A brief note about political violence from an observer of modern political history.

Many people are familiar with the linear political terms left and right. Left equals Democrat world-views and Right equals Republican world-views. On the left we discuss progressives, liberals etc. On the right we discuss conservatives, etc.

In terms of a political continuum as you travel further left the governmental influence over the individual increases.

The further left, the larger government. Socialism eventually gives way to totalitarianism and communism, full control by government.

On the same continuum if you travel rightward, a constitutional republic eventually gives way to the absence of government and you arrive at anarchy. Visually it looks like this:

However, the end result of both Totalitarianism and Anarchy is conflict. Total control by government over the individual is antithetical to freedom; the human condition has historically yearned to be free. Additionally, within a social system lacking any governing rules and regulations, amid anarchy where only the strong can survive, natural states of human disposition lead to tribalism and therein ultimately, conflict. (See Animal Farm)

Both sides of the political continuum end up in a state of conflict. This leads to something we have discussed since our initial assembly began:

CTH has long noted the continuum is not linear, it is circular.

In the narrow space where the far-left and the far-right converge there is a state of perpetual conflict. It is a space were two polarities are in constant conflict; much like two of the same sides of a magnet pushing away from each other yet both consisting of the same magnetic material.

In this narrow space between totalitarianism and anarchy there is constant political violence as both elements bounce off each other repeatedly.

The majority of the American electorate are neither far-left, nor far-right. Americans are mostly represented in the lower half of the diagram above where ideological debate without violence is the preferred disposition.

There are times when this narrow conflicted and violent space between the two oppositional forces takes center stage amid the media. Usually an event takes place were both sides merge and violence breaks out. Inside this toxic battle-space the minds of the primary participants are generally unstable.

Inside this political conflict zone, denoted by the red box in my crudely drawn diagram, highly charged emotion surfaces as the commonality between both polarities. There is little to no intellectual space possible.

Long-term readers will note that when media fuel carriers walk intently into this conflict space CTH does not.

CTH discusses events all along the political continuum and we hope to provide interesting information that can help make useful sense of the events occurring in day-to-day travels. We discuss political violence when either side of the equation engages in horrific action against ordinary citizens. However, when the two political and extremist polarities come into conflict, and media is gleefully swarming into the foray, we prefer to stay away from the toxic emotional cloud it creates.

Respectfully,

Sundance