WE THE PEOPLE: The threat of violence undermines democracy

Opinion

September 16, 2009

By Clyde Ussery / Chronicle contributor The Crossville Chronicle Wed Sep 16, 2009, 09:07 AM CDT

Republicans have made it clear that they will never work with President Obama and the Democratic congressional majority. It is not to their advantage to be bipartisan, and they have fought everything the president has proposed. They are not concerned for the common good; they are looking to the next election. Their only agenda is to win back their position of power, and they can only do that if Obama loses. This uppity black man has taken away what they see as theirs by divine right.

They have taken their fight to the next level by stoking the anger and hatred of the uneducated, the gullible, the racists and the emotionally unstable through lies, distortions and scare tactics. That gave us the rowdy town hall meetings of August and, along with the shouting and bullying, there was an undertone of violence.

FreedomWorks pursued an aggressive strategy to create the image of mass public opposition to health care reform at the town hall meetings. A leaked memo describes how members should infiltrate meetings and harass and intimidate Democratic congressmen. Americans for Prosperity volunteers helped organize town protests and made “home-made” signs for rally participants to give the appearance of an actual grassroots crowd.

The electronic news media left the impression that the majority of citizens were represented by the raucous protesters by treating them as serious newsmakers. Citizens who attended the meetings to be informed and respectfully express their own views got no coverage. A stringer for one of the television networks told Rep. David Price of North Carolina that his meeting in Durham wouldn’t be covered unless “it blows up.” The congressman’s audience was sympathetic to reform efforts, so there was no “news” there.

Anti-Obama and anti-government activists showing up at political meetings carrying threatening signs and firearms should set off all sorts of alarms. Especially chilling is the news that one of the 12 armed protesters at a presidential rally in Phoenix had attended church services the previous day where the pastor said he hated Obama and prayed he would die and go to hell.

Threats against the president are up 400 percent from those against his predecessor. In April, the Department of Homeland Security issued a report on the rising threat of violent right-wing extremism. A federal law enforcement agent said he hadn’t seen growth that steep among such groups in 10 to 12 years. “All it’s lacking is a spark,” he said.

Yet a Georgia congressman said that as long as brandishing guns is legal, he sees no reason to discourage Americans from showing up armed at public meetings. Other conservative leaders have expressed the same sentiment. Do these people have cornflakes for brains?

By throwing in with the armed and the paranoid in an effort to regain the power they believe is rightfully theirs, Republicans could be letting a genie out of the bottle that they won’t be able to control.

As E. J. Dionne, Jr. said “…if we can’t draw the line at the threat of violence, democracy begins to disintegrate. Power, not reason, becomes the stuff of political life.”

• • •

This column represents alternative thoughts to other published columns in the Crossville Chronicle. "We the People" is published each Wednesday. Opinions expressed in "We the People" columns are not necessarily those of the Crossville Chronicle publisher, editor or staff. For more information, contact John Wund, editor, at jwund@frontiernet.net.

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