Sly Stupidity, or, Beinart Versus Beinart

Peter Beinart of The Atlantic had a long history of the rise of the antifa here in the US for their September edition. It became very topical with the events in Charlottesville, which led to a second piece. Since the winds had shifted a bit Mr. Beinart chose to dumb it down. 

Let's start here - the antifa are a problem. From the short piece:

So, yes, antifa is not a figment of the conservative imagination. It’s a moral problem that liberals need to confront.

However, Mr. Beinart then creatively minimizes that problem, thereby illustrating Dreher's Law of Merited Impossibility, which in this context can be expressed as, 'the antifa will never achieve their goal of silencing right-wing speech, darn it".

Here we go:

But saying it’s a problem is vastly different than implying, as Trump did, that it’s a problem equal to white supremacism. Using the phrase “alt-left” suggests a moral equivalence that simply doesn’t exist.

For starters, while antifa perpetrates violence, it doesn’t perpetrate it on anything like the scale that white nationalists do. It’s no coincidence that it was a Nazi sympathizer—and not an antifa activist—who committed murder in Charlottesville. According to the Anti-Defamation League, right-wing extremists committed 74 percent of the 372 politically motivated murders recorded in the United States between 2007 and 2016. Left-wing extremists committed less than 2 percent.

Second, antifa activists don’t wield anything like the alt-right’s power. White, Christian supremacy has been government policy in the United States for much of American history. Anarchism has not. That’s why there are no statues of Mikhail Bakunin in America’s parks and government buildings. Antifa boasts no equivalent to Steve Bannon, who called his old publication, Breitbart, “the platform for the alt-right,” and now works in the White House. It boasts no equivalent to Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, who bears the middle name of a Confederate general and the first name of the Confederacy’s president, and who allegedly called the NAACP “un-American.” 

It boasts no equivalent to Alex Jones, who Donald Trump praised as “amazing.” Even if antifa’s vision of society were as noxious as the “alt-right’s,” it has vastly less power to make that vision a reality.

And antifa’s vision is not as noxious. Antifa activists do not celebrate regimes that committed genocide and enforced slavery. They’re mostly anarchists. Anarchism may not be a particularly practical ideology. But it’s not an ideology that depicts the members of a particular race or religion as subhuman.

Oh, please. Let's cut to Beinart's longer piece for the rebuttal:

All of which raises a question that is likely to bedevil progressives for years to come: If you believe the president of the United States is leading a racist, fascist movement that threatens the rights, if not the lives, of vulnerable minorities, how far are you willing to go to stop it?

In Washington, D.C., the response to that question centers on how members of Congress can oppose Trump’s agenda, on how Democrats can retake the House of Representatives, and on how and when to push for impeachment. But in the country at large, some militant leftists are offering a very different answer. On Inauguration Day, a masked activist punched the white-supremacist leader Richard Spencer. In February, protesters violently disrupted UC Berkeley’s plans to host a speech by Milo Yiannopoulos, a former Breitbart.com editor. In March, protesters pushed and shoved the controversial conservative political scientist Charles Murray when he spoke at Middlebury College, in Vermont.

As far-flung as these incidents were, they have something crucial in common. Like the organizations that opposed the Multnomah County Republican Party’s participation in the 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade, these activists appear to be linked to a movement called “antifa,” which is short for antifascist or Anti-Fascist Action. The movement’s secrecy makes definitively cataloging its activities difficult, but this much is certain: Antifa’s power is growing.

So now instead of futilely plotting an anarchist takeover, we have the antifa contributing to the ejection of conservatives from US campuses and some US cities. This expansion of the campus safe space mentality has spread to corporate America, with Google the obvious example. And now Google and others are booting conservatives off the internet. 

And all to the good, some will say. There is no place for hate in America! To which others will say, please. A large part of the progressive agenda is marketed by opposition to "hate". Just offhand:

Welfare reform/restrictions: racist hate.

Support for stricter legal immigration limits: racist hate.

Support for stricter illegal immigration enforcement, including use of phrase "illegal" instead of "undocumented": racist hate.

Opposition to a higher minimum wage: racist. Tipping? Racist. (Actually, the original minimum wage laws were meant to push unskilled blacks out of the job market. I'd say "Bygones" but it is still an effect today.)

