John Hinderaker of the Power Line blog spots contradictions in the political left’s response to protests.
The Left has a rather schizophrenic attitude toward protests and demonstrations. Some are wonderful, like the George Floyd riots, which were not, in fact, protests at all. Or like arson and other destruction committed at pro-life facilities. Others are detestable, like the Dutch farmers’ protests, or the French “yellow vests,” or the Canadian truckers. Some protests, too, can only be ignored, like when hundreds of thousands of pro-life citizens show up for their annual march in Washington.
Currently the Left is “demonstrating” against the Supreme Court justices who concurred in the Dobbs decision. A few nights ago, as Scott has noted, left-wingers harassed Justice Brett Kavanaugh and other diners at the Morton’s steak house in D.C. Liberals viewed this effort as a triumph–Kavanaugh reportedly had to exit out a back door–and a pro-Democratic Party organization is now offering cash bounties to anyone who sees a conservative justice out in public in time for a flash mob to assemble.
When asked about such tactics, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was nonplussed. These are peaceful demonstrations, she replied, the very essence of democracy!
Actually, they are manifestations of the totalitarian impulse. One defining feature of a totalitarian regime is that everything is political. There is no such thing as private life. This is what today’s liberals believe. Thus, a conservative politician or, in this case, Supreme Court justice–keep in mind that the same tactics were used against members of the Executive Branch in the Trump administration–is not permitted to go out to dinner, or otherwise appear in public, with his or her family. There is no space for mutual respect, or even tolerance, of citizens with whom the Left disagrees. They must be destroyed, and their lives made miserable. There is nothing “democratic” about this. It is the stuff of Stalinism.
