Crazy Does As Crazy Is

I've been planning to post about the numerous confrontations of liberal protesters chasing Republican Senators, Representatives and cabinet members out of public places for a while now. However, a trip to California with my lovely wife took precedent over that post, and in the ensuing days, a disturbed individual sent a number of pipe bombs in the mail to prominent Democrats, including the Clintons, President Obama, George Soros, Robert DeNiro, and others. So I'm going to address that first, then we'll get to the public confrontations in another post.

I absolutely and unequivocally oppose political violence, harassment or threats of any kind, whether from Democrats or Republicans. And specifically, I hereby publicly denounce the actions of the mail bomb terrorist (I won't name him; he isn't deserving of the notoriety he sought).

I believe in civil discourse, which is in short supply these days. I believe in the free and fair exchange of ideas. I believe you ought to be able to be in favor of legal abortion, opposed to the Second Amendment, angry that Donald Trump is President, and upset that Brett Kavanaugh is a Supreme Court Justice, without fear of retribution, harassment, threats of violence, or even criticism for your views.

But at the same time, I expect you to believe in my right to oppose abortion, be in favor of the Second Amendment, supportive of many of President Trump's policies (if not the man himself, or his rhetoric), and glad that Brett Kavanaugh, a highly-qualified Constitutional jurist, is on the high court, without being criticized for my views. Fair enough?

I didn't think so.

Regarding the mail bomber, I reserved offering up an opinion until at least the basic facts were known, which made me a near-solitary voice in that regard. Now that he and his leanings are known, I will make these observations:

• The core issue is that this is an obviously disturbed individual.
• Yes, this was a partisan political act of terror (not "workplace violence," as the left characterized the radical Islamist San Bernardino shootings).
• So was the attempted homicide of 24 Republican Congressmen in 2017 while they were practicing for a bipartisan baseball game intended to bring the two parties together, a shooting that nearly killed Rep. Steve Scalise, and was perpetrated by a former Bernie Sanders campaign volunteer who was upset over the GOP's intent to repeal Obamacare.
• No one on the right - no one - blamed Bernie Sanders for that attack. Not Rep. Scalise. Not one Republican Senator or Representative. Not President Trump. Not one Fox News talking head, not even Sean Hannity, whom I can't stand, but who said on several occasions that it wasn't Sanders' fault.
• While the bombs were clearly not "hoax devices," as the FBI appropriately pointed out, it's unlikely the bomber intended them to detonate. No detonating devices were attached to them, unlike, say, the bombs mailed by Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, or the more recent Austin bomber. And the perpetrator clearly wanted to be caught - he had a prior record of bomb threats, and knew that his fingerprints were in the FBI database, yet he didn't use gloves: it was a latent fingerprint on one of the devices that ultimately led to his capture. The truth is that we will never know his motives; even after he's interrogated, he may not tell the truth, as admitting he intended for the bombs to detonate could result in a harsher penalty. But the bottom line is that no one was hurt, and for that I am thankful, and credit the response of law enforcement, which all too often gets a bum rap from the left.

So who's to blame? If you ask CNN or MSNBC, it's Donald Trump. However, just one day after Rep. Scalise was shot, Nancy Pelosi blamed that shooting on Donald Trump's rhetoric. Sorry, Dems; you can't have it both ways. Donald Trump, as distasteful as he usually is, is not the root of all evil in the world. There is partisan hatred on both sides (peruse Facebook if you don't believe me), and it has resulted in violence on both sides.

Let's break down the blame game, then we'll peel that onion back a layer at a time:

