Palin's rhetoric sows seeds of violence

"Don't retreat - reload." That's how former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin rallied
supporters the other day. It's just one of many recent examples of the increasingly violent tone of
political rhetoric, says Gregory Rodriguez, which has had many thoughtful people worrying that it
might encourage attacks on politicians. It's not an unfounded concern, hut the truth is it's the
ordinary voter, not the politician, who has most to fear from "politically inspired violence". A
"ground-breaking" recent book by historian Randolph Roth, American Homicide, which traces
long-term trends in violence and US politics, finds compelling evidence that high murder rates are
determined more by political disenchantment than by proximate factors such as poverty, drugs and
unemployment. "The more people feel empowered, the lower the homicide rate." It's no coincidence,
says Roth, that white homicides in the US peaked in 1980, the final year of the Garter admini-
stration, when trust in government hit a postwar low; nor that urban areas that backed Barack
Obama reported a steep drop in homicides in the six months after his election. The lesson is clear:
when politicians sow disdain for government, they make the country more dangerous for everyone.