The Democrats are worse, to be honest. I have friends who attend many functions. They begin by villifying Republicans (Hitler analogies, etc.) and have even more shameless tactics to garner support or intimidate opponents. This is politics, and most of the people who rise this far did not do so by doing the right thing. I'm surprised that this was the worst you saw during the convention.
Remember, in the sixties it was the Democrats who had peaceful minority protesters beat by police (calling it a "riot").
I think we place too much faith in government and give them far too much power over our lives. And because we do so, this is what we get.