When Civilization Stumbles

From Dave Oliveria, Huckleberries online:

"Sick, sick, sick stuff. It's sad and heart-breaking that so many violent mad men are on the loose to shoot police officers, fellow students, fellow soldiers, and now this senseless attack on the congresswoman, her aides, and bystanders."

Most of us were horrified by the senseless shooting of Arizona Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, a blue dog Democrat. Unfortunately, an immediate knee jerk reaction from some on the left, blamed the Tea Party, Governor Palin, Conservatives in general, etc.

Well, there are certainly wackos amongst the Tea Party ranks.But lest we forget, there are just as many of the same on the left. While most of the right wing atrocities have centered around abortion, and specifically late term abortion, the hate striking out from the left seems less directional.

So that those so attached to these knee jerk responses can at least for a moment, step back, let me summarize:

On the right, we have religious wackos killing doctors that perform abortions, somehow forgetting that in protecting the lives of unborn humans they are violating their own mantra of protecting human life. We have loco eviro-nazis raiding research labs, freeing what may be deseased research animals, tree spikers, knowing that if a chain saw hits a spike, it might bounce the saw back, killing the operator, and not caring ... In short we have no shortage of wackos, left of right. What we do have, is a responsibility to re-establish dialogue with each other, whether as politicians or just neighbors. Then there are state legislators such as Hart that seems to thumb his nose at whatever regulation he doesnt agree with, then run for office so that he can possibly justify his positions. Refer to my previous definition of wackos.

On the left, in my limited experience within Huckleberries online, I have seen a plethora of sarcasm replacing debate. Personal attacks substituting for logical argument, counter attack instead of explanation of why the left *solution is logically the answer to any question. In short, I find shrillness in debate, distasteful whether from the left or the right. On the right, well, we have all experienced conservative rhetoric gone wild with the recent debacle over the Coeur d'Alene City council close election and the costly legal results, not to mention the emotional effect on those that might run for office in the future.

In most cases, sadly, the ramped up rhetoric from whatever direction even though from allegedly adults, is. I fear that we are more and more every year, separating ourselves from the middle, whence most of the population abodes, and even worse, from reality, as we preach to the choir, expounding on our heightened extremes to those that are already there. This and previous generations have grown up for the most part without real serious need. In past generations, such as that of my parents, American perople were starving to death without any government safety nets. We are rapicly approaching a time in which we may have to face those issues again, and tnis time without the family farms that dominated the 1930's


Honest debate on issues that are real are a necessary part of our democracy. It is those that wish to change from the constitution that we have to some Utopian future that scares me. OK, that brands me as a conservative. I accept that with one reservation. I'm only about 20% past center in my views, which is far from either extreme. Those that are 100% from center, no longer can think clearly, since they have become part of the choir.

Maybe, if these senseless murders whether from the left, right, or just the deranged continue, we need to step back, take a look at the unintended consequences of extreme political positions. Is it possible for us to return to the days of Tip O'Neil and Senator Everett Dirkson?