Your Dinner Has Been Cancelled

We're in the thick of the political season, and accordingly my posts are becoming more political. But this story transcends politics.  It's about coming  human decency, or the absence of it among those who  claim to be morally superior . You've probably seen the video clip above. Look at it again. The punk "protesters" (read: thugs) driving the elderly couple from their restaurant table are going to drive voters to vote for Donald Trump in November. And I don't mean in a Toyota.

Many millions of Americans can identify with that couple, who were  simply trying to have dinner outdoors while observing the social distancing rules.  Some will identify with the thugs who made it impossible for them to quietly have a meal. Which side do you identify with? And how many voters do you think support your side? 

Will Joe Biden and the Democrats denounce these protesters, loudly and frequently and without hedging or apologizing?  If they don't, he's a dead duck. This is the time for his Sister Souljah moment, for those of you old enough to remember Bill Clinton and the 1992 presidential election. Possibly some of you have a taste for history and have read about it.

But old Joe has gone back to hiding in his basement.  Perhaps the scheduled debate on Tuesday will lure him out.  If he sees his shadow, he might take a cue from his fellow Pennsylvanian, groundhog Punxsutawney Phil, and dive back into his hole.

How can any decent human being not be utterly disgusted by the behavior so vividly on display in this video clip? Even Representative Maxine Waters told her followers to harass *only* members of the Trump administration when they encounter them at gas stations or restaurants. That's bad enough. But these people were innocent civilians. Or did their race, age, and ability to pay for a meal make them automatically guilty in the eyes of the woke thugsters?

Some will no doubt say -- already have said -- that these harassers and hoodlums do not represent the great mass of noble protesters or their leaders. But have you heard the leaders denounce this kind of behavior?  Or you heard them explicitly endorse it?  Some of the "Movement'" leaders have said that looting is "just a form of reparations."  How do you feel about that? Will you be understanding when they break down your door and steal everything you own?

Be careful how you answer. Tomorrow it might be you -- not just expelled from your restaurant table, but with a plate of chicken tetrazzini dumped on top of your irredeemably guilty head. And next week it may be more than your meal that will be canceled.  It might be your life.

The Fire This Time, Part 2

The protesters in Seattle's "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone" (CHAZ)* might want to read George Orwell's masterpiece about the Spanish Civil War, "Homage to Catalonia," to learn what happened to the anarchists who took over the town of Barcelona.  Or read about the members of the French Commune in 1870. Or the Bolshevik creators of the Munich commune in the aftermath of the First World War. It didn't end well for them.  Given the choice between anarchy and order, most citizens opt for order.  And the worse the anarchy is, the more brutal the strongman who restores that order. Witness Napoleon after the chaos of the French Revolution.

Orwell admitted that he was at first exultant over the anarchists in Barcelona eliminating money, private property, and all class distinctions, with people from all different backgrounds serving as waiters and sanitation workers. But his enthusiasm quickly dissipated when he saw how the anarchists were being executed by their ostensible allies, the Soviet-backed militias who took over the Republican cause. Orwell never fully got over his disillusionment from the Spanish Civil War, and his bitterness led to the writing of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-four.  The protesters who are now pulling down monuments and attempting to eliminate history may well have been inspired by the bureaucrats of Orwell's Ministry of Truth in the latter novel. More likely they have not read the book and are simply following the natural pattern of all totalitarians who disguise themselves as liberators.

* Now renamed "Capitol Hill Organized Protest" (CHOP) 6/25/2020

David Ryder / Getty Images