Peggy Noonan’s article, “Liz Cheney Shows What Real Leadership Looks Like,” in this morning’s Wall Street Journal has pleased the Democrats and provoked a minor firestorm by conservatives. A letter to the editor, for example, accused her of “joining the media mob” while giving a pass to the Black Lives Matter riots this past summer. The idea is that the BLM disruption was equally as bad and destructive as the January 6th assault on the nation’s capitol. Another letter suggests that if the president is to be impeached for sedition, then all the governors and mayors of the cities that experienced the BLM protests and violence should also be forced to resign. This has to be one of the most specious arguments that I have ever read.
This type of argument, I might add, comes up all the time from conservatives and others who cannot bring themselves to tell the truth about transgressions perpetrated by those they support. Their knee-jerk response is to ALWAYS rationalize such transgressions by pointing out that actions by the left are as bad or worse and are never covered fairly by the media. It’s like we are not looking. Don’t you think that sometimes, just sometimes, there might be a difference?
The simple truth is that the Black Lives Matter protests and the resulting violence and destruction were brought on by the 238 years of subordination of Black people since the Treaty of Paris confirmed our independence in 1783. Compare that to the recent assault on the Capitol; an assault incited by a sitting president of the United States. Look closely at who took part in both cases, there’s a big difference.
And a last observation. Most of us who follow politics or have read history know that every movement, political party and cause attracts crazies and others who join in for reasons of their own. These are the criminals, the thugs and the deranged who, unfortunately, thrive in such moments.