenge the fiat of the Koch brothers governor elect (who, by the way, didn't even graduate from college).

The country has moved from a fringe of radicals to radicality in the mainstream and it bodes poorly for the future of the country and our democracy. Even after bellicose rhetoric led to tragedy, their is little attempt to temper the incendiary nature of discourse in American politics today. Rather than reasoned, informed debates about the key issues of our times, we simply demonize the enemy and call for violent contestation. Instead of debating the relative strengths and weaknesses of a particular perspective or bill, there is an absolutism that leaves no room for compromise. In the place of objective research and fact checking, we have a media that invokes a he said/she said style of reporting that refuses not only to take a position, but to challenge outright lies. And instead of tolerance and ecumenity, we have a model of mutual hatred that cuts off the ability to debate. Why is it that those who claim to represent and love the country the most seem intent on destroying it?