Democrats' lack of civility is showing

Jeffrey Folks:

On July 20, Nancy Pelosi said that if President Trump refuses to accept the results of the November election, he will have to be "fumigated" out of the White House.  Fumigation is a technique used against insects, and the idea that human beings are insects has a long history in totalitarian discourse.  Hitler described Jews as "vermin" and "parasites," a form of dehumanization that is always just one step away from physical violence.  Speaker Pelosi should apologize immediately, and profusely, for her use of this inappropriate rhetoric.

Most thoughtful persons would agree that labeling another an "insect" is uncivil.  A cultured individual who practices civility is tolerant of the opinions and beliefs of others, and indeed, toleration is the best measure of civility.  One may be a Catholic, but he practices tolerance toward other Christian and non-Christian forms of belief, even including atheism and agnosticism.  He may be a liberal, but he values the opinions of conservatives and treats conservatives with respect.

By this measure, Joe Biden and the radicals who now support him have not been civil.  Biden now expresses contempt for conservative policies before even considering their potential value.  So it was with President Trump's pledge to buy American-made goods.  That pledge of "America First" drew harsh criticism from Biden and his party — until Biden stole the idea and made it part of his own platform.  Biden could not bring himself to admit that Trump was right.  That sort of contempt for another is the essence of incivility. 

Like most liberals, Biden's contempt is all-encompassing.  In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., ultimately decided in Hobby Lobby's favor by the Supreme Court, Biden sided with those who would force persons of traditional Christian faith to pay for employees' contraceptives.  Indeed, it was Biden's Affordable Care Act that forced Hobby Lobby to provide all twenty FDA-approved contraceptives to employees.  The Obama administration was intolerant of traditionalists when it wrote the contraceptive mandate into the Affordable Care Act, and Biden would only double down on this intolerance if he sought to restore the mandate to his "expanded" version of Obamacare.

Hobby Lobby was not an isolated case of liberal intolerance.  In every free speech case that arose during the Obama years, Biden seemed more than willing to force his opinions on others.

The Michael Flynn case is a good example.  After denying all knowledge of the decision to go after Flynn, Biden corrected himself but said he played no part in the decision.  Then it came to light that he attended a key meeting at which that very decision was made, and that he apparently argued in favor of investigating Flynn, as confirmed by Peter Strzok's handwritten record of the meeting.  Was V.P. Biden "civil" in his treatment of Gen. Flynn?  Was he "tolerant" of the incoming administration?  Has he ever been tolerant of these who oppose him?  

Biden still wants to impeach the president because he investigated Biden and his son's dealings with Ukraine's Burisma Holdings.  So the president, sworn to uphold the law, is to be impeached for investigating what appears to be corrupt dealing with a foreign power?  What next?  The president should have nothing to do with enforcing the law?

Well, yes.  Biden has voiced no support for sending federal agents to Portland, Oregon, or to other cities.  Former education secretary Arne Duncan, Biden's associate in the Obama administration, has denounced the idea of sending federal agents into Chicago to quell the violence.  Biden has been cagey, but he may be just as opposed as Duncan. 

To sit by and watch hundreds of persons shot and killed in Chicago and in other cities across America is not a mark of tolerance or concern.  Biden pretends to be the special friend of blacks, but he is willing to see thousands gunned down, even though those killings could be prevented.  Not just that: he and his party condemn those who want to prevent the killings.

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There is much more.

Democrats have not treated Trump with civility since he won the 2016 election.  We have seen false narratives and tantrum like responses to his election every since.  Voters should reject this conduct.