The perimeter of the Butler, PA venue was incorrectly defined, so it was not properly secured.  The perimeter should have been defined by a rigid, yet practical set of rules, which were disarmed by erroneous intuition of low risk. What is the root of this mistake?

The root of the error is as old the Renaissance, the rebirth of intellectual freedom after the  thousand years of  the religious hegemony of the Dark Ages. The Modern Era was born in the cities, which fermented social philosophies of radical social change. Even  movements with substantial rural presence  incubated first in the cities. The reasons:

• Anonymity, living next to neighbors with completely impersonal relationships, is viable. This allows nonconformity with  issues that, as cores to social order, carry the potential  of violence.
• Social networks are not reliant on blood and kin.
• Speed of communication was formerly critical. The revolutions of 1848 coincided with the development of high speed printing presses.

Yet even after 600 years of modernity,   social patterns of the past, of the “village”, persist in rural America, in the form of the small town:

• Anonymity is impossible, which induces conformity.
• In-person social networks continue to function, even in the acid bath of social media.
• Conservatism dominates. Social change is strictly an import. Notables do not find their personal fire in the cradle of the small town.  Intellectual ignition occurs during some period  of urban relocation.

Butler is a small town, the American approximation of a village. It may not be the place where everybody knows everybody, but it tends in that direction. With village culture comes the definition of the outsider, and the misplaced confidence that one would be recognized if he showed up. When Thomas Matthew Crooks showed up, he was similar enough to disarm the instincts of law enforcement. Had he not been so similar, he might have been stopped for any number of pretexts, most notably, hanging around the magnetometers.

The would-be assassin has inspired astonishment for:

• The current lack of discovery of even traces of social media disclosure.
• The absence of prior acting out.
• The seeming total encapsulation of means and motive in a single individual.
• The ability to  circumvent the innate defenses of village culture and the formal competences of the U.S. Secret Service.

As with Lee Harvey Oswald, this is perfect brew for conspiracy theories. The brew  is weak; Thomas Matthew Crooks was well within the variability of nature and nurture.