EDITORIAL: Political opposition turns violent

Wednesday morning’s shootings of a Republican lawmaker, Capitol Police officers and congressional staff was disturbing on many levels.

The gunfire erupted while GOP legislators were practicing for tonight’s baseball game, set to be played at the home of the Washington Nationals. Each year since 1909, Republicans and Democrats have faced off on the baseball diamond to raise money for charity.

This was a case of attempted mass murder and an act of terrorism. Authorities say that a lone gunman, identified as James T. Hodgkinson, 66, of Bellville, Ill., opened fire, wounding five people, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., the third-highest ranking Republican in the U.S. House. Scalise was expected to recover from his hip wound following surgery Wednesday. Hodgkinson died Wednesday from wounds he sustained when Capitol Police, two of whom were reported to be among those he shot, returned fire.

Reports soon surfaced about Hodgkinson’s left-wing political activities. He was anti-President Trump and anti-Republicans, and reports said he aligned with groups that opposed them, including one called “Terminate the Republican Party.” A volunteer for the campaign of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Hodgkinson’s local newspaper has a photo of him at a protest holding a sign that says, “Tax the Rich.” What made him take the leap from angry to homicidal may never be known. This shooting was an example of what happens when the idea that the ends justify the means is taken to the extreme.

To his credit, Sanders disavowed Hodgkinson and his violence.

The fortunate thing here, at least as of this writing, is that only the assailant died. There’s not much else positive that comes out of it. It was a deliberate act of violence aimed at silencing and maiming political speech and thought that the shooter opposed, and it was done in a way that was meant to chill the future exercise of that political speech and thought. The miscalculation the gunman made appears to have been that, because he is a high-ranking House member, Scalise was accompanied by an armed Capitol Police detail. Had Scalise not been present, the congressional members, their staff and bystanders would not have had that protection.

There are, however, some takeaways that should come from this horrific event.

First, it’s time people got responsible about their rhetoric. Too many times — and on both sides of the political spectrum — political leaders, celebrities and activists take war tones in their speech. Caught up in passion over substance, they shore up their respective bases by dehumanizing their opponents and use charged, often violent, terms to describe their struggle against those they oppose. Then they are shocked — aghast, to hear them tell it — when someone they’re aligned with politically responds with an act of violence. After all, they say as they wash their hands in Pilate’s bowl, they merely were advocating the symbolic scorching of the earth, not actual arson.

Incendiary language, unfortunately, is coin of the realm in an era in which gut reaction, fast social media thumbs and the belief that drowning out the opposition with louder shouts rather than better ideas rules the day.

It also reminds us that our public officials have a delicate balancing act. We elect them and we should have access to them, but they should not have to risk their lives or fear being attacked when interacting with the public.

We commend federal lawmakers for deciding Wednesday to go through with the charity baseball game tonight, no doubt with heightened security. It will be a good opportunity for those on both sides of the aisle to show unity.

Only time will tell what lasting impact this event has, if any. Frankly, a little more respect for others — something many of our parents tried to teach us — would go a long way toward improving things. If those in government and the public eye who sling caustic remarks and opinions are led to rethink their approach, if civility returns to public discourse, then perhaps some good can come of it. If not, we will continue down a road that promises our society only two things — more discord and greater danger.