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Democracy at the muzzle of a gun - where you have killed off your opponents or terrorised them into voting your way - isn't democracy.
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- He's insane, no question. He needs psychiatric health care. The irony of that is a bit too much to bear.
- We need a better political system, one that forces compromise and coalition. Though I fear the upheaval that would be required to force us into a multi-party system, I also fear that without one, we will see a repeat of the 60s in terms of violence, upheaval, and assassination. How many politicians, even low-profile ones, will go out without security to host discussions at the local supermarket now? Violence and threats have forced isolation on our political leaders almost as strongly as on our celebrities.
This isn't entirely due to political rhetoric, imo, but it's not entirely divorced from it, either. We have a culture of violence in the US, and it has permeated our language. The culture itself needs to be addressed, I think, and the language is only one piece of that. However, I suspect we'll only get empty promises to clean up political language that will last for a few weeks or months at most, and nothing will be done to address the underlying issues.
- I'm terrified of copycat crimes.
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I think what worries me most about the US is that it does seem to be leaning towards a society where people (at the least) behave as though problems are solved with the business end of a bullet. They may not all go out to solve their problems that way, but some do - George Tiller's killer, and this guy, and a number of others who've been stopped before they can cause the carnage - and more will.
One could marginally absolve Palin of having a direct influence on this specific shooter, but it hardly absolves her of actively encouraging and contributing to this kind of mindset.
And yeah, with this in the news and up everywhere, someone copycatting is a definite worry.