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The Violence Next Time

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Does hatred and violence reside only on the far right, as the media seems to be spinning things? Consider this recent personal anecdote.

Late last year I was attending a board ‎dinner for the group ALEC in Pittsburgh.  ALEC represents conservative state legislators around the country. The Left hates ALEC because it promotes conservative reforms to state government and challenges the public sector unions.  

In the ‎middle of our meal, we were jolted by shouting, shrieking and banging. Shortly thereafter about 25 left-wing activists pushed past a security guard and stormed into the room. I don't know if they were organized by unions or‎ Moveon.org, or Black Lives Matter,‎ or even more radical groups like Antifa.

They were mostly young, angry, and thuggish. They began throwing things at us swearing. They surrounded us in a menacing and intimidating way. I confess to having been very frightened. We were outnumbered and they seemed unhinged and I worried if any had weapons.

Thankfully the security reinforcements finally showed ‎up, but when they tried to escort these protesters from our private dinner, they became indignant and started kicking and shoving, while hissing things like: "Get away from me you bleeping fascist." Of course, they have a right to free speech and assembly, but not a right to trespass on private property.  ‎

‎During the campaign season, I attended many Trump rallies across the country.‎ It wasn't uncommon for fights and brawls to break out when protesters showed up. In most, but not all cases - there are nut cases on both sides - the ‎Left instigated the violence. I saw it with my own two eyes. 

Now in the wake of Charlottesville, the media and the Left are preposterously accusing not just the nitwit white supremacists, but Trump, conservatives, and Trump supporters as racists and bigots. If you don't renounce any association with or support for, Trump, you too are morally inferior.  

The truth finally comes out: the Left really does believe that Trump voters are "deplorable" people.  

Ironically, many of these same media mavens and political commentators are the people who have spent the last decade bemoaning the degradation of political discourse.

If your political adversary who disagrees with you on tax cuts, Confederate statues, the minimum wage, is not just wrong, but a Nazi-sympathizer or white supremacist, then you can justify shutting them up or shutting them down through intimidation and violence.  

Already left-wing publications like the nation, who say are for “peace,” are not condemning violent acts by liberal protesters, but excusing them as a “practical” response to Trumpism.

Peter Beinart wrote recently a brilliant but frightening article in the Atlantic entitled “The Rise of the Violent Left," which chronicles the increasing militant actions and rhetoric of far Left terrorist groups like Antifa - a group that was in Charlottesville and San Francisco. He warns that not only is their political clout growing but their “violent tactics have elicited substantial support from the mainstream Left.”  Why? As Beinart puts it: “If you believe the president of the United States is leading a racist, fascist movement that threatens the rights, if not the lives, of vulnerable minorities, how far are you willing to go to stop it?” 

All of this, I fear, will be manifested in the months ahead in some very unhealthy and dangerous developments. Here are my predictions:

The shameful war on free speech and open debate on college campuses will intensify. Those on the right will be shut down - and this will be rationalized because conservatives are racists and those on the left are righteous. The closing of the American mind will get worse.  

We may see more militancy from groups like Black Lives Matter and Antifa, who have been emboldened by the media. These groups will become increasingly aggressive in their political tactics. Intimidation will be put on display. People with a Trump Tee shirt, a Trump bumper sticker or a red Make America Great Again hat are going to get humiliated or beat up - or worse.  (So much for the Left being against bullying.)

Next, the demands from the grievance lobby on the Left will grow increasingly ridiculous and outlandish. Will taking every statue of every ‎Confederate in America satisfy the Left? Of course not. The demands will never end.‎

All of America - not just college campuses, news rooms, and the public square - will be declared "safe spaces" so that liberal are granted a de facto constitutional right never to be offended by a viewpoint that is contrary to their own.

Don't be surprised if we see routine acts of violence and mayhem and shootings that will make the 1960s riots look like a picnic. The country will be ripped apart.  The media will then throw up their hands and hypocritically say: "Gee whoever thought someone would actually shoot a congressman?"

The other day on CNN I noted that Robert E. Lee was revered by many southerners and that taking down statues of him was a bad idea. I was inundated with hate mail and even threats of physical injury.  

It's ugly and dangerous out there. For decades the Left has preached the need for tolerance, but these are the people who want to use their own force or the power of the state to silence any voice that disrupts their world view.  

The shame of all this is that if liberals had simply ignored the wacko white supremacists who gathered in Charlottesville, and who represent perhaps 0.01 of the conservative movement, their flame of hatred would have burned out quickly and quietly. Love would triumph.  

That's the last thing the Left wanted. They gave the wackos on the right a media platform so that militants on the left would have their own soap box and TV camera spotlight.

So just who is spreading a message of hate in America?

Stephen Moore is an economic consultant at Freedom Works ‎and a CBN economic commentator.

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About The Author

Stephen
Moore

Stephen Moore is a contributing author for CBN News. He was a senior economic advisor to the Trump campaign and is chief economist at The Heritage Foundation, a position he has held since January, 2014. Previously, Moore wrote for The Wall Street Journal and was also a member of The Journal'’s editorial board. As chief economist at Heritage, Moore focuses on advancing public policies that increase the rate of economic growth to help the United States retain its position as the global economic superpower. He also works on budget, fiscal and monetary policy and showcases states that get fiscal