Will the 2010 Midterm Elections be Marred by Violence?

It is almost a certainty that the 2010 Congressional elections, which are going to start really kicking into gear a few months from now, are going to be a nasty and partisan affair, probably something quite unlike what any of us have seen in our lifetimes. The nasty and partisan 2008 election, and the even nastier and more partisan fight over healthcare “reform”, give us some clue of what to expect. Unless an even more dramatic issue grabs the public’s attention, forlorn attacks on the healthcare “reform” bill will take center stage at the right wing carnival, with birthers, gun nuts, Oath Keepers, Glenn Beck and a whole host of other sideshow performers keeping us entertained during the intermissions. It will go down in the books as a historic election simply for the disgraceful spectacle it will present.

Since the passage of the healthcare “reform” legislation on Sunday (the quotation marks are indicative of my opinion that it wasn’t really a reform, but that’s another story) there have been disturbing reports of violence and threats of violence against Congressional Democrats who supported the bill. The list of those targeted and how is illuminating:

- Two Democratic offices in New York were vandalized. A brick was thrown through the window of the local party headquarters in Rochester with a Barry Goldwater-quoting note attached: “Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice.”

- Two more Democratic offices, one in Kansas and the other in Arizona, were also vandalized.

- Representative Bark Stupak of Michigan received a fax with a picture of a gallows and noose attached, complete with the caption “All Baby Killers come to unseemly ends Either by the hand of man or by the hand of God.” This was just one of the many charming messages that were received at his office.

- An unknown person or persons cut the gas line at a home in Virginia under the mistaken belief that Representative Tom Periello lived there (turns out it was his brother’s home; whoever posted its address online goofed up).

- All in all, ten Democrats (that we know of) have reported receiving threats or being the victim of some other form of harassment.

What saddens me is that I can believe that it’s come to this, I really and truly can. I’m not shaking my head in disbelief like some others because I’ve seen the progression that’s taken place in the conservative movement since the 1990’s. I grew up in a house with a father who hung on Rush Limbaugh’s words, I almost came to blows with the man arguing about the Iraq War. And that is why I am going to make a perfectly blunt prediction here: there will be violence during this year’s Congressional elections. Blood will be spilled. People will be injured and a few may even be killed.

Why? Because the radicals are in the driver’s seat thanks to the long-running abdication of leadership on the part of Democrats and mainstream Republicans. As I wrote in my first blog post to this website, the political atmosphere in the United States has become dangerously conducive to violence. So cynical have I become that each new revelation surprises me less and less. Something horrible is happening in this country, and it’s going to start exploding more and more in the coming months. With its failure to defeat healthcare “reform” the extreme right wing has lost its most potent rallying cry but has gained something far more powerful: the angry desperation of those who believed all their insane fear mongering over the bill.

So here are my predictions for the upcoming election season:

1) The vandalism that we’ve seen against Democratic offices and the violent threats against Democrats in Congress, especially those who supported the healthcare “reform” and other pieces of hot button legislation, will continue  intermittently throughout the spring and summer, and will increase substantially either in August (when Congress recesses and its members go home to face their angry constituents) or in September (when Americans will start paying real attention after zoning out during the summer).

2) The vandalism and threats will also be aimed at ordinary people who express themselves as supporters of the Democrats or Obama. It will be aimed at the houses of those who have pro-Democratic signs in the yard. It will be aimed against cars with pro-Democratic bumper stickers. And it will also be aimed at the safety of those who volunteer for Democratic campaigns or who otherwise make their support publicly known.

3) The vandalism, violence and threats described in predictions one and two will, on a smaller scale, also be carried out against Republicans and conservatives by groups of militant liberals who feel a more hard line is needed. We have not seen the kind of radicalization on the left as we have seen on the right, but the evidence suggests that there are those in our movement who have almost lost patience.

4) Street violence will likely occur in locales where Tea Party protesters happen to cross paths with pro-Democratic, anti-Tea Party demonstrators. Expect fistfights, group brawls and riot police trying to keep the two sides apart.

If we’re lucky this will be all that will happen. Things are clearly going to get worse in this country before they get better, and we all need to be prepared for the chaotic months that await us.