It's Always Been Here

 

I’m perplexed when people

say, “there’s no place for

violence in our politics,”.

Because I’ve seen that

to be wholly untrue.

 

American history is rife

with acts of political violence,

since we were founded.

All kinds of beatings and shootings,

fires and tragedies have been political.

 

We can certainly condemn

political violence,

but that doesn’t seem to make it

go away.

It’s still there.

 

War is merely politics

by another means,

so politics itself is

inherently violent and

combative.

 

Anytime you pit one

ideology against another,

there’s the possibility

of violence, it’s as common

as a cold.

 

In 1856, Preston Brooks of South Carolina

beat Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts,

with a cane on the Senate floor because he disagreed with

Mr. Sumner’s unflattering characterizations

and devotion to the anti-slavery movement.  

 

It was condemned

but nothing changed,

the Civil War still happened,

Lincoln was still assassinated

several years later.

 

Condemnation is clearly

not sufficient to calm the

already ragged nerves of the

populace. 

A new affirmation of Anti-violence

must be made.

 

Or at lease everyone

needs to calm the hell

down and look with rational

eyes on the serious problems

we’re facing and determine a

cooperative path forward.  

 

Political violence indeed,

has no place in our Democracy,

trouble is…

it’s already here, and has been,

for a long time.