Death of an Ordinary Housecat

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Has anybody collected any statistics

comparing acts of domestic terrorism committed by right-wingers vs. those committed by those of the left? I know some leftist groups did some crazy stuff in the '60s and early '70s, but I'd really like to know whether leftists have done anything violent at all since about 1980. I'm willing to bet there have been close to zero acts of politically-motivated violence (that is, terrorism) in the last 30 years or so. Have any liberals/leftists shot up a church, killed a doctor, murdered a child's pet? Have they left death threats on poiticians' or activists' voicemail or email? Are there leftist Facebook pages that advocate killing people? Have any liberal politicians distributed campaign literature featuring bulls-eyes? Are they using violent metaphors in their speeches?

I didn't think so.

And I am wondering why this is. Why has the right wing become so mentally violent that some people feel compelled to act on that mindset? And why aren't liberals - who are the targets of this mentality - behaving the same way?

I suspect it has to do with the narrow-minded authoritarianism that forms the basis of the right-wing worldview. But where does that come from? Why are these people so angry and afraid? And will it get even worse?