THEIR SALARIES DEPEND ON "DOING SOMETHING."

According to Reason's J. D. Tuccille, "After Charlie Kirk's Murder, Politicians Can Back Away From the Brink, or Make Matters Worse."  A suspect, and perhaps some accomplices, are in custody, but it's the usual slanging match in Washington.  In the manner of Shakespearean actors, the elected officials play to the groundlings.  "In a country of widely disparate values, divergent ways of life, and policy preferences to match, people are moving to live with their political tribes and apart from their opponents even as the political class increasingly centralizes power and rules from the top down."  You get a lot of sound and fury, and it signifies nothing, because each faction, upon securing a controlling majority in Washington, uses that power to the benefit of its own groundlings.

Republicans and Democrats alike treat winning political office as winner-take-all opportunities to transform the country and jam their agendas down the throats of the losers. The result has been escalating frustration and a willingness to look to extreme tactics against political enemies.

Maybe, in the way Winston Churchill has it, as a last resort, Americans will try the right thing.

Charlie Kirk's assassination was a very unwelcome example of offline action.

So, will the political class keep beating war drums? Or will they step back from escalating the conflict? If they really seek to improve matters, politicians could start by shutting up and leaving us alone.

As we prepare to post, the protest and demonstration scene is calm apart from a few campus skirmishes.  We'll have an opportunity to take stock next week.