The rolling Kristallnacht of “mostly peaceful†protests organized and sponsored by the unholy union of Antifa and BLM continues unabated in those mostly progressive Democrat party municipalities such as Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland, and New York. Give the protesters, rioters and looters credit for stamina; they’ve kept it up for nearly two months now, and look to be going strong, still. They haven’t much dared venture out and away from those progressive sanctuaries, although half a dozen did make a trip to Sturgis to provoke the bikers rallying there, which futile bit of resistance theater they did from behind a screen of local police. Which brings to mind Insty the Blogfaddah’s oft-repeated observation that the police – which the Antifaites and BLM protesters wish to abolish – are there to protect accused criminals from the rest of us. Frankly, it would have been laugh-out-loud comic if the bikers in Sturgis had been allowed to pants the Antifaites and run them out of town naked, but there you are. Obviously the Antifaites and BLMmers are hoping to provoke an over-the-top violent reaction and a blooming new crop of martyr Horst Wessels; they must be quite annoyed that so far, the rest of us have kept our temper. Although there was that incident in Austin late in July, wherein a protester learned too late that brandishing a weapon in a threatening manner towards a driver who is a licensed concealed-carry holder and an active-duty soldier moonlighting as an Uber driver … might just have an adverse outcome.
But one has to wonder – what are the civic authorities in Portland, Minneapolis, etc. – getting out of all this destructive unrest. The sane, productive and enterprising – or just those with no toleration for civic degradation of the place where they live and work – are fleeing in job lots, taking their votes (one might hope) their taxes, and in the case of businesses, their jobs for workers with them. What’s the gain in this for mayors and city councils? Is it that they are a bunch of time-serving progressives incapable of looking at a likely long-term outcome, like Detroit? I will not rule out abject stupidity on the part of prog politicians, but there must be a reason for deliberately pursuing policies that drive out the productive and cater to the terminally resentful. One thought comes to mind – the Curley Effect: securing long-time political hegemony for one’s own ilk, at the long-term expense of the municipality. Or is there some kind of real estate scheme in effect – a 21st century civic variant of ‘block busting’: frighten desperate home and business owners, forcing them to sell or abandon formerly high-value urban real estate at a minimal value, so that they might be scooped up for later redevelopment? Discuss as you wish.
PS – I still believe that Election Day in November will not bring a stop to anything. Instead, it will intensify.