08-12-2016, 08:51 PM
(08-12-2016, 12:02 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: Intelligent people do not like violence. Republicans used to refrain from calling for violence against political opponents. Donald Trump has broken that barrier, and he stands to lose in a landslide in part for that. Political violence is uttersly un-American, which may explain why the KKK has a hard time in America.
Hmm... The current mood of much the country is opposed to Political violence. After the Oklahoma City bombing and after September 11th, the Republicans and Democrats came together to sell the notion that violence cannot be allowed to change the Establishment. Or... The Establishment tried to sell that violence should not be used against the Establishment. The People bought it.
But that's against our establishment. Violence against Bin Ladin and Saddam Hussain is and remains completely OK.
This was not always the case. When the country was much younger, when the Right to Keep and Bear Arms was new, glorious and exciting thing, Americans were more inclined to use force to spread their political system and culture. The Revolution, Civil War, Indian Wars, Mexican War, Spanish American War, etc, etc, etc, reflect the early feeling of Manifest Destiny. Ask Cynic Hero about that time. He'll tell you all about it with enthusiasm. War was often cost effective in those days, at least for the winner.
For the most part you're right, we only glorify violence in our entertainment, but Trump seems to be playing to rural folk who are really angry. He is playing with fire, but I am inclined to believe he will turn off more people with that sort of talk than he will draw to him.
That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.