Recent studies show a big-scale rise in political force-use across America. The University of Chicagos research group (which started their work bout 3 years ago) found some real eye-opening facts about how people think about politics these days
The numbers dont lie: FBI data shows a mind-blowing 357% jump in domestic terror acts from 13 to 21. Both right-wing and left-wing groups are doing these things - its not just one side thats causing trouble
Last year and early this year we saw lots of trouble: some real scary stuff happened when people tried to hurt Donald Trump‚ and someone went after Nancy Pelosis family (her husband got hurt). Even Barack Obama had someone watching his house with weapons
- Right-wing attacks hit places like Tree of Life temple
- Left-wing protests turned rough in many big cities
- Pro-Palestine and pro-Israel crowds faced off in streets
The research shows something real weird: bout 25% of Americans think its ok to use force for politics - thats way more than just a tiny group of trouble-makers. The scariest part is how normal this kind of thinking has become
Political leaders and media figures have an especially powerful role to play
The good news is most people (like 3 out of 4) still think political violence is bad but we need to watch this close. Every two years theres another big vote coming up; and people need to remember that voting - not fighting - is how we fix things in America