Support for stricter visa rules on entrants from Obama's failed, mostly Muslim states? Hate.

A desire to decline to participate in a gay wedding ceremony for religious reasons? Hate.

The list will surely grow over time, as Mr. Beinart no doubt is aware. Of course, it may also be cut back, since all sorts of anti-Semitism that would have once been beyond the pale is now embraced by the campus left.

Of course he knows all this:

All of this fuels the fears of Trump supporters, who suspect that liberal bastions are refusing to protect their right to free speech. Joey Gibson, a Trump supporter who organized the June 4 Portland rally, told me that his “biggest pet peeve is when mayors have police stand down … They don’t want conservatives to be coming together and speaking.” To provide security at the rally, Gibson brought in a far-right militia called the Oath Keepers. In late June, James Buchal, the chair of the Multnomah County Republican Party, announced that it too would use militia members for security, because “volunteers don’t feel safe on the streets of Portland.”

Antifa believes it is pursuing the opposite of authoritarianism. Many of its activists oppose the very notion of a centralized state. But in the name of protecting the vulnerable, antifascists have granted themselves the authority to decide which Americans may publicly assemble and which may not. That authority rests on no democratic foundation. Unlike the politicians they revile, the men and women of antifa cannot be voted out of office. Generally, they don’t even disclose their names.

...

Revulsion, fear, and rage are understandable. But one thing is clear. The people preventing Republicans from safely assembling on the streets of Portland may consider themselves fierce opponents of the authoritarianism growing on the American right. In truth, however, they are its unlikeliest allies.

To that 'unlikely alliance' point the NY Times had some interesting "testimony against interest" from the low-credibility SPLC. The topic of the Jun 2 2017 story is the antifa and the recent rise of violent right-wing groups (my emphasis):

“There’s been a lot of organized violence on the part of the left against the right, so we have to organize,” Mr. Chapman said. “The purpose is to have a peaceful event. But if people are attacked, you have to be ready and willing to defend yourself and your right-wing brothers and sisters.”

This form of aggression is something researchers say they have not seen on such a scale before on the far right, where the chosen method of provocation for groups like neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan is to demand the use of public space for rallies where they can spew racist and offensive language that is nonetheless protected as free speech.

“These are new people to us,” said Heidi Beirich, the Intelligence Project director for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist movements.

Typically, the far-right groups they study will demonstrate but avoid confrontation, acting in a “defensive crouch,” she added.

“But saying, ‘We’re going to show up and we’re intending to get in fights,’ that’s a new thing,” Ms. Beirich said.

By way of example:

The Alt-Knights were initially conceived as a paramilitary wing of the Proud Boys, designed to provide protection for audiences listening to conservative speakers like Ann Coulter and Milo Yiannopoulos, whose public events have been canceled because of threats of violence.

I'll agree that the antifa is unlikely to murder anyone, other than perhaps as a predictable consequence of the escalating violence in which they engage. And I agree that they are unlikely to impose an anarchist government.

But since they are the ideological heirs to the communist goons of Europe and their current goal seems to be the suppression of right-wing speech, I think there are ample grounds to worry. Especially when informed liberals such as Mr. Beinart feel obliged to minimize the threat.

ON THE BRIGHTER SIDE: Some loons bob to the surface but the NY Times commenters are mostly anti-violence in this article about the antifa, showing a stronger respect for our First Amendment freedoms than the even-handed NY Times writers and editors.

ON THE DARKER SIDE: The sun and the moon: racist.

 

Comments

[GUS]

I've never seen Henry without his Pipe and Deerstalker. And he wears this shirt with a skull and cross bones. Oh and Henry has a tattoo of 322. I promised him I wouldn't say where the tattoo is.

[Clarice Feldman]

Heh,gus.

[Captain Hate]

I'm sure that's true, Iggy; I'm also sure it bombed at the box office.

[Clarice Feldman]

Duh:http://nypost.com/2017/08/19/it-staffers-may-have-compromised-sensitive-data-to-foreign-intelligence/

[GUS]

Clarice, you are a logical woman. Has it occurred to you that the same VIOLENT SLEAZE, OCCUPOOP, PORTLAND, SEATTLE, PAID MOB, that attacked a band of PATHETIC LOSERS in CHARLOTTESVILLE is the group being PORTRAYED as good guys????
Is this because the MARXIST MF'ING MEDIA is MARXIST. Or is this because the MFM'ING MF'ERs in the MEDIA are DISHONEST???

