WHAT DOES IT SAY ABOUT OUR SOCIETY WHEN PUBLIC SERVICE BECOMES DANGEROUS?
BY
ALLAN C. BROWNFELD
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Holding
political office and other public policy positions did not used to
involve physical danger. In the years I worked in the U.S. Senate and
House of Representatives, I do not remember any Senators or Congressmen
receiving death threats or being forced to hire private security.
Sadly, those days are now over.
Between
the 2020 election and the 2022 midterms, candidates running for House
and Senate seats increased spending on security by more than 500 per
cent. This reflects the dramatic rise in threats against elected
officials in recent years and the country’s hyper-partisan political
climate.
In an atmosphere
in which Republicans and Democrats view one another as “enemies,”
rather than common participants in our democratic enterprise, as they
did in the past, acts of violence become increasingly possible.
Spending
on security in the House and Senate rose from $1.3 million to nearly $8
million between 2020 and 2022. House members have also spent more of
the annual government allowance they are given to fund their offices on
security with such funding rising from about $75,000 in 2020 to $1.2
million in 2022.
Members
of Congress were shaken by the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan.
6,2021 in hopes of overturning the 2020 election results. The crowd
threatened to kill officials who stood in their way. “Hang Mike Pence”
was a common _expression_ of this attitude. Discussing the vulnerability
of members of Congress, Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) says, “We’re asking
them to do a difficult job…They’re dealing with somewhat of a stressful
environment already, and then when their physical safety is threatened,
you know, you need to make sure you’re taking care of your folks.”
Acts
of violence have occurred. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA)
was shot by a left-wing extremist. Far-right extremists plotted to
kidnap and kill Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D). Paul Pelosi,
the husband of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, was assaulted with a hammer in their
San Francisco home. The assailant was looking for Rep. Pelosi, then
House Speaker, who was not at home.
When
a House committee was investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol,
threats against committee members were so high that U.S. Capitol police
“worked out a contract with local law enforcement to provide 24-hour
protection at our home when members were in the district,” said Rep.
Bennie Thompson (D-MIssissippi), chairman of the House committee. The
department also opened remote offices across the country since Jan. 6 to
closely monitor regional threats, with locations in Florida,
California, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Texas.
Capitol
Police chief Thomas Manger has testified to Congress that the force is
still stretched too thin given staffing shortages and the ongoing number
of threats. In May, he told lawmakers that roughly 400 officers had
quit since Jan. 6. In 2016, the Capitol Police tracked fewer than 900
threats made against lawmakers. The number grew to 3,930 in 2017, and
rose to 8,600 in 2020. In 2021, almost 10,000 threats were assessed by
Capitol Police. Threats dropped to 7,500 last year, still eight times
more than in 2016.
We
could fill pages with examples of attacks on and threats against public
officials. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was confronted
with shouted personal insults and the threat, “We know where you live.”
Trump Administration press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her
family were forced out of a restaurant and denied service amid vocal
protests. One individual, Craig Robertson, threatened to assassinate
President Biden, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and New York
District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Threats
of violence are not only aimed at public officials but, unfortunately,
even come from some. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) accused the Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, of being a “traitor,” and said
he “should be hung.” And former President Donald Trump attacked Gen.
Milley and said that, “In times gone by the punishment would have been
death.”
In response to
these comments, Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, at one time commander of U.S.
troops in Europe, who called them “disgusting,” said, “It shows how
deeply disturbed these individuals are. It just shows the extent to
which these kinds of things have become commonplace and not condemned in
our divided country.”
In
the case of Rep. Gosar, Gen. Hertling points out that he had at one
time posted images of himself killing Democratic Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez-Cortez and attacking President Biden. Mr. Gosar never
served in the military himself.
In
response to these attacks, Gen. Milley said, “I’m a soldier. I’ve been
faithful and loyal to the Constitution of the United States for 44 1/2
years. You know, as much as these comments are directed at me, it’s
also directed at the institution of the military.”
Asked
if he was worried about his safety, Gen. Milley replied: “I’ve got
adequate safety precautions. I wish those comments had not been made,
but they were. And we’ll take appropriate measures to ensure safety and
the safety of my family.”
Katherine
Keneally, a senior researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue
recently tracked threats from some Trump supporters against Florida
Governor Ron DeSantis as he faced criticism for telling New Hampshire
voters that he was going to start “slitting throats of these deep throat
people.”
It’s not just
federal officials who are being targeted. A recent University of San
Diego study surveyed local public officials in that city and found that
75% reported receiving threats and harassment. Women, it found, are
disproportionately impacted.
Jake
Spano, mayor in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park and a board
member of the National League of Cities, points to a report in 2021
finding that 81% of local elected officials reported receiving threats
and 87% saw the
Last
year, a man was arrested with knives and a pistol outside the home of
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh amid protests against the high
court overturning women’s right to obtain abortions. Then an armed Ohio
man in body armor who had been at the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was
shot and killed after trying to enter an F.B.I. office following that
agency’s search at Donald Trump’s resort, , Mar-a-Lago.
Michael
German, a former F.B.I. agent who is now a fellow with the Brennan
Center for Justice, said that social media can transform private venting
into becoming threats: “Things that may have been screamed at the t.v.
before now appear widely in public.”
Americans
often forget how fragile democracy is. As we approach our 250th
anniversary, we are the only country in the world living under the same
form of government which existed 250 years ago. Historically,
democracies in history, such as ancient Athens and Rome, were
short-lived. Today, our democracy is under siege. Let us hope that
honorable men and women, Republicans and Democrats, liberals and
conservatives, who may disagree on a variety of issues, will unite to
make sure that our democratic society will endure.
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