Ben Shapiro argues at National Review Online that too many political partisans are overeager to resort to warlike tactics.
In an age when nearly nobody has served in the military against an actual existential foe, too many Americans dream of a war that will provide meaning and clarity. They watch The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones and imagine themselves fighting a faceless enemy, making easy moral decisions. They watch comic-book films and thrill to the fictional antics of those saving the world. In war, at least in theory for the layman, all moral decisions boil down to one: Does it help our side win?
The Left has flattered itself with such illusions since the 1960s. They launched wars on drugs and poverty and repressive Judeo-Christian sexual mores. They saw themselves as guerillas in the fight against a racist, imperialist American government. Imbued with the moral superiority of an existential fight, the Left granted itself license to do anything, to justify anything. As Saul Alinsky put it: “In war, the end justifies almost any means.”
The result was chaos.
For two decades, the warlike mentality of the Left crept into remission. But then, with the war in Iraq, it was reinvigorated. That wartime mentality was exacerbated by President Obama, who divided Americans into political battalions by race, class, and sexual orientation, and activated his electoral army to support his grand strategy. Rioters were treated as shock troops, overzealous but necessary. Violent protesters were tut-tutted on college campuses and at campaign events. The Left said that words were violence — and acted accordingly.
With the rise of President Trump, apocalyptic thinking has increased exponentially.
