Declining Civility and Growing Political Violence at the Local Level: A Threat to American Democracy

• Author: Vince Williams,Tina Lee,Jacob Gottlieb
• DOI: 10.1177/0160323X221089945
• Published date: 01 March 2022
• Date: 01 March 2022
• Subject Matter: Perspective Essays

Declining Civility and Growing

Political Violence at the Local

Level: A Threat to American

Democracy

Vince Williams

1

, Jacob Gottlieb

1

, and Tina Lee

1

Introduction

Over the last few years, the American polity has

abandoned civility and increasingly resorted to

anger, vitriol and violence rather than dialog

to share their problems and express differences.

Dr. Michael McCullough, a psychology profes-

sor at the University of Miami, argues civility is

crucial for maintaining orderliness in a society

wherein the absence of civility there is

anarchy and disorder —resulting in a broken

society (Gutierrez 2018). In a 2019 survey, 93

percent of Americans identified incivility as a

problem and 68 percent as a major problem

(Shandwick 2019).

Local officials work at the level of govern-

ment most connected to the people they serve,

and with that comes great honor but also great

challenge. In today’s hostile political climate,

local officials have been increasingly exposed

to uncivil incidences that have escalated into

harassment, threats and violence (Table 1).

A recent report by the National League of

Cities (NLC) indicated that 81 percent of sur-

veyed local public officials have experienced

harassment, threats and violence, with social

media, other online forums and city meetings

(in-person or online) being the most common

venues local officials endure this behavior

(Anthony et al. 2021). NLC also reported that

87 percent of surveyed local public officials

have observed an increase in attacks during

their time in office (Anthony et al. 2021).

Multiple local officials surveyed by NLC

anecdotally shared that while harassment,

threats and violence had been heightened for a

few years, this behavior got dramatically

worse since the start of the pandemic

(Anthony et al. 2021).

The harassment, threats and violence local

officials endure most commonly manifests

online or at public meetings (Anthony et al.

2021). In Georgia, Karen Watkins, Gwinnett

County School Board’s vice chair, received

threats during a public meeting in May over

the school board’s masking requirements

where she was told that her constituents “are

coming for [her]”(Kamenetz 2021). However,

these incidences have increasingly moved

from city and town halls to the front lawns of

local officials. Also in Georgia, two local elec-

tion workers, Ruby Freeman and Wandrea

Moss were pressured to make false claims of

voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

After refusing to lie, a far-right media outlet

spread conspiracies about the two women that

resulted in a mob surrounding their house

(Szep and So 2021).

While many local leaders believe that the

surge in harassment, threats and violence they

1

National League of Cities, Washington, DC, USA

Corresponding Author:

Vince Williams, National League of Cities, Washington,

DC, USA.

Email: vwilliams@unioncityga.org

Perspective Essays

State and Local Government Review

2022, Vol. 54(1) 7-12

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/0160323X221089945

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