An op-ed in the Washington Post documenting the U.S. right-wing’s march (not “slide”) into political violence.
Kleinfeld abundantly documents that the source of political violence in the U.S. is the right-wing and no one but. She has no examples at all of the left or Democrats contributing to this.
But she finished with a ludicrous appeal to both-siderism:
To avoid this fate again, we must stop casting blame. Finger-pointing is seductive; it feels morally necessary and even essential to identifying the “real” cause of the problem. But at this point, partisans can’t agree on the real cause. The only way out is to sidestep worn arguments and begin rebuilding from points of agreement — as Colombia did when millions voted in favor of constitutional change in 1990, even if they couldn’t find common ground on whether left-wing rebels or right-wing paramilitaries were more to blame for the crisis.
The self-delusion here is incredible. Stating facts is not “finger-pointing” and it is not “finger-pointing” that is seductive, but both-siderism which Kleinfled demonstrates by being entirely seduced by it.
Militias in the U.S are exclusively a right-wing thing. There are no leftist militias. None. No equivalent of the right-wing march into violence. No one drove cars into any right-wing gatherings (I was stunned to read in this column that there have been 50 such cases this year against demonstrators against injustice).
And her “only solution” is one unavailable in the U.S.
Voters cannot vote on changes to the structure of U.S. government, the Constitution precludes it, and makes amendment so difficult that it can only be done for things where there is already no disagreement.
There are other solutions which she ignores (and is being dishonest in pretending they don’t exist).
In South Africa the White supremacist regime finally surrendered power after decades of intense international pressure.
In the U.S context the true only solution is stripping the White supremacists of power that they have seized through breaking laws and rules and norms by massive blue turn-out in election after election, and blue politicians using the levers of power to reform U.S government from the inside.
The right-wing must be put in the position that they cannot regain control of the country with a 40% minority. If they want to govern, they must be forced to do so democratically, by building majority support.
