Democrats have drawn not simply the ire of those who resist change but their violent attacks as well. I was reading a few different articles about the new film Milk and a thought occurred to me. We continue to forget that the frenzy that irresponsible Republicans stir up leads the violent and deranged in their ranks to armed action.
Reading about the atmosphere that surrounded the deaths of Harvey Milk and George Moscone at the hands of Dan White had too many of the same threads we see again today in our politics. Even down to the gunman's eventual claim of victimhood at the hands of junk food. How many times do we have to see our leaders, Democratic leaders, struck down in their prime because of conservative media and public figures driving their followers into a wild eyed frenzy for short term gains and tragic results? We as a country must reject and marginalize this kind of behavior in all its forms.
Recent Conservative Politically Driven Murders
Remember that two conservative gunman in this election cycle murdered innocent liberals. The first, Jim David Adkisson 58, walked into a Knoxville, TN Unitarian Church and killed two people during a children's musical performance. During his interview with police Adkisson stated that,
he had targeted the church because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country, and that he felt that the Democrats had tied his country's hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of major media outlets. Adkisson made statements that because he could not get to the leaders of the liberal movement that he would then target those that had voted them into office. Adkisson stated that he had held these beliefs for about the last ten years.
Adkisson's frenzy was driven by the tone set on the right by talkers like Michael Savage, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. Ironically, his shooting spree was spurred by his being forced of of Food Stamps, having reached the mandated time limit to recieve the assitance.
Just before the election there was another killing in Arkansas of the states Democratic Chair, Bill Gwatney. Having been shot and killed, the shooter, Timothy Dale Johnson age 50, was never fully investigated regarding motive. Without a trial the reasons for his actions become less important the part it plays in an emerging larger pattern.
This though is the latest in political killings, that target liberals, that have plagued this country since at least the sixties. An entire generation of liberal leaders were killed in the same way as the aforementioned and very little has been made of the climate of hate perpetuated by mainstream conservatives that continues to this day.
We have gained some momentum, in battling the violence and paranoia driven by right wing "culture warriors" as voters rejected implications that being liberal can some how be conflated with terrorism. It seems like the desperate at the fringes are still able to hijack reform by stealing the best of us away.
We need to remember that generation of leaders that began with John F. Kennedy and ended with Harvey Milk that advocated societal advances. Advances the right would falsely characterize, in hyper emotional terms, pushing their fringe to react violently. Killing the messenger rather than competing in the free market of ideas is truly unAmerican. Our losses have been truly priceless. So now when we see the continuation of these desperate memes in our society we need to counter them so that we can live in a country that isn't undermined by the insane actions of a paranoid fringe. Driven right wing activists that is motivated less by patriotism than shortcuts taken in the interest of gaining and keeping outsize influence.