There is a disturbing silence from leaders of the
We've seen such leftist violence before, and we saw it again just the other day at a protest in
It's all over the internet, young men of the hard left in black masks, black gloves, armed with clubs, hunting down prey who dare speak their minds.
What's striking about all this is the silence.
There has been no concerted media effort to pressure Democratic politicians to denounce Democratic muscle. So Democratic politicians have been relatively silent, as have many of their loyal pundits. A few pundits of the left have even compared the thugs with American soldiers hitting
This is all corrosive and dangerous. And in a loud political year, the silence of Democratic politicians explains so very much.
Because silence is consent.
And in this silence you may hear something terrifying: the rule of law breaking down.
When politicians aren't pressured to declare themselves, they don't. Most Republican and Democratic pols are transactional personalities who hate taking a stand until after consensus is formed. They'd rather wave a moist finger in the air to see which way the wind blows.
This business of political muscle and politicians can be found in the history of
Now, it's not just a
Conservatives see the danger to the republic, but so do a few liberals who have been bold enough to warn against the hard, violent left.
"Do not let the hard left, the radicals, represent the
"Antifa is not our friend. They will not help us win elections. ... I do not want to give a pass to the hard radical left, which is destroying America, destroying American universities, destroying the
The easy parallel to antifa and
It resulted in the death of a counter protester,
And President
But at least at Charlottesville and after there was a common understanding, among most journalistic elites, among political elites of both parties, that Nazis and white supremacists would be loudly condemned.
Not so with antifa at
Counter protesters?
Such weakness and partisan favoritism breeds cynicism, and the rule of law breaks down.
Arpaio had been convicted of a misdemeanor for violating a court order seeking to stop his office from discriminating against Latinos in a war against illegal immigration that has overwhelmed
There is an easy argument that Arpaio represents the weakening of the rule of law. He was a sworn lawman yet brazenly ignored the courts. But that's a political slogan. Slogans are too easy. And they don't get to the thing itself.
Because long before Arpaio was sheriff, the borders with
Federal immigration laws were already a joke. And when the rule of law is mocked by the political elites, it breaks down. History tells us that men like Arpaio enter the breach.
So ask yourselves: With leftist antifa thugs becoming increasingly violent, and mealy-mouthed Democratic politicians hesitant to denounce potentially useful political muscle, who steps into the breach?
I hope it worries you a bit. It worries me, too.
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John Kass is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune who also hosts a radio show on WLS-AM.