Yes is the answer. This is the LOGICAL...LOGICAL...(LOGIC IS YOUR FRIEND) RESULT of Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn type VIOLENT 60'S UNLEASHED HIPPIES..........TEACHING, USEFUL IDIOTS to act in uncivilized manners. The GOALS of the LEFT, are no less disgusting, fascistic nor in any way less VILE and VIOLENT than a rag tag group of SILLY ASS HOLES wearing HOODS.
Until this skirmish, when was the LAST TIME, anyone had heard of or seen anyone who calls themself a NAZI, and what was the last VIOLENT ACT by a NAZI in the United States?
LOGIC.
One person died at Charlottesville, that is tragic.
One person died at CHAPPAQUIDICK, Ted the Swimmer served 6 more Senate terms after.

LOGIC.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

I have been so relieved that the Dems showed Trump how it's done by forming a line around the block as they stepped up to the microphone and condoned in the strongest possible terms the shooting of those two pigs.
Oh shoot, I said condoned didn't I?...I meant condemned. Yeah they all condemned the shooting of those two pi...dammit!
Police officers.
They condemned the shooting of those two police officers. There.
Well, they would have but it's Saturday and the game's on and...well, maybe Monday.
Oh, wait...and they preemptively condemn the backlash. Almost forgot the backlash. In fact they mostly condemn the backlash.

The Democrats condemn and denounce the backlash and that other thing that happened that has nothing to do with Islam but somehow will almost certainly prompt a backlash against Muslims...who are overwhelmingly subject to unlawful police harassment anyway.
No, too many mentions of Islam. People will start connecting cop shootings and Muslims.

Let's start over.
The Democrats condemn the outrageous, racist, despicable behavior of our brave and heroic law enforcement personnel in general, [Especially in an era when the Attorney General's middle name is that of a slave owner!] which caused the outrageous and unfortunate but understandable and justified preemptive self defense shooting of the two cops in FL by a lone wolf of no discernible beliefs but who anonymous sources indicate may be a false-flag lily-white, heterosexual, NRA life member, Christian deacon controlled by Trump's mind rays.

There;
Per. Fect.

[Buckeye]

When they changed the name of OFA to Oragnizing for Action, they weren't kidding

Hope it has effectively been infiltrated.

[daddy]

CNN Presents: THE 2017 MISS UNIVERSE PAGEANT!

Steve Harvey: "Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the exciting conclusion of the 2017 Miss Universe Pageant! Please a big round of applause for our final 2 contestants, Miss Columbia and Miss Philippines!"

Steve Harvey: "Now for the Final Question."

Steve Harvey:" Our First contestant, Miss Columbia. Are you ready, Miss Columbia?"

Miss Columbia: " I am, Steve."

Steve Harvey: "Miss Columbia, what is your fondest dream for mankind?"

Miss Columbia: "I dream of World Peace, Steve."

Steve Harvey: "And how would you achieve your dream of World Peace, Miss Columbia?"

Miss Columbia: "Through love, Steve, through love!"

Steve Harvey: "Let's have a very big round of applause for that excellent answer from Miss Columbia."

Steve Harvey: "And now for our final contestant, Miss Philippines! Are you ready Miss Philippines?"

Miss Phillipines: "I am, Steve."

Steve Harvey: "Miss Philippines, what is your fondest dream for mankind?"

Miss Philippines: "I dream of World Peace, Steve."

Steve Harvey: "And how would you achieve your dream of World Peace, Miss Philippines?"

Miss Philippines: "I would achieve World Peace though violence, Steve, through violence!"

Steve Harvey: "Uhhh, thank you Miss Philippines for that uhhh, interesting answer. I uhhh, think our panel of CNN Judges should have the winner following this exciting word from our sponsors at CNN!

Steve Harvey: Miss Columbia!!!

Steve Harvey: Uhhhhhhhhh...

Steve Harvey: Uhhhhhhhhh...

Steve Harvey: I'm being told the CNN Judges thought "achieving Peace through Violence" was the correct answer."

Steve Harvey: I, uhhhhhhhhh...

Steve Harvey: "There she is, Miss America Antifa..."

