Our Need To Dial It Down

Murder: the crime of unlawfully and unjustifiably killing a person

Assassination: murder by sudden or secret attack often for political reasons : the act or an instance of assassinating someone (such as a prominent political leader)

These definitions are taken directly from my Merriam-Webster online dictionary app, without edits, and are the first of the several definitions provided for each word. This is my preferred dictionary and it has been a respected tool in the United States since 1828.

History is replete with assassinations and attempted assassinations all throughout our collective human existence. These include Caesar, Sadat, Nehru, Archduke Ferdinand, both Ghandis, Diem, Begin, and several others. Even some would argue that Christ's crucifixion was a political assassination.

In the United States, Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Patton, both Kennedys, and King  were assassinated. In addition, attempted assassinations include Jackson, Truman, Wallace, Ford and Reagan. Now we can add Donald Trump.

Bill O’Reilly has written an excellent series of  books of famous people who were assassinated or nearly so. And literature is filled with novels related to this deed, including Day of the Jackal, Executive Action and Star Chamber. We are the only species which kills our own out of hate and anger for people who disagree with our thinking.

I know that many people disagree with Donald Trump. As Americans, that is our right to disagree. But, shooting at someone is never acceptable under any circumstance that anyone could possibly use to justify such a horrible act.

Presently, the Secret Service is investigating this disgusting act of cowardice. Fortunately, Mr. Trump  was not killed; however, this act has shown to the world that our country can  sometimes be no better than a Banana Republic which overthrows its leaders on a whim.

As Americans, we need to dial down our political discourse to a level where we show respect as we agree to disagree with others. Perhaps now, as the Republican Convention begins tomorrow, we will be able to show that we have learned an invaluable lesson and survived with this event.

While I disagree with President Biden on just about everything, I do not hate the man nor do I wish him to be harmed in any way. I would prefer, as I am sure many of you will agree, that assassinating our political leaders takes away our right to remove that individual peacefully and under the guidelines of our Constitution.

For me, Election Day, especially as we vote for our President, is one of the most sacred days in our calendar. As many of you know,  I have spent entire election nights into the wee hours of the next morning awaiting the final results before I go to bed. I have done this since 1964. And I wish to continue to do this for many years to come.

Hopefully, the shooting at and wounding of Donald Trump is an awakening to our better selves, and we can continue to enjoy the freedoms and liberties that voting affords us, rather than resorting to shooting those of us for whom we disagree.