I am as sad as anyone to see the historic clash of Charlottesville but instead of burnishing my own morality by heaping onto that pile, I want to address why it happened as this did not occur by accident nor by some abstract sense of license provided by Trump.
Charlottesville initially hosted a spectrum of the ‘far right’. That statement is the first profound violation of what made up the events and violence. We’ve gone at least half a century where the most dangerous elements of the far right were contained. Verified neo-Nazi’s and their KKK cousins were fringes holed up in small town halls, backrooms or meetings in the woods behind the cow pasture.
The ‘alt-right’ broadened the perception of a coalition. The term alt-right was a media invention to describe the Milo Yiannopulos brand of the right. While despicable to some, Milo’s brand of right-wing activism is not neo-Nazi and is not the KKK and yet these two camps are perceived together by a conglomeration of media, academia, and a whole range of left leaning interests, many of them self-proclaimed moral guardians according to their own ideology.
There is the cultural right. These people are not neo-Nazis nor followers of any alt-right figures or ideologies. Their primary sin is often just being Southern and or working class. They have no qualms with blacks but often fear for their jobs and thus are outspoken about the immigration as it affect their job. The left has branded them too under the umbrella of neo-Nazi and alt-right.
The ACLU defends the right of the free speech for all of these groups, even the neo-Nazis. When it comes to the furthest right elements – which are really just the same kind of fascism as the far left – these are the ones that are willing to impinge on other’s rights, these individuals have historically been relegated to obscurity, until now. No longer partitioned from those with legitimate concerns, all are branded the same and suddenly, neo-Nazis have gained a platform denied to them for decades.
The purge of monuments and the demonization of anyone that dare defend the constitutional rights of anything left of conservative is nothing short of other destructive waves that gripped history. The Taliban, Mao, the Russian revolution, and so many others. There is no logical stopping point from where this crowd is poised to go next. The confederate statues are as good as gone. Next, it will be the dead and white slave owning founding fathers. Washington, its monuments and the federal district are not safe, nor are any that would defend them. Monticello, so close to Charlottesville could be found ransacked overnight. Tonight, news stories already allude to purges of monuments commemorating Washington, Jefferson and others After monuments, there are portraits, books, and finally the people who dare defend of any of these legacies.
Our politicians are cowards, even some of the ones that are otherwise well suited for governing our day-to-day business. When your elected leaders saw fit to not respond to agitation against any said monuments a month ago and then the frenzied crowd and the press causes them to authorize the removal in the dead of last night, that is not moral leadership, that is cowardice. That is the mob appearing at your door. I don’t buy it that alleged remarks by the President in the last several days changes anything. Our heritage if far deeper and broader than the blink of an eye that is Trump. Shame on all of you that were in a position of authority and chose to appease. Having read up on some history in my time, I suspect that your hasty conversions will not ultimately mollify the mob. Your gestures were too little, too late.
Commentary, Lee Jones