Who will say, 'Enough is enough'?

It's tempting to shake one's head and mutter "only in Nevada County" when a Quaker meeting about conscientious objection is forced to move from the county Superintendent of Schools offices because of angry calls accusing participants of being anti-American and fellow travelers of al-Qaida.

But it's no muttering matter. It's the latest example of a community for which rage is the first action of choice, rather than the last. Where are the leaders in our county who are willing to stand up and say about hateful speech, "Enough is enough"?

A small, three-paragraph notice in The Union on May 21, written from a press release, triggered an e-mail alert by Tony Gilchrease, the county Republican chairman, that apparently led to threatening calls to Superintendent Terry McAteer of such vehemence that he fearfully and swiftly canceled the meeting. Then the fire was fanned in reverse as the liberal rumor mill resulted in accusations that McAteer was a Republican who let his friends off easy or was an enemy of free speech.

Why are we like this? Why, when a conservative elected official is forced to resign because of a life-threatening illness, the first thing some of his political opponents do is contact the newspaper to express their delight? And why do we have no doubt that the same thing would occur if the politician had been a liberal?

Longshoreman-philosopher Eric Hoffer spent his life trying to understand the actions of people who devote their lives so passionately to a cause that it erodes their humanity.

His classic work, "The True Believer," contains one quote after another that can help us understand the hair-trigger political volatility of Nevada County. One is, "We are unified both by hating in common and by being hated in common." Another: "The end comes when we no longer talk with ourselves. It is the end of genuine thinking and the beginning of the final loneliness."

Can we learn to talk to ourselves instead of scream at ourselves? If so, it must start with our community's leaders.