WHO IS THIS WE, KEMOSABE? Political Violence Happens Because We Let It.

The murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month appears to be what it looked like: a political attack. In this case, one motivated by hatred of the American insurance system. In a leaked manifesto, the alleged killer, Luigi Mangione, blames the insurer’s corruption and greed, and claims to be the first to face it with “brutal honesty.”

If true—and a grand jury in New York will soon decide—that makes the murder another in a string of ideologically motivated violent attacks over the past few years, including:

Assassination attempts—two against Donald Trump as well as the shootings of Rep. Steve Scalise and (further back) Rep. Gabby Giffords;

Political riots, from the BLM violence of summer 2020 to the riot in the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to the pro-Hamas riots of last fall;

Intimidating protests against Supreme Court justices, or individual attacks like the assault on Paul Pelosi;

A wave of bomb threats as well as the pipe bombs mailed to prominent Democrats in 2018, reflecting domestic terror hitting its highest level in decades.

None of this is new. The late 1960s and early 1970s were wracked by political violence.

To be more exact, political violence occurs because those responsible for stopping it choose not to, presumably because they believe they benefit from it.