Lawfare: Public Service in America, A Decade of Danger and the Choice to Fix It
“Unless you drop out of the race ... the next pipe bomb will be live.” That’s the message a local town supervisor running for county clerk received alongside an inactive pipe bomb thrown into her home while her family slept. It was far from an isolated incident.
We’re in a national crisis: Public service in the United States is more dangerous today than in recent history. Threats against the U.S.’s nearly 40 million current and former public servants span vitriolic statements, doxxing (publishing private information online with malicious intent), swatting (falsely reporting a serious event to law enforcement or emergency responders), harassment, stalking, assault, and even murder, and they’re increasingly happening at every level of government, including at the local level.