Political Violence Is A Symptom Not The Disease

Sunday, April 26, 2026

Little is known about last night’s volley of fire at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner other than the shooter is in custody and there is little in his background to indicate he would do such a thing.  But then he is from Southern California where Trump hatred is thicker than the smog.  This marks three attempts on Donald J. Trump’s life in a relatively short period of time – and not that long after someone shot up a freaking Congressional baseball game.  The last time I can remember a grouping of so-called “political violence” like this was the late ’60’s.  I think it indicative of massive social/cultural change, which defined the ’60’s and the Civil War when Lincoln as assassinated.  But why do people struggle so with such change?

People needs roots, identity, that runs deeper and is more stable than politics or culture or even race.  They need a fixed point when everything else seems to be in transition

Heb. 13:8 – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and forever.

The need to know there is more to life than just the immediate

Phil 3:20 – For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;

They need to know something is reliable when everything seems like it is not

Matt 6:25 – For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing?

They need to know that what they cling to is more powerful than the transitory

Rom 8:38-39 – For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I cannot begin to plumb the depths of a mind that would do this sort of thing.  And the same ill-ease that drives them to this madness leaves me uncomfortable and I too must turn to God for the comfort I need, but then at least I know to.

The problems that we face in this nation are immense – and really beyond our capability to solve.  Elements of Islam will always desire our death.  Madness will always be among us.  There will always be those with whom we disagree.  And so it goes.  All we can do is endeavor to be God’s people in the middle of the maelstrom – to cling to what is good, to return no one evil for evil, to seek first the Kingdom of God.  That, I think, will go farther to fix what ails us than any other proposal on the table.