The End of the Line

There are times in our lives when we have to deal with things that basically escape our ability to understand, explain or even maybe acknowledge our own feelings.  This sort of thing happens when you live long enough and experience a wide range of the things that life has to offer.  You think you have things basically figured out and then something happens.  Sometimes those things are not unexpected, but yet that's of little help, as no matter how good a planner we view ourselves to be, reality can have a habit of making a mockery of our mental preparations.

And so I find myself today.  

The Traveling Wilburys song "The End of the Line" has a video that's basically a tribute to Roy Orbison, who helped record the song, but had passed away before the video could be recorded.  He's memorialized in an empty chair with a guitar.  Somehow this seems fitting.  

Violence and Political Discourse

Regarding the violence perpetrated against former President Trump yesterday, I feel truly sorry for the man.  That's a terrible thing to have to go through, and while it does not appear that he was significantly harmed, it never less was traumatic.  I genuinely wish him a speedy recovery and a return to the campaign trail.

The above noted...and you know this was coming...my empathy for him ends at a certain point.  Why?  Well consider the following:

• When little children were slaughtered like cattle in Connecticut years ago, NOTHING...and I mean NOTHING...was done to prevent further violence.  I can say this as a 100% fact based on events since then.  Let me repeat - This country did NOTHING after its little children were slaughtered.  Former President Trump, as (now*) a die hard Second Amendment supporter, owns part of this, as the Second Amendment absolutists** he courts basically shrugged their shoulders after those little children were slaughtered, with a muttering of "well, that's part of the price of freedom" and the obligatory "thoughts and prayers" (followed by no action).
• What happened yesterday was not all that shocking when one considers the tone of what passes for political discourse in this country.  Here's one example from 2016 (source HERE***) -

"Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment," Trump said to the crowd of supporters gathered in the Trask Coliseum at North Carolina University in Wilmington. "If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks."Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know."

Simply put, while I fault both sides of the political extreme for their ever-increasingly terrible rhetoric, the fact this this:  Donald Trump has weaponized and normalized talk of violence.   He does this because he thinks that will resonate with some of this supporters.  The fact that there are folks on the extreme left saying things like "It's too bad they missed" is equally abhorrent...but...none of those people are running for president.  Those folks are also fools, because they themselves have allowed the former president to lower them down to his level, and when that happens, he has basically won.

My very modest hope, when all is said and done, is that maybe...just maybe...this terrible event will down down the level of hateful speech during this presidential election cycle.  I am not optimistic.

******

(*) The Former President, in the past, actually supported some restrictions of gun ownership.  I heard the actual interview myself on the Howard Stern Show, back in the 1990's.

(**) I do not own a gun.  I do not like guns.  However, if law-abiding folks want to own a gun, then so be it & that right should not be taken away from them.  But society must protect us from those individuals who would use this right to harm others.  We can have gun ownership and reasonable gun ownership policies at the same time, in spite of that the National Rifle Association would have one believe.

(***) Need something more recent?  How about this (source HERE) -

Former president Donald Trump denigrated his domestic opponents and critics during a Veterans Day speech Saturday, calling those on the other side of the aisle “vermin” and suggesting that they pose a greater threat to the United States than countries such as Russia, China or North Korea.