Posted on 03/23/2010 7:39:39 AM PDT by shortstop
Sometime over the weekend, at the Monroe County Democratic headquarters in upstate New York, somebody threw a brick through the window.
Attached to it, reportedly, was a quote from Barry Goldwater’s speech at the 1964 Republican National Convention.
Personally, I think a Democrat did it.
Few Republicans of this generation are familiar with the Goldwater quote, and it has much more currency among liberals as proof, from their standpoint, that conservatives are nuts. The quote – “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.” – was used by the media and Democrats in 1964 to beat down Goldwater’s campaign.
On Election Day, he was defeated by Lyndon Johnson – who repaid the American people with the Vietnam War.
But what if it wasn’t a Democrat.
What if the brick through the window wasn’t a Democrat ploy for martyr points and media sympathy. What if it was an act of anger and protest against the Democratic Party for its imperious stranglehold on Albany and Washington?
What if the brick was a statement on Obamacare?
Then it was wrong.
If someone threw that brick through the window in an effort to protest the tyranny of Obamacare, he was wrong. That’s not how we do things in America. That is not the work of a Son of Liberty, it is the action of an anarchist and thug.
The left uses political correctness and intolerence to silence those who dare raise a voice against it. The right must not use bricks to do the same. The right must understand that voices of disagreement – and even organizations of disagreement – are not the enemy. And even if they are, in America we don’t advance a political or social good by vandalizing private property.
That is not a protest, that is a crime.
Many conservatives are wondering if civil disobedience or passive resistance may be tools to use against an increasingly oppressive federal government. Public support may grow for both types of measures.
Conservatives may wish to directly challenge and impede the federal government as it strays maliciously outside its constitutional bounds. Such actions, if they are taken, will be morally justified and consistent with past efforts to protect liberty, here and abroad.
But destructive actions against the property of private individuals or organizations is never right. It is always wrong. And it violates the principles of American constitutional conservatism. Vandalism violates the private-property and free-speech rights of other people, and no true American ever advanced his own rights by diminishing the rights of another.
Even if that other is a political party.
The object of constitutional conservatives is not to silence the Democrats, but to refute them. We want them and us – and all Americans – to live in a society with free speech and free assembly, unfettered by government sanction or social intimidation.
We don’t want to silence Democrats, we want to convince the American people that the Democrats are wrong.
And that isn’t accomplished by a brick through the window.
Philosophically, a brick through the window goes against everything we believe. Practically, a brick through the window hurts us and helps them.
Which is why I think a Democrat did it.
But just in case, I want the point to be clear. Not to conservatives, who need no reminding from me – but to others, whose suspicions and prejudices are reinforced by actions like this.
This is a fight for the survival of the America envisioned by the Founders and defined by the Constitution. It will be an all-out fight.
But it will not be fought by mobs and bricks. It will be fought by speakers and writers, voters and activists. It may involve civil disobedience, but it will not involve crime.
We will take back America. We will bring the nation back to true.
But we do not throw bricks.
Furthermore, the headline should’ve been qualified with a “yet”.
Speak for yourself there Bob!
You don't know jack about the Sons of Liberty, dweeb. Lock and load.
What does that have to do with the point of the author?
At some point we’ll have to stop soft-selling our outrage to the socialist takeover in Washington.
If we win the elections in November and still don’t get any change, what’s next?
and, oh yes, i AM serious!
I am Spartacus!
oops! i mean windows that will be broken.
Throwing the occasional brick is relatively minor compared to what we should be doing. Do you discard a knife because it is too sharp? Or a hammer because it drives a nail too well?
We do now.... And much "worse"....
Based on several incidents of the past few years, it’s at least 50/50 that someone on the left did this. Same with the supposed slurs in DC on Sunday, if anything was even said at all. Creating an ugly incident to be blamed on their enemies is a tactic of the left.
Our Founding Fathers did more than just throw bricks, they killed over 10,000 British soldiers to secure their freedom. I guess that was wrong too, ‘enna?
douche nozzle
We’ll put up with a lot, but there will be a breaking point. If a significant portion of the population feels like the rule of law has broken down, bad things will happen. If what the criminal Alcee Hastings stated is widely perceived as true, this government is no longer valid.
Speak for yourself, Lonsberry.
I can’t believe I’m in the minority in agreeing with Bob here. If we believe in freedom of speech and property rights, we have to respect them even when they belong to Democrats.
I think the conservative grassroots movements have done a good job of peaceful protest, and I think it should continue.
There’s no need for us to lower ourselves to their level.
Goldwater got it right....
So what yer sayin’ is you like gladiator movies???
Leather straps, buckels, whips and chains???
(hehehe, geesh I know I’m gonna get zotted for this...)
Don’t hate me so much...It’s the drugs I’m taking now...;-)
You only “respect” someone else’s Rights when they are respecting yours. THEY threw the first punch here. Everything we do in return is retaliatory.
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