And what's the use of a Beauty pageant without the Swimsuit shot?

[GUS]

Billy The Rapist Clinton.
Ignatz, you would think Billy's "the Rapist" middle name would be "torn down", but, nope, his real middle name....J William Fulbright, has far more dark, sick and historically evil and hateful connections. So naturally the MARXIST MFM and it's INSANE CLOWN POSSE, went ape shit DENOUNCING CLINTONS, close association and love affair with FULBRIGHT?? Full Right??
Nope. They were too bizzy ATTACKING Clinton's refusal to FULLY DENOUNCE his MIDDLE-NAME-SAKE.....Thomas Jefferson...A SLAVE OWNER. RIGHT??? Nope.
Of course these MEDIA DARLINGS ripped Curb Dive Rodham, for her support of and LIP LOCK WITH exalted Grand Kleagle, Cyclops, and GRAND RACIST POOBAH.....Robert "Sheets" Byrd????????
For the fucking love of Gawd, I've posted the picture of Rodham giving TONGUE to the EVIL LIBTARD RACIST BASTARD........crickets, crickets.
Aunty Faye, are MARXIST CHILDREN. They are the GIRLS GONE WILD of ACADEMIA and the COMMIE MOVEMENT of AMERICA.
It's hilarious. We have these RACIST LOVING, MASK WEARING, MARXIST/COMMIE JUVENILE DELINQUENTS, creating HAVOC and VIOLENCE... YET.... Trump is a NAZI and Trump colluded with RUSSIANS.

I've called it here for a decade. We see THE FULL COMMIE before our eyes. No fear of consequences for their actions, and FULL MFM COLLUSION and LIES/PROPAGANDA to cover it up.
Oh, and the COMMIES hate JEWS too.

[Dave (in MA)]

Lol, daddy.

I propose that we adopt "Anti"fa as the more accurate way to refer to that bunch.

[Stephanie Puppy Pincushion extraordinaire]

Summr movies narc you forgot Spiderman Homecoming. Saw it again tonight.

[GUS]

Daddy, the WON on the right is MISS COLUMBIA.
https://www.google.com/search?q=pic+of+Obama+at+Columbia&rlz=1C1AOHY_enUS710US734&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjForLdgeXVAhWB6SYKHR-cCK0Q_AUICigB&biw=911&bih=451#imgrc=8ETJdp-gnZ86DM:

[daddy]

LOL, GUS. That was perfect.

BTW, here's runner-up Miss Columbia in her swimsuit:
Might make a nice looking First lady some day!

[GUS]

Daddy, does Resist we MUCH Trump own the Miss Universe Pageant??? Nope. He sold it in 2015. Notice ALL of the peeps in your post, are minorities???? Colombians, Philipino's, Shapely breastesses, Steve Harvey.
Trump would not approve, as Mister Trump is a NAZI!!!
LIBTARDS/MARXISTS, hate it when they are beaten down by humor and snark.

[GUS]

Why no TRANNIES in MISS UNIVERSE.

Answer: alt-right HATE.

[GUS]

So so so so many people believe the TRUMP/RUSSIA/TRUMP/NAZI shit, because they have been trained to be compliant STUPID, LIBTARD/MARXIST SHEEP. They know nothing else, and they DO NOT KNOW.....logic/critical thinking skills. NOT BY ACCIDENT.
Also, the MEDIA feeds this addiction to stupid.

[Dave (in MA)]

If, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, you make a typo on Twitter it proves that you're the worst President ever, okey doke.

[GUS]

Dave one of the best Obama clusterphux ever.......if if if if if if we fall for a bunch of OKIE DOKE, just because it sounds PROVOCATIVE.....ETC ETC ETC.

Obama WAS a CELEBRETARD. Obama is/was a CLOWN. Obama actually BELIEVED, that he IS/WAS QUALIFIED to run a KOOL AID STAND. OBAMA is/was a CLOWN. Obama WAS elected. As a dishonest phoney, egocentric FUKWAD, Obama tried to BLUSTER his way through serious conversations. In Opie the dimwits' entire life, NO ONE, ever told him exactly what a complete FUX UP he is/was.

