Special to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

I often think back to the years before I had even heard anyone utter the word, libertarian. I wasn’t sure whether to call myself a conservative, an independent or maybe a liberal that liked guns. I felt that I couldn’t call myself a conservative because I thought I had to accept all the socially conservative ideas that were spouted by those on the Right. What I didn’t realize at the time was that not all conservatives thought alike and that the right was pretty diverse when it came to ideas. So, if I hadn’t discovered libertarianism, I could imagine myself as a Constitutional Conservative along the lines of Barry Goldwater, Ted Cruz or one that leans heavily in the direction of libertarianism such as Ron Paul. The Left however, is the side of the equation that I can’t ever picture myself on.

Part of this is due to all the knowledge that I have gained over years that involves history, economics, and even science, which I would have to completely disregard if I were to ever join the left. The kind of knowledge that proves that ninety-five percent of what the left believes in is complete hogwash. Keep in mind that I believe that I am actually being generous with the five percent that I do give to the left. Sadly, that isn’t the biggest issue that I currently have with the left. Not too long before Trump got elected, I actually saw the left starting to become unhinged at college campuses whenever you had someone who dared to show that he had opposing viewpoints. Yet those years are starting to seem like the good old days, compared to the insanity that we see today. First, you had all these leftist crying in the streets after it was announced that Trump won the election, as if he was going to pass a law that would force fertile women to become concubines to powerful men. The sad part is that there are actual leftists who believe that they are living in the same dystopian fantasy as depicted in A Handmaiden’s Tale. Then there was an increase in violence by a group of thugs in black who had the nerve to call themselves anti-fascists.

Though what is really disturbing is that it no longer seems as if it is a fringe element on the left that is pushing this insanity on our political process. I have always felt that the Democrats were anti-Constitution and anti-American, but it wasn’t until Trump got elected that I finally saw the left openly display these very traits. You had Democrats who whined about how the Electoral College should be eliminated, even though they never complained about the system when they benefitted from it. After the smear campaign against Bret Kavanaugh failed in preventing his confirmation to the Supreme Court, they decided that they now have to undermine the whole confirmation process by making threats of impeaching Kavanaugh and even stacking the Supreme Court with left-wing judges.

There was a time when the left had Civil Libertarians who were willing to defend the rights of every man, whether he was a white supremist or an accused terrorist. Now, it seems as if the Civil Libertarians of the left have gone the same way as the Blue Dog Democrats and the Centralist Democrats of the Clinton era. Where were the Civil Libertarians during the Berkeley riots that prevented a gay conservative from speaking? For that matter where were they during all the times that Antifa used violence to prevent anybody who was the right of Stalin from speaking? There are even some leftists who believed that the violence is justified, since it is used against hate speech. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the lefties on College campuses. They openly yell phrases such as “Hate speech isn’t free speech.” Don’t forget what that idiot Chris Como said on CNN not too long ago.

They have also made it loud and clear that they no longer believe in the presumption of innocence that we have come to expect in nearly three hundred years of Due Process. Even the ALCU abandoned this concept when they produced an ad that compared Kavanaugh to Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein. Seriously? All it takes is an accusation to get you labeled as a sex predator? Some would actually call that slander. Of course, the left tries to weasel their way pass the Due Process argument by saying that it only applies to the courts and not when a judge is applying for a position on the Supreme Court. The presumption of innocence has to apply to every facet of life, otherwise nobody is safe from having their lives destroyed by unproven allegations. I remember when my biggest issue with the left was that they didn’t believe in the Second Amendment. Now it seems like the only right the left believes in is the right to have an abortion.

I have always given the left credit for one thing. They are not afraid to show their hypocrisy, no matter how blatant it may seem. I remember a time when Obama supporters got their panties in a bunch when somebody in Congress called Obama a liar, while he was making a speech. I remember when the Tea Party protestors were referred to as a mob when they showed up at Townhall meeting to yell at their representatives who were blatantly ignoring their will. When left-wing activists harass officials when they are trying to have dinner with their families, it is considered legitimate discourse. I can just see George Orwell in the afterlife laughing and shaking his head at the way these leftists love to twist words around.

I have heard leftists on both Tucker Carlson and the Laura Ingram Show defend the actions of these mobs. They try to compare these crazy leftist groups to the Tea Parties of the Obama era, which is ridiculous considering that the most extreme thing that the Tea Partiers ever did was yell at their Congressmen during the Townhall debates on healthcare. It doesn’t even compare to the professional protestors going to the restaurants that these Congressmen are dinning at to harass them while they are trying to have a peaceful evening with their families. Nor did they try to ambush officials in elevators and demand that they vote their way. The left of course tried to bring up the old claims of Tea Party members spitting on public officials and hurling racial slurs at black Congressmen, but they always leave out the part about these claims being disproven. It’s also worth mentioning that the Tea Partiers never attempted to take over entire streets and threaten elderly drivers who refused to go along with their attempts to direct traffic, like the left’s Antifa buddies did in Portland. Hell, the Tea Partiers even cleaned up after themselves unlike certain leftists who leave nothing but destruction in their wake.

What these leftists fail to realize is that despite the media’s attempts to demonize the Tea Party by showing the fringe elements that brought guns and racist signs to certain protests, people saw right through these smear tactics. I don’t think the left is going to have the same luck. I don’t believe that the tactics of these professional protestors are going to resonate with the people as the Tea Party protests did. This is why I believe that the left won’t be nearly as successful as they hope to be this November. There are times I wonder if Trump has some supernatural ability to make people reveal their true selves to the public. Either way the left seems to have doomed themselves by doubling down on crazy.