Divided we stand and so much for violent reaction

WASHINGTON, D.C.--There has been much media fibrillation over the divisions manifested in the U.S. election. To be sure anger and division make better stories than peace and harmony. That is why the TV weather channel runs "Storm Stories" and not "Sunny Days." So it was red states battling blue. The culture wars juxtaposed Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 vs. Mel Gibson's Passion. The Republicans pressed the "God, guns, and gays" hot button to galvanize their social conservatives while the Democrats argued "re-defeat the president" and believed that "not Bush" was a mantra to repel werewolves. And to be sure, an election is not a tea party. Elections are zero sum games; there is one winner and everyone else loses. Presumably most of those running believe they are better qualified than their opponent(s) and their supporters often think the same in geometrically enhanced commitment. That focus makes for elevated rhetoric and blood pressures among activists. But in their apocalypse tomorrow mood, the analysts lose both their perspective and their (if they ever had any) appreciation of history. In relative terms, the just-completed U.S. election -- even in comparison to other democracies -- was remarkably tranquil. Supporters complained that their placards were torn down or that some harsh words were exchanged; elsewhere in the world there are gunfights and politics quite literally are a blood sport. But the "hyper armed" U.S. population fired not a shot. The only shooting done was by John Kerry out duck hunting for a media photo-op trying to prove he was both a gun lover and a mensch. There have been far more violent U.S. elections than the one just concluded. The most obvious was the 1860 election when all clearly recognized that a Republican/Abraham Lincoln victory would mean succession by southern states and a probable civil war. But rather than dwelling on such ultimate catastrophe just think of the decade of the 1960s-1970s in the United States. Think of U.S. cities burning in a series of bloody race riots featuring carnage and destruction in Los Angeles, Washington, Detroit, Philadelphia, etc. Recall not just the JFK assassination in 1963, but the Robert Kennedy assassination during the 1968 political campaign and the coincident murder of Martin Luther King. And the political murders of Black Muslim leader Malcom X in 1965 and American Nazi leader George Lincoln Rockwell in 1967. Or the attempt to assassinate Alabama governor George Wallace during the 1972 presidential campaign. Recall the two unsuccessful attempts to assassinate President Gerald Ford in 1975 (how quickly have "Squeaky" Fromme and Sara Jane Moore been forgotten) and the almost successful attempt to assassinate president Ronald Reagan in 1981. In contrast to almost 20 years of ritualized armed attacks on prominent public figures, there has been no comparable violence against political officials since the attempt against Reagan--over 23 years ago. Of course these attempts came against the backdrop of general societal upheaval. There was the Chicago political "police riot" against political demonstrators during the 1968 Democrat National Convention. Mass arrests and a city in chaos. These demonstrations were the culmination of years of anti-Vietnam War demonstrations featuring such thoughtful political analysis as "Hey, hey LBJ; How many babies did you kill today?" Such a cultural divide! Crew cuts vs. scraggly beards and long dirty hair. University campuses featuring avoid the draft instruction groups and safe tripping with LSD marshaled against those committed to saving Vietnam from communist aggression and the rest of Southeast Asia from falling like "dominoes." The epitome was the killing of four Kent State students by National Guard troops in 1970. Nowhere in 2004 was there the slightest intimation that the U.S. military -- which probably preferred President Bush by 70 percent -- would do less than fully accept civilian control by "President Kerry." This is a point that U.S. and Canadian citizens blithely take for granted, but one which is almost unique in a world where armed intervention by the military in politics is far more likely than a resort to the courts if an electoral dispute requires resolution. The troops rallied were armies of lawyers. So there you have it. U.S. military forces are resting quietly in their barracks. Police cadres alert, but against terrorists, not demonstrators. There is less public violence than after the Red Sox victory in the World Series (or an average hockey Stanley Cup victory anywhere in Canada). Not a shot fired in that oh-so-violent U.S.A. A gracious concession speech is followed by a gracious victory speech. This is not "division," it is differences played out in "jaw-jaw" fashion. So civilized, one might confuse us with Canadians. David Jones is a former political counsellor who worked at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa from 1992 to 1996. The Hill Times

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Divided we stand and so much for violent reaction

Not a shot fired in oh-so-violent U.S., gracious concession, gracious victory speech

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