{"id":1633,"date":"2017-03-16T11:22:09","date_gmt":"2017-03-16T15:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?p=1633"},"modified":"2017-03-16T11:22:09","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T15:22:09","slug":"violent-left-founders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2017\/03\/violent-left-founders.html","title":{"rendered":"The Violent Left: What would the Founders Do?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nationally syndicated \u201cconservative\u201d talk radio host Michael Savage and his poodle, \u201cTeddy,\u201d were recently assaulted while they exited a restaurant in San Francisco.\u00a0 A man followed them from the eatery and mocked Savage for his real surname (\u201cWeiner\u201d) before kicking Teddy and throwing Mike to the ground.<\/p>\n

Neither master nor dog, fortunately, sustained any serious injuries\u2014though Savage was \u201cbloodied and shaken<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 According to his lawyer, Dan Horowitz, criminal charges will be filed. \u00a0They are also going to pursue the possibility of having the assailant charged for committing a hate crime on the grounds that Savage was attacked because of his political views.<\/p>\n

Savage is but the latest old man in his 70\u2019s to be roughed up by an intolerant, hate-filled, violent leftist bully.\u00a0 Attacks of this sort, and worse, against Trump supporters and those just suspected of being Trump supporters, have been occurring for over a year now.\u00a0 No one is safe, not the elderly<\/a>, the young<\/a>, or women<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If one is not on the left, or far enough on the left, then one\u2019s property and person are in jeopardy.\u00a0 This has become common knowledge.\u00a0 And yet, while it is indeed important that all decent people, particularly those, like \u201cconservative\u201d media talking heads, call attention to and resoundingly repudiate this phenomenon at every turn, we\u2019ve reached a point at which mere talk has become inadequate.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve passed this point.<\/p>\n

\u201cConservative\u201d talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and many others deserve credit for what good work they\u2019ve done over the decades.\u00a0 However, the time for getting out from behind a microphone and coordinating and deploying their vast resources for the purpose of resisting <\/em>\u201cthe resistance<\/a>\u201d that\u2019s been intimidating and pummeling innocents is now. <\/em><\/p>\n

Of course, I\u2019m not suggesting that Rush and his colleagues should organize an army of right-minded thugs to engage in the same civilization-destroying conduct as the leftist savages who we must counter.\u00a0 But why should massive, organized rallies of the sort that Glenn Beck alone<\/a> used to effortlessly arrange be out of the question?\u00a0 We can call these \u201cStop the Violence\u201d rallies, or maybe \u201cSay No to the Intolerant Left,\u201d or perhaps simply, \u201cResist \u2018The Violent Resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The name that would be given to such hypothetical demonstrations is of secondary importance at this point. \u00a0They need to be organized first.<\/p>\n

Bear in mind, these very same self-avowed \u201cconservative\u201d pundits, radio hosts, and television personalities who are forever invoking America\u2019s Founders have given no indication that they\u2019ve so much as considered assembling these collective assertions of self-defense. This is deeply troubling, for consider:<\/p>\n

How do you think Patrick Henry, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and all of those men (and women!) from the founding generation who dared to take up arms against the most powerful empire the world had known up to that juncture would respond if they <\/em>were the targets of unprovoked assaults because of their<\/em> politics?<\/p>\n

Do you think that they would have resigned themselves, as many of today\u2019s \u201cconservatives\u201d seem ready to resign themselves<\/em>, to allowing government (the police) to protect them?<\/p>\n

A couple of weeks ago, the former Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, made a video<\/a> to which some conservatives objected strongly.\u00a0 Lynch, they insisted, was calling for violence and murder in the streets. In fact, though, she was doing no such thing.\u00a0 Lynch was indeed calling for activism, street action. Yet her references to violence and death were meant as reminders that earlier generations had shed their own blood <\/em>and given their lives <\/em>for their cause.<\/p>\n

Now, I am no fan of the corrupt Lynch.\u00a0 She was speaking to her ideological ilk, not the patriotic Americans who are being victimized because they do not<\/em> subscribe to Lynch\u2019s far left ideology. \u00a0Still, fair is fair: Lynch was no more calling for violence than I am calling for it now when I remind my fellow Americans that those of our ancestors who took up for the cause of liberty and civilization against tyranny, oppression, and savagery when they <\/em>shed blood, both their own and that of those who would deprive them and their posterity of their freedom.<\/p>\n

The Founders recognized that resistance to tyranny, the safeguarding of liberty, not infrequently requires force.<\/p>\n

Patrick Henry is a classic example on this score.\u00a0 \u201cGuard with jealous attention the public liberty,\u201d he declared.\u00a0 \u201cSuspect everyone who approaches that jewel.\u00a0 Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force.\u00a0 Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nathan Hale, right before being hanged by the British, defiantly said: \u201cI only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the British demanded that he surrender, John Paul Jones exclaimed: \u201cI have not yet begun to fight!\u201d\u00a0 Jones expressed the perspective of the Spirit of \u201976 when he wrote in a letter to Gouverneur Morris: \u201cAn honorable Peace is and always was my first wish! I can take no delight in the effusion of human Blood; but, if this War should continue, I wish to have the most active part in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Captain John Parker, who commanded the militiamen at Lexington, informed his men: \u201cDon\u2019t fire unless fired upon. But if they want a war let it begin here.\u201d<\/p>\n

George Washington eloquently remarked: \u201cIf we desire to insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known, that we are at all times ready for War.\u201d<\/p>\n

And who can forget Thomas Jefferson\u2019s comments about \u201cthe tree of liberty.\u201d\u00a0 The latter, he said, \u201cmust be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think it is clear how Mr. Washington and his friends would react if things were such that it was expected that Martha and the ladies would be peppered-sprayed and otherwise assaulted for merely being suspected of holding certain political views.<\/p>\n

Perhaps we should learn from their example.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nationally syndicated \u201cconservative\u201d talk radio host Michael Savage and his poodle, \u201cTeddy,\u201d were recently assaulted while they exited a restaurant in San Francisco.\u00a0 A man followed them from the eatery and mocked Savage for his real surname (\u201cWeiner\u201d) before kicking Teddy and throwing Mike to the ground. Neither master nor dog, fortunately, sustained any serious…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Violent Left: What would the Founders Do?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2017\/03\/violent-left-founders.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Violent Left: What would the Founders Do?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nationally syndicated \u201cconservative\u201d talk radio host Michael Savage and his poodle, \u201cTeddy,\u201d were recently assaulted while they exited a restaurant in San Francisco.\u00a0 A man followed them from the eatery and mocked Savage for his real surname (\u201cWeiner\u201d) before kicking Teddy and throwing Mike to the ground. 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