The primary function of government is physical protection of lives and property. Ever since the George Floyd incident, our state and city governments have failed to perform this basic function. When it comes to protecting us from violent rioters, elected officials have refused to enforce the law. They seem to prefer the enforcement of arbitrary rules that presumably will curb the coronavirus but ignore individual rights. In short, local governing bodies are looking more and more like China.
The mayors and governors responsible for maintaining order in our cities either have failed to act or have openly encouraged violent protests. With the complicity of the media, they have tried to define deadly riots as “peaceful” protests. “We are approaching day 60 of the violent riots in Portland, Oregon,” says The Federalist. “The media would have you believe that these are peaceful protests highjacked by a handful of violent agitators. That is a lie. At this point none of the 2,000 or so people out of 650,000 who live in Portland who are gathering each night are peaceful protesters. All of them, every single one, are aiding and abetting the destruction and violence knowingly and willingly.”
Pusillanimous politicians who virtue signal by blaming the riots on white supremacy are succumbing to political pressure from subversive groups like Black Lives Matter, instead of taking action to prevent the anarchy that is gripping the country. Because they depend on the black vote, Democratic mayors won’t do anything that might offend the African-American community. They seem to feel that confessing their white privilege relieves them of responsibility for stopping the violence. The result can be witnessed in the trashing of our cities.
When the mayor of Seattle insists that the violent riots in her city are a “summer of love,” says forensic psychiatrist Michael Welner, she is “legitimizing lawlessness.” The same dereliction of duty was exemplified this week by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who rejected calls for the National Guard to patrol Chicago in the wake of violent looting downtown. She offers no alternative solution. According to the Chicago Tribune, Alderman Brian Hopkins was on Michigan Avenue when he “saw police with very little apparent plan get overwhelmed by the crowds of looters.” Hopkins criticized the mayor’s failure to take back the streets. “The real question today is, where was the strategy?” Hopkins asked. “What was the decision making at the highest levels?”
“Hopkins painted a bleak picture for the city if Lightfoot can’t get such criminal activity in and around downtown under control,” said the Tribune. “Literally, the future of Chicago hangs in the balance,” Hopkins said. “If this continues, how can Chicago survive?” How can any of our cities survive the failure of government to uphold law and order? The saddest part of all this is the penchant of our politicians for ignoring one critical fact—the people who are behind the riots are an organized gang with clear-cut subversive objectives.
The riots are being staged by Antifa, a global organization that is highly networked and well-funded. Its long-term objective, says Gatestone Institute, “is to establish a communist world order. In the United States, Antifa’s immediate aim is to bring about the demise of the Trump administration.” Attorney General Barr said that the federal government has evidence that Antifa “hijacked” legitimate protests around the country to “engage in lawlessness, violent rioting, arson, looting of businesses and public property, assaults on law enforcement officers and innocent people, and even the murder of a federal agent.” According to Gatestone, Antifa’s strategy is to “employ extreme violence and destruction of public and private property to goad the police into a reaction, which then ‘proves’ Antifa’s claim that the government is ’fascist.’”
Showing complete disregard for the existence of Antifa, more than a dozen mayors have called the administration’s intention to deploy federal forces against protesters an “abuse of power.” The mayors of Portland, Seattle, Atlanta, Chicago, Washington, DC, Boston, Philadelphia, Denver, Los Angeles, San Jose, Oakland, Tucson, Sacramento, Phoenix and Kansas City called on the administration “to withdraw federal forces from the cities where they are currently deployed and halt plans to send them elsewhere.” “This is flat-out urban warfare,” said Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, “and it’s being brought on the people of this country by the president of the United States, and it’s got to stop now.” Instead of blaming his own collaboration with Antifa, Wheeler wants to blame the president. Are these mayors witless enough not to recognize Antifa for what it is? Apparently.
Some leftist politicians are openly rooting for the violence. “Yes, America is burning, but that’s how forests grow,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. Although she tried to backtrack by denying that she supports violence, Healey’s meaning was clear. Healey and her compatriots on the Left hope that looting and burning will further their desire to divide and conquer. If it also reduces Trump’s chances for re-election, so much the better.
The irony is that while local governments refuse to stand by law and order, they are busy violating our constitutional rights by enforcing arbitrary rules for combatting COVID-19. We are witness to a perverse misapplication of governmental prerogatives. If you fail to wear a mask or leave your home without a valid reason, you can be fined or jailed, but you get a free pass if you burn down a police station. Churches can’t have more than 10 worshippers but violent street protests can be attended by hundreds without social distancing. The issue of public health has been politicized in order to protect criminals at the expense of the public.
We justify paying taxes as the price for living in a civilized society. If we are to regard the US as a civilized nation, our civil society cannot be sacrificed to an international gang of thugs. When you are afraid to leave your home, when your supermarket runs out of food, when the police are not there to protect you, believe me—you will wish that your mayor and governor had honored their oaths of office.
