When crazed Iranians attacked the U.S. embassy in Tehran and seized 52 hostages in 1979, it was not a spontaneous event. It did not happen overnight. The forces separating civilization from savagery were whittled down steadily over weeks by the barbarians at the embassy gate.
Is this what we are now witnessing in our own country, with a seething, vengeful mob gathering steps away from the national seat of power, the White House?
It may sound overdramatic, but the violent anarchists bent on occupying urban America have not slowed down. Far from it. They have now taken their campaign of destruction to a new level. And why not? They have met no resistance from the Democrats elected to uphold the rule of law. And they are bolstered by the certainty that whatever actions are taken to thwart their lawlessness will be perverted by a legacy media, which long ago sacrificed their last shred of journalistic integrity at the altar of destroying Donald Trump and all who support him.
The fact that the president promised to vanquish the attempted occupation yards away from the people’s house does not change the reality of the frightening display: hundreds of protesters attempting to topple the long-standing statue of President Andrew Jackson adjacent to the White House, desecrating St. John’s, the church of the presidents (for the second time), then seizing and sealing off an area they call the Black House Autonomous Zone, or BHAZ.
Sound familiar?
Of course, it does. It follows the left-coast forerunner, CHAZ/CHOP, depicted as the summer of love. A block party. A harmless way for righteous protesters to put their anger on public display as they exercise their right to free speech and assembly.
Yes, this is how the woman elected to lead one of the nation’s 20 largest cities and the willing sycophants in the Fourth Estate presented the occupation of a swath of urban America known as the rogue “nation” of CHOP, renamed from its original Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ). But whether these deconstructionists and anarchists carrying the label of Black Lives Matter and Antifa intend it or not, their unlawful seizure of prime territory in the midst of downtown Seattle — and now BHAZ plus similar attempts elsewhere — stand as an apt preview of what the country will look like if the progressive march on America results in Democratic Party rule in 2021.
These occupations bring life to the worst fears of those who understand the fragile nature of ordered liberty. This is what happens when the extraordinary bundle of freedoms we are granted in this unique constitutional republic are exploited by criminals and tyrants, mighty and petty. This is what happens when liberty turns to license.
Do any members of the SOC (Seattle Occupying Force should be their rightful name) actually realize — or care — that constitutional rights cease to apply when they infringe on the constitutional rights of others? Let’s put it in a way even the anarchists might understand: When you threaten, loot, burn, or occupy a community, you have threatened the safety, security, and life’s work of countless innocent individuals. Some of these radicals preposterously cite the First Amendment, but most don’t even bother since they are anarchists, which means they don’t believe in the legitimacy of law itself — and especially not in the steaming cauldron of white supremacy known as America. And if the laws they seek to terminate are no longer being enforced, they can continue having a field day without fear of justice.[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]This is what passes for leadership on the left.[/perfectpullquote]
These miscreants have been allowed, even encouraged, to deprive residents and business owners of their most fundamental expectation: the enforcement of laws that protect them from exactly the type of predators we see on the long leash of Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan. We have witnessed the same abdication of duty from D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the whole gang of craven Democrats holding power in the broad mass of urban America — and virtually all the cities struck by violent protests.
This is what passes for leadership on the left.
But what to make of those tranquil scenes of peace-loving citizens strolling the occupied streets of Seattle, enjoying street art, food, and music? These are the daytime images transmitted by media evidently sworn to protect these people.
But we all know criminals ply their trade most effectively in the dark of night. Of course, our betters in the elite media have zero interest in covering the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) after dark, but we now know the truth about the putrid underbelly of this “block party” from a courageous undercover journalist, Andy Ngo, who lived through five days on the CHOP-ing block.
What Ngo unmasks is a love-in during the light of day transformed into an arcade of lawlessness under the cover of night, ruled by strong-armed vigilantes unconcerned with justice beyond the range of their weapons:
“No laws or rules applied here except for one: ‘No cops allowed’ … [L]eft-wing protesters stole city and business property to build a wall. Some of them openly carry rifles, handguns, batons, or knives … [R]apper Raz Simone, real name Solomon Simone, patrols the CHOP on some nights with an armed entourage … Gunshots and ‘screams of terror’ at night have been reported … On Saturday morning [June 20], a shooting erupted that left at least one person dead and another injured near a border checkpoint. Police were reportedly met with resistance when they tried to get to the victims … On Thursday [June 18], police arrested Robert James after he left the CHAZ. He is accused of sexually assaulting a deaf woman who was lured inside a tent … Police Chief Carmen Best has stated that police response times to 911 calls in the surrounding area have ‘more than tripled’ because the force is down a station … [H]omes and businesses within the CHOP — an estimated 30,000 residents — have no say over their new overlords.”
This armed anarchy and brute-force criminality in the streets has gone so far beyond the justifiable outrage over the death of George Floyd as to render that conversation old news. This has now become strictly about the rule of law. Can citizens no longer depend on the most basic protections from their government? Must Americans unable to flee the madness remain in riot-scarred cities and be forced to live in fear of armed, lawless militia ruling their neighborhoods, threatening their safety, property, and businesses? Are they no longer entitled to police protection?
Let’s put the bottom-line question in the starkest terms: Are elected leaders of the Democratic Party no longer willing to enforce the law?
Are we living in America, or a banana republic?
Especially in light of President Trump’s Nixonian pronouncement of law and order as the foundational issue in his re-election campaign during the unofficial kickoff in Tulsa, the sides are forming for a full-strength cultural civil war. On one side: progressive deconstructionists in government, media, and academia, anarchists, black militants, and fearful, impressionable white liberals now sold out on virtue-signaling. On the other: Trump supporters and anyone else who refuses to bend to the will of the mob.
The choice has rarely, if ever, been more stark.
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Read more from Tim Donner.
