By Clark Bailey

The Loyalist

“Society is undergoing a silent revolution, which must be submitted to, and which takes no more notice of the human existences it breaks down than an earthquake regards the houses it subverts. The classes and the races, too weak to master the new conditions of life, must give way” ― Karl Marx, New York Daily Tribune, 22 March 1853

^^^

Most of us are familiar with the story of Betsy Ross and the sewing of the Colonial flag. Grounded in fact and peppered with myth and legend, the story has become part of our national ethos. It is wound together with all the history, myth and legend of the Revolutionary War and the Colonial period till they converge into what is the narrative of the founding of this political nation.

Recently, plans for a line of athletic shoes by Nike featuring the Betsy Ross flag were scuttled amid criticism, specifically from failed football star and perennial activist Colin Kaepernick. It was Kaepernick who opined the shoes, in particular the image of the Colonial flag, were offensive due to the flag’s connection to slavery.

Nike agreed with its high profile spokesman and junked the production of the shoe. It was a move I found to have a great deal of irony considering just two points to start with: 1.) Nike essentially has labor practices across the world that add up to defacto slave labor, and 2.) Kaepernick, an alleged Muslim, belongs to a religion that still allows and practices slavery. I would add that Betsy Ross was a Quaker, and antislavery, but it, like other points, would be lost on the cultural Marxist political correctness mob.

In a similar fashion the city of Charlottesville recently decided to drop all references to Thomas Jefferson, our third president, the city’s most famous son, and the founder of the famed and prestigious University of Virginia of Charlottesville. Just a few short years ago, Charlottesville was the sight of the “Unite The Right” rally and the violence that ensued among all sorts of protesters on the right and all manner of protesters on the left. All that arose from the proposed removal of the Robert E. Lee statue in the city. Lee is a man of which history throws up contradictions and conundrums — a soldier who had as many admirers among his contemporary enemies as he did detractors.

The push now to divorce Jefferson or any references from the city mirror the push to remove Lee and any ties to him from the city by Wes Bellamy and his cohorts. At the time, people warned of this, and in fact I brought up some of this in a previous column with comparisons to dystopian futures in science fiction novels like Fahrenheit 451.

In fact, it’s fair to say that fiction becomes more and more of a reality as the days go by. Just over the past couple of months, we have several examples of the devolution of culture, assaults on freedom of speech, disregard for freedom of thought and a free exchange of ideas. The crushing blow on ideas and culture foreign to the cultural Marxist elites who consider themselves the vanguards of “culture’ is a carbon copy of the ideas elucidated in the Karl Marx quote that beings the article.

Along with the Betsy Ross flag and long walk to erase Jefferson from our national narrative and ethos, here’s a list of a few more recent attacks:

1.) A school in San Francisco will be spending well over a half a million dollars to paint over a mural depicting the life of our first president, George Washington; once again citing the reason that it was offensive to some people.

2.) The United States women’s soccer team in its successful bid to win the 2019 World Cup also successfully alienated a huge chuck of the American people. The cringey and out of place hatred to the president, refusal by the team captain to honor her own country during the national anthem, and several members desecrating and disrespecting the American flag during their victory celebration, have led many (including myself) to lament their victory. In fact, many, like myself, were actively rooting against the team, which represents America in name only, and just barely at that. In another time, such blatant disrespect to this country, our traditions, and leaders would have drawn vocal reprisals from all sectors as well as shunning. It’s time, in my opinion, to bring that back.

3.) A Tempe, Arizona Starbucks barista recently asked several Tempe police officers to exit the store because their presence was offending and scaring some customers. To open and up front, I am pro-police, with many family and friends in the blue, brown and gray. I work in law enforcement, support and have great respect for first responders in all fields. I value their sacrifice and commitment. I understand and empathize with the insanely difficult job they do and the lack of understanding and respect they often receive.

I also know there are legitimate issues and complaints at times. I would never argue otherwise. Legitimate issues, however, do not add up the false narrative pushed by groups like Black Lives Matter and Antifa of trigger happy cops hunting down people, most often minorities, in inner cities with impunity.

This type of nonsense, not only pushed by anti-American pariahs like Shawn King and Al Sharpton, is voiced by many in academia as well as the halls of Congress. While there may be some who have well-meaning motives of protecting people from a plague that does not exist, many do so to sow the seeds of discord and rebellion. They do so for monetary gain, for prestige and glory, and for whatever powers they serve. Whatever the motives it does not serve humanity. Not in any sense of goodness and justice anyway.

4.) The recent arrest of global financier Jeffery Epstein for sex trafficking minors is a tremendous blow to those on the left who have continually downplayed this problem. This arrest coupled with the arrest of renowned tech blogger and reporter Peter Bright. Bright, who devoted many hours and many tweets attempting to debunk the Pizza Gate conspiracy, as well as ridiculing those who espoused, who even went as far as to use the Twitter handle @DrPizza, was arrested for trying to solicit sexual favors from a 7-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy.

Arrests like this have not been uncommon over the past few years and hardly a day goes by without a story or more in the media concerning sex trafficking. All the while, bloggers on the left and their MSM allies make attempts to paint this massive problem as some right-wing conspiracy. Facts have little relevance, and protection of those woefully unable to protect themselves become a political football to disparage conservatives at best and to protect fiends, perverts and monsters at worst.