[GUS]

Obama endangered our COUNTRY and our CHILDREN. I repeat OUR CHILDREN, by groveling and licking Iran's balls and by giving away TERRORISTS, in effort to make his AWFUL DYSFUNCTIONAL family life long DYNAMIC......better. Bowing, lying, paying off HORRIBLE DESPOTS. Avoiding TOUGH DECISIONS, and every single day LYING, LYING AND MORE LYING to achieve such VIRTUE!!!

[Dave (in MA)]

One of my most fervent hopes is that someday you'll come out of your shell and stop being so shy, GUS.

[GUS]

Dave, thank you. If you met me, you'd understand. I'm as sincere and loving as a person can be. Not kidding.

[GUS]

Dave. I coined the term THE FULL COMMIE, 10 years ago. I was right.

[GUS]

BINGO CLARICE. I stayed up until your PIECES was published. You are 100% on task. This is a LAST GASP LIBTARD/MARXIST/THE FULL COMMIE attempt to disrupt the RUIN of the DEMOCRAT PARTY. Never has AMERICA suffered under such MFM/LIBTARD/MARXIST dishonest PROPAGANDA.

[rich]

the first to link Clarice's Pieces ...

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/08/terry_and_the_antifa_bandits_will_inherit_the_wind.html

read it all.

[rich]

thanks for all the movie recommendations.

[daddy]

the first to link Clarice's Pieces: with her fancy logo:)

Loved this bit:

As an aside, Ace of Spades noted that when Obama nonsensically blamed both sides -- Islamists and Christians -- for Islamic violence, the Washington Post nodded in agreement and castigated those who criticized what was truly vile as arguments of “moral equivalence.”

Yep.

[rich]

thanks daddy ... throwin' that html skillz in my face.

and to add to the point the whole "cycle of violence" ...

[rich]

and your 12:42 is a keeper. how do you come up with those? do you compose them in some sort of html editor then paste them into the comment block?

[daddy]

rich,

An idea pops up that sticks in my head---in this case Clarice's earlier link of CNN's headline calling for "Peace thru Violence," and then later you guy's mentioning movies and "Groundhog Day" reminded me of the scene where Bill Murray disengenuously blathers about praying for "World Peace" while trying to get in Andy McDowell's pants.
That got me thinking about Beauty Queens always yammering away about "World Peace," and that brought to mind Steve Harvey's epic F*** up" at Miss Universe:) Then you just click on pics for "Miss Universe 2015 finals screw-up" and there's a million pic choices, and you simply find ones that fit and paste them all together in the comment box and then hit preview a few dozen times as you swap 'em around like puzzle pieces, then toss in words trying to get some laughs and make 'em fit.
Sadly they don't all come out winners:(

[bub]

Excerpt:
"But in a repeat of myriad Trump campaign controversies, voters didn’t share the same level of outrage as the elites. The latest wave of polling shows that the president’s overall job-approval rating has inched upwards since the controversy, that a sizable majority of Americans support maintaining Confederate memorials instead of tearing them down, and that a notable minority agree with the president’s use of “both sides” language during Tuesday’s press conference.

The polling is simply the latest illustration of the gaping divide between elite opinion and the views of average Americans. It’s clear many voters don’t share the same sense of alarm about Trump as political leaders and journalists. Judging by the news coverage, you’d reasonably expect the president to have alienated the entire country with his insensitive, racially charged rhetoric. In reality, public opinion is splitting along predictable partisan lines—with Trump’s view that Confederate monuments should be preserved getting a surprising degree of bipartisan support.

Former Democratic Rep. Steve Israel put it best, writing in Newsday this week about a recent conversation he overheard at a Long Island diner. “Now they’re making a big deal about statues? Who cares about statues!” Israel recounted hearing. It’s why top Democratic strategists have urged their candidates not to talk to voters about impeachment or dwell on the hot-button issues driving media coverage."

https://www.nationaljournal.com/s/656915/trump-exploits-gap-between-elite-public-opinion

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

http://cbs4indy.com/2017/08/19/indiana-state-fair-asks-vendors-to-stop-selling-confederate-goods/

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

http://cbs4indy.com/2017/08/19/local-man-arrested-for-vandalizing-confederate-monument-in-garfield-park/

Ha! A local who had more intelligence than our city government went to keep an eye on the monument and video taped a guy hitting it with a hammer, who was subsequently arrested.

