Living in a powder keg and giving off sparks

I’ve long maintained that the breakup of the Balkans during the Clinton Era was not a one-off problem limited to “those crazy people who can’t get over the distant past”. It’s the shape of things to come unless we stop taking for granted that Western societies will cling to the rule of law long after it’s dead. Whether he wins or not, Donald Trump is the squire to  first horseman of the apocalypse. Ignore the simmering anger that sustains his campaign at your peril. I’m not the only one who thinks so, either.

If you’re a conservative, this piece by Kurt Schlichter, who did time on the ground in Kosovo, won’t come as any surprise. If you’re a liberal you’ll likely be tempted to skip reading this because you can’t believe anything a conservative writes anyway. I recommend you read it, if for no other reason than the famous adage, “Know thy enemy.” If you continue to ignore analyses like this you have no business acting surprised when they start to play out.

From the article “Liberals May Regret Their New Rules“:

Today in America, a despised minority that is really no minority is the target of an establishment that considers this minority unworthy of respect, unworthy of rights, and unworthy of having a say in the direction of this country. It’s an establishment that has one law for itself, and another for its enemies. It’s an establishment that inflicts an ever-increasing series of petty humiliations on its opponents and considers this all hilarious.

That’s a recipe for disaster. You cannot expect to change the status quo for yourself and then expect those you victimize not to play by the new rules you have created. You cannot expect to be able to discard the rule of law in favor of the rule of force and have those you target not respond in kind.

…

I’m not advocating violence – I am warning liberals that they are setting the conditions for violence.

And that better worry them, for the coastal elites are uniquely unsuited to a world where force rules instead of law. The Serbs were, at least, a warrior people. The soft boys and girls who brought us helicopter parenting, “trigger warnings” and coffee cups with diversity slogans are not.

I know the endgame of discarding the rule of law for short-term advantage because I stood in its ruins. Liberals think this free society just sort of happened, that they can poke and tear at its fabric and things will just go on as before. But they won’t. So at the end of the day, if you want a society governed by the rule of force, you better pray that you’re on the side with the guns and those who know how to use them.

Considering what Trump rallies have turned into lately, the liberals are not just setting the conditions for violence, they’re touching it off. Oh, they think they are only applying proper force to fight what they see as conservative hatred, but they have no idea what true force–or hatred–looks like. When it comes they’re going to wish they’d reached out to moderate conservatives to help keep such in check instead of shouting down, vilifying, slandering, and mocking even the moderates who don’t offer full-throated agreement with them. They’ll be shocked to find moderates too weary–and leary–to do anything other than stay out of the way. Oh sure, it’d be a mistake for moderates to sit by when it happens, but it will be understandable.

I, too, am not advocating violence. On the contrary. I’m advocating a return to rule of law–TRUE rule of law, where everyone plays by the rules and gets duly punished when they don’t. It would be uncomfortable, but it’d sure beat what’s coming if rule of law breaks down entirely. There is a lot of anger in this country, and as big as it is, we could make the Balkans look like Downton Abby.

Let’s not, please?

Updated: On a related note, here’s the ever-chipper-sounding Glenn Reynolds on how the Pro-Trump movement is the result of ignoring, maligning, and betraying the Tea Party movement. The Trump crowd today are much closer to what detractors accused the Tea Party of being eight years ago than what the Tea Party really was at the time. And yet their opponents hauled out every epithet they could find, sent operatives to make them look bad, and did their best to ignore anything they really believed. Guess what: the people who insist that demeaning, ignoring, and persecuting blacks led to Ferguson can’t seem to fathom that demeaning, ignoring, and persecuting the Tea Party could perhaps lead to the Trump-ites of today–who are still no worse or better behaved than the Ferguson rioters or the Sanders attack dogs determined to block their rallies.

In San Francisco, too, tea party protesters met pro-Obama activists and picked up their trash. “John,” author of The City Square blog wrote: “As Obama supporters moved along in the line to get into the fundraiser, they left behind an impressive amount of trash … Tea Partiers shouted ‘pick up your garbage’ and ‘this is San Francisco, what about recycling?’There was no response. They chanted ‘Obama leaves a mess.’Still no response. Eventually, a tea partier (wearing the black cowboy hat) crosses over and starts to pick up the trash on his own. Other tea partiers join him. Another manages to find a trash bag. Soon the trash is being collected.”

Yet the tea party movement was smeared as racist, denounced as fascist, harassed with impunity by the IRS and generally treated with contempt by the political establishment — and by pundits like Brooks, who declared “I’m not a fan of this movement.” After handing the GOP big legislative victories in 2010 and 2014, it was largely betrayed by the Republicans in Congress, who broke their promises to shrink government and block Obama’s initiatives.

So now we have Trump instead, who tells people to punch counterprotesters instead of picking up their trash.

Note how Tea Partiers did not attempt to stop Obama supporters from getting to their rally? This is how free speech and the right to protests is handled, not violently trying keep people from exercising their right to peaceably assemble. If Trump supporters are out of control, so are Democrat supporters. A pox on both your houses. Why should I vote for any of you? You want civility? Try demonstrating it.