If there’s one thing everyone in the country can agree on right now, it’s that we don’t really agree on anything in the country. The more precise, John Locke-ian way to describe would be that the social contract which is required for a free and open society has been fundamentally violated and – without it – no longer provides any cohesion to our political system.
Leftists will point to the support for Donald Trump as the right having violated the contract and that, having done so, gave them no choice but to respond with militant resistance. The right will say that five years of violence seems like a bit of an overreaction to a guy whose biggest crime was mean tweets.
And there’s no better example of this than the way the media covers right- vs. left-wing activism. A group of people waving American flags – or parents at a school board meeting! – are labeled domestic terrorists while rioters burning down buildings enjoy the Orwellian label “peaceful protesters.”
The hypocrisy has been sickening to watch over the last five years.
The most recent example is the far-left group’s unprecedented five-day protest in DC last week – directly attacking the Line 3 & DAPL through Minnesota. To give their violence the air of legitimacy, the group has fatuously titled their “direct action” the People vs. Fossil Fuels, even though state courts have rightfully ruled in favor of the energy- and job-producing pipeline.
The violent rioters laid siege to the Department of the Interior’s headquarters, demanding that Biden declare a "climate change national emergency" and end all government projects that use fossil fuels. They attempted to “occupy” the building, clashed with law enforcement, and sent security personnel to the emergency room. (All while doubtless tweeting about how wonderfully tolerant they are.)
All told, 78 people were arrested for obstructing traffic and three of them were charged with assault of a police officer. Many more were doubtless guilty of similar crimes and slipped through the cracks.
As far of the so-called progressive left’s cultural terrorism, they vandalized the Andrew Jackson statue outside of the White House. (One imagines the vandals don’t know about how the Cherokee Indians owned black slaves before the founder of the Democrat Party sent them on the Trail of Tears, but facts are immaterial at this point.)
The obvious comparison to make here is to the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill protest, where Trump supporters – and plenty of leftists under false flags – staged a minor scuffle over a couple of hours. But while one has been labeled an “insurrection,” the sustained raid on the Department of the Interior has been covered with a shrug and a smile.
Certainly, left-wing media outlets like The Washington Post and the Associated Press covered the violence, but with none of the seething hatred with which they have Jan. 6. Meanwhile, hero-journalist Andy Ngô shared videos of the prolonged riot, which he described the scene at the federal building as “reminiscent of Jan. 6” as officers were forced to draw their stun guns.
Even those of us who mostly consume news from right-leaning outlets haven’t heard much about this calculated, violent attack in our nation's capital, which is a travesty. The level of ferocity the far-left has sunk to deserves coverage and justice. Regardless of the cause, all forms of illegal action like this violates our social contract and endangers the safety of first responders, bystanders, and others.
Furthermore, the Cult of the Woke’s article of faith that pipelines are inherently evil is wrong in every way. Pipeline infrastructure is handled ethically and with as little environmental impact as possible. Transporting fuel via pipeline is greener than with trucks and safer than with ships. And if we’re going to provide for all the social programs that the violent left demands, how will we pay for them if we cripple our commercial base?
This level of violence by radical leftists can’t be tolerated, and the hypocrisy from our failing fourth estate can’t be forgiven. Our social contract has been fundamentally violated, and if this level of urban warfare continues, then we won’t have a society at all.