Pop Quiz:
What civil rights leader said: “Deliberation and debate is the way you stir the soul of our democracy.”?
What historian said: “The job of the press is to encourage debate, not to supply the public with information.”?
What American pundit said: “Political debate with liberals is basically impossible in America today because liberals are calling names while conservatives are trying to make arguments.”?
What Russian born writer said: “When men abandon reason, physical force becomes their only means of dealing with one another and of settling disagreements.”?
Answers at the end of the post.
In 1941 Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto said: “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with terrible resolve.” The Admiral was reacting to the decision by Japan to bomb Pearl Harbor and the residents of Hiroshima, four years later, suffered for the accuracy of his prophesy. On September 10 Tyler Robinson took an action that has awakened another sleeping giant…the youth of America.
Thanks to Robinson the mental disorder that is Trump Derangement Syndrome is now on full, grotesque display as evidenced by the reaction of the Left to the assassination of a peaceful man of ideas who entreated all who attended his events to “prove me wrong”. The savage response was typical of all authoritarians who are unable to effectively censor what they see as heretical thoughts…a resort to violence.
It contradicts one of the foundations of a civil society…open and free debate. America has a long history of civil debate.
In 1830 there were a series of Senate debates between Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Robert Hayne of South Carolina. The principal point of contention was the balance of power between the Federal authority and that of the states. The debates were very contentious but they caused no riots, acts of insurrection or political violence. It exemplified all of the principles that make our constitutional republic worth preserving. It should be noted that the debates were a foreshadowing of the issues that led to the Civil War.
Twenty eight years later there was another momentous American political debate. Abraham Lincoln was running for the Senate seat in Illinois. His opponent was Stephen Douglas, the incumbent, having served since 1847. Douglas supported the extension of slavery to new states joining the union while Lincoln opposed that position. It was probably the most contentious debate in American political history. Lincoln, in his speech accepting the Republican nomination, argued: “That a house divided against itself cannot stand” because “This government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.” While Ilhan Omar might think Lincoln was “downplaying slavery” his remarks put the Democrats on notice that slavery would be a bellwether issue in future elections. The debates were very contentious but they caused no riots, acts of insurrection or political violence.
However, in 1865 the Democrats were so upset about the freeing of their slaves they dispatched an unemployed actor to Washington to express their outrage by assassinating the President…civil discourse be damned.
Putting aside the Civil War, the OK Corral and the thousands of KKK lynchings the ensuing 100 years were relatively free of riots, acts of insurrection or political violence.
The first candidate debate in a Presidential election took place in 1960 between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon. It was conducted with decorum and respect. Future such debates were generally marked by the Republican candidates having to debate not just their Democrat opponents but also the moderators which were uniformly Leftist in political persuasion. The debates were very contentious but they caused no riots, acts of insurrection or political violence.
Following the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 things took a more “revolutionary” turn. There are still unanswered questions about who actually killed JFK, but one must think of the one person with the most to gain by JFK’s death…LBJ.
In the short period after the events in Dallas Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy was murdered and the 1970’s saw two assassination attempts on President Gerald Ford. Not surprisingly three of these four acts took place in California where people who ain’t fruits and nuts are flakes. On the political front the precursors of antifa such as The Students for a Democratic Society, the Black Panthers, the Weather Underground and the Youth International Party took to the streets to overthrow our “fascist” government.
To paraphrase the Coasters…And then along came Trump. It is an understatement to say that since the 45/47th President came on the scene our civil society has been under attack…
In 2017 Madonna had erotic dreams of blowing up White House. There were two assassination attempts on Trump, one on Brett Kavanaugh and Charlie Kirk is murdered. The death of George Floyd led to riots from coast to coast. Anti-Jewish demonstrations take place on Ivy League campuses. Instant violent demonstration kits are available and delivered to spontaneous planned events across the nation. Inflammatory rhetoric has become commonplace and debate dies on the vine. The Deep State orchestrates an “insurrection” on January 6, 2021, hoping to disqualify Trump from seeking re-election. Phony lawfare cases are filed in blue cities. Rational discussion of the issues has completely disappeared.
