Hanson: No boundaries in the Left's pursuit of power

FPI / June 1, 2023

For American leftists, "the ends of power always more than justify the hypocritical means used to obtain it," historian and columnist Victor Davis Hanson noted.

That is why you see so many liberal climate activists flying on private jets and sailing on the most carbon spewing yachts on the planet.

It's why those "who profited from Black Lives Matter have a propensity for estate living."

Or why "the community-activist Obamas prefer to live in not one, but three mansions."

It all starts with winning elections by any means at their disposal.

"Calls for radical equity, 'power for the people,' and mandated equality are usually mostly sloganeering for those who enjoy power and the lucre it brings, and their wish is to augment both for themselves," Hanson wrote in a May 29 op-ed. "The result is that the issue du jour of mandated equality often becomes secondary if not irrelevant. There is neither fear of inconstancy nor hypocrisy, given the central theme that governs a leftist party line is political utility."

When a leftist is pursuing power, there also are no boundaries.

"Spout racialist nonsense for 40 years? Harass women and young girls by blowing in their hair and squeezing them too tightly? Create a family grifting syndicate to leverage foreign cash in quid pro quo fashion? Praise racial segregationists?

"Joe Biden did all those things and more," Hanson noted. "But he also did them in service to a supposed noble cause, sort of like the current board president of the NAACP promoting a black travel ban on Florida, while he lives — in Florida! Keep political utility in mind and the baffling hypocrisy of the Left makes all too perfect sense."

Take the Jan. 6, 2021 "insurrection" and the 2020 "summer of love" BLM/Antifa riots.

"From all the tens of thousands of January 6 Capitol protesters a small percentage entered the Capitol itself. Of that group, an even smaller number committed violent acts. Most of those seriously injured that day were among the protesters themselves. Despite official propaganda, there were not five police officers killed on January 6 as alleged by the Left," Hanson noted.

"Instead, the only likely death at the hand of another was the diminutive, 5’2’’, 14-year-military veteran and unarmed Ashli Babbitt. She was lethally shot by a Capitol officer Michael Byrd for the likely misdemeanor of trespassing and — illegally entering a broken window to the Capitol."

Over one thousand Jan. 6 protesters were arrested, tried, and mostly convicted by Washington, D.C. juries of charges ranging from parading without a permit to insurrection. Many were sentenced to long prison terms. Some may spend most of their remaining years in prison.

Hanson noted: "The Left has justified long sentences on three grounds: One, the protesters targeted iconic government buildings as the object of their attacks. Two, the protesters were ideologically motivated and seemed bent on insurrection to warp the political process. Three, the protesters were attempting to nullify an election by their massing at the Capitol and therefore questioned the very integrity of the 2020 election.

"In theory these were legitimate reasons to treat harshly any convicted of such insurrectionary crimes. But in reality, the Left cared little about its pretexts justifying harsh responses, much less proving their charges. What mattered were the political opportunities offered by January 6, and the chance to leverage the occasion to consolidate power."

Meanwhile, for 120 days in 2020, leftist mobs led by Antifa and Black Lives Matter "wrought far greater destruction in nonstop rioting, arson, looting, and assault. Over 35 people died. Two billion dollars in property damage followed. Some 1,500 officers were assaulted and injured. Over 14,000 protesters were arrested," Hanson noted. "Yet few were convicted of any serious crimes; fewer were sentenced to long sentences — given prosecutors, state and federal, claimed the violence was merely a result of protesters exercising their 'constitutional right' of dissent."

By any fair measure, Hanson continued, "the violence of 2020 was a far greater and more deadly threat to the republic than anything occurring on January 6, 2021. But most of the 14,000 arrested perpetrators who were responsible for that incredible summer of violence were exempted because their mayhem was deemed politically useful — in the same fashion it was advantageous to turn the buffoonish Capitol protesters into seasoned revolutionaries. The common denominator was only the Left’s efforts to warp events to achieve power."

The U.S. government and the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign "paid a foreign national to spy on a rival campaign, compile lies about a rival candidate, and then spread them through government and the media. The FBI arguably sought to alter both the 2016 and 2020 elections," Hanson noted.

"In this same eight-year period, a FISA court was deluded, and an FBI lawyer altered court documents. Phone records were wiped clean. Subpoenaed devices were destroyed. Key evidence that affected a current campaign was put under FBI wraps. Agents openly texted their intent to ensure a predetermined presidential election result. Americans in general were routinely spied upon. Many were framed by FBI skullduggery and had their lives ruined."

Leftists "never objected to these violations of civil rights or the illegal freelancing of intelligence agencies. Far from it — the Left cheered on the illegality," Hanson continued. "Why? Because for them hating or worshiping the CIA, NSA, and FBI—or for that matter the Pentagon, IRS, and Justice Department — was never a matter of consistent principle. Instead these bureaucracies were deemed pathological when associated with conservatism and traditionalism, and angelic when their extralegal efforts were put to use for the progressive agenda."

Hanson concluded: "There are some grassroots leftists who are deluded into sincerely believing 'equity' can be achieved by government confiscation and redistribution. But for most of the elite, the cause is a means to personal and professional power, a fact that explains why one day walking only on four leftist legs is alone correct, the next day just two."

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