We hear a lot from the left these days about how hateful Trump supporters are and that they should be bound by political correctness. Nowhere are these sentiments expressed more clearly than in "Why 'No Hate Here' signs are actually pretty hateful" by F.H. Buckley which published in the New York Post on December 10, 2018. Buckley argues that the inherent virtue signaling in and of itself is hateful and that its obvious targets are Trump supporters. He concludes with a point about the objectification of liberal guilt through the prevailing winds of political correctness.
It is the means of control for and by which the left wields power and has proven devilishly effective. There are three different forms. The first is punitive conformity where lefties seek to control speech and thought. They use a victim/bully tactic. They pretend to be victims then intimidate, threaten and assault others with whom they disagree. They started with bullying beauty contestants, cake bakeries and churches. Now they are bullying political candidates, Trump supporters and law enforcement. If the left fully regains power, even our freedoms granted by the Second Amendment and especially the First are no longer safe. This isn't what our political process was intended to be.
The second and the most insidious is propaganda conspiracy. Here, information and narrative control are leveraged to galvanize the voter base to promote turnout. Democrats hate America to the extent where they neither respect the rule of law nor Donald Trump as President. As we have already seen, leftists hold terrorists and illegal aliens in higher regard than honest hard-working Americans.
In the third type, power consolidation, the left excise government and financial control. The left wielded great power particularly over the media during the Clinton administration. President Clinton captured the mainstream media. ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, The New York Times and The Washington Post are the most noteworthy examples. It didn't end there. During the Obama administration, the left corrupted government at the highest levels beginning with Lois Learner at the IRS and continuing with James Comey and Andrew McCabe at the FBI. Their behavior missed the form as their policies missed the point. They still do and for our part, conservatives would do well to respond philosophically.
We are not solipsistic college professors like Melissa Click. Our understanding of reality is informed by history and reinforced by common sense, outside of the classroom rather than inside. Neither are we clueless students who have been brainwashed by the far left into believing that democracy can run by itself. It takes time, energy and great manifestations of moral courage. This entails not being enthralled by the siren songs of diversity, hope and change unfairly set upon by those who seek to control the national consciousness through subterfuge and deception. We see through all of these by learning to think for ourselves. We are honest, law-abiding people trying to do the best for ourselves and our country.
We are, therefore, Americans. As such, we don't celebrate May 5 but July 4. We timely pay all taxes and expect our neighbors to do the same. We demand immigrants come here legally and expect everyone to act responsibly and respect the rule of law. As such, we are not interested in subsidizing illegal immigrants but rather those who have valiantly defended our liberty, the veterans.
They fought and died to protect us from the barbarities of Islamic extremism. The Constitution is our law, not the sharia. Spanish and Arabic are not our languages, only English is and anyone coming here must be fluent. So, if our country, values, traditions and our countrymen most of all aren't to their liking, however different or however much we disagree, they need not come here. This is America and as Americans, we look out for one another because we are Americans.
The freedom guaranteed by the First is arguably what most makes us uniquely American and it was once esteemed by many on the left. Now they have come to hate it. They also hate our anthem and kneel for it. They hate our flag and want to burn it. They hate our Pledge of Allegiance and won't say it. They hate our Constitution and free speech most of all. They hate our history and with reckless abandon, tear down statues. They hate our free enterprise system and want socialism. They hate the sovereignty of our borders and want them destroyed and I.C.E. abolished.
In matters of fiscal policy, so strong is their aversion to success through the dignity of honest hard work that they resent others for being successful and would as pretext to undermine a duly elected President, objectify violence to political ends as a societal good. We've seen these sentiments expressed by members of the Hollywood liberal elite like Depp and Madonna who openly call for Trump's assassination, by Michelle Wolf at the Whitehouse Correspondents' Association dinner in April 2018 and even most dramatically through priggish displays by Kathleen Griffin and Shakespeare in the Park.
Acting like a mob by refusing to come to terms will not avail. Only mature engagements with honest stand-up folks on the issues of vital economic policy and national security may do so. They must be Americans again by aspiring to the moral, cultural and intellectual grandeur to which they are capable.