Charlie Kirk RIP
Charlie Kirk appears to have posthumously bent the curve of history. Admiral Yamamoto call your office!
Answers to the pop quiz:
What civil rights leader said: “Deliberation and debate is the way you stir the soul of our democracy.”? Jesse Jackson, friend of Donald Trump until Trump declared his candidacy
What historian said: “The job of the press is to encourage debate, not to supply the public with information.”? Christopher Lasch
What American pundit said: “Political debate with liberals is basically impossible in America today because liberals are calling names while conservatives are trying to make arguments.”? The ineffable Ann Coulter
What Russian born writer said: “When men abandon reason, physical force becomes their only means of dealing with one another and of settling disagreements.”? Ayn Rand
Linda Strawbridge
Yes, I too am a Charlie Kirk now. As Charlie, an as a Christian I am willing to stand tall for Christ. Where I live, Independent Living i was told by a liberal, I can’t believe Davis allows people to talk about religion or politics. Davis has nothing to do with it, we have the right and many have given their lives for my Freedom!! Linda
Deborah
Well done as always Bryce. May the awakened beast indeed be a GOOD giant.
Tyrus pointed out on Gutfeld that we have no riots in the streets now despite this terrible act. The left has no comparable figure, but not to worry, it can muster a good riot over the deportation of a gang member. Our streets are quiet as millions mourn a great man in addition to comprehending the unspeakable tragedy for his wife and children.
Many right-of-center patriots experienced a very personal gut-punch with the news of Kirk’s assassination. I did. My own circumstances were already challenging when I heard the news. Add now a national tragedy — his murder is that to me.
One week earlier I had invited my wonderful, curious, brainwashed, early-twenties grandson, raised by TDS parents, to look up Charlie Kirk. (By the way, also the Abraham Accords, which he had also “never heard of” and I had previously mentioned …sigh).. How will the momentum continue which this young, fearless, effective, light-shining leader generated? Indeed, we must all now be Charlie Kirk.
How will the young people respond who will now inevitably hear of Kirk and also will hear the predictable mean-spirited and inhumane comments about him? Some will wake up when they see the video clip of the now fatherless 3-year-old daughter running into Charlie’s arms.
I could say more good things about the column, but this reply is already too long. So…finally, I’ll share a rare but to me deeply significant concern about one of your items. I wish you had not made a MAGA joke in relation to Oswald. That comment will spawn what to us is an obvious misinterpretation that will feed the propaganda which your columns endeavor to expose and lessen. For that one item I will hesitate to share this column with some whom it could possibly reach with the facts presented here.
Lord love them, the terror of actual ideas — leftism is largely emotional — has rendered flabby their muscles around both debate and humor. Implying that Trump influenced Oswald to kill Kennedy will be so inviting and delicious to these hypnotized minions that they will miss the rest of the column, along with their time-travel error, while stampeding to another Soros-sponsored riot with their new shiny sign — OSWALD WAS MAGA!
Again……may the awakened beast be a good one.
.
Ron
Who said: “one of the most horrifying and surprising evolutions we have witnessed among our widespread campus network is the rapid movement away from tolerating opposing ideas and respectful debate to the deployment of obscene bully tactics from the left.”
Of course it was Charlie, the subject of this post. And of course combating this “movement” was his raison d’etre. How ironic this quote would prove so true as to lead to his demise.
If one is old enough, it is a near certainty that you remember precisely where you were and what you were doing when JFK met a similar fate. A scant few similarly remember Pearl Harbor’ And most are old enough to remember the same about 9/11.
This heinous, cowardly act committed on Charlie hit me pretty hard. But I’m pleased over the reaction, both nationally and globally, of decent, good people (i.e. non leftists), as, for the moment, it does seem to have awakened the sleeping giant. I deeply hope this attack on free speech, our republic and humanity has the staying power to join the above three events, indelibly imprinted on the memories of the masses. If it does, Charlie Kirk will have changed the world for the better.
The Observer
sadly every disagreement is painted as war… and the results are predictable