Things are sad indeed when folk mistake a metaphor for a simile, and don't see a distinction between "political discussion" and hate speech.
Debate on topics such as fiscal and foreign policy, health care, civil rights, immigration reform and - yes - gun control is political discussion. Equating a major American political party with terrorists is hate speech.
If more Germans had stood up against Nazi hate speech in the 1920s and '30s, a lot of lives - including American lives - might have been spared in WWII. Instead, they "lightened up" and let Germany descend into the Holocaust.
I believe in free and vigorous political discussion - that's how we resolve our differences in a democracy. But bumper-sticker hate speech resolves nothing - it only magnifies differences by setting Americans against each other. Those who accept demonization as legitimate political speech (and that's all too common these days) may be contributing to the demise of the world's greatest democracy.
