The United States is experiencing its first major rise in violent attacks against political figures in almost 60 years. This recent uptick has been widely condemned by American media and some political leaders, alongside repeated warnings about the consequences for democracy, often followed by claims that this is “not who we are.”
These statements are well meaning, but become muddled in the context of America’s political history and reality. Violence against America’s political class is indeed rare, but racial and social violence against common people has existed for almost the entirety of the country's history.
While many Americans have historically been horrified by previous bouts of political violence, something is beginning to shift within the national psyche. A growing number are becoming apathetic towards such violence, and in some cases even deriving amusement from it.
The modern trends of social isolation and information silos, driven by general addiction to social media, are clashing with America’s longstanding racial animosity and obsessive gun culture, creating a deadly new combination of seemingly nonsensical political violence.
Yet America’s political system, in its current unhealthy state, appears incapable of countering these worsening issues. Increasing distrust toward the government is only intensifying these trends, and with political polarisation also on the rise, this recent bout of violence may not be a passing phase, but a new and enduring feature of American political life.
The modern era of political violence
The modern iteration of American violence was born with the attempted assasination of House of Representatives member Gabby Giffords in 2011. Giffords, a member of the Democratic Party, was holding a routine public event called “Congress on Your Corner” in a grocery store parking lot north of Tucson, Arizona.
She was approached by Tucson native Jared Lee Loughner, who suffered from mental health issues and had been heavily influenced by online conspiracy theories, before he shot her point-blank in the head with a Glock 19. He then opened fire on a crowd of pedestrians, killing six and wounding twelve before being subdued.
This new era of political violence would be defined by individuals who felt that violence is the only way for them to have an “impact” on society, or as a way to “regain control” of their own difficult personal lives.
Many recent high profile cases of political violence often include attackers and assassins who either suffer from unresolved mental health issues, or face very complex or unhealthy social lives. Decreasing fatih that the government can improve society and the growth of low-trust social environments, often means people facing challenging personal situations can fall victim to information siloing and social isolation.
This can leave individuals vulnerable to conspiracy theories and radicalising rhetoric, or lead them to believe that the only way to enact change in the world is through violent action. In some cases, this is framed as a form of revenge against a society or government they feel has failed them. This dynamic is further enabled by the widespread availability of firearms in American society and the relative ease of acquiring one.
A history of American violence
This modern trend would differentiate itself from the American violence of the past, which had its origins in the country's long racial animosity. The first major trend of political assassinations came with the immediate post-civil war period in the late 1860s, when radicals within the Republican Party sought to rebuild the south following the fall of the Confederacy and the abolition of slavery.
Efforts to promote civil rights in the region clashed with general public racism as well as anger from traditional southern power centers who feared losing political authority. This led to the creation of groups like the Klu Klux Klan who specifically targeted both reconstructionist Republicans originally from the north, and the new crop of local black Republican political leaders.
This political violence would eventually come to an end, but this was due to the successful repression of Republicans and institutionalization of segregation and white supremacy in the south. While attacks against political leaders would slow, general violence against southern black Americans would continue until the next era of political violence nearly a century later.
In the 1960s, the Cold War was in full swing, and the United States was struggling from competing forces, including a powerful national security apparatus, a growing counter culture movement, public dissatisfaction of the Vietnam war, and southern tensions from the Civil Rights Movement.
U.S. President John F. Kennedy, his brother Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights leaders Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Fred Hampton were all assassinated for a range of political and racial reasons. Violent national incidents, like the Kent State Massacre, in which the National Guard fired upon college students protesting the Vietnam war, highlighted a society on the brink.
