Donald Trump crossed the line of decency when he referred to a possible violent action toward Hillary Clinton by “Second Amendment people.” In the eloquent words of Dan Rather . . .
No trying-to-be objective and fair journalist, no citizen who cares about the country and its future can ignore what Donald Trump said today. When he suggested that “The Second Amendment People” can stop Hillary Clinton he crossed a line with dangerous potential. By any objective analysis, this is a new low and unprecedented in the history of American presidential politics. This is no longer about policy, civility, decency or even temperament. This is a direct threat of violence against a political rival. It is not just against the norms of American politics, it raises a serious question of whether it is against the law. If any other citizen had said this about a Presidential candidate, would the Secret Service be investigating?
Dan Rather is correct when he says that “we are a democratic republic governed by the rule of law. We are an honest, fair and decent people.”
In trying to come to terms with this discouraging development, Dan Rather summons our greatest political poet, Abraham Lincoln, for perspective:
“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
Lincoln used these stirring words to end his First Inaugural Address. It was the eve of the Civil War and sadly his call for sanity, cohesion and peace was met with horrific violence that almost left our precious Union asunder. We cannot let that happen again.
Dan Rather, you are spot on! Must we let this political race make us enemies? Or can we protect the sacredness of friendship and unity? May God grant us the will to do that.
God of the Sparrow 🌱 By Kathy Manis Findley 