I stand with Bernie Sanders in his strong condemnation of political violence in the wake of the Alexandria attack. Violence of any kind is completely unacceptable and threats of violence should never be ignored, regardless of which group such threats are aimed towards.

At the same time, MLK once said that riots are the language of the unheard. I think it’s no great leap to say that violence in general is a dialect of the same language.

Congressional approval is at 20% and disapproval at 74%. It’s safe to say that the vast majority of people do not feel they are being represented or heard by their government. People write letters and get stock responses; they organize marches and get nowhere; they start grassroots campaigns and get drowned out by moneyed interests. Unfettered Capitalism stokes the fires of violence. You don’t see rich people go on mass shootings. Mostly people down on their luck.

Some people persist with the democratic process, some people (who aren't totally mentally stable to begin with) believe they only have one remaining choice — to, as Thomas Jefferson said, Refresh the tree of liberty with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

Our political discourse and process has polarized every single issue (Hell, punching a reporter is now a partisan issue) so much, and pushed so many people to the margins that people on both sides feel like they’ve been backed into a corner and can only lash out to save themselves and America.

Obviously nothing condones this behavior, but our current political landscape goes a long way towards explaining why we have violent actors coming from both sides of the political spectrum and why there doesn't seem to be any reason to believe it will ebb without major systemic changes in politics, media, government, and social discourse.