Now the Left Opposes (!) Confrontational Tactics
08. Sep, 2009 
22 Comments
by Rob Natelson
In recent months, we have heard voices on the Left cry “foul” at the town-hall tactics of Americans upset at current political leadership. Leftists profess to be shocked — horrified! — to see Americans defending themselves passionately, unapologetically, and confrontationally.
The confrontational tactics the Left now finds so troubling include such activities as holding up really big signs and shouting.
Now, I’ve seen a lot of political hypocrisy in my lifetime, but the Left griping about confrontational tactics has got to be some kind of record.
Of course, leftists have no problem with strong-arming when they do the strong-arming. They’ve been using such tactics for decades to beat up on the rest of us. As if anyone needed reminders –
- Many people remember when “peace” activists were seizing college buildings, disrupting higher education, burning flags, throwing excrement and bricks at law enforcement officers, and assaulting and intimidating administrators, faculty, and other students.
- For decades, activists allegedly for causes like “peace,” “civil rights,” “welfare rights,” and “fair trade” have freely trampled law, property, and the rights of others.
- When leftists have taken power, they have used it freely to push around the opposition. One of many examples: During the Clinton administration, almost every conservative and libertarian think tank in the country found itself targeted by an IRS audit.
- Thuggish tactics by left-wing union activists are so common that the phrase “union goons” has entered the American vocabulary.
- “Community organizing” — ala Obama and Hillary Clinton — is famously governed by Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals,” a guidebook to underhand political knife-fighting.
And while more moderate leftists refuse to engage in such tactics, they seldom refuse to take political advantage of the chaos and fear they cause.
Dwarfing these instances is the long list of technically legal strong-arm maneuvers the Left has used to assault the rest of us. Government agencies campaign for their causes and give our tax dollars to groups like ACORN. Government collects fees for public sector unions, which use them (or fungible replacement dollars) to crusade for leftist causes.
Under the leadership of the “tenured radicals” that dominant many universities and other tax-exempt organizations, many of those institutions have become political entities, emitting constant propaganda attacking traditional values and promoting more government regulation and spending.
Here’s a mental exercise to put it in perspective: Think of all the political vandalism you have seen over the years: The traffic signs defaced, the slogans painted on bridges and viaducts, the literary garbage slapped on private property, etc. etc. Just how often have you seen that done to convey a right-wing message?
So the correct question is not, “Should Americans who pay the bills and make things work have become so passionate and confrontational when threatened by government?”
The correct questions are:
(1) What took them so long?” and
(2) Will they become passionate and confrontational enough to save the country?”
Rob Natelson, a former conservative activist and business owner, is a constitutional law professor at the University of Montana who writes mostly about the American Founding. His views are his own, and not necessarily those of any other person or institution.
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I’m fully in favor of confrontational tactics and was supportive of many that have been used by the left over the years. Amazing how partisan so many of them are. Now that a democrat is in charge there’s virtually no tactics coming from the left – confrontational or otherwise.
We don’t hear any complaints about spying or war or free speech zones or any of it these days. Just support for the regime.
Excellent commentary, and on the mark in my humble opinion.
Prof. Natelson wrote:
The correct questions are:
(1) What took them so long?” and
(2) Will they become passionate and confrontational enough to save the country?”
I’ll take a stab at that.
What took them so long is that they’re not radical nor irrational by nature, nor do they adhere to the principles of an inherently radical world view, in contrast to leftists. On the second question, I believe they will at length. We probably have somewhat different ideas about what it means to “save the country,” but according to my definition of the phrase, which basically amounts to a rejection of leftism as the ruling ideology in America and of establishing (or re-establishing, as it were) certain constitutional safeguards which will effectively relegate it to the far corners where it belongs, I fully expect that this will happen in my lifetime.
There was a time when few people were armed. Today it is not so.
Liberals by nature “hate” guns therefore are unarmed.
Conservatives, well, you never know for sure, do you?
Maybe that is the reason there is less confrontation…….he he
We really need to avoid this left-right conflicting vocabulary, we must win the hearts and minds of those on the left not alienate them.
Just a warring (I know I myself have been drawn into it, but this too needs to be avoided).
Decentralization is not a left or right issue it’s an individual freedom issue, with both left and right permutations in both centralization and decentralization, which we don’t need to agree on by nature.
All we need agree on is that Government is too big and too centralized over too many people for their happiness and safe governance.
The more we talk left-right the more we seek allegiances with an ideology of thought rather then a printable of governance.
I’m sorry Mr. Monorprise, but I for one do not agree with you. Had I been alive then I would have said the same to Mr. Neville Chamberlain.
My opinion is that, on a national level, both the left and right in DC are opposed to the Constitution, and your liberty. The federal government, and federal thugs (i mean politicians) are a virtual lost cause – no matter what party they belong to. Ron Paul is possibly the only notable exception.
DC is badly oversized and out of its Constitutional restrictions. That much true and well provedn over the years.
In regards to the confrontational tactics, I know for myself that I prefer good debate and facts presented in an organized, polite manner. But that because I’m not a radical activist at heart.
Another issue to consider is the fact that many many Conservative/Libertarian people are also responsible gun owners. You say “Huh?”, but consider this. How far can confrontational tactics go before it gets beyond just words and the odd brawl?
Because of those questions, we hold back, knowing that the radicals do not care how far the escalation goes. So we must be the moderators of peaceful discourse, because we know that the alternative will not be pleasant.
But even at that, we can only be pushed so far before resistance stops being peaceful. The radical left is pushing hard towards that threshold and they don’t even realize what horrors they are setting up for the People by doing it.
They are pushing to the point of watering the Tree of Liberty. If all else fails, that is what will happen. Best hope and pray that DC realizes what’s brewing before it boils over.
