Aliens Amongst Us

The Progressive World View and its Repercussions

I’m a slow thinker (not the same as being slow…I hope) so it sometimes takes time for the ideas in my head to come together into something coherent. That is the case with respect to the recent ‘Teen Takeover’ that took place in Chicago on April 15^th.  For those unfamiliar with the incident, it occurred when hundreds of teens, driven by social media, “descended on the Millennium Park” where they “smashed cars and jumped up and down on trapped vehicles” requiring police to escort tourists back to their hotels in the area.  Sadly, violence in Chicago is all too common, and while this was unusual even by Chicago standards, what struck me most, after the initial shock from viewing the many videos passed, was the politicians' responses.

If you’ve been following what I’ve been writing about over the last few months, you know that I don’t put much faith in what politicians tell us.  There’s a reason for the joke that says you can tell when one is lying by the fact that their lips are moving.  Politicians use spin, doublespeak, and lies to twist what occurs to their advantage.  This happens on both sides of the political spectrum.  What is interesting about the response to the “mayhem” in Chicago is what it reveals about the beliefs of the progressive left.

As would be expected, the media was quick to seek comments from politicians, and in many cases, politicians were just as quick to volunteer them.  As would be expected, conservatives, as the “law and order” party, condemned the violence.  The response from the progressive left was varied.  Some, like outgoing mayor Lori Lightfoot, condemned the violence but with caveats, stating that it was largely caused by only “a few” people and took issue with the word “mayhem.”  Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson while not condoning the “destructive activity,” appeared to partially excuse it by adding that “it was not constructive to demonize youth who he said have been starved of opportunities in their own communities.”  State Senator Robert Peters took a step further, excusing the behavior as ”a political act and statement” and calling it “a mass protest against poverty and segregation.”

Having watched many of the videos (here and here for example), some of it recorded by those engaged in the “political protest,” I can’t help but agree with the word “mayhem” and take issue with both the categorization of the crowd as “a few” and the view that this was somehow a protest.  Protests require advanced planning; this was a riot.  Categorizing it any other way or trying to downplay it brings to mind the CNN coverage of Kenosha, Wis. following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, which CNN described as “Fiery But Mostly Peaceful.”

One could chalk this up to politicians being politicians and move on, but when viewed alongside other progressive beliefs, it reveals just how alien their world is to both the right and the center-left.  Progressive beliefs and goals include:

• Abolish prisons

• Defund the police

• Ending Cash Bail

• Looting as a legitimate form of protest

• Words are violence

While I have no doubt that these policies stem from good intentions, it is not difficult to see where progressive views will lead and in fact, the evidence is beginning to accumulate in the news already.  Crime is rising, law-abiding citizens are suffering, and people are beginning to expect criminal behavior to be punished based on who they are rather than what they do:    

• San Francisco has reduced shoplifting from a felony to a misdemeanor.  The results have been made apparent by numerous videos showing thieves and gangs of thieves emptying store shelves knowing that neither the store guards nor the police will do anything.

• Progressive DAs in NY State are working to end cash bail while punishing people who defend themselves against criminals.

• In both Canada and the US public transportation has become less safe, driven in part by approaches to drug addiction, mental health issues, and homelessness.

• In Canada, where progressive approaches to law and order are further along than in the US,  arguments are being made that indigenous people must establish their own legal system, while in Ontario, judges have been told to take race into account when passing sentences.

Progressives, who fundamentally misunderstand human nature and cause and effect, believe that crime is driven by systems, not people.  Punishment is counterproductive because it is simply a matter of putting the right systems in place to eliminate crime.  Those of us on the center-left and right understand that while most people are generally good, laws are necessary to protect society from the minority who are not and recognize that a system that fails to punish transgressions will soon see an increase in crime.  

It is tempting to think that if we protect people from words that offend them and are lenient in our approaches to crime that people will finally all just get along.  Tempting but wrong.  Those of us not swept up by simplistic or authoritarian thinking view non-violent protest as legitimate, free speech as a foundation of a free society and crime as a function of personal choice.  The progressive left seems to view the world in an entirely alien way.  Violence is excusable if committed for the “right” reasons, certain views must be censored as they cause real harm, and disparities in racial incarceration rates are not driven by the criminal actions of individuals but by a corrupt system of law and order that seeks to punish people based on the color of their skin.  It is an almost incomprehensibly alien world where actions are not judged on a moral foundation of right and wrong but rather on who performs them.  A world in which words are violence and violence isn’t.