Again today were are hearing about supporters at a Palin rally yelling "Kill Him!" at the mention of Barack Obama. This is just sad and scary.
I was talking the other day with my uncle about the scary state of the election and the violent vitriol coming out of the McCain rallies. He mentioned to me, because I was in elementary school at the time, how it was this same kind of fear that, in his opinion, caused the Oklahoma City bombing. When Bill Clinton won the election in 1992, the Republican party and the conservative movement went into a panic. They created an environment, with the help of rising stars like Rush Limbaugh, in which people were encouraged to mistrust and hate their government. Indeed, in 1994 when the Republicans won Congress, Newt Gingrich at times even went so far as to shut the government down. This climate of disgust, disdain, and suspicion of the federal government fed unstable personalities like Timothy McVeigh, who purposefully chose a federal building as the target of his heinous attack in 1995.
We are seeing this same kind of emotion now. The Republicans are drumming up without restraint a personal hatred for the other party, and specifically, their very popular candidate. It is no accident that many leaders who introduce McCain or Palin at their rallies talk about Barack Hussein Obama. It is no accident that my own mother is convinced that Michelle Obama hates white people and that they are friends with terrorists. And it is certainly no accident that angry shouts of "Kill Him!," although not unnoticed, are going almost unchecked at these rallies. This kind of environment is dangerous for Republicans and Democrats alike, not just because it could cost votes, but it could ultimately cost lives.
I was talking the other day with my uncle about the scary state of the election and the violent vitriol coming out of the McCain rallies. He mentioned to me, because I was in elementary school at the time, how it was this same kind of fear that, in his opinion, caused the Oklahoma City bombing. When Bill Clinton won the election in 1992, the Republican party and the conservative movement went into a panic. They created an environment, with the help of rising stars like Rush Limbaugh, in which people were encouraged to mistrust and hate their government. Indeed, in 1994 when the Republicans won Congress, Newt Gingrich at times even went so far as to shut the government down. This climate of disgust, disdain, and suspicion of the federal government fed unstable personalities like Timothy McVeigh, who purposefully chose a federal building as the target of his heinous attack in 1995.
We are seeing this same kind of emotion now. The Republicans are drumming up without restraint a personal hatred for the other party, and specifically, their very popular candidate. It is no accident that many leaders who introduce McCain or Palin at their rallies talk about Barack Hussein Obama. It is no accident that my own mother is convinced that Michelle Obama hates white people and that they are friends with terrorists. And it is certainly no accident that angry shouts of "Kill Him!," although not unnoticed, are going almost unchecked at these rallies. This kind of environment is dangerous for Republicans and Democrats alike, not just because it could cost votes, but it could ultimately cost lives.
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