American Carnage: Trump Indictment Reflects Left’s Bottomless Cynicism

[Geee]

Real Clear Politics

 

The double standard is obvious, and that is the point. Justice is a tool of the left. If you don’t like it, watch out.

A cynic might note that politicians have always done whatever they could to gain power. But their conduct has long been constrained by the American people, who have long believed in American institutions and American values.

Rank-and-file Democrats no longer provide such guardrails for their leaders. Instead of saying enough, most are cheering their party’s serial subversions of the system. Part of this response reflects the fear-and-loathing influence of those who tell them what to think: Terrified by cancel culture and desperate to appear virtuous and smart, Democrat voters have swallowed the propaganda of progressive activists in politics, media, entertainment, and academia who cast Republicans as fascistic Neanderthals. No decent person could support the GOP, so what choice do I have?

 

That Manichean mindset, however, is relatively benign compared to more profound corruption of thought that the progressive elite have wrought among their followers through the normalization of cynicism.

The woke revolution they are leading is a force of destruction. It offers no vision of a promised land. Its main impulse is to expose, delegitimize, and dismantle American institutions and American values. Instead of a shining city on a hill, they present America’s past and present as a parade of horribles fueled by systemic racism, sexism, and homophobia. In their telling, slavery, rather than freedom, is our nation’s defining feature. Everyone except straight white men is part of an oppressed group trapped in a Sisyphean struggle to avoid being crushed by a system designed to keep them down. This ideological cynicism about the American project fuels destructive policies:

• The criminal justice system is rigged, so why prosecute people (other than our political enemies) for most crimes?
• The education system is rigged, so why expect kids to study or behave themselves?
• The economic system is rigged, so why work hard?
• Other human beings are a bother, so why get married or have children?

Is it any wonder that a recent Gallup Poll found a record-low number of respondents say they are extremely proud to be Americans?