Political violence poses one of the greatest existential threats to democracy, something we were reminded of this past weekend. Thank goodness that former president Donald Trump was not seriously injured by an assassination attempt at his Saturday rally in western Pennsylvania. We should all hope that the former president recovers quickly from his wounds.

This early into the investigation there is a lot of speculation, but little actually known about the shooter and his motivation. That being said, the fact that this is being investigated as an attempted assassination tells us what officials believe was the shooter’s motivation: to alter the election through violence. Political violence is the antithesis of democracy. Here, one man attempted to make the decision for 340 million Americans. The very definition of democracy means that no one single person has that kind of power.

We have an opportunity at this moment. We can continue with the kind of political rhetoric that stirs up violent passions in men or we can take a step back from the brink and use this moment as a wake-up call. The attack on the former president cannot be used as a justification for further escalation or further violence. We need our leaders, and ourselves as citizens, to cool the rhetoric down, not turn it up. Unfortunately, in the immediate aftermath, it doesn’t appear as though we can count on our leaders to do so. Rather than take stock and reflect, Republicans blamed President Biden, the Secret Service, and the media, while Democrats blamed former president Trump’s rhetoric.

This is only the latest episode in an American political landscape in which violence is becoming more acceptable. The shooting of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords in the head, the targeted shooting at a baseball practice of Republican members of Congress, the violence of January 6, former speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband nearly being beaten to death, and now former president Trump being mere inches from being killed by a bullet are all examples of political violence that have taken place in just the past dozen years.

We see political violence becoming more acceptable in the United States reflected in recent polls as well. In one such poll taken last month, 10% of those polled said that it was acceptable to use force to prevent former president Trump from taking office. On the other side, 7% said that it was justifiable to use force to return him to office.

There are a number of factors driving this trend, but at the heart of it is the fact that everything in American life has become political. What beer we buy, what car we drive, what church we attend, what books we read, everything has become a front line in the culture wars. This means that our political debates rarely include any actual policy discussion any more, we don’t debate tax policy, government regulation, or spending, rather we debate who gets to be considered a “real” American and who doesn’t. Our politics are personal rather than policy. Nobody threatens civil war over policy disagreements, but they do when they see their very existence as being threatened. Behind this recent phenomenon is the powerful force of social media algorithms and the internet. The loudest and most extreme voices get boosted on social media platforms. The quickest way for many to get famous, and rich, is to provoke rather than try to reason. We cannot be surprised when social media amplifies many voices who agitate for political violence that there are then acts of political violence. When we combine that with the ability of any American to procure a firearm at any time, it all too often leads to deadly consequences.

I wish I could end this column on an optimistic note. That we, as a nation, would take this moment to take a step back and reflect on our own individual roles in creating the current toxic environment. But based on the responses of our elected leaders and the social media posts I’ve seen in the first 24 hours after the attack, I don’t think that’s going to happen. I hope I’m wrong. I have written at length in this space about the threats to democracy abroad and at home, but political violence has to be at the top of the list. If we start solving our disputes with guns rather than debates, with bullets rather than ballots, our democracy ceases to exist.