Quote (Black XistenZ @ Jan 10 2021 01:09pm)
Very well said, but I think your conclusion doesnt actually go deep enough. America does not just have a problem with the normalization of political violence. The reason violence is normalized and that people are turning their backs on democracy itself is that democratic elections in America are increasingly failing to resolve political tensions. Polarization and antagonism have increased for over 25 years, and neither side has been able to achieve a lasting victory in this conflict via sustained electoral success. The political power in the country keeps being balanced on a knife's edge while people feel like the consequences of either side winning keep going up all the time. Just to remind everyone: flip 35k votes in the right places from Trump to Clinton in 2016, and she becomes president. Flip just 20k votes in the right places from Biden to Trump, and Trump remains president.
The problem America is facing is not just one of the means of conflict escalating - the true problem is that the conflict itself is getting increasingly fundamental. The country is breaking apart into two sides whose views, ideologies and ideas of the future are increasingly disparate and irreconcilable. Meaningful compromise might no longer be possible, and, as Wednesday shows, democratic elections themselves might also have lost their ability to resolve this conflict. It seems like, if forced to choose between their political beliefs and democracy, an increasing share of the population would ditch democracy. If electoral defeat is not an option anymore, civil war is the only remaining exit.
Joe Biden is pouring kerosine on the fire, and he's doing it on purpose. This is going to get worse and worse. Bill Clinton would have never been stupid enough to say that the "DC Police are racist" in response to political unrest.