I can remember exactly where I was when I heard the news about the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Kansas back on April 19, 1995. The news was shocking at the time. Since then, I have visited the Memorial erected on the site of the former Murrah Building, and have worked with folks at one of the hospitals overwhelmed with casualties that day. That's why I was interested to see that our local library had a copy of journalist Jeffrey Toobin's book Homegrown - Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism (#1,141).
Mr. Toobin is thorough in his research on Timothy McVeigh, and what led him to take the actions he did that fateful day. Right up to his execution he had no remorse for what he had done. In fact, he was disappointed that an uprising against the Federal Government did not follow in the aftermath of the bombing. He hoped his "Army" of like-minded people would appear.
Perhaps not then, but Mr. Toobin draws parallels with the acceptance of many of McVeigh's radical views as mainstream ideas by many members of today's Republican Party. Violence is increasingly acceptable, tolerated and even encouraged as evidenced by those who roamed the halls of Congress on January 6th searching for Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi, and those who egged them on.
Is anywhere safe in America today? Probably not. It seems Franklin's prediction may be about to come true.
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