VIOLENT POLITICAL RHETORIC SURGING

It has become glaringly evident that violent political rhetoric, on a scale and with a focus seldom seen before in this country, is out of control. We have experienced heated political discourse before, especially during periods of political instability like the run up to the Civil War, or the fierce cultural clashes of the 1960s and 70s. However, with some notable exceptions, agitation during those episodes was predominantly focused on political control or property. The Civil War was essentially an economic dispute over states rights, while the massively intense protests during the 60s and 70s were predominantly left wing inspired cultural movements exhibited by groups targeting civil rights, the Vietnam War, women's liberation and others. Our current political dialogue, exacerbated by gridlock at the highest levels, appears to have transitioned into an era of frustration, prompting an increasing number of actors to resort to violence as a primary recourse. Today, with assistance of social media, mainstreaming of violent political speech has encouraged a growing number of Americans to target election officials. In 2021, threats against members of Congress reached a record 9,600, 4,100 during the first three months alone. Violent threats against U.S. lawmakers have more than doubled during the past five years. A survey published November 1 of 2021 indicated that 18% of all Americans, 30% of Republicans, 17% of independents and 11% of Democrats, believe that "patriots might have to resort to violence to save the country." ("Cultural Change and Anxiety in America," PRRI Research, Nov.1, 2021). Violence throughout our political history is well documented. Four presidents were assassinated: Abraham Lincoln (John Wilkes Booth), James Garfield (Charles Guiteau), William McKinley (Leon Czolgosz) and John F. Kennedy (Lee Harvey Oswald). Teddy Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford survived targeted attacks. Barack Obama apparently received 30 death threats a day when he was in office and, following the 2016 election, Donald Trump faced 12,000 calls for his assassination on social media. In addition, Representative Gaby Gifford was shot and severely wounded in 2011, and Representative Steve Scalise barely survived an assassination attempt during a Congressional baseball game in June of 2017. Multiple other attempts have remained unpublished. The Secret Service prefers not to communicate threats on our chief executives in the belief that doing so would generate more criminal behavior. Attacks are also not limited to the top echelon of our government. Anyone involved in the election process is a potential target. One week after the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Eric Coomer, an executive at Dominion Voting Systems, was forced into hiding. Angry supporters of then President Donald Trump, believing false accusations that Dominion had switched votes in favor of Joe Biden, published Coomer's home address and phone number and put a million dollar bounty on his head. The families of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger, Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers and many others have suffered incessant threats throughout this epidemic. And, just recently, Missouri Republican Senate candidate Eric Greitens, armed and in full tactical gear, published a campaign ad urging supporters to get a "RINO" (Republican in name only) hunting permit, proclaiming "no bagging limit, no tagging limit, and it does not expire until we save our country." Even voting "the wrong way" can invite threatening repercussions these days. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) posted the names and phone numbers of the 13 GOP lawmakers who supported the bi-partisan infrastructure bill Congress passed in November last year, calling them "traitors" on twitter. The threats are everywhere. Even minor functionaries involved in the execution of our electoral system are now looking over their shoulders and feel the need to protect their families. Under federal law threatening government officials is considered a felony. Just threatening the President is punishable by up to 5 years of imprisonment. Anyone convicted of targeting other officials can receive anywhere between 5 and 10 years of incarceration. Perpetrators caught in the act frequently refer to their "freedom of speech" in defense. While "Freedom of Speech," a feature of the First Amendment to our Constitution is fundamental in our democracy as a right to articulate opinions without fear of retaliation, censorship or legal action, it is not absolute. The Supreme Court, in "Brandenburg v. Ohio" (1969), clarified that this provision does not include inflammatory speech "directed to incite or produce imminent lawless actions." The onset of social media has made the application of this principle more controversial and cumbersome however. Representative Adam Kinzinger, whose family was pointedly threatened with execution, issued a somber assessment: "I've noticed a decline in our civil discourse over the last 5 years, and it's devolved to a scary point, where anger and vitriol are reflexive and the art of disagreeing without being disagreeable is all but lost." We continue to slide down the slippery slope of incivility. We need to acknowledge and identify these incidences and tell people the truth, unless we want to end up in another civil war. Theo Wierdsma