“Amazing grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now I’m found.
Was blind but now I see.
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.”
On the eve of the Inauguration, an editor and writer for The Liberty Conservative, James Allsup, was assaulted by a mob of anarchists, radicals, criminals, and various other protesters. Allsup is also a candidate for Chairman of the College Republicans and former leader of the Students for Trump movement. According to the Fox News story, he was struck in the back of the head by a flag pole for wearing the iconic Make America Great Again hat. His head was gushing blood.
I’m writing by my hotel window, watching Washington move down below, and this story has me thinking. I’ll admit that it’s a bit worrisome that this guy is an activist and campaign professional like me. However, I wish I was mortified and shocked. I wish I didn’t almost expect this to happen to people who put their principles, beliefs, and vision of the future at the fore of their life. A bizarre, “what county do I live in” feeling set in because I realized something that concerns me an awful lot: I’m not surprised, shocked, or mortified.
Human beings are uniquely imperfect. Our sinfulness and imperfections aren’t lessened by forming a group. Just because we assume the role of an agency, a movement, or even nations, our imperfections are not lessened in the slightest.
People need grace. Therefore, our nation needs grace. When our political differences amount to reason enough for violence, that need is readily, bloodily apparent. Our political disagreements today are over how healthcare should be managed or tax rates should be set. We disagree on the types of trade deals that should be signed. We debate the placement of police officers in large cities and the conduct of a small minority of those officers. We argue the proper level and nature of immigration coming into the United States.
These disagreements pale in comparison to the need for national grace, a need that violence obstructs, detracts from, and complicates.
The Left has been, is, and will be more effective at political violence. They’ll also, I’ll venture to say, more prone to that particular violence. That is a product of worldview. The conservative worldview, for all its faults, seeks a stable, cohesive society. For American conservatism social order is built upon a set of values and identification with a set of national principles. In other countries, conservatives work toward social order on other, sometimes less savory, grounds.
The Left is a different beast, though. Their worldview is shaped by an equally unifying, but very different, force. Struggle. Any struggle. For many, it’s the struggle of the proletariat. For others, it’s racial struggle. Take the Israel-”Palestine” conflict. No interpretation of liberalism or respect for equality renders the Palestinians favorable to Israel politically.
This worldview motivated the individual who struck Mr. Allsup in the back of the head. We can discuss these things in high-minded philosophical rhetoric about worldview, but the impacts of the Left’s hunger for struggle is bloody, visceral, and very concrete.
We could be on the edge of a far different, far more morbid politics. At press time, all was quiet on the Washington Front, bar the events from last night. The Inauguration is on schedule and seems to be proceeding uninterrupted. Our far different, far more morbid politics may begin today. Though you, the reader, may already know by the time of your reading this, I’d ask you to keep the nation’s capital and citizens in your prayers. Most importantly, however, pray for our national grace.
