Stephanie Murphy says she is ‘deeply concerned’ about potential for more election violence
Stephanie Murphy.

Murphy
The vitriol in politics today is dangerous to society and democracy, Murphy said.

U.S. Rep Stephanie Murphy wanted to find a place to hide during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

“I thought I went to the safest place possible, which was the heart of the Capitol,” Murphy said. “I ended up about 40 feet from where all the severe violence occurred.”

Murphy, the moderate Democrat who has since left Congress, voiced her fears for what could happen again after the Presidential Election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

“I’m deeply concerned,” Murphy said Wednesday during a League of Women Voters of Orange County event.

“I’m worried about the next election. It appears that this election, no matter which way it goes, is going to be very, very tight … and I spent a lot of time trying to understand how it got to be that average Americans found themselves in Washington trying to storm the Capitol, and some of these people genuinely believed that they were being patriotic because they believed that there was something amiss.”

Murphy was one of several panelists speaking about the tone of today’s politics at a Winter Park forum moderated by Orange County School Board Chair Teresa Jacobs, who previously served as Orange County Mayor. The discussion, “Civil Discourse: Not Civil War,” was livestreamed on social media.

The tone of the event seemed part therapy session and part political science lesson. How can two sides on the political spectrum communicate?  How do you turn down the anger in this political climate? And who is at fault? How did we get here?

Blame social media — looking at you, Elon Musk — and the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, said former state Rep. Dick Batchelor , who is President of his own consulting firm.

“When the court made that ruling that corporations have unfettered ability to fund campaigns and fund campaigns with essentially no limitations,” he said, people began feeling like they had no influence as corporations got more powerful.

“That’s why forums like this are so good to keep people inspired that your vote does count,” Batchelor told the crowd.

The vitriol in politics today is dangerous to society and democracy, Murphy added.

“Young people watch the incivility that happens, and they decide I don’t want to have anything to do with this, and so then they don’t vote,” said Murphy, the first Vietnamese American woman to be elected to Congress who is still involved with promoting middle ground politics. “And there’s nothing more dangerous to a democracy than a disengaged electorate.”

Gabrielle Russon

Gabrielle Russon is an award-winning journalist based in Orlando. She covered the business of theme parks for the Orlando Sentinel. Her previous newspaper stops include the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Toledo Blade, Kalamazoo Gazette and Elkhart Truth as well as an internship covering the nation’s capital for the Chicago Tribune. For fun, she runs marathons. She gets her training from chasing a toddler around. Contact her at gabriellerusson@gmail.com or on Twitter @GabrielleRusson .


4 comments

  • Yrral

    August 18, 2024 at 2:48 pm

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  • Delusions

    August 25, 2024 at 6:22 pm

    This article talks a segregation form of democracy that’s why democracy gets stormed

  • Delusions

    August 25, 2024 at 6:26 pm

    Zero you , laid back and farming to Hussle get rid of make artificial market prices and pay pay pay

  • Delusions

    August 25, 2024 at 6:33 pm

    It is called aggressive take over in business

Comments are closed.


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