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Wednesday, August 03, 2022

The Left is Stoking Baseless Panic For Political Gain

The left is looking for imaginary red-hatted revolutionaries under every bed. FFS, get a clue. Perhaps focus on making our extremely expensive institutions more trustworthy. Our people should be angry that our so-called leaders aren't doing that.


Insurrection porn for leftists:

As seen on Jan. 6, 2021, with Donald Trump's coup attempt and the attack on the Capitol by his followers, America's democracy crisis is also being accelerated by a Republican-fascist and larger "conservative" movement that embraces political violence as a way of advancing its revolutionary goals.

I'm not even going to address the idea that the right has "revolutionary goals." Not when radical leftists who embraced Resistance for four years are making that charge. Although I'll admit that King George III would have considered free speech, rule of law, and free and open elections to be revolutionary goals.

You really have to be brain dead not to understand the discontent:

Why don’t Americans trust the government and other institutions? Maybe it’s because the government and other institutions aren’t trustworthy. 
There’s certainly plenty of evidence for both the lack of trust and the lack of trustworthiness. And if the trend continues, it bodes poorly for America.

Gosh! Why wouldn't Americans trust our institutions with power (tip to Instapundit)?

But the left ignores that. The poll, the leftist panicmongers say, is a sign of "doomsday."

Just stop. It has always been the case that strong Republicans believe in theory that the spirit of 1776 requires the willingness to fight a tyrannical American federal government in defense of democracy. Always. That's a major reason for holding the Second Amendment so dear:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The security of a free State against a federal government that has too much power is paramount. That doesn't mean a civil war is planned or expected. We do have elections to resolve these questions now.

And when you read details of the poll behind the "political violence" porn, you see it isn't a uniquely Republican point of view: 

And 28 percent of voters, including 37 percent who have guns in their homes, agree that "it may be necessary at some point soon for citizens to take up arms against the government." That view is held by one in three Republicans, including 45 percent of self-identified strong Republicans. Roughly one in three (35 percent) Independent voters and one in five Democrats agreed. 

Huh.

To get the panic porn to its unhappy ending, the poll had to highlight "strong Republicans." Setting aside that the left is misinterpreting that view, a third of Republicans overall had that view. Independents were a bit higher than the average of all Republicans. Why aren't Independents given the insurgent treatment? And what of the Democrats? Twenty percent isn't that comforting, is it?

And gosh, it is so shocking that people who think Americans have individual responsibility to defend our democracy are more likely to own firearms. Will wonders never cease?

We'll get through this with a new consensus of some sort, although I have no opinion on that author's book other than the really big point not to panic because a new consensus will form from our divisions. As I've said

And let's not pretend that the right is the sole source of street unrest. And those leftist goons are proudly supported and justified by Democrats and our media.

Progressives should calm down, unfurrow their brows, and resume their fetal position about imminent planetary climate doom. 

We had the Whiskey Rebellion. New England wanted to secede during the War of 1812. We had Bleeding Kansas. We had a Civil War. Good Lord, I remember the political violence of the 1970s that continued from the late 1960s. What we have now is mild compared to any of those periods. Calm down. I think we can endure a social media "civil war."

The way the left calls a brief riot--which was certainly awful--at the Capitol Building an "insurrection" disposes me to dismiss "civil war" talk. Although I admit I'd feel better if our federal system returned more power to the states.

But since nothing else is working to help with the November 2022 elections, I guess leftists will go with this stupid claim. For now. We'll see what September propaganda brings.

All I know for sure is that our foreign enemies are delighted at the bogus charges sowing division.

NOTE: My most recent war coverage continues here.