The past week or so has, as you well know, been filled with reporting on a horrific act of political violence out in Utah, and part of me would like to offer thoughts about the shooter and the victim, but I suspect you have long had your fill of such commentary. So, I shall offer more general thoughts on where we are, and what we miss, when we became less reasoned and more knee-jerk in our reactions.

There are many things a Colorado writer could pontificate on this week. As reported in Colorado Politics, the state Supreme Court had quite a few rulings issued recently worthy of examination. For example, the court ruled the lovely city of Lakewood violated the 1992 Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, a terrible bit of lawmaking that has greatly hampered the ability of local governments to act as times change. In this case, Lakewood argued local governments need to be able to reinterpret their laws as unforeseen challenges emerge. Seems reasonable to me, but this court ruled they couldn’t do so. TABOR stands, unfortunately.

CoPo also reports on President Donald Trump’s “muted” response to the Russian attack on Polish airspace with 20-or-so drones flying into Poland. NATO should have responded as one, with a strong message that might have even included a no-fly-zone, as is required by the charter, but Trump just shrugged his shoulders, sending yet another message to NATO and the world he was mostly siding with Russia. TACO (Trump always chickens out) to be sure.

All these stories and more are vital, but of course, what we are going to argue about in the United States for at least until the next outrageous act of violence occurs continues to be the assassination in Utah. I’m not saying the shooter’s name, as I don’t believe cowards like that should be so recognized, and I’m also not mentioning the victim’s name, for he carries his own baggage.

In thinking about this shooting, I was reminded of two things. First, the political assassination of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband. The killer even slaughtered the couple’s dog. This was political murder in which not one but two people were executed for what they believed. Please compare the response from the left and the right to both situations. Democrats condemned both shootings, while President Trump offered a slight condemnation and then pulled himself together enough to get in a round of golf, one of 60 rounds he’s worked into his first 239 days in office, which is just more than 25% of his time in office this term, at an estimated cost of $84 million. Can you imagine the response if, say, Biden had spent that much time on the links?

Oh, and in response to the double murder in Minnesota, Trump posted an anti-left rant on his social network, to include (in all caps) “WHY ARE THE DEMOCRATS ALWAYS ROOTING AGAINST AMERICA?” Yet in response to the Utah shooting, of a man Trump claimed was like a son to him, Trump ordered military honors for a man with zero military time, nor any time in office, with military casket bearers. Somehow though, he was not so broken up that he couldn’t attend a Yankee’s game the next night, to include dancing (or whatever you call his swinging arms) to “YMCA.”

Posts abound across social media about the Utah assassination, with some practically raising the victim to sainthood, while others point out the vile and outrageous things he publicly said over the years. I’ll spare you the entire list, but he had opinions that neatly align with the radical right, nationalist agenda. He often cited Leviticus 20:13 which condemns homosexuality but conveniently ignored other verses in the Bible that condemn, among other things, the wearing of garments made of two different materials, the eating of shrimp and authorizes me to sell my daughter into slavery, in certain situations.

When thinking about the victims in Minnesota and in Utah, perhaps Bill Clinton had it right when he spoke at the 1994 funeral of Richard Nixon. I came of age politically during the nightmare that was Watergate and developed a keen abhorrence of Nixon. Yet there was more to him than that series of events, both good and evil. Clinton, in his remarks, noted in the years since he was drummed out of office, Nixon became a thoughtful and insightful thinker on many areas, especially foreign policy. Clinton noted he called Nixon often to get his insights regarding a particular situation. Most importantly, Clinton noted: “Today is a day for his family, his friends and his nation to remember President Nixon’s life in totality. To them, let us say, may the day of judging President Nixon on anything less than his entire life and career come to a close.”

We should apply the same standard to the victims in Minnesota and Utah and consider the totality of what they said and did. No one should be raised to sainthood just because they died. You, dear reader, must decide if the entire history of the Utah victim renders him white nationalist or something else.

I know what the facts suggest to me.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.