Threats Against Leaders Escalating

As far back as I can remember, violence was understood as a sign of impotence. You threatened somebody or hurt somebody because you couldn't do anything else, because you had no real power. We learned to stand up for ourselves if violence was threatened, but attacking someone who did not physically threaten you was seen as a concession of defeat, proof that you couldn't win them over with persuasion or empathy.

The Washington Post:

Anger over the health-care overhaul has led to a nearly threefold increase in recent months in the number of serious threats against members of Congress, federal law enforcement officials said.

The lawmakers reported 42 threats in the first three months of this year, compared with 15 in the last three months of 2009, said Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance W. Gainer, who had information about threats involving both chambers.

"The incidents ranged from very vulgar to serious threats, including death threats," Gainer said. "The ability to carry them out is another question and part of an investigation to determine what, if any, appropriate steps to take."

Nearly all of the recent threats appear to come from opponents of the health-care overhaul, said Gainer, who also served four years as chief of the U.S. Capitol Police. And, he said, there have been "significantly more" threats against House members than against senators.

The threats, which have led to at least three arrests, have not abated since President Obama signed the measure into law March 23. The Capitol Police have contacted the FBI about such threats even more often since the law was signed, said Lindsay Godwin, an FBI spokeswoman. Anger over health-care reform spurs rise in threats against Congress members

I don't think this is unrelated to talk of secession in several states, governors and attorneys general talking about suing the federal government over the health bill, I don't think it's unrelated to the governor of Virginia's recent failure to mention slavery, which was not inadvertent, in his declaration of Confederate History Month in Virginia, which was also not inadvertent. This is not unrelated to the boom in gun sales and the explosion in the number of rightwing militias and other antigovernment organizations. And listen, Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann, are you kidding me? None of it is unrelated to the ubiquity of Fox News and the rise of talk radio.

We are, from Day One, a country "of the people," the voters decide who will lead us, and sometimes your candidate doesn't win. Some of us cringed under the previous Presidential administration, we were embarrassed for our country and worried about what would happen, but after eight years public opinion shifted and somebody more presentable won. Now maybe the other side cringes, they might not like all the decisions that are being made, and their role in this situation is to campaign for leaders that will please them, so they can have some say after the next round of elections. Instead, we see people tearing down the government, threatening elected leaders, forming rebel military units, declaring the President to be unqualified for the office -- failing, in other words, to participate in the process of self-government that the Founding Fathers invented and handed down to us. And those people who are undermining the legitimacy of elected officials are calling themselves "patriots." It is going to be very interesting to see where all this goes.