Just read on the Drudge report that USA banking is just a bit better than Tanzanias. Hell, that’s below being a banana republic!!!
Obama is going to head up the security council at UN, being king was not good enough, emperor is more to his ego.
I said it before and I’ll say it again, folks IT’S OVER. The only question remains is WHAT WILL THE MILITARY DO.
I see this conflict in a totally different light than most. I see the left-right/democrat-republican as nothing more than a sleight of hand. Neither party adheres to the constitution, and both see the “Federal” government as more a national government in which there are few and limited states rights. They seem to view the founding fathers as starting with Lincoln progressing through the progressives and ending where we presently are. This is why I am not shocked by how obama quotes “founding fathers”, but not specifically, and noone appears to have the ability to find most quotes. They are the “fathers of the new republic-Wilson,Lincoln,W.E.B. DuBois,Roosevelt, all socialist/communists/internationalists working together. Sen. McCarthy was more correct than we are willing to admit. In fact,I think he was a late recognizer of what should have been seen long before. We are late to the game, but I think not too late.
The military is a tossup. It would in reality kind of split. There are some groups supposedly commited to a federated republic under our constitution, obviously some will not be. We do have some true organization there, but is anyone else prepared? I am not privy to any specific info regarding this statement. I only know what was when I was active duty, and what I had seen some time ago through one time connections on the internet that no longer exist. I do know that there was an organized group in the military (trained by them) who at one time was monitoring military breaches of constitutional law, and prepping for the future. I know nothing of their present existence, or movements.
Oh, could this be why certain government officials want to form their own “civilian army”. They are afraid of the real one?
One of my favorite snippets of analysis about the current state of the world is that there is a war going on, but not between left and right but rather between the extremists and the moderates. I feel like what I have seen as an opponent of the Bush AND Obama administrations is a startling similarity in their extremist nature.
In this sense, I see the moderates who opposed Bush as the key- if they wake up and realize (as some have already) in large numbers that Obama simply represents a continuation of establishment extremism, then the moderates (from both sides) will represent an unstoppable force.
I just heard that he installed a former Monstanto lobbyist as a decision maker overseeing the US food supply. How can anyone argue that someone of that ilk can be on the side of ‘the people’? It baffles me, but I guess such is the power of the establishment media.
I have the same question as Casey. What will the military do! My Granddaughter will problaly be entering West Point next fall. I have no doubt that she will stand by the constitution. But what will the joint chiefs do?? Plus the CIA and the FBI?
Casey Truskunas , I agree with you what they are doing is bad, but I also agree with Michael Boldin, what the other side has done is on printable just as bad.
Your both right, yes what were seeing now is crazy, and as it’s the Federal left that is now running they are now the craziest. But let us not fool ourselves into thinking the federal right is a good option ether.
Both have proven themselves time and time again to care more about accumulating more and more power in the federal government not maintaining a constitutional system.
We can and should condemn both for that action and trust nether. This is not simply a left and right wing issue. If the republicans win congress in 2010 they most likely will do very little to address theses concerns even if we pushed them the our hardest.
We cant alienate the leftist people by attaching the solution to right anymore then we can alienate the right by attaching the solution to the left.
The solution to our problem is thus not who to empower, but where to empower.
We must learn to use and empower those who’s position encourages competition, and thus place our trust in that competition of men rather then trusting any one man or group of men to “make it right”.
This is the basic idea behind the 10th amendment center states rights, States represent competing governments, competing for people and business. While this inter-state competition is not perfect, it is the best system of tools we have.
So I say again let us avoid confusing people into thinking this is a left-right thing, because this is a Constitutional power balance thing.
Monorprise, I think you summed it up quite well with this:
Your both right, yes what were seeing now is crazy, and as it’s the Federal left that is now running they are now the craziest. But let us not fool ourselves into thinking the federal right is a good option ether.
The reality is – when one party is out of power, you’ll often hear them pointing out how the other party in power is violating the constitution. And most of the time, they’re right. Problem is, when the other party gets in office, they commit the same constitutional violations – or possibly different ones too.
They’re both filled with constitutional criminals.
This post may not address the subject of the article very well, but is important 10 Amendment news concerning tactics by the left.
JB Williams, a very articulate writer has jus now uncovered the fact that the DNC has filed a illegal incomplete Certificate of Eligibility (to be placed on state ballet) for Obama and Biden in all 50 states. You should be able to find his article on the Canadian Free Press site.
I am sorry I am unable to post a link for you.
This article is unsubstantiated trash. I dare the author to provide quotes and sources
Rhoderick, it’s an opinion piece. Why do people have such problems understanding the different between journalistic news – which demands sourcing – and opinion?
Michael, you have also summed it up quite well, as one legislator I work with stated ” both parties are headed to the same socialistic goal, the Democrats are running to, and the Republicans are creeping to it”. Sometimes I think it’s alot faster than “creeping.”
yeah yeah, and the right was complaining about the lefts confrontational tactics when they were doing it. you’re all hypocrites so stop b*tching.
I agree completely with Dr. Natelson. The left is being very hypocritical in their complaining. They should definitely be set strait with examples of their demonstrations from the past. I agree with Boldin as well, when he said:
“The reality is – when one party is out of power, you’ll often hear them pointing out how the other party in power is violating the constitution. And most of the time, they’re right. Problem is, when the other party gets in office, they commit the same constitutional violations – or possibly different ones too.”
OK, we know that the left is wrong in their position. But let’s not forget that Bush refered to our dealings in the Middle East as a “Crusade.”
BIG screw up there.
So, people should propose solutions instead of complaining about everything. Many good points have been made, but someone please go out and do what they say they should do!