Rand Paul had the ultimate in threats made against him and his family. The Capital Police arrested the guy and it seems that part is over. Since the shooting over a year ago of the House Majority Whip Steve Scalise in Washington, these kinds of threats are far more credible.
The latest in this growing list of people who receive credible threats is Susan Collins, who got an envelope containing ricin. This is not one of those "white powder" episodes which drive police crazy but do no real harm to anyone. Ricin has no antidote and could kill someone. This is not a political joke or someone with a sense of humor. Ricin is deadly and it could have killed Ms Collins or a relative. The person who sent it had no sense of humor and a slanted political view.
We should expect a denouncement of this kind of activity just as we should have expected a rising expectation of political behavior that comes with being in a responsible position of an elected official who speaks for a constituency. There are no constituencies that favor this kind of behavior, yet there is not an outcry from very many of their Congressional representatives.
These are the kinds of things the Russians do by encouraging the most extreme behaviors in a population. They used to use what they called "mental patients" for this kind of thing. It is tough to trace a mental patient back to the people who started them on this path. Political opponents often disappear or are murdered on the street. Press people who investigate these happenings end up dead. They carry out some of these activities with government employees, as we saw in the UK.
We don't want to live like the Russians do, and should not tolerate this kind of behavior. The press should be on it and denounce it quickly. Denounce it; call it out; discourage it; complain about what has been done. Stand up for the principles we hold as self-evident. You remember the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, don't you?
No comments:
Post a Comment