One thing the recent election
reinforced is that ‘tolerance’ is the last thing progressives actually want. Though tolerance, properly understood, is a
wonderful virtue, the vitriol-laden media coverage, student demonstrations and
other forms of protest against the incoming Trump Administration are ample
evidence of the ‘intolerance’ of those crying the loudest for tolerance.
Donald Trump’s election as president,
along with the Republicans’ capture of the majority of governorships, statehouses
and both branches of Congress, has left progressives seething. They cannot fathom why many fellow Americans
still resist their call for a permanent secular revolution in values, economics
and everyday language.
Having taken over the mainstream media,
government run universities, the entertainment industry and even corporate
boardrooms, the progressives figured their revolution was inevitable. They dismiss opponents as being on “the wrong
side of history.”
Deployed whenever a speed bump slows
down their agenda, that phrase betrays the progressive movement’s Marxist
roots. Since the French Revolution, the
Left has seen history as an ongoing dialectic (thesis, anti-thesis, synthesis)
that is steadily evolving (like humanity itself, we’re told) toward a
classless, property-free society … with them in charge, of course. To get there, they have had to persuade their
fellow citizens to adopt their rosy, futuristic view, or simply use brute
force.
In America, with our long tradition of
individualism, capitalism, vibrant religious faith and strong families, the
Left has taken a third road: political correctness. They’ve done this by commandeering the
institutions that convey cultural values – including corporations – and use them
to enforce the speaking of a new language that is always one step ahead of the
mindset of the “deplorables” and irredeemables … especially those who cling to
their guns and Bibles.
Let’s not forget what the progressive
agenda has given us: government spending became “investing”; sex became
“gender”; abortion became “choice”; patriotism became “white nationalism” or
“xenophobia”; “gay” became an innate characteristic equal to other civil
rights.
At the university level, which is ‘ground
zero’ for progressive nonsense, the fruits of many years of labor are ripening
… perhaps over-ripening. At various universities,
student radicals are demanding a “sanctuary campus,” where they would be “safe”
from campus police … whose members may have supported Mr. Trump since the Fraternal
Order of Police endorsed him. The
students also accused the university of “structural Islamophobia,” and demanded
placing more Palestinian students “to prevent their genocide at the hands of
Israel.” Oh, and they want a “place of
sanctuary” for Muslim students and financial aid for illegal immigrants.
As Angelo M. Codevilla observes in
“The Rise of Political Correctness” in the Fall 2016 edition of the Claremont
Review of Books, “Progressive regimes demand that persons who express
themselves in public (even in private) affirm any and all things that pertain
to the regime’s identity lest they lose access to jobs or privileges, and be
exposed to the shunning or ire of regime supporters – if not treated as
criminals.”
This brings to mind Christian business
owners who have been demonized and even prosecuted for not violating their
beliefs against facilitating same-sex ceremonies or providing abortifacients. Although many people are appalled, few dare
to question this cultural fascism. “Even
totalitarian regimes can reward or punish only a few people at a time,” Prof.
Codevilla notes. “Tacit collaboration by
millions who bite their lip is even more essential than lip service by
thousands of favor seekers.”
Listen: Soon, silence won’t be enough.
In Orwell’s 1984, it was not sufficient
for Big Brother to coerce Winston into compliance. They “finished breaking his spirt by holding
up four fingers and demanding that Winston acknowledge seeing five,” Prof.
Codevilla writes.
Millions of Americans are being told
to accept what they know to be false – or else. But the good news is that eventually, peddlers
of lies lose respect and are no longer trusted. Americans have become leery of whatever the mainstream
media tells them.
The media and their Hollywood friends
fully expected us to hand over the keys to the White House to the same bunch
that has been radically transforming America. When this didn’t happen, they threw a tantrum.
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor,
Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
