Dial down the Rhetoric!

TURN THE OTHER CHEEK!

by Steve Fair

     Last week, the FBI arrested Cesar Sayoc, 56, for allegedly sending crude pipe bombs(none detonated) to prominent Democrats.  He left some DNA on the envelopes and bombs themselves and because he had a criminal record, his identity and location was quickly determined.  Sayoc was evidently a staunch ‘Trump’ supporter.  He had plastered stickers on his van supportive of the POTUS and his tweets were full of contempt for Trump’s critics.  Sayoc has been charged with five federal crimes.      

     Reaction to Sayoc’s arrest from Democrats included his being labeled the MAGA bomber or the Trump bomber.  The mayor of Boston personalized it and said the van looked like “the inside of Geoff Diehl’ head.”  Diehl is the GOP candidate for Senate running against Elizabeth Warren.  Now, that’s taking the high road.

     Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton immediately linked Sayoc to President Trump claiming his  ‘over the top’ statements and criticism of his critics on Twitter and at rallies encourages people like Sayoc to take their activism to the next level.    Never let a good crisis go to waste.

     Conservatives Ann Colter and Rush Limbaugh have floated the idea Sayoc is a set-up by the Democrats to hurt Trump and the Republicans in the mid-terms.  They claim the devices were hoax bombs that had no chance of exploding, but the FBI said that is not the case.   President Trump tweeted the ‘bomb stuff’ was slowing momentum for Republicans heading into the midterms, implying he may have agreed with Colter and Limbaugh. Three thoughts;

     First, we don’t settle political disputes in America using violence.  Neither the Republican or Democrat platforms advocate violence to settle disputes.  That  fact is often ignored- on both sides.  It is quite possible that hyperbole and caricaturing of political opponent’s positions  does contribute to acts like this, but it would next to impossible to connect the dots. 

     Second, craziness is non-partisan.  Just 15 months ago,  James Hodgkinson, a Bernie Sanders supporter, shot up a Congressional baseball game, seriously injuring Congressman Steve Scalise .  In 2011, Jared Loughner, a paranoid schizophrenic, who appeared to have no political interest, shot Gabrielle Giffords at an event in Tucson.  

     Third, Sayoc is not a plant of the Democrats. He appears to be mentally ill.  His family has said as a young man he struggled with reality and has anger issues.  America has a mental health crisis and ignoring it by calling it partisan politics will not solve it.   

     How should political leaders and activists respond when these events happen?  They should be introspective and ask themselves if they may have contributed to what happened.  Perhaps both sides should dial it down a notch.  Just because someone punches you, you don’t have to  punch back.  Turn the other cheek.  Take the high road, even when those who claim they are taking the high road aren’t.  It goes against conventional wisdom in politics to leave justice in the hands of the Almighty, but it is the only way to insure our country survives.