, Columnist
Both the Left and the Right Wink at Political Violence
After the shooting in Virginia, it's the usual script: "What can be done?" Here's what can be done.
Politicians fuel the culture of violence.
Photographer: Eric Thayer/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
In their far corners, both the left and the right have always flirted with political violence. Right-wing militia members saying the government will have to pry their guns from their “cold, dead hands”; liberals feting the veterans of the “days of rage.” Nonetheless, after events like this week’s shooting at a congressional baseball practice, the mainstream voices of both sides conveniently forget their own radical factions. They feign naivete and say, “What can be done?”
We’re all too familiar with the ideas that are offered and why they’re rejected.