America on a brink

Welcome to Your Week in Knoxville, emailed every Sunday only to subscribers, from Knox News editor Joel Christopher. A selection of our best pieces from this past week are featured at the bottom of this newsletter.

As the magnitude of what happened Saturday night in Butler, Pennsylvania, sinks in, it's as important as it has ever been that Americans commit anew to renouncing violence and rejecting those who stoke it within our political system.

Give thanks that an assassin failed in his attempt to murder former president Donald Trump. And give thanks the majority across the political spectrum have rejected the violence unleashed against Trump and called for a fundamental American unity even within our partisan system.

Politicians do not lead us, they channel us, and so it falls on each of us to reflect on what role we've played in reaching the point we've found ourselves today, and to ask what we can do to step back rather than step over a brink that would cause irreparable harm to our nation.

We're in the midst of elections right now, choosing some of our most important local leaders and narrowing the field for state and federal offices.

To encourage a thoughtful approach to politics, we invited every candidate to share their views. And they did by the dozens - Democrats, Republicans and independents.

We've compiled the responses of dozens of candidates in our Voter's Guide to help you make the important choices in front of you this election cycle.

I urge you to embrace your civic rights and to reject those who want to tear down our commitments to and community with one another.

Thank you again for your steadfast support of strong local journalism!

Joel Christopher, executive editor, joel.christopher@knoxnews.com

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: America on a brink