Any celebratory moments for the Congressional Democratic leadership following the passage of the historic health care bill on March 21 were quickly staunched as death threats and harassing phone calls began pouring into the offices of senators and members of Congress who had voted for the bill.
The fact that Republican members of Congress disagreed with the measures proposed in the bill is no surprise; following the vote, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) pledged a policy of zero cooperation with Democratic leadership for the rest of the year, as if anything else was to be expected after the precedent set by numerous members of the Republican Party, including, most notably, RNC Chairman Michael Steele and Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC), at the beginning of President Barack Obama's term.
It is news, however, that the machinations of a legitimate democracy should be met with acts of domestic terrorism. If, as a country, we are going to preach the superiority and benefits of democratic government to nations such as Iraq and Afghanistan, we had better be sure the foundation and exercise of democracy at home is as strong as we'd like to think it is.
Immediately following the vote, Sarah Palin updated her Twitter page, encouraging her followers to "reload" instead of retreating, posting an accompanying map with cross-hair markers over the districts of twenty House Democrats who voted for the health care reform bill. In the ultimate act of hypocrisy, Palin then asked the gathered journalists at a subsequent speech—she is currently on the road with John McCain—to condemn a heckler as violent.
Obviously, behavior such as this is not limited to the neoconservatives or the Tea Party movement. House Minority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) reported a shooting at his campaign office in Richmond; law enforcement later ruled the bullet to be errant and not intended for the Congressman or his office. He also claims he has received threatening e-mails, but has so far failed to release them publicly, making it impossible to comment on them. If there is truth to these claims, these incidences are equally reprehensible; culpability doesn't depend upon party affiliation.
Additionally, according to several members and organizers of the Tea Party movement gathered at a rally in Searchlight, Nevada, the liberal protesters who egged one of their buses ought to be condemned more vociferously than those who throw bricks through the windows of Congressional offices or leave coffins on the front lawns of those who voted for the bill. The same group also dismissed first-hand reports of racist and homophobic language against African-American and homosexual members of Congress who voted for the bill, and in virtually the same breath and without a touch of irony called "thuggery" a tool of the left.
Despite the words of both Democrats and Republicans, there is nothing inherently unpatriotic about demonstration, no matter what the cause. Just as protesting health care legislation—without the racist slurs and threats of violence—is a protected right in this country, it is perfectly legitimate to stage a peaceful rally in protest over the war in Iraq, and does not by nature undermine the efforts of the troops. There is a huge difference between civil disobedience and angry mob mentality, and the latter cannot be tolerated in a country such as ours. Violence trivializes the potentially very real and pressing concerns of protestors who choose to disagree peacefully, and makes it impossible to move forward in progress with any sort of dignity or respect for those whose opinions differ.
If democracy is to have any meaning, elected officials should be able to vote with the best interests of their constituents and the nation as a whole in mind. Special interest groups and death threats should not dominate the political playing field, for when they do, they corrupt the very foundation upon which our nation was built. When the lives and peace of mind of our representatives are put at risk, so too are our collective security and the insurance of our democracy. Civil disagreement and threats of violence are two radically different things, and both sides of the political aisle would do well to remember that.