After a tragic afternoon in Pennsylvania, we have a chance to demand better from our politics
This is a moment to tap the brakes, to move away from divisive rhetoric, and to look harder for the things that unify us.
Within moments of the tragic shootings at President Trump’s rally near Pittsburgh on Saturday, conspiracy theories were spreading online like wildfire. Extremists on both sides quickly chose a narrative they liked - and let it rip on social media.
Propriety, civility, the facts - all be damned.
Fortunately, those lies were quickly countered by leaders on both sides of our politics who expressed shock, condemned the attempted assassination, and mourned the dead and wounded. A spectator, Corey Comperatore, died shielding his family from the gunfire; two others were seriously hurt. President Trump, fortunately, suffered only a minor injury when a bullet grazed his ear.
It could have been so much worse, but it was bad enough.
Our hope now is that this highly visible tragedy shakes some sense into the political elite in our country.
And, we hope, it shakes some sense into the rest of us. We are long overdue for a hard reset of our political discourse.
Let’s start with this: Political violence is always wrong, and it is always harmful to our democratic republic. Our founding ideals rest on a commitment to resolve our differences at the ballot box. And even though polling has shown that a small percentage of Americans might favor violence in some circumstances, the vast majority of our citizens want peace and civility - no matter their political leaning.
We don’t know the motive of the young man who shot the president, and perhaps we may never know. We can’t know whether the increasingly toxic American political environment is to blame.
What we can know is that harsh political rhetoric coarsens us. Toxic polarization forces us into our corners, and peering out from those barricades, we see not political opponents but enemies. Over time, that has consequences.
There is a silver lining in all of this - one that we hope shines more brightly in the days to come. But before we get to that, we’d like to share just a bit more context to make the challenges crystal clear.
A disturbing tide of violence
While physical acts of violence against politicians remain rare, we’ve seen several high-profile examples in recent years that are profoundly disturbing.
In 2011, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat, was critically wounded outside a Tucson shopping center. Six died in the attack and 13 were wounded. In 2017, U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, a Republican, survived a shooting at a congressional softball game. In 2022, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, was brutally attacked in their home.
And on Jan. 6, 2021, hundreds stormed the U.S. Capitol to stop the ceremonial counting of electoral votes after President Joe Biden defeated Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
Meantime, far below the national radar, a more insidious form of political violence has been slowly undermining our democracy.
More than 40 percent of state legislators experienced threats or attacks within the past three years, and more than 18 percent of local officeholders experienced the same within the last 18 months, according to a study released earlier this year by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. The numbers are far larger when less serious forms of abuse are taken into account. These data mirror those from other studies.
As a result of these threats, people in public life are changing how they operate - hardening their offices, moving workers near doors in case they need to escape, practicing active shooter drills.
In too many cases, people are leaving public life altogether. All Voting is Local, a national group working in Wisconsin, reports that roughly one in four municipal clerks leave their jobs each year.
The impact of these threats weakens our political system.
But we can do something about it.
What we can do now
Here’s that silver lining: The vast majority of Wisconsinites want nothing to do with this behavior. We know this from national polling - and we know it from the dozens of discussions WisACT has had with people of both major political parties all across this state since last October. That means there is a huge majority of people in our state who want a better politics - a more civil, thoughtful, meaningful politics.
We’re not helpless in the face of threats.
We can lend our name to organizations like this one, groups that are organizing citizens across the partisan divide.
We can learn about our electoral system - and defend it against inaccurate information.
We can defend our institutions. We need not blindly defend them - let’s fix what’s broken - but we should not try to tear them down. Let’s act to preserve what’s best about our country, fix the things that need fixing, and work to ensure that our democracy remains strong.
We can demand better of our leaders, of our institutions - and of ourselves. Consider whether something is true before you hit the “send” button. Resist spreading unsubstantiated information. Ignore the latest conspiracy theory - and by all means don’t spread it. Instead, focus on our shared identity as Wisconsinites (Go Packers!) and less on what divides us.
We can remain engaged with the political process. Help out at a polling place, become a poll watcher. Advocate for a candidate. Vote.
Healthy partisanship is not a bad thing. In fact, it’s the American way. In the best case, partisanship leads us to winnow ideas so that we get to the heart of the matter. But let’s do everything we can to avoid the sort of toxic partisanship that makes enemies of our fellow Wisconsites. As Lincoln put it, “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies.”
At WisACT, we stand ready to help. Join our monthly meetings, where we offer training and support. Come to our workshops this fall in Milwaukee and Green Bay to learn skills to change our politics. Endorse our five principles. Talk to one person this week who doesn't agree with your politics. We bet you'll find it invigorating.
Change is never easy but it’s possible. If we demand better, we’ll get better.
And there’s absolutely no time like the present to get started.