BLAIR: The Murder of Brian Thompson and the Growing Violence of the Left
Having been shielded from real violence for so long, writes Blair, Democrats seem all too happy to invite it as a political tool for social change.
The murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson feels like a flashpoint in American society. This was the moment we realized many on the left crossed the Rubicon and embraced barbarism over civilization.
Historian Niall Ferguson once described the 20th Century as the “bloodiest in human history”. It is hard to argue the point considering that 2 World Wars raged, a Cold War brewed, and revolution spread throughout the globe.
Perhaps even more terrifying than the death and destruction, was the devastating realization that barbarism itself was not a relic of the past but an encoded part of our DNA. No amount of technology, education, or secular humanist philosophy could overcome mankind’s primal instincts.
Look how quickly the left moved from freedom to censorship to excommunication to justifying murder. What has been so jarring is the number of people who are okay with justifying the murder of another private citizen. We can no longer fool ourselves into believing that it’s just happening on college campuses or social media. The barbarians are at the gate; like, literally at the gate of our house. Many of our friends, neighbors, and even our children are justifying murder.
“Well, he did kinda deserved it…”
“Do you know how many people he killed by denying claims?”
“What are people supposed to do…”
If you have talked to anyone about Mr. Thompson’s murder, you have probably heard it. The justification for cold-blooded murder is the leftist New Causa Diei.
“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” - The Who, Won’t Get Fooled Again.
Murder is nothing new to the left. The horrific death toll of the 20th Century was largely the result of Marxism and its unruly offspring; Communism and Socialism. When you cut the Marxist fruit, the core is always violence. It is the poison apple of Western society.
The death toll attributed to Communist regimes is staggering. The Little Black Book of Communism estimates that 97 million people were murdered by Communist regimes in the 20th Century; University of Hawaii professor Rudolph’s Rommel estimates the number as high as 168 million. The collectivist sees death as the cost of doing business and as that mindest takes hold in the US we are seeing attitudes rapidly shift regarding the use of political violence.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the worst excesses of the left have largely been kept in check. The leaders of the Democratic Party were made up of people who lived through WWII and cut their political teeth during the Cold War. Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, and Nancy Pelosi all grew up in the aftermath of WWII and were young politicians during the Vietnam War. They saw firsthand what unchecked violence looked like and served as a bulwark against it in their party.
Today’s Democrat leaders come from a new generation that has never actually seen or felt the effects of violence. To them, it is simply a tool to be used instead of an evil to be avoided. The Greatest Generation and the Cold Warriors have been replaced by community organizers, social media wannabes, and cultural misfits who have no understanding of the past or interest in actually governing. Governing is hard but destroying people on TikTok is fun.
Moderation is not a virtue in the Democratic Party, is it a sin.
Why have the assassination attempts on Donald Trump vanished from the public consciousness so quickly? Because a large portion of our society thinks he deserved it, just like Brian Thompson — and we need to understand that.
ERIC BLAIR lives in a bunker in Northern Virginia.