• We can blame Republicans en masse, but then we'd have to blame Democrats en masse for the Scalise shooting. We can take that to ridiculous extremes. Throughout the history of our republic, there have been 19 attempts or plots to assassinate Presidents, including four that were tragically successful. Of those 19, 11 of the targets were Republicans. So the math would tell us that Democrats are more likely to commit acts of political violence than Republicans. We could apply the same math to the fact that the Congressional shooter targeted 24 Republicans, while this bomber only targeted 13 Democrats. Extrapolating those numbers to a conclusion would only make sense to the left, but it doesn't work for them. The fact is that it's meaningless. Both sides have their crazies.
• We can blame Donald Trump's rhetoric. To be sure, it's over-the-top, excessive, and inflammatory. But Donald Trump has never advocated blowing anybody up. True, during his campaign he advocated or encouraged physical violence against some of the vocal protesters at his rallies. Yet there was little of that, and it was largely matched by violence from those on the left outside those rallies (including a woman here in Kansas City who actually punched a police horse). I hear arguments from the left that any encouragement of violence could ultimately escalate to the kind of violence that results in bombing, shootings, or other means of taking the lives of those with whom one disagrees. Fine. Then you must accept that calls for "getting in the faces" of Republican Senators or Representatives, as Cory Booker made, could also escalate into life-threatening violence. You must accept that calling for chasing Republicans out of public places, letting them know that they're "not welcome anywhere," as Maxine Waters, did (as if our public places are the exclusive domain of Democrats), could also escalate into life-threatening violence. Furthermore, Robert DeNiro, one of the bomb-package recipients, said "I'd like to punch Trump in the face." That, my friends, is advocating violence, and could spark some deranged individual to attempt assassination. (Which, sadly, would probably make too many on the left happy.) Others, including Madonna, have also suggested violence against the President, who has received a package containing castor beans, which are used to make ricin.
• We can blame Trump's characterization of the media as "the enemy of the people," and many have. But first, let's note that CNN was not actually one of the bomb mailer's targets. His very specific target was John Brennan, who happens to now work for CNN. CNN was just the mailing address used. This terrorist didn't actually target the network.
• We can blame cable news in general. While Trump's characterization noted above is over-the-top, his claims that the media is dishonest are clearly not. If you believe otherwise, you should be drug-tested. Fox on the right; CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS and others on the left; they all distort the truth at best, outright lie at worst, and inflame the worst of our biases, fears and anger.
• We can blame social media. All the memes, all the inflammatory posts, this blog and others - any could be read by a disturbed individual, and could so inflame that individual's partisan ire (Democrat or Republican) that he or she takes up a rifle and heads to a baseball field to kill Republicans, or makes a bunch of bombs and mails them to Democrats. Or shoots JFK. Or Ronald Reagan. If you make partisan posts on social media, you bear some responsibility. So do I, for posting on this blog.

Now, let's peel that onion:

• We have a two-party system. The two parties have disparate ideologies, which have grown further and further apart since I was a young curmudgeon. That's part of our political system. Does it contribute to incidents such as this? Yes. Should it be eliminated as a result? No.
• Trump's rhetoric is over-the-top. It often makes me cringe, shake my head, or feel embarrassed that he's our President. It's the reason I didn't vote for him. Yet the rhetoric of Booker and Waters as noted above; of Chuck Schumer, who has taken lying and spin to an art form; of Nancy Pelosi, whose incoherence is occasionally punctuated only by outrageousness; of John Brennan, who, in spite of having been CIA Director, apparently doesn't know the definition of treason; and of Madonna and DeNiro and Kathy Griffin and Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg and Alec Baldwin, who have apparently forgotten that their job is to entertain us, and if we want their political opinions we'll ask for them; is all equally over-the-top. Yet you don't hear the left complaining about their rhetoric. They either applaud it or laugh at it.
• We can blame cable news, but we're stuck with it. Suffice it to say that no one on cable news has advocated violence against those with whom you disagree (yet).
• And we can blame you and me. If you've ever posted a partisan thought or meme, you're part of the problem. I'm part of the problem for posting on this blog. Yet we all have free speech, and that's a right that is sacrosanct.

So what are we left with?

A deranged individual who committed a crime. This perp is no different than the guy who shot Rep. Scalise, or the guy who shot all the people at the concert in Las Vegas, or Charles Manson. They were all motivated by the voices in their heads, be they liberal, conservative, racist, motivated by hate, motivated by the Beatles, or just plain crazy. Blame guns, blame bombs, blame Trump, blame cable news, blame social media, blame you, blame me, yadda yadda yadda. In the end, there are crazy people in the world, and they do crazy things. This is one of those unfortunate incidents.