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The Baltimore Sun reported three days ago that in the three decades prior to the Civil War there were “more than 70 duels and other violent incidents” among members of Congress.

Political violence is rooted in the DNA of American government, at both the federal and state levels. This nation was founded on political violence and its “greatness” has been shaped and defined by violence with political undercurrents.

Today America is sitting on the precipice of pre-Civil War political violence.

Foreign Policy informs us that there are three core societal elements that can lead to civil war: “fractured elites with competing narratives, deep-seated identity cleavages, and a politically polarized citizenry.”

All three elements are today at the core of governance in both federal and state governments. The common good and the interests of the people have been abandoned as these elements come to a pre-civil war boil. Political tribalism for the first time since the period of 1830 to 1860 poses a real threat to cascade into violent political sectarianism.

The evidence of this dark violent brew is everywhere in these United States.

At an October political event staged in Western Idaho by Turning Point USA, a far right-wing youth organization, an attendee asked the group’s founder, Charlie Kirk, “when do we get to use the guns … to kill these people (Democrats)?”

A local state legislator later commented that the attendee had raised a “fair question.”

An Ohio U.S. Senate candidate has advocated the use of violence to oppose what he calls government “tyranny”—mask and vaccine mandates.

The Washington Post reports that recent polling data found that 30 percent of Republicans and 40 percent of the people who trust “far right” news sources believe that “true patriots” may have to resort to violence to achieve their political objectives. The Post quoted a senior fellow at the left leaning group New America as saying:

“When you start dehumanizing political opponents, or really anybody, it becomes a lot easier to inflict violence on them,” Lee Drutman said. “I have a hard time seeing how we have a peaceful 2024 election after everything that’s happened now. I don’t see the rhetoric turning down; I don’t see the conflicts going away. I really do think it’s hard to see how it gets better before it gets worse.”

Arizona Republican Congressman Paul Gosar was just censured by the U.S. House of Representatives after he posted, and then removed, a cartoon depicting him killing Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and physically battling President Joe Biden—a president that at least 50 million Republicans do not believe was fairly elected and should be dethroned.

North Carolina Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn and Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene also have a penchant for political violence. They have both threatened to execute other members of Congress. Both have endorsed the violent insurrection in Washington, D.C. on January 6, calling it a “patriotic” peaceful event.

These calls for political violence have reached the ears of criminal violence. Carnegie Endowment, citing Washington Post data, reported in September that during the preceding 16 weeks at least 50 drivers plowed into crowds of peaceful protestors. Militarized police brutality, white supremacists groups, hate crimes, and politically motivated mass shooters are all increasing at dangerous levels.

This criminal violence, which is being fueled by the increasing prevalence of political violence, has most assuredly led to a recent explosion of ordinary street and domestic violence. No one is truly safe anymore. Fear dominates our social landscape: citizens fear strangers, children distrust parents, spouses live with threats, and neighbor is suspicious of neighbor.

American free world culture has now become a maximum security prison culture.