The park is about a mile north of me.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

http://nypost.com/2017/08/19/it-staffers-may-have-compromised-sensitive-data-to-foreign-intelligence/

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

President Trump has changed his Twitter banner to that super serious group photo taken at the national security meeting.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump

[Michael Kochin]

I am certain that individuals who have been active in Antifa will murder someone, and when they do, the MSM will cover up their Antifa affiliation.
https://jacobitemag.com/2017/06/14/political-violence-is-a-game-the-right-cant-win/

[henry]

Note: Mnuchin got to Yale after I left. I don't know what's wrong with those kids. ;)

[Buckeye]

Another job well done Clarice.

[Clarice Feldman]

Thanks.

[DebinGA]

Another excellent Piece. Great to get an overall view of the VA fracas. Hard to believe the rival factions were purposely maneuvered to make violence inescapable. I wonder if the helicopter that went down was filming such machinations? Or if there's visual proof available of such malicious "herding"?

[DebinGA]

The Ferguson, MO "Hands Up" episode opened my eyes to two new things: the prevalence of Muslim "Free Palestine" flags/people among the BLM crowd and the
replacement of traditional black clergy with black Farrakhanites.

[sbw]

Tweeted: Exposed: Potemkin Village built by McAuliffe, #MSM, and #Leftists--[Link to Clarice’s article.

Well done and documented, Clarice.

BTW, did you know that one of the co-authors of Inherit the Wind was Robert E. Lee?

[jimmyk]

Great Pieces, Clarice. I'm reminded of the 60s when all the protests, violent and otherwise, got so much media support, yet the hated Nixon still won two elections. I'm hopeful this stuff isn't playing well with the American public outside of the far left crazies.

(I think there's a typo at the end of the 5th or so paragraph, regarding Jason Kessler.)

[Janet the expert 🚬]

opened my eyes to two new things: the prevalence of Muslim "Free Palestine" flags/people among the BLM crowd and the
replacement of traditional black clergy with black Farrakhanites.

Michael's link at 7:00 addresses that too.
The left has established networks that support each other.
Make a call & get hundreds of people to any event.

I noticed at lefty protests in DC that it was always the SAME groups, no matter the topic of the gathering.
Green supports Palestinian supports abortion supports anti-war supports Occupy supports unions supports illegal immigration supports....

It is especially easy in DC because all those groups & causes have offices & employees in DC.

[Ralph L]

Does anyone know what group the red raised fists belong to? Has ANSWER renamed itself or subdivided?

[cboldt]

Debin GA - the copter went down 5 hours after the fights broke out, and 3 hours after the car ran into pedestrians.

[DebinGA]

It is especially easy in DC because all those groups & causes have offices & employees in DC.

Massive influx of such folks would explain why VA is no longer purple but solidly blue. Gov. Mark Warner, followed by Gov. Tim Kaine, followed by the execrable McAwful shows the decline into madness.

[DebinGA]

Thanks, cboldt. Easy to imagine McAwful hiding or even destroying videos.

[Porchlight]

New thread

[jimmyk]

Massive influx of such folks would explain why VA is no longer purple but solidly blue.

Any hope that draining the swamp would get a bunch of these folks to move back to Berkeley or Cambridge, or wherever they are from? Probably not given how Congress works.

[Captain Hate]

Ralph,

Any formal titles of those groups are meaningless because they just morph from one to another. It's like expecting the Journolist to just go away when they were busted yet none of them were fired for unprofessional conduct. You still see the mindlessly coordinated usage of the same phrases across news organizations.

[Ralph L]

The left has established networks that support each other.
So did the Right--when it came to fundraising.

I listened to/looked up a little Augustus Invictus last night because he's stolen my middle name, in family use for over 200 years.
Fake "Southern" accent and obsessive self-promoter. An illiberal Libertarian candidate in FL.
Do any of these fringe crackpots actually have more than a handful of followers?

[Janet the expert 🚬]

It explains why the left super hated the tea party movement. They didn't want conservatives organizing like THEY DO.

IMO the right DOES have groups but our "groups" are our churches & local charity groups & fraternal clubs & such.
We don't have our entire being defined by politics.

Look at who the left attacks - churches, the Boy Scouts, the Greek systems on campuses,...

Heaven forbid Americans are free to associate with whoever they want. Can't have THAT.