OPINION:
The winds of counterrevolution are blowing across America, and they’re aimed directly at President Trump and the conservative establishment.
Last week’s tragic shooting in Alexandria is the tipping point of a political climate so charged with rhetorical outrage that physical violence is now turning into reality.
The same day James Hodgkinson opened fire at a baseball practice for the annual congressional baseball game — after reportedly asking whether Republicans or Democrats were practicing — Rep. Claudia Tenney of New York received a threatening email. She usually receives threatening emails from people angry at her office or at some bill or legislation she’s supported, but this one was particularly disturbing since it referenced that morning’s attack. The subject line read, “One down, 216 to go .”
Just think about it: In recent memory, I cannot recall a time when a U.S. president, or a presidential family, has ever been attacked with such viciousness. Mockery of the first family, the president and congressional leaders is daily fodder for late night shows.
Our media’s obsession with Mr. Trump has emboldened comedians and playwrights to joke about violence against public officials who have been legally elected to office under our Constitution. And if you’re a supporter of our president and his administration, you’re branded an ignorant bigot or racist.
The planet’s greatest experiment of freedom and democracy is under siege. And guess what? This tidal wave of destruction is coming from within us. As the famous introspective saying, popularized by Walt Kelly’s “Pogo” cartoon, goes, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.
At heart, this division is largely fueled by an ideology that relativizes moralism and hates the idea of God. This ideology says evil doesn’t actually exist, people are basically good, and individuals cannot really be held accountable for wrongdoing. It rejects God and his moral law, and demands the Bible be cast out of America.
Supporters of this ideology are the architects of Roe v. Wade, a ruling that has resulted in the murder of almost 60 million unborn children, and of Engel v. Vitale, the ruling that removed prayer from public schools. Just recently, I read that a high school senior in Pennsylvania was barred from praying in Jesus’ name at her graduation because doing so “excludes other religions.
The problem with moral relativism — besides causing us to be intolerant under the guise of tolerance — is that it trivializes the serious issues we face today. We end up coddling evil by refusing to confront it.
For example, on the war on terror, liberal leftists have convinced many Americans that military action is the wrong approach. The day after the London Bridge attack — which killed eight people and wounded scores more — a popular author took to Twitter to tell her substantial number of followers that the cure for terrorism is love
“When terror attacks happen, I think of the Whos in the Grinch, singing after Xmas is ruined. It isn’t fear/hate that changes him: it’s love,” she posted.
In this world of relativity, we are evil for retaliating against evil and inhuman for launching a pre-emptive strike to prevent a sure danger. Self-loathing has replaced righteous indignation, while violent mockery of a president is celebrated as artistic and insightful
This is all coming from within us, and until we shake ourselves out of this fog, we will continue to pay the costly consequences of living in a relative world.
• Michael D. Evans is the head of several prominent international nonprofit organizations in the United States, the Netherlands and Israel, including the Friends of Zion Heritage Center and Museum in Jerusalem.
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