(Update: This afternoon three people died either directly or indirectly from violence in Charlottesville. Shifting Right condemns any and all violence from any part of the political spectrum. News reports indicate that most of those involved in today’s violence from both sides of the political spectrum were bused into Charlottesville. That is unacceptable. It is time to stop the hate.)
Hate begets hate. For those of us whose political philosophy is live and let live, the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, are deeply disturbing. On the other hand, people like me have been predicting this would happen for over a year.
Beginning in the Obama administration, violent protests from the left were given political and legal cover to operate without consequence. Starting with Occupy Wall Street then to Black Lives Matter then to militant pro-abortion feminist marches and morphing to what is now known as the Antifa movement…violence has become the hallmark of the militant Progressive left. Trump supporters were beat up at political rallies. Conservative commentators were physically attacked on liberal campuses then banned altogether. Cops were open targets on the street. Feminists preached violence and assassination against the duly elected president of the United States. Portrayals of assassinations were on full public view in the Central Park. That stuff doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Sooner or later there was going to be a reaction.
That reaction is happening in Charlottesville, Virginia, this weekend. The fringe of the right is out in force with torch light marches reminiscent of the KKK. Indeed, some of the marchers are openly KKK members. The left-wing media is in full spaz-out mode. I agree with their criticisms. But make no mistake…they have no moral high ground. Political ideology is not a long line continuum. It is a circle. And the fascists from the left meet with the fascists from the right at a point within that circle.
Extremism is the fodder for violence. The fields for violence have been fertilized by the extreme left for the past two years. The result is violence from the most despicable segments of the extreme right. Why are they so surprised? It is basic physics. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
America is now and always will be a center-right country. Most of us swarm around that point of political equilibrium. But as of late, the country is out of balance as we continue to move to the extremes in an out of whack pendulum swing.
The solution is free speech. Free speech is the pressure valve that keeps the pot from boiling over. Outright efforts by the left to crush free speech by those in opposition to them have closed that pressure valve whether it is on college campuses or efforts to overturn the results of an American election. To put it plainly, it pisses people off.
I have been warning that what we are seeing right now in Washington and from what is known as the mainstream media would result in violence on the streets as those on the extreme right reach the breaking point. Now we have a problem.
We, as a nation, are better than this. I have no sympathy for what I am seeing in Charlottesville any more than for what I have seen at Berkeley. But unless the rhetoric is toned down, it is going to get worse. Unless the assault on our election process from the left ceases, it is going to get worse. Unless the media begins to assume its traditional role as a neutral arbiter of the news, it is only going to get worse.
I strongly condemn what I am seeing in Charlottesville. Hate is a horrible thing. There is no place for racism or anti-Semitism in the United States. Unfortunately, in America today, hate is an equal opportunity emotion.
By: Mark G. Mangie