Editorial

A funny thing happened when conservative pundit, author and intellectual Ben Shapiro spoke at the University of California at Berkeley last week. No one died, no one was injured and no one was maimed because of what he had to say. Granted, Berkeley police and the university took special precautions to keep the ironically named “anti-fascists” from pummeling those who would attend such an event, but those liberals and radicals who attended the lecture found out that words, in fact, don’t kill.

It is a statement of faith by those who espouse the new radical progressive agenda that words are just as dangerous as actions. It is believed that safe spaces and trigger warnings are needed because the beliefs of others – termed “fascists” – are the same as violence and when they are said aloud, must be met with violence. Thus, so-called anti-fascists have in various parts of the country used violence against those with whom they disagree. In Charlottesville, VA last month, while there was a clash between white supremacists and the “Antifa,” both sides were at fault, and both sides correctly labeled by President Donald Trump.

The radical Left in this country is now attempting to silence its enemies and those who disagree with them by labeling anything contrary to their agenda as “white supremacist,” “racist” or some other epithet similar. Abetted by a media that seems to believe these groups and individuals are modern-day Sons of Liberty, the groups have only one goal: the destruction of our way of life, and the elimination of those who disagree. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the essence of fascism. Irony, however, is not the strong suit of these individuals.

Funded by groups like the American Communist Party, George Soros’ affiliated organizations and anarchists’ groups, these young and 30-something radicals have fed at the trough of modern education which has delegitimized America for more than 40 years. The anti-war, anti-establishment hippies of the 60s have become the professors and educational leaders of today. They have not grown up, they have not changed their ideological views. They still live in a bubble that refuses to see good and evil, right and wrong and objective reality.

In recent weeks we have seen the tearing down of Confederate Civil War statues, the covering up of a musket on a cornerstone at Yale, the vandalism of a statue to Francis Scott Key, who wrote the “Star-Spangled Banner,” and the rejection of the Founding Fathers because they were men of their time.

It is very easy to condemn with the faux mores of the day those who lived in a different time. It is easy to say America is illegitimate because it retained slavery rather than abolish it. But to the Founding Fathers establishing the nation was important and the controversy over slavery, which many founders wanted abolished had to be put aside. This is dealing with reality – the reality of the time. Faced with founding a nation and figuring out its other problems later, the founders opted to tackle the subject at a later date.

The Constitution abolished slave trade soon after, and the 3/5 compromise, only counting 60 percent of the slave population was as much an effort by the north to retain the balance of power in Congress than an attempt to see slaves as only partially a person. The north wanted the end of slavery and subsequent events with compromises, both of 1820 and 1850 only prolonged the problem.

It took a nation based on Judeo-Christian values and history many decades and a war that killed more than 600,000 to settle the question. Meanwhile, slavery continued throughout the world, and does to this day.

Last week’s speech by Shapiro proved the entire Antifa credo to be nothing more than an attempt to close debate and create division. Much like the pro-slavery rioters of another era, they are using violence to end discussion. Much like the fascists of Spain, Italy and Germany, they use clubs and sticks to silence their opponents.

Words don’t kill. Ideas like Antifa’s, however, have killed millions throughout history.