By Todd Lassa
This is a preview for the next Braver Angels Community Debate (via Zoom), Thursday, June 17, on the role of violence in the American political system. These three columns are written to help prepare Braver Angels debate participants and audience on the issues and the points of view of “Blues” (left column) and “Reds” (right column) on the subject. Scroll to the bottom of this column to sign up for the free event.
Despite its self-image as a peace-loving country, the United States of America is a democratic republic that emerged from a military struggle from British oppression, and it is still trying to come to terms with a bloody civil war of a century-and-a-half in the past. Compared with political struggles in places like Germany and Spain in the first half of the 20th Century, and South Africa and several South American countries in the second half, the U.S. feels stable and relatively unified, able to carry out the “peaceful transition of power” every four or eight years, despite our fair share of political violence.
And so the subject of Braver Angels’ next community debate, Thursday, June 17 -- whether “violent resistance against oppression is a crucial part of the political system” -- might seem to some a thoroughly hypothetical question. But the hypothetical became very real for both “blues” (Braver Angels’-speak for liberals, progressives and/or Democrats represented in The Hustings left column) and many “reds” (conservatives, right-wing and/or Republicans represented in our right column) with the pro-MAGA insurrection on Capitol Hill January 6.
It was real, too, in cities from New York and Washington, D.C., to Portland, Oregon, last summer when sustained protests began over the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, igniting once again argument over issues once thought to have been settled by President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Braver Angels’ Reds and Blues continue to argue over how much, if any, violence was perpetrated by Black Lives Matter and Antifa demonstrators in these protests – the two sides don’t even agree on what “Antifa” is.
Culminate more than 250 years of politically motivated violence in America, and the question seems to be not one of “whether” as much as of “when?”.
How far can the left push its agenda and get its favored politicians elected before the right has a legitimate reason to push back with violent methods? How far can the right push its agenda and get its favored politicians elected before the left has a legitimate reason to push back with violent methods? How many Americans believe political violence, in either direction may be necessary?
It turns out that a large minority believe in political violence. According to an American Enterprise Institute survey published February 4 from a poll it conducted in January, nearly 30% of Democrats, and 39% of Republicans agreed that “if elected leaders will not protect America, the people must do it themselves, even if it requires violent actions.”