Malice Aforethought

With minor alterations, the text of the recent article about an ATF raid on an Alabama militia explosives and firearms stash would pretty much describe the situation eleven years ago when ATF arrested Washington militia members. The only substantive difference was that the GOP-sponsored target of the recent planned mass murder were Mexican immigrants instead of the earlier Republican Party-endorsed violence against Native Americans.

While we applaud the arrests, we are uncomfortably aware of the lethal consequences of political demonizing that continues in the halls of Congress and on the airwaves.

From our point of view, the primary difference between then and now, is that the civil society organizations formed to keep malicious harassment at bay in the past have, in the decade since, withered from lack of public support. Given that unhealthy social context, it is no surprise that the disease of aggression has managed to resurge.