A quick note, and a serious one

Today is the 39th anniversary of the Kent State massacre in which armed National Guardsmen on the university campus shot and killed four unarmed protesters. I was a freshman in college at the time, and this was a world-changing event for me. Where I had previously been supportive of the war and generally had a conservative world view, Kent State catalyzed a sea change in my thinking. Our government was willing to kill unarmed American citizens simply because they held different views. That was repugnant and morally incomprehensible. That Governor Rhodes went to his grave defending the Guardsmen and their actions that day must have earned him a special place in the hereafter.

And the truly frightening part is the parallel to today's bitter political fighting. For the first time in my life, people are talking seriously about secession. The casual racism and hatred directed toward our new president is something I've never seen before. And the rising militancy of the more paranoid members of the right wing makes me think it's only a matter of time until we hear of death squads akin to some banana republic.

Let's hope I'm wrong.