The tone of today’s politics was anticipated and is vindicated by a book published 30 years ago. The late Samuel Huntington’s “American Politics: The Promise of Disharmony” (1981) clarifies why it is a mistake to be alarmed by today’s political excitements and extravagances, a mistake refuted by America’s past.
The “predominant characteristics” of the Revolutionary era, according to Gordon Wood, today’s pre-eminent historian of that period, were “fear and frenzy, the exaggerations and the enthusiasm, the general sense of social corruption and disorder.” In the 1820s, Daniel Webster said “society is full of excitement.” Of the 1830s, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “The country is full of rebellion; the country is full of kings. Hands off! Let there be no control and no interference in the administration of this kingdom of me.” As the 20th century dawned, Theodore Roosevelt found a “condition of excitement and irritation in the popular mind.” In 1920, George Santayana wrote, “America is all one prairie, swept by a universal tornado.” Unusual turmoil is not so unusual that it has no pattern.
By the time Huntington’s book appeared, America had had four of what he called “periods of creedal passion” — the Revolutionary era (1770s), the Jacksonian era (the 1830s), the Progressive era (1900-1920) and the 1960s. We are now in the fifth.
Anyone who thinks modern US politics has the edge on “incivility” should read about the Presidential election campaign of 1796 between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams and the violence engendered by the Know-Nothings in the 1840s and 1850s. For that matter, there was probably more violence, and certainly more cruelty to citizenry, between Tory Loyalists and colonial Rebels, in the years leading up to the Revolutionary War and during that war itself.
But then, from what I understand, heckling, cat-calling, and loud opposition are frequent in the UK House of Commons. The Athenian democracy of the age of Pericles routinely practised ostracism of those who held different political views (and let’s not forget Socrates, who was made to drink hemlock for his opinions).
Mark,
IF someone close the AZ shooter had forced an involuntary psych admittance on him, he could not have legally purchased the handgun he used that day. There is a federal form (4473) required by dealers for all purchasers to fill out before the instant background check. Cut and paste link and see question F. IF he lied on the form and it was submitted in AZ, it still would have been flagged. I don’t know of any state that allows legal, private handgun purchases. In the states I know and have lived ALL such purchases, even private sales, must go through a dealer and the paperwork properly filed. Some states have waiting periods, but all states have the instant background check as it is a federal program.
I can appreciate you are a libertarian. Perhaps I have now done my bit to help you become an educated libertarian.
http://www.atf.gov/forms/download/atf-f-4473.pdf
Mark,
Not sure what you meant by that, but my intent was to correct an incorrect broad brush statement on your part. There was a way to keep that particular handgun away from the shooter. I wonder why his parents never had him psychologically evaluated. Or why the local police never arrested him for some of his prior bizarre behavior, having been called to his parent’s home because of it.
Now, could he have made a private purchase, perhaps buying an illegal one? Sure, that’s why it’s called illegal. And as per extended mags, people who shoot them are posers who like to blast away at shooting ranges. Any serious person with a need to carry knows better as they are often less reliable than standard mags. And the solution would be for the shooter to have simply brought more mags.
Brian are you sure about private sales? I know of no state that requires a private sale to go through a dealer except maybe California. Federal law does not require it.
I did some quick checking and some states do require private gun sales to go through a licensed dealer. Pennsylvania requires handgun sales, with exceptions between certain family members, to go through a licensed dealer. This is only between residents of the same state. The bottom line is check the state laws.
Federal law requires sales between residents of different states to go through a licensed dealer.