Courage

In the Mill Street Gazette, Adam Mill writes,

...As liberals fawn over Anonymous or Rod Rosenstein and their alleged “courage” for standing up to Donald Trump, I’m left to ask, “What courage?” It takes no courage to join the 91% of anti-Trump media or the duplicitous never-Trumper Administration Officials who undermine the elected president for cheap applause at Washington cocktail parties. Using your office in the executive branch to oppose Trump while pretending to work for the Administration is cowardly, dishonorable, and anti-democratic.

But, among the leftist mob, a few true heroes have begun to walk away. Imagine being a liberal resisting the get-Trump mob that is increasingly irrational? Now that’s courage and I want to take a moment to celebrate a few honorable and courageous liberals and Democrats who have risked everything to stand alone in opposition to the dangerous anti-Trump mob:

1. Fareed Zakaria: Mr. Zakaria is a reliable liberal and Trump critic. He nevertheless authored an op ed in the liberal Washington Post decrying the increasing trend of leftists to shout down or censor their opponents. Zakaria wrote, “freedom for the thought we hate is under pressure in the United States-and from the left.” He also quoted one of my heroes, John Stuart Mill to warn against the Left’s tendency to “impose…its own ideas and practices…on those who dissent from them.” I can almost hear the dinner party invitations being torn in half. My heart soared with hope upon reading his rare voice of reason. Thank you, Mr. Zakaria.

2. The 9th Circuit sides with Trump supporters in riot civil rights case. The 9th Circuit has applied the law to protect the speech rights of Trump supporters who were attacked during a peaceful protest. In the belly of the beast, some of the most liberal judges ever to don a robe had the guts to tell the mob that the deplorables have the right to peacefully speak and assemble.

3. Alan Dershowitz: Dershowitz, a card-carrying liberal from the day he first drew breath, is perhaps the most consistent hero challenging the left’s attacks on civil liberties. In an Op Ed in the Hill last April, he shamed the ACLU in a beautiful piece exposing how the ACLU turns a blind eye to violations of civil liberties if it helps get Trump. His liberal peers heap scorn on him and treat him like a traitor.

4. Michael E. Horowitz: Mr. Horowitz serves as the Inspector General of the Department of Justice. President Obama appointed him in 2012. Yet, he has been one of the most important forces that exposed the bias and election interference of the FBI/DoJ. He continues to do vital work to hold the Department of Justice accountable. Without the honorable work of Mr. Horowitz, we would not have seen the Strzok/Page text messages. Mr. Horowitz is undoubtedly reviled within the party who appointed him. His courage is unparalleled.

5. Jack Dorsey: In spite of significant pressure to drop President Trump from Twitter, Dorsey has continued to allow the President access to the platform to directly reach the American public. Recently he made this astonishing admission, “We have a lot of conservative-leaning folks in the company as well, and to be honest, they don’t feel safe to express their opinions at the company…They do feel silenced by just the general swirl of what they perceive to be the broader percentage of leanings within the company, and I don’t think that’s fair or right,” he added. “We should make sure that everyone feels safe to express themselves within the company, no matter where they come from and what their background is. I mean, my dad was a Republican.” Can you imagine the leftists he triggered by insisting that non-leftist speech should be accommodated? This may seem like a simple thing. But in Mr. Doresey’s environment, this was tremendously courageous.

6. The Facebook 100: A small group of 100 Facebook employees have joined together to form an online group supporting political diversity within Facebook. Brian Amerige, a senior Facebook engineer bravely wrote, “We claim to welcome all perspectives, but are quick to attack — often in mobs — anyone who presents a view that appears to be in opposition to left-leaning ideology.” Not surprisingly, their peers at Facebook have declared their speech “offensive to minorities,” and have sought to silence the rebels.

These liberals are all alone. But they shouldn’t be. They are true American heroes speaking real truth to the real power of the dangerous mob. Instead of arguing with the mob, we can best resist it by finding more honest liberals like these and lifting them up. We need them now more than ever. Shine a light on their examples as they walk away from the mob. Others will follow.

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