The ‘Cycle of Incitement’ – A Footnote

Since publication of the Gryphem post “Stand Firm” almost two weeks ago, the partisans have ratcheted up the fury and the frenzy yet again, in a way significant enough to deserve mention. 

The most recent firebomb came from the left side of the political aisle.  Apparently, the Tea Party, the main political force pushing for spending cuts and fiscal restraint, is made up of “terrorists.”  This allegation came first from the very halls of Congress, the allegation surfacing in a meeting led by the Vice President.  It was echoed in an editorial by the New York Times, entitled "The Tea Party's War on America."

Have they lost their minds?  Or just any semblance of proportionality?  Does their political objective justify slander of honest Americans who disagree with them?  Is civility truly and totally dead in the U.S. government? 

Terrorist crash planes into buildings.  Terrorists set off bombs in cafes and on buses to kill children.  Terrorists murder innocent people because of their hatred or to get publicity. 

People who argue lawfully in the halls of Congress for fiscal restraint are operating within the law, for a morally defensible position, violating the rights of no one.  Even the worst critics of the Tea Party, who say their spending cuts will hurt children by reducing the amount of money available for social programs cannot truthfully say that the Tea Party wants to hurt anyone.  The worst that could possibly be said about them is that they favor the rich over the poor, and even that is an arguable premise.

However, this footnote is not really about the validity of the opposing claims about budgets and spending and debt.  This footnote is about an escalation in the “cycle of incitement,” a phrase coined by CNN contributor John Avlon.  His comments are insightful, even wise.  I will not try to summarize because you can read it for yourself (which I strongly recommend) at www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/08/07/avlon.political.partisanship/index.html.

I will quote one sentence from Avlon’s article that is worthy of repeating over and over:  

“We need a reset in American politics -- and that will only happen when Democrats and Republicans are willing denounce extreme statements and professional polarizers on their side of the aisle.”   

Americans, stand up in strength and confidence, stare down the lunatic fringe of both sides, and take back your nation and society from the neurotic, the emotionally unhinged, the hatemonger, the closed-minded, the narcissist, the manipulator, and the partisan political extremist. 

Remind both sides of this often-quoted ancient saying, unique in its application to the United States, put forth by no less than John Dickinson (delegate to both Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention), Benjamin Franklin, and Abraham Lincoln, but presented here as stated by Patrick Henry:

“United We Stand, Divided We Fall.  Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs.”

Gryphem