Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is calling for an investigation into the 'doxxing' of political leaders in the wake of the posting of Sens. Mike Lee's, Orrin Hatch's, and Lindsey Graham's personal phone numbers and addresses on Wikipedia as the Supreme Court nomination hearings of Brett Kavanaugh went on. And he wants the perpetrators punished.

“Yesterday there was an attempt to incite people by publishing the personal information of Senators – including home addresses – endangering them & their families,” the Kentucky Republican tweeted. “This should be investigated & the perpetrators punished. There is too much hatred and violence in politics these days.”

As usual, Paul is onto something.

Already the Democrats and their supporters have a disturbing pattern of threats and violence against Republicans and they've been getting away with it easily, as each news cycle moves on to the next story. As the left's rage escalates, it's likely there is no end to it in sight.

Some examples:

The near murder of Rep. Steve Scalise shot on a baseball field by a crazed Bernie Sanders supporter with a gun. The heinous assault on Paul himself by a crazed leftist neighbor, leaving him with injured lungs and at least five broken ribs, along with the astonishingly light sentence this violent brute got. The open plotting of violence and assassinations against Republicans by leftist communist thugs, in the wake of a long series of antifa vandalisms at universities over conservative speakers. The restaurant mob chaseout of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, led by a Department of Justice employee acting in consort with her Democratic Socialists of America cohorts. The restaurant chaseout of White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders by a crazed leftwing restaurant owner who apparently followed her party to the next restaurant to keep protesting. The restaurant chaseout of Sen. Ted Cruz by a leftist mob over his support for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The stalking and harassing of Rep. Devin Nunes by an apparently leftist weirdo still unknown.

It's so bad, it sounds like these Democrats and leftists won't be satisfied until there is a civil war. Their sense of entitlement to power, and their Ayers-like 'by any means necessary' ethos, as well as the specter of their long reign as the establishment ending, has got to be driving this.

Now we have the doxxing scandal, as if there is no such thing as Democratic-aligned mobs willing to do what Democrats are thinking.

And amid this lengthening pattern of leftist violence, a very weak response.

Rep. Maxine Waters' office has been accused of this crime based on an IP number traceable to her office, and as she has with her calls to violence against Republicans, she denies it happened, although she didn't provide any refuting proof. Unless she does, it sounds as though she is trying to escape some kind of responsibility.

It's serious, as Paul notes, because the left's record of unpunished violence is lengthening.

Whoever did the doxxing, Waters or not, needs to be held accountable. If Republicans stand for rule of law in contrast to their Democratic colleagues, they need to show it. At least Paul, with firsthand knowledge of how bad this has got, is leading.

Image credit: Majunznk, via Flickr // CC BY-SA 2.0