A Blood-Stained Republic

A blood-stained republic may never be one so many should truly be proud of. Violence used to silence an opposing political view heralds a sobering defeat of peaceful democratic governance that can only shame us all. If citizens cannot publicly voice and safely manifest their political views, little is the point of democratic participation. What a tragedy that a man may sometimes be forced to die solely because of his self-professed political values, ideals, views and beliefs, especially when he should otherwise feel democratically empowered to voice them publicly and defend them openly.

Freedom that does not serve this commendable purpose is most certainly no freedom worth defending with our own lives. It is truly disgraceful that patriotic Americans should be asked to defend their country overseas, possibly even sacrificing their own lives in distant foreign lands, while back home their fellow citizens are killing themselves over domestic political grievances. That an American's greatest enemy should be his own fellow citizen is a tragedy beyond compare. If a nation bitterly divided against itself cannot stand, the most recent overflowing torrents of political violence can only irreparably hurt the country as a whole, inevitably compromising its international standing.

Political assassinations only poison the American public discourse, further polarizing a great nation already on edge for reasons so many can barely agree on. Political constituencies disenfranchised by violence are likely to resort to even more violence as the requisite means of having their own grievances finally heard. Although the price exacted for the American Constitution was fully paid in blood, its opposing enemy was never meant to be a domestic one. No wonder a once proud nation, now victimized by this much political violence, should only think twice before lecturing other countries across the world, especially when the topic of debate is democratic governance.

Political violence only undermines the democratic dialogue that should be so essential to any truly representative form of government. When hatred begets only hatred and brings about the traumatic loss of innocent life, terrorized citizens may decide that embracing silence is always preferable to opening their hearts, speaking their minds and voicing their concerns. This is the delicate moment when we should all just pause and give peace a chance. First learning how to listen is usually paramount to later knowing what to say, and all of this tragic violence has already berated us all loudly enough.

May the latest episode of political violence not be a harbinger of yet more hatred still to come. Not so long ago, President Trump was nearly assassinated during the political campaign leading up to his election. While at least four American presidents had already been viciously murdered before him, ten others survived close attempts on their lives. All this political violence speaks of a hatred that seems to defy even the most adamant religious values and stalwart spiritual beliefs. After all, are religious values not meant to curtail all this self-inflicted national harm?

One should diligently remember that Christians who feel religiously obliged to love their neighbors as themselves are also called upon to love their enemies, as Christ himself once taught in the Sermon on the Mount. Although the taking of a life in self-defense remains permissible, this is merely an exception to a general rule that our love for our fellow man strives to enforce. A nation truly founded under God should always be willing to embrace this most noble of sentiments, carrying out its political affairs in exigent order. Spiritual corruption and religious hypocrisy may yet prove to be the ultimate price paid for condoning unabashed violence as the American way of life.