Politics turn deadly for veteran and neighbors

I wish I could say this is as bad of a political season as it gets, but it isn't.

There are times when I am at a gathering of people committed to veterans as much as I am, but they make me feel uncomfortable when they start to talk about their political views. There is so much anger in their voices and the hateful words they use convince me that they would probably hate me as well. I walk away from them because their views cannot be reasoned with because they have set their thoughts in stone.

Because I am involved with so many groups, on group email lists, I end up reading what they have to say about this politician or that one no matter how anyone else feels. These are not passive emails. They are overblown rants someone else wrote but hey, it supports their views, so they make sure everyone they know reads it.

Most of the time they are also filled with lies. They just pass them on without ever once making sure what they send is the truth or not as much as they don't make sure what they believe is true or not.

Now we have a Vietnam veteran facing charges for killing two friends when it seems as if they only time they argued was when they were talking about politics. After the debate, this veteran returned to his best friend, the man he shared his pain with after his wife died five years to the day before this shooting.

Vallejo man allegedly shoots friends dead
Justin Berton
October 4, 2012

Residents in a tight-knit Vallejo subdivision knew Martin Hohenegger, 65, as the former Marine, a neighborhood fixture who spent every day hanging out in the garage across the street with his best friend, Mike Scally, 58.

On Wednesday evening, the daily routine turned tragic.

Shortly after the televised presidential debate began at 6 p.m, police said, Hohenegger got into an argument with Scally and another man, Doug Kahley - neighbors said it was possibly over politics - stormed home and returned with a gun, shooting his two friends dead in front of Scally's house.

The front-lawn killings on the 300 block of Foulkstone Way left neighbors in shock Thursday.

"It's insane to think about," said Jamie Dowd, who lives two doors from Scally's garage. "They were so similar."

"I just can't see Martin shooting anyone," she added.

Apparently Scally couldn't either.

Just before the shots rang out, Dowd said, neighbors heard Scally tell Hohenegger: "You're not going to shoot me, Martin. You'd go to jail."

One area where Hohenegger and Scally differed and sometimes argued, Dowd and other residents said, was over politics.

Dowd said Hohenegger identified himself as a proud Republican while Scally leaned Democrat. But it was impossible to tell what their final argument was over, she said, because the two men "bickered about everything. That's just what they did."
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Neighbors stunned by best friends fatal confrontation

I have political views but have learned to keep them to myself and share facts while forcing myself to hit the delete button when I start to type what I really think. I refuse to fall into the same trap I was in 5 years ago.

If you only turn into 24-7 cable news or the talk shows, you'd think that everyone is consumed with politics just like you, because that is all you hear. You'd be convinced everyone else is an idiot without ever once contemplating they are thinking the same of you.

Like minded people on one subject do not always agree on everything but they manage to get along on a human level with a common goal. That is until politics make enemies out of friends. Think about that the next time you forward an email to people you know and wonder how much you may be hurting someone you'd otherwise care about.