2005 — The Year of Political Incivility

By Jason Williams

Thursday, December 29. 2005

The year began and ended with political incivility in Oregon by liberals.

The political year started with President Bush’s inaugural speech where shouting protesters in the audience did everything possible to stop his speech. The protesters were from Eugene and were able to get great, up-close seat tickets from our Congressman Peter DeFazio. Gee, thanks Pete, for staining an important democratic event with your sour grapes just because your guy did not win the last presidential election.

The shameful treatment of President Bush is the latest and hottest trend of political incivility erupting from the liberal left. A month after the Bush inauguration we had a protester disruption occurrence at the Howard Dean/Richard Perle debate at Pacific University. The event made national news when an irate screaming protester rushed the stage at Richard Perle, throwing his shoe at him. (The Perle protest was just one of many in 2005 across the country; Bill Kristol was hit with a pie at Earlham College, David Horowitz also hit with a pie at Butler University, Patrick Buchanan was splashed with salad dressing at Western Michigan University, and Ann Coulter was harassed by screaming protesters at Kansas University)

Many are surprised to find that the penalty for assaulting a speaker and for disrupting an event can be as small as a $50 fine. It is a great deal for a liberal dissenter, who sees a $50 fine as a great way to ruin an event that took $10,000 to produce.

Portland protesters who rioted during a presidential visit found away to make a profit from breaking the law. They were rewarded with a $300,000 settlement from the city this year. Even after receiving their quarter million dollar prize, they still had the audacity to present a 12-page list of additional demands including prohibiting police from using pepper spray and rubber bullets against future rioters. The list of demands would only make it easier to create conditions for disorder so the protesters can more easily shut down future political events they do not like.

Let’s be clear: These are not acts of civil disobedience, but rather, they are undeniable acts of uncivil political violence. The aim is to forcibly shut up speakers and to rip the freedom of speech from their very throats.

By the middle of the year we had the construction of a McDonalds restaurant in Sisters Oregon that drove the environmentalists and smart growthers insane. Few things in life spell utter evil for liberals like McDonalds, and that becomes infinitely magnified when you erect one where uppity liberals live. So it came as no surprise when the new restaurant was set afire (just like a Starbucks was sabotaged in Portland last year).

Finally, 2005 ended with the charging of seven people involved with eco-terrorism with multiple Oregon connections. They were charged with sabotaging of a meat company (animal rights extremism), torching a tree farm (environmental extremism), toppling a Bonneville dam transmission tower (hydro-power haters?), and arson to a SUV lot (hybrid car fanatics?). No matter how minor a political cause may be, it still rises to the point of justifying terrorist acts with liberals.

From beginning to end, 2005 can be remembered for its liberal political incivility, harassment and violence. Without a doubt, liberals seem to have a monopoly on such political incivility (maybe their ‘end-justifies-the-means’ behavior is a natural outgrowth of their vehement rejection of absolute values?). Oregonians need to oppose such tactics as inherently undemocratic and unacceptable.