Monday, April 13, 2009

Protest is not a Leftwing Monopoly

Leftists have been out of power so long that they seem to think they invented the whole idea of protests and demonstrations. Whereas it’s true that they’ve had a lot of experience in this sort of thing – street theatre dovetailing nicely with the Left’s tendency toward sloganeering and histrionics, and with an ample supply of misfits who are only too glad to fill up the idle hours of their day doing yeomen’s work as placard-carriers and bullhorn yodelers – right-wingers are not exactly without experience when it comes to protest (e.g., the pro-life rally held in Washington, D.C. every year). Protests are, in fact, fun for the whole extended American family. What distinguishes the Tea-Party protests from the typical mob of BDS sufferers, smash-and-grab anarchists, and ageing, pot-befogged, hippy war protestors (whose general appearance, ironically, now tends to put one in mind of a shambling troop of Civil War veterans in a July 4th parade circa 1915) is that they consist of hardworking, productive members of society who are trying to assert what should be the commonplace, commonsensical and unobjectionable idea that the state does not have the right to wantonly deprive its citizens of the right to enjoy the fruit of their own labor, or to mortgage the economic welfare of generations unborn. If these folks turn out to have misread the “tealeaves”, and we ultimately discover that President Obama and the Democrats actually abhor the concept of socialism and are working around the clock to put genuine capitalism back on its feet, then no harm done. Since, on the basis of the evidence so far, the president and the Democrats appear to be doing rather the opposite, then the Tea-Party protests will add value by drawing attention to a viable alternative, to wit, that our unalienable rights do not represent a dispensation or gift from the federal government, and that “that government is best which governs least.”

Leftists, of course, will invariably holler, “You lost, get over it.” We know we lost, comrades; but the proper response, after a defeat in an honorable cause, is never to “get over it.” The defenders of freedom didn’t “get over it” after Pearl Harbor and Dunkirk. Conservatives didn’t “get over it” after Goldwater’s defeat or Jimmy Carter’s victory. For that matter, leftists didn’t get over it when Bush won two terms, and the Republicans controlled the legislature. It has been said that lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for. I don’t know whether that’s true or not. But I do know that a cause, no matter how good, will lose if people don’t fight for it.

13 comments:

richard mcenroe said...

The one thing any leftist is smart enough to fear is an angry crowd in front of him...

mojo said...

"Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?"

Paco said...

Mojo: Are you channeling Joe Biden again?

mojo said...

Close.

Bluto Blutarsky (GPA: 0.0)

Anonymous said...

Do you think the 'professional' protesters are afraid they'll actually have to work for a living if enough politicians get the tea party message?

Now that the Dems control Congress and the White House how much is there for the lefties to protest?

They're surplus to requirements, and know it.

Retread

TimT said...

Heh. That's when the fun begins, Retread.

Lefties tend to 'pull together' against a right-wing government in power, offering (fairly) united support for an opposition candidate, but disappointment inevitably sets in once he's in government. Then the united front rapidly disappears and self-recriminations appear. There's a number of delightful variations on this theme: 'I am more left-wing than thou', 'Obama is not a real left-winger at all', etc.

In Australia there's currently a lefty storm-in-a-teacup over our Labor PM, Kevin Rudd, 'breaking a promise' to unions.

bruce said...

Good point retread and TimT.

American friends: We have long experience with leftist govts and can vouch for the fact that they usually implode Monty Python style.

But then you had Carter who was typical too.

What scares me about the US left is its extraordinary tenacity (Ward Churchill would not survive in academia here eg). No doubt this is because it's so cushioned from the results of its mistakes, so far removed from reality because of abundant resources. (So much for 'reality based').

Pius XII and FDR disagreed over whether fascism or communism was the greater threat in the US. Pius XII seemed to me the wiser when he said communism (but then he would say that I suppose).

TimT said...

Case in point: latest post at Larvatus Prodeo, where Obama gets criticised for not being socialist.

The Wizard of WOZ said...

Paco said...

Mojo: Are you channeling Joe Biden again?

:O

What? Of all people on Gods green earth I thought you would get that one Paco.

Paco said...

Wiz: To my eternal discredit, I have to admit that I never saw the movie.

Anonymous said...

And you've never eaten pizza. Paco, you're beginning to worry me ;0

Retread

Paco said...

Retread: Hey, there just might be a post in this! "Things Paco hasn't done." Besides never eating pizza and never seeing Animal House, I've also never seen Caddy Shack or been to California. On the other hand, I did live in Detroit briefly, and once ran over a seagull with a lawnmower (not in Detroit, of course).

Ah, the variety of human experience!

RebeccaH said...

and once ran over a seagull with a lawnmower (not in Detroit, of course). Why the "of course"? You do realize Detroit sits on the shore of an inland sea, and there are seagulls there, so you could have run over one in Detroit if you were fast enough and brave enough (I have a theory that seagulls in Detroit carry guns, though).