Break the fever
FreeCons respond to Pennsylvania shooting with words of wisdom
Shocking. Despicable. Sobering. Heartbreaking.
In response to events such as the July 13 attempt on Donald Trump’s life, many words spring to mind. Each fits. Each feels inadequate.
Still, in our current political environment, it can’t go without saying that we condemn all acts and threats of violence. That’s why our leaders, regardless of party, should issue such condemnations promptly, earnestly, and without equivocation.
Most have.
We signatories of the Freedom Conservatism Statement of Principles feel the same way. We pray for the loved ones of Corey Comperatore, the former volunteer fire chief slain on Saturday as he shielded his family from bullets. We pray for the rapid recovery of the wounded, including former President Trump.
Among the ranks of FreeCons are many writers, columnists, and commentators. The following is a sampling of what they’re saying about these horrific events.
Alexandra Hudson, founder of Civic Renaissance and author of The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves:
The violence in our current moment is a chance for us to look inward.
As students of history, we know that civilization, and democracy, and peaceful coexistence with others across difference are fragile.
This fragility means that we each have a responsibility to elevate our civic culture and promote tolerance across difference.
This isn’t a duty we can abdicate to our public leaders.
Democratic regimes depend upon most individuals choosing to follow the law, respect their fellow citizens, and act for the common good—to act well toward one another even when we have the opportunity not to act well.
Francisco Gonzales, executive director of the Economic Club of Miami:
Fear is what is constantly rattling at most of us.
We each need a stronger mindset to block out the noise. We must first start by limiting our inputs. We need to learn to stay away from watching or listening to so much news, to constantly have our phones buzzing with text alerts, or even to have to constantly check in on social media.
We are a nation of nervous wrecks. And that allows so many politicians, celebrities, and pundits to use fear to scare us to marching in a direction they want to see us go.
When enough people get scared and talk to others through the anonymity of computer screens or smart phones, it can become easier to be radicalized.
Ramesh Ponnuru, Washington Post columnist and National Review editor:
We are right to sense that our political talk has been heating up to dangerous (although hardly unprecedented) levels.
The night of the shooting, I was at a party where a guest asked if I thought Trump would put his political opponents in camps if he got reelected. Respectable academics speak as though the United States in 2024 can meaningfully be compared to Germany in 1933 — or even 1938. Trump himself has spoken more irresponsibly than most politicians, recently amplifying one of his fan’s calls for his enemies to receive military trials ending in executions.
Blame the left’s hysteria about Trump for the shooting, and you’ll be accused of exploiting the attack and ignoring the right’s contribution to our political strife. Mention that contribution, and you run the risk of blaming the victim.
If you talk about everyone’s responsibility to keep our common life civil, are you giving madmen a veto over robust debate? “Trump is a threat to the Constitution” and “Trump’s enemies have weaponized the law against him” are both legitimate views that deserve debating. (And, by the way, they’re both true.) We shouldn’t censor ourselves out of fear that our earnest belief will be someone else’s motive for murder.
What candidates say on the stump, and even what commentators say in TV studios and columns, can nonetheless influence how fragile people break. And everyone involved in politics faces temptations to overstate their case. Democrats, by and large, have not been acting as though they believe what a lot of them say about 2024 being our last chance to save our country. Republicans say the same thing, also unconvincingly.
The main reason we should stop saying such things is that they’re untrue. They underestimate both our citizens and our institutions. They also make our national life worse. We should weigh our words carefully to make sure that we are giving our fellow citizens who disagree with us their due — and to make sure we are not heightening the fever of those who agree with us all too much.
Syndicated columnist John Hood:
I’m going to wait for more information before drawing conclusions about this incident. So should our leaders. They should say so, and why. At the same time, our leaders should continue to condemn political violence and advocate political civility. That’s not jumping the gun. That’s trying to make sure no one responds to the events of July 13 by leaping for their own guns.
The attempted assassination of Donald Trump, at once unthinkable but also unsurprising, presents Americans with a momentous choice. It challenges our leaders to guide that decision not only with words but with deeds.
In this terrible, providential moment, we can step back from the precipice of disaster. We can heed the words of the first president to be slain by an assassin’s bullet. We can, with malice toward none with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation’s wounds.
Enough.
Brian Riedl, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute:
Both parties have enough examples of irresponsible rhetoric and even violence to surrender all moral authority to lecture the other side. And debating which side is worse is a pointless waste of time that solves nothing.
Neither party has the credibility or the influence to lecture the other. But we do have the ability, the power, and the authority to better police our allies. Stop rewarding, retweeting, and re-electing our side's worst demagogues. Deprive the demagogues of the attention and votes that give them money and power, and that encourages copycats. Don't let their toxicity filter down to us.
Maintain your values and views, but amplify those who express and support them constructively. Take off your partisan warpaint and seek common ground instead. You might even find that your side turns off fewer independents and becomes more popular.