{UAH} SENATE COMMITTEE SHOULD EXAMINE ALL TYPES OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE

Senate committee should examine all types of political violence

by Washington Examiner,  

 

February 11, 2021 12:00 AM

When political violence and lawlessness are allowed to thrive, it erodes the foundations of civil society and threatens the health of the republic itself. If the nation is to avoid this grievous outcome, there must be a swift bipartisan response that deals with such violence in all of its forms.

Newly sworn in Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, the New York Times reports, plans to “examine the influence of Russia and other foreign powers on anti-government extremist groups like the ones that helped mobilize the deadly attack on the Capitol last month.”

Warner plans to look into the Proud Boys and adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory, each of which had a presence on Jan. 6.

As we wrote in the wake of the riot, former President Donald Trump and the mob he inspired to storm the Capitol dishonored America. We also wrote that political violence is always wrong, not just when one disagrees with the cause.

If it turns out that there was foreign involvement in fostering any of these extremist groups that were part of the Capitol mob, it would certainly be important to find out, so the United States is in a better position to counter the threat.

But if Warner is serious, both about the investigation being bipartisan and about being concerned with foreign powers stoking violence, he should also look into the influences on the riots that tore through U.S. cities in the summer — lighting businesses on fire, toppling statues, assaulting police officers, attacking federal buildings, and beating innocent people.

In one encouraging sign, the New York Times reported, “The Senate Intelligence Committee will examine both white supremacist groups on the right, and antifascist, or antifa, groups on the left.” Of course, Warner cautioned, however, “I don’t want to make a false equivalency argument here ... because the vast preponderance of them are on the right.”

That statement suggests Warner is already prone to bias and is prejudging the outcome of his inquiry. Far more people were killed and injured in outbreaks of apparent left-wing political violence in the summer than were harmed in apparent right-wing violence on Jan. 6. We would also suggest that Warner look into the influences of the radical elements within the Black Lives Matter movement, which has revolutionary origins. One of its founders boasted in a 2015 interview that, “We are trained Marxists.”

There is no need for an equivalency debate. A bipartisan effort would admit that the violence that spread throughout the cities in the summer was a bad thing, and also the Capitol riot was a bad thing, even while partisans argue about which was worse or more excusable.

The Capitol Hill rioters did no service to the 74 million people who voted for Trump. Instead, they made many more people view Trump's following as a violent one. Those who believe in the cause of racial justice and want to see genuine reforms of the police, likewise, should want more than anybody for protests to remain peaceful. Polling taken last year showed an outpouring of sympathy for the Black Lives Matter cause in the immediate wake of the death of George Floyd, but it sank as the protests turned violent. If people want to argue that the protests were "mostly peaceful" and then were infiltrated and became violent, then they should be the first ones to want to gain a better understanding of the infiltrators.

Anyone who wants to engage with the political system to pursue changes peacefully should be most eager to see violence rooted out and malefactors exposed.

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