In 1995 when Timothy McVeigh bombed the federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children and injuring hundreds more, President Bill Clinton blamed "promoters of paranoia," which conservative talk radio hosts took as a slur against them.

At the time I wrote that while there were many examples of incendiary language coming from the left, as well as the right, people are responsible for their own behavior and that murders and violent acts against government and government officials were not unique to the modern era.

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Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ new book “America’s Expiration Date: The Fall of Empires and Superpowers and the Future of the United States” (HarperCollins/Zondervan).

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