The ongoing battle for America’s soul reached yet another boiling point on Saturday, when a white supremacist demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia, descended into chaos, leaving one woman and two state troopers dead, and many others injured.

The violence was sparked by a rally organizers called “Unite the Right,” which was set up by self-proclaimed members of the “alt-right,” a political movement primarily comprised of white nationalists. The event was intended as a demonstration to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

In spite of heavy police presence, the demonstration descended into madness, as the white nationalists — many of whom were waving Nazi and Confederate flags — began fighting with counter protestors, Groups on both sides of the fight appeared to be prepared for battle, as many wielded shields, clubs, pepper spray and other makeshift weapons.
The violence came to a head when an Ohio man, 20-year-old James Alex Fields Jr., drove his vehicle into a group of protestors, which killed one Charlottesville woman, Heather Heyer, and injured 19 others.

Throughout the last several days, much of the country’s attention has shifted away from the horrors that occurred on the streets of Charlottesville and toward the statements made by President Donald Trump.

In his remarks delivered immediately following the violence Saturday, the president said that the incident was caused by violence on “many sides,” a statement that was criticized by many in the media. While Trump later explicitly denounced white nationalists, Neo-Nazis and other racist hate groups, in a press conference on Tuesday, he also blamed what he called “the alt-left” for playing in a hand in the carnage that took place over the weekend.

While the argument over who to assign the blame over the violence on Saturday rages on, Trump is fundamentally correct — both the fringes of the far right and far left have been tearing this country apart in recent months.

While you could easily make the case that counter protestors were justified in opposing actual racists and fascists in Charlottesville, we have seen that extreme leftist groups, such as Antifa, have shown they have no problems attacking people with mainstream conservative viewpoints. Members of the far left assaulted attendees of a pro-Trump rally in Berkeley, California a few months ago, and have routinely shut down speeches by conservative speakers who, while strident in their beliefs, are not racist or fascist.

While most Americans do not fall into either side of the extreme spectrum, it seems that more and more citizens who fall somewhere in the center must choose between them.

We feel it is time for the moderate political voices in this country to finally speak up and denounce violence from both the far right and the far left.

While mainstream liberals, conservatives and those in between may have many philosophical differences, I think we can all agree on a few basic principles: a respect for individual liberty, a rejection of tribalist identity politics and an understanding that, no matter how much we disagree, violence is never the solution to win a political argument.

Until we can all agree to return to the center, this never ending cycle of political violence will not stop turning.

Opinions expressed are those of the editorial board consisting of General Manager Ambrosia Neldon and editors Scott Novak and Ted Yoakum.