This weekend marks the anniversary of an ugly chapter in our recent American History, one that pitted two diverse groups of Americans on the hot streets of the Old Dominion. The event, which occurred a year ago has yet to have been properly engaged and has served only as a fault line from which Americans continue to attack one another.
Last August, Charlottesville Virginia became a flashpoint as two schools of Socialism, National and International, used the pretext of historic monuments to clash in the streets. Their combined behavior diminished our image as a land of stability and safety. Today, "AntiFa" and a mulligan's stew of white supremacist groups will converge on D.C's Lafayette Square to out-obnoxious one another, tarring our already strained national dialogue.
AntiFa, a group who's name seems to fall straight from the pages of Orwell's 1984. While claiming ostensibly to stand in opposition to Fascism, they seem to adhere to the tactics and conduct of the European Fascists of the last Century. Like the Klan, they also hide behind masks lest reasonable freedom-loving Americans would see their adherents for who they really are. Politically, their leanings align with the Socialist International and is diametrically opposed to the historic democratic republican ideals from which the American Republic was born. The White Nationalists, or "Alt-Right" on the other hand, have been described many as "American Nazis", and this description well-earned for many reasons. This confederation has veiled their ethnic and racial animus behind the veneer of American Patriotism in ways which are quite similar to their Munich-based forerunners from a Century ago as well. Though progressive pundits have identified them with the classical conservative movement, there is nothing that is "Conservative" or "Right" about them at all. Like the Fascism of AntiFa, they too are rooted in thought that is thoroughly un-American. In the spirit of truth in advertising, naming them as the Faux-Right would be a far better descriptive label. They're not an alternative expression of Conservatism, they purposely and thoroughly misrepresent that worldview.
Left to their own devices, both of these Socialist elements, National & International, could drag our Republic into the dystopia of post-Imperial/ante-Weimar Germany as they spill into our streets to battle for the hearts and minds of America. If either side were to succeed, it would be enlarge part due to the apathy of the vast middle of the spectrum who don't grasp just what is at stake.
Understand this as well; both antebellum southern monuments/relics, and the Donald Trump presidency are little more than straw men and pretexts in all of this. National & International Socialism have been at odds with one another since their inception and will continue to battle for dominance within the marketplace of ideas.
Today's rally in Washington must serve as a wakeup call to both classical conservatives and liberals alike. Both parties need to speak in one voice, repudiating both AntiFa and all strains of ethno-Nationalism. True American patriotism knows no race, creed, or color. It can serve as a bulwark against those who seek to divide us by race, gender, or class.
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