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It started with protests against police violence by people who felt unsafe in their own neighborhoods. The protests became daily protests. And nightly protests. They weren’t intended to be violent – just the opposite.

But violent people started getting involved, sometimes using the protests as cover.

That brought a reaction from the other side. From people who claimed that now they didn’t feel safe because of the protests.

Fast forward to Portland last weekend – anti-protest protesters in pickup trucks start . And then , and suddenly there’s body in the street.

Every day, a little closer to the edge.

Every day the national debate moves farther away from peace and justice and more toward tit for tat. There are people who want the fight. They see a political system that’s paralyzed. And so they will take it to the streets.

So how about this: Before it gets to the point of pickup trucks with real guns, and pictures of martyrs posted on burned-out buildings, how about if the people who have paralyzed our politics just make one more effort to un-paralyze themselves and pull the country back from the brink?

American democracy was supposed to be the vaccine for this. If it’s not – I’m sure Russia and China are ready to sell us theirs.

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