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. . . Heated rhetoric is nothing new (the founders blistered each others' ears) and insufficient by itself to inspire a Trump supporter to send pipe bombs to prominent Democrats, or to inspire a Bernie Sanders fan to shoot a Republican congressman and several others. Nor are the idiot leftists and right-wingers pounding on each other in Portland, New York City, Charlottesville, and elsewhere otherwise placid people moved to violence by politicians' intemperate words. Heated rhetoric and violence have resulted and escalated as government has grown in size and power—and been weaponized for use by those holding the reins against those they see as enemies.Officials can be vindictive creatures, eager to use the power of the state to penalize those whose lifestyles, economic activity, and political affiliations they dislike. Tax power was long ago turned to such misuse, probably because tax collectors had authority to intrude into people's lives before other government employees gained such clout. "My father may have been the originator of the concept of employing the IRS as a weapon of political retribution," Elliott Roosevelt observed of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt . . . . . . New York's governor extended the abuse of state regulatory power over banks to target not just firearms dealers, but advocates of self-defense rights such as "the NRA or similar gun promotion organizations."President Trump has openly pushed the Justice Department to investigate Democrats who have rubbed him the wrong way. He also sees security clearances as personal favors to be doled out to friends and denied to critics. In this, he follows on his predecessor's distaste for "enemies" and willingness to misuse the organs of government—including the IRS—as weapons.Even those Americans who aren't especially concerned with politics can find themselves on the receiving end of laws weaponized for use against businesses and pastimes that those currently in power associate with their political enemies . . .. . . If you want violent political battles for control of government to end, make politics matter much, much less. When Americans have less to fear no matter who wins political office, they'll be less prone to viciously fight each other for control of government.
