“Perceptions,” by Gerry Warner

Op-Ed Commentary

Sow the wind. Reap the whirlwind.

That’s what Americans are doing in response to the shocking shooting of former White House aid Charlie Kirk, a popular Republican political strategist. Kirk’s death comes to a country where polarized politics grows stronger every day and is being stirred to toxic levels hitherto unknown. And the fact that the killer, a 22-year-old ex-student with unknown political views, was apprehended less than two days after the killing offered little solace to the millions of Americans grieving the cowardly killing.

Many seemed to feel it was no longer violent rhetoric alone stirring the pot. Now it was outright political assassination causing the pot to boil over. Who knows where it will end?

As democracy fades, many jittery Americans are asking if it will lead to a police state south of the Canadian border. Will democracy die in the world’s oldest democracy? Will a brutal dictatorship replace the Oval Office? Will high-powered rifles and more CCTV security cameras be installed on every public roof top? Hell, it’s getting close to that now. Then there’s the scariest potential consequence of them all.

Another civil war.

Less than a decade ago, such a possibility would have been greeted with howls of derision and disbelief.  But not anymore!

In 2024, Hollywood released a movie entitled ‘Civil  War,’ a dystopian action thriller that garnered favorable reviews and wasn’t considered unrealistic at all. What will come next? One hopes, and many pray, that a solid majority of Americans come to their senses soon enough to renounce hate in the public square whether it’s the office, schools, churches and any place where people gather.

It’s a given that people will always disagree but in a civilized society disagreement shouldn’t come at the point of a gun. Nor should it come from extremists who demonize each other until violence erupts instead of consensus. Ironically, in a country where guns outnumber people, consensus is the rarest commodity of all yet the one most badly needed.

Another desperately needed commodity in the anarchy swirling around US citizens is sound leadership. Instead of that and before the assassin was even caught, President Donald Trump was raving like a mad man claiming the assassin was someone from the political left. “For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals.”

Compare Trump’s cruel screed to the conciliatory comments of independent Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-admitted socialist. “Every American, no matter what one’s political point of view may be, must condemn all forms of political violence and all forms of intimidation. We must welcome and respect dissenting points of view. That’s what our Constitution is about. That’s what our Bill of Rights is about. That in fact is what freedom is about.”

In a tragic situation like this, who do you think would make a better president? Surely not Trump? Like many other bellicose right-wingers, he’s already calling for the death penalty in the case.

These are sad times we’re living in now. And don’t think living in Canada gets you off the hook. Trump wants to annex Canada, and in some provinces, separation is in the air again. Some political commentators – and I admit I’m one — think support for Trump runs as high as 10% in the Great White North. Maybe higher. Canadians were once known for their good manners and a particularly rough brand of hockey. Now our politics are going sour and our hockey prowess is fading too.

As Bob Dylan once sang: “The Times, They Are-a-Changin.”  But changing to what? Many fear the worst.

– Gerry Warner is a retired journalist, who doesn’t apologize for his seemingly contradictory views.

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