America cannot allow political violence to be legitimized. But the plague is growing, pushed by reckless voices who think it serves their ends. It does not, as long as we believe in stable, secure, representative democracy – pursuit of “life of life, liberty and…happiness.” As mobs grow, we need to oppose all political violence. That may sound tough, but in historical context it is true.
The left wants to redefine what is permissible, just as they have redefined boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, mothers and fathers, blurred legal and illegal immigration, legalized illegal drugs, car-jacking, and other felonies, defunded police and left many to fend for themselves.
That approach – ever and always – leads to chaos. Pick your period of history, it is always the same. Legitimizing political violence produces an abandonment of learned norms, mass heartbreak, ricocheting injustices, random and targeted crimes, a breakdown in the civil order.
Think French Revolution, Bolshevik Revolution, rise of Brown Shirts in pre-WWII Germany, the normalization of thuggery, skullduggery, and destruction of property and peace from Kosovo and Lebanon to Venezuela and unstable African countries, from Sudan to Afghanistan.
Moreover, redefining street violence as political speech violates every legal and historical tenet for which the flag stands. It is utterly unconstitutional, violates hundreds of federal and state statues, and cannot be allowed wing. Giving political violence a nod is a fast track to anarchy, splits republics from within.
What political violence does is create a vicious cycle – based on public fear, distrust, and self-preservation. It represents a turn to darkness, away from constitutionalism, to the view that government and rule of law are failing, self-help, vigilantism, and private justice justified.
Permitting political violence to go unchecked corrupts society, erodes public trust in government, which ignites resentment, defiance, and a sequence of private and public actions that accelerate the mayhem.
Failing to deter political violence – with a clear, nonpartisan, unified political voice – creates wild social oscillations, fear and chaos to crackdowns and suppression, then back, until a state of regular disorder, personal terror, human exhaustion, and society-wide lawlessness dominate.
In this vacuum, abusive leaders rise, along with opportunistic criminals. A normalization of the abnormal, immoral, and lawless occurs – until the entire social order is in chaos, awaiting more chaos, a strongman dictator, or ideological (or ethnic) blame-casting, followed by horrifying acts of villainy and retribution.
America has long labored to stay out of that snake pit, consistently and proportionately deterring and stopping political violence, political corruption, and actions that sow fear, distrust, and spawn violence.
We must sit up straight and take stock of where we are. We remain – for now – a largely safe, secure, and stable representative democracy – or republic. But crime, disrespect for police, borders, and law, public corruption, lack of accountability, and excusing criminality on crazy social theories – has an effect.
We are sliding from longstanding norms that kept society cohesive, safe and free. The urgent need is for all political voices – in rough harmony – to say clearly: Political violence is not permissible, not legal, not American; respect for laws, law enforcement, and our Constitution is what keeps us safe.
Bottom line: Political leaders who permit, encourage, or turn a blind eye on political violence – from the riots of 2020 and 2021 to wilding in urban centers – and attorneys general, governors, mayors, or prosecutors who fail to enforce the laws – are promoting the rise of chaos, undermining society, and are fundamentally anti-American. That may sound tough, but in historical context, it is absolutely true.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC.
