A Timely Reminder

A longstanding tactic of the Left – and one I personally witnessed close up during my Duke days – is to provoke and/or instigate violence (or the appearance of violence), then blame their right-of-center opponents for the violence.

Yes, I do think this reminder is needful given how Trump events transpired over the weekend and given how the above tactic of the Left was both in action and yet at the same time almost completely overlooked.  Oh, the violence was not overlooked.  But this tactic behind it most certainly was.

And, yes, I find even some conservatives blaming Trump for the violence troubling at the least.  These are just helping the Left push their false narrative.

At the same time, this tactic on the Left must be taken into consideration when deciding at what point violence is appropriate in defending our freedoms.

I am not one of those who think violence is never appropriate in defending our freedoms.  I am not a pacifist, nor do I oppose our revolutionary War of Independence (although rejoining the UK is becoming tempting, is it not?).  But violence even in defense of freedom gives credence to the Leftist meme that conservatives are violent. 

So even if Leftists deserve violence – and many do given their persistent attacks on Constitutional freedoms* – those defending our freedoms from them should be very hesitant about crossing the line into violence.   Intentional non-violence usually is the more moral, effective and winsome tactic in the long run anyway.

And responding to the violence of the Left with non-violent steadfastness may be the best way to ensure the Left’s attacks backfire.  And the Left’s attacks on Trump may already be backfiring as Rod Dreher presciently notes:

What happened tonight in Chicago is why we need Trump, as obnoxious as he is, to keep going. I am not a Trump supporter, and I reject much of his rhetoric. But he has a right to give a speech, even an obnoxious speech, without it being interrupted by demonstrators. All of us do. Trump is revealing how impossible it is to have a normal democracy with the activist left, who think their crying need for “safe spaces” gives them the right to silence their opponents.

No. This political correctness needs to be opposed, and it needs to be opposed with force. I don’t know why the police couldn’t handle this situation, but they had better be on it in the future, because many Americans will not stand for this. What those protesters have done tonight is create a lot more Trump voters out of people who are sick and tired of privileged leftists using thug tactics to silence their opponents.

Do read his whole thoughtful article.  And, yes, count even me more likely to vote for Trump in November after this weekend’s events.  Sticking it to both the Establishment and to SJWs is becoming just too tempting now.

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*Yes I said that.  Being aware that violence should be close to a last resort for both moral and tactical reasons does not mean the attacks of the Left on the Constitution and its freedoms are not grave evils worthy of punishment.

And one of the problems in our society is that attacking our freedoms has no consequences any more.  The classic case of that is Lois Lerner enjoying a taxpayer-paid pension instead of taxpayer-paid prison.  Another example is that “students” attacking free speech on college campuses are coddled by administrators instead of expelled.

I better stop before this becomes a long rant.  But, hey, we need more ranting . . . and more care to avoid violence.