There is, as they like to say, a power struggle occurring in Iraq. The people we always figured were going to duke it out are doing just that, and some of them know no limit on what they are willing to do. So today bombs were exploded in a village and in Mosul, killing at least 43, destroying lives, homes and the opportunity to step a bit closer towards a peaceful, democratic society.

Meanwhile, on the home front, we have our own power struggles to contend with. No one has blown up a truck full of explosives in many years, but people are using guns to kill individuals: sometimes singly (Dr Tiller) and sometimes in groups (the women at the health club). And when violence is not being used in an overwhelming manner, near-violent disruptions of democratic activity are being targeted as a means of prevailing in the current struggle over whether or not a far right corporatist minority will resume the tyrannical control of American government it enjoyed under Bush/Cheney.

People screaming down elected officials.
People murdering fellow citizens.

What do these actions have in common? That's easy: A refusal to participate in an open, democratic dialog about the future of a nation. Those who scream and those who murder share a common trait: They refuse to be the losers in a political struggle. And since they are fanatic in their goals, to lose means to not have total control. The various groups in Iraq want to have power, and they don't want to share it. If they have to slaughter hundreds, even thousands, of fellow citizens, many of them are willing to do exactly that.

And our fanatics? We know a few are willing to kill, but how far will the movements — the tea-baggers et al — go to ensure their views are the only ones recognized by our government? In 2000 and 2004, those at the top of this movement were able to steal the presidential elections. With a restoration of democracy in 2006 and 2008, others are deciding they need to take more extreme steps to keep Obama and his ilk from securing their position. So far their violence has been directed at disrupting the process of enacting legislation and conversing with the American people. At what point will they decide, as has been decided in Iraq, that their enemies cannot be allowed to participate at all? When will murder become a tool they use to win the power struggle?

This is not an absurd or extreme question. It's a recognition that the distance from hatred and shouting to murder is very small. Timothy McVeigh showed how easily that distance can be travelled. How can we doubt that others are not planning to follow his example?

Dr Tiller's family knows too well